The Daily Telegraph - Features
The pop duo who are still really saying something
Pop
Bananarama
London Palladium, W1 ★★★★★
If anyone can transform an Edwardian theatre into a pop dancefloor, it’s Bananarama. Armed to the teeth with hits – they hold the record for the most chart entries in the world by an all-female group – British duo Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward (third member Siobhan Fahey left in 1988, and a 2017 reunion was temporary) celebrated 40 years at the top with three sold-out nights at the Palladium.
A heritage act, perhaps, but there was a warmth that went beyond 1980s nostalgia. A physical warmth, too: the venue is not known for its ventilation, particularly with 2,000 fans dancing all night. “Am I the only one who wishes they’d worn a kaftan?” Woodward asked, dressed in a black-and-gold jumpsuit.
The jumpsuits – the duo resembled a very British version of Abba – were the glitziest element of an otherwise basic set-up: just a three-piece band and hit after hi-NRG hit. There was no faffing about and they packed in a lot from their recent retrospective compilation, Glorious: classic Stock, Aitken and Waterman hits such as
I Heard a Rumour and Love in the First Degree, and other favourites like Last Thing on My Mind and the humid brilliance of Cruel Summer. Each was accompanied by dance routines you might practise in front of your bedroom mirror – clearly, many audience members had.
The word “shambolic” has been used to describe Bananarama, who retained their amateur dance moves and charity-shop-raided look as they progressed from teenage punks to the pop mainstream. Yet they also sang about serious topics such as rape, poverty and domestic violence, and the influence of their assertive television presence – which got them banned from several shows – on girls growing up in the 1980s shouldn’t be underestimated.
Nor should their broad range of inspiration: their sound took in everything from doo-wop to hip-hop, as demonstrated by several covers, from Blondie’s Atomic to Sister Sledge’s Lost in Music. The latter veered towards cruise-ship performance, but they steered away again with their beloved versions of the Velvelettes’ He Was Really Sayin’ Somethin’ and the Supremes’ Nathan Jones. A brief dalliance with Dead or Alive’s You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) led into the hit it inspired: Venus, Bananarama’s 1986 No1 single and the final song of the night.
There’s a reason why Bananarama were the blueprint for the Spice Girls and the boom of girl groups that followed, and why they have survived for four decades: unashamedly fun pop hits, yes, but delivered with down-to-earth, ever-relatable charm.