Posted May 24, 200619 yr **** IN KEEPING with the laboratory theme of their single Biology and their latest album Chemistry, the introduction to the Girls Aloud arena tour evokes memories of Weird Science. In that 1980s film, two teenage boys use a home computer to create the ideal woman. At Nottingham Arena, a mad professor in a white coat tapped the credentials of five beauties into his PC. With activation completed, these pop angels rose from a trap door like freshly unwrapped Barbie dolls. If this is a wry acknowledgement of their beginnings as a television show concoction, then the rest of the concert blasted away cynical expectations as effectively as their own career has done. More than ten hit singles, as well as being rated by critics and six-year-old girls alike: quite an achievement. They set out their stall with the pumping hit Biology. Romping around with their male dance troupe, they were unafraid to play piggyback in outfits that reveal body parts surely only a GP should see. Their faces gleaming with sweat, they showed a few first-night nerves, which served only to make them more appealing. After all, their allure has been the glamour achievable on any high street. Their songs are funny, lively and a little bit messy — the makings of anyone’s great night out. After the saucy sex romp Watch Me Go they showed their savvy side. Cranking up a cover of I Predict a Riot, they bridged any artistic gap between the Kaiser Chiefs’ indie stomper and every glam rock hit from 1974. This is cheeky pop with substance, even if the word condom is edited out and the dance routine is more Pan’s People than people power. On record, their writing team’s eclectic repertoire of musical styles keeps them creatively ahead of the pack. Live, it’s the Girls’ sheer pleasure that sets the show alight. Only the ballad covers of See the Day and I’ll Stand by You disappointed — the stuff of Stars in Their Eyes. Still, to pick out two poor songs from a thrilling hour and a half of skinny pants, fireworks and dry ice would be like enjoying the best family wedding disco ever and moaning about the Liebfraumilch.
