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Southampton
Guildhall was absolutely heaving in readiness for Melanie C. Teenybopper
Spice Girl fans have grown up and become teenagers and they were
out in force tonight. So too were 20 and 30 somethings and even
punky skate kids in Nirvana clobber. It seems that Mel C's audience
is growing up.
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| Mel
gets intimate |
After
spending half an hour waiting for her arrival, she didn't disappoint.
The lights dimmed and Mel came bursting onto the stage with an impressive
construction
of lights behind her, her numerous tattoos hidden under a long-sleeved
black top. She launched off with the last track from her new album
Yeh, Yeh, Yeh, a pumped up, high-energy song to get the audience
going.
Mel
kept up the pace for a good one and a half hours only slowing down
for the ballads to give herself and her fans a bit of a breather.
She was clearly in the mood for a good time and looked as though
she was having a great fun with her band.
She
was also surprisingly more "rockin" than you might expect
as she head-banged and shimmied her way through tracks from both
of her solo albums. All the hits were there including her latest
single, Here It Comes Again, and also older tracks such as Never
Be The Same Again (minus Left-Eye's rap) and a version of her duet
with Bryan Adams, When You're Gone, with her guitarist Greg taking
over Adams' duties.
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| Miss
C gets her pitch |
When
the last song was over, Mel and her band left the stage. There was
obviously going to be an encore but the crowd wasn't taking any
chances. Screaming, stamping feet and chants of "We want Mel" finally
brought the songstress out again. Leaving her band in the wings
for a moment, she thanked the crowd for coming and announced to
their delight that they had won the Best Audience Award so far in
the tour.
She
had a point. Throughout the gig, cries of "I love you Mel" could
be heard as well as the roars of approval that ended every song.
Still, to keep the audience from getting too hot under the collar,
a guy with a super-soaker water gun patrolled the security barrier
and sprayed the crowd to cool them off.
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| Mel
belts out her hits |
Mel
performed two songs for her encore. With just a piano for company,
she took the opportunity to really show off her singing voice and
sang Reason, the title track off her new album. As if that wasn't
enough to convince you, she then began a
pitch-perfect accapella verse of her number one hit, I Turn To You,
before the trance beats kicked in and she went crazy on stage once
more to leave the audience on a high.
Melanie
C was on fine form and I was surprised by just how well she can
sing live. She really does have a powerful voice that can not only
belt out the high notes but also tone it down to quietly breathe
out the ballads and still keep you interested. Mel enjoyed herself,
the audience loved it and I came away with a greater respect for
the artist formerly known as Sporty.
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