Bananarama bouncing back with North East gig

WHAT’S ON EDITOR GORDON BARR HAS HEARD A RUMOUR – AND VENUS IS RISING AGAIN . .

BANANARAMA, the girl group that defined the 1980s, are back to their original, record-breaking line-up for a tour that will hit Newcastle City Hall later this year.

It marks the first time the original line-up of Sara, Keren and Siobhan have ever toured together, and tickets for the November 15 show go on sale tomorrow at 9am.

“Keren and I have toured as a duo for years, but we never toured or played live with Siobhan,” explains Sara.

“We’ve been talking about this idea for a while and now the moment has finally arrived it’s incredibly exciting! Lots of fans have often asked ‘please just do one tour with Siobhan.’” Keren adds: “We’ll be performing all the hits and some surprises too. I really can’t wait – it’s going to be an amazing party every night.”

Siobhan says: “These were my formative years. I never thought it would happen again. It’s like going back down the road to find a piece of myself that I left back then. The older I get, the more I realise it was pretty magical.”

Since their unforgettable last performance as a trio on The Brits in 1988, Keren and Sara have continued as Bananarama, releasing records and touring to global audiences. Siobhan went on to have hit singles and albums around the world as part of Shakespears Sister before becoming a solo artist. Bananarama made it into the Guinness Book Of Records as the most successful female group of all time on account of the fact they’d had more hit singles than any other girl band.

To date, they’ve had 30 chart hits. In the US, Venus became their first No1 single on the Billboard chart, and their combined record sales were over 40 million.

Bananarama play Newcastle City Hall on Wednesday, November 15, 2017.

Tickets are from £51 and can be purchased at www.theatreroyal. co.uk or from the Theatre Royal Box office on 08448 11 21 21 (Calls cost 7ppm plus your phone company’s access charge).