bAnAnARAmA

Live at the London Eventim Hammersmith Apollo

Another live ‘comeback’ recording—but Bananarama?? Recorded here live at London’s Hammersmith Apollo, the re-united original trio delivers much the same dynamically flat unison vocal presentation as ever, and the crowd is mixed perilously high throughout. But hold your fire. Not only do the hits keep coming (they are, according to Guinness, the all-female band with the greatest chart success in history), their charm increases as the set progresses, the girls clearly relishing the reunion and engaging authentically with an adoring audience, sending themselves up: ‘This is one of our infamous ballads, our forte…’, or joking ‘Comedy walk!’ over the middle eight of I Heard A Rumour, and though we can’t see it, it’s an LOL nonetheless. A shuffle dance seemed compulsory during the barnstorming Venus and encore It Ain’t What You Do... and even though such reunions are often best heard not seen, the Blu-ray is on order.