Girls Call the Shots

No human being of sound mind would have predicted the phenomenal success enjoyed by Girls Aloud in the past five years.

Having defeated the embarrassingly short lived all boy group One True Voice in 2002’s Popstars The Rivals show, they were surely supposed to have a Christmas number one (which they duly did) and then disappear a few months later, possibly amid vicious infighting .

Not so - nearly six years on, they are here at London’s O2 for the second of two sell out shows, as part of their biggest tour to date. Not bad for reality TV stars.

The appeal of the group is not only obvious, but multi layered. They have a great song writing team, producing catchy hit after catchy hit. They can all genuinely sing and dance. And they’re all stunning. Again, not a bad combo. Whether this could all translate into the live arena remained to be seen, but the 20,000 punters packing the venue this evening seemed confident it would.

And indeed it did. The girls appeared from behind a curtain, suspended from the ceiling, before belting out recent single Sexy No No No to rapturous applause, and the mood showed no sign of dropping from there on in.

This was a real fun packed evening, as hit after hit was rolled out - the brilliant Biology, fans favourite Love Machine, and great covers like Jump and Robyn’s Every Heartbeat (performed from a small stage at the arena’s centre) just a few of the many highlights. No expense was spared in the production of the show either, with huge screens, impressive pyrotechnics and countless costume changes to keep the crowd on their toes.

This is the UK’s favourite pop act, and with good reason. A great time had by all.