BANANABARMY!
Eighties icons return... and a whole bunch of fans relive their youth
FOR the fans, it was time to dust off the dungarees, leg warmers and stripy tops, and backcomb the hair.
But for the three original members of one of the Eighties’ biggest bands, it was a bit of a novelty.
For while Bananarama enjoyed a string of top ten hits, Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward have never toured together – until now.
And although they are in their 50s, the trio showed they still had their trademark moves of 35 years ago as they bounced around the stage at Blackpool’s Opera House. It didn’t take long before most of the 2,000 fans – mostly middle-aged and many dressed Eighties-style for the occasion – were out of their seats, singing and dancing along.
A giant backdrop screened the original videos as Bananarama belted out a succession of catchy pop hits including Venus, Robert De Niro’s Waiting and Really Saying Something. The trio dressed in black trousers and black and silver sequinned tops with big shoulder pads.
There were plenty of references to age – their energetic dancing did not extend to recreating the can- can kicks of the 1987 video to I Heard A Rumour, with Miss Fahey, 59, joking: ‘Thirty years out of practice.’ And at one point Miss Woodward whipped off a leather overskirt, quipping: ‘That’s all that’s coming off for now, which I’m sure you’re relieved about.’
The three formed Bananarama in 1981 but split in 1988, without having done a concert tour, when Miss Fahey left to form Shakespears Sister. She was married to Eurythmics star Dave Stewart between 1987 and 1996.
Miss Dallin, 55, and Miss Woodward, 56 – who had a long relationship with former Wham! star Andrew Ridgeley – continued as Bananarama, initially with Jacquie O’Sullivan and latterly as a duo until the reunion with Miss Fahey. Monday night’s show ended with Love In The First Degree, leaving fans to file out still singing the songs of their youth.
‘They sounded exactly the same – it was like going back in time,’ one said. Six fans from Cumbria had dressed in colourful hair bows, checked or striped shirts and dungarees. One, Karen Whiteside, 45, said: ‘We spent ages preparing.’
Lisa Crawley and four friends wore bright-coloured leg warmers, pop socks and stone- washed denim. Miss Crawley, from Catforth, near Preston, who was celebrating her 43rd birthday, said: ‘I love them. Their songs were the first seven-inch singles I ever bought. They were awesome.’ Some fans had not been born when Bananarama were in the charts.
Bethany Hankey, who was celebrating her 21st birthday, joked that she had been ‘brainwashed from an early age’ by her mother Tracy Bailes, 45, who said: ‘I remember Bananarama from my school disco days.’
The tour began at the weekend and includes shows in London, Bristol, Manchester and York, followed by US dates early next year.