Sugababes at The Royal Albert Hall

This evening I became a teenager again as I paid homage to those three princesses of pop, the Sugababes! I saw the 'Babes last year at the IndigO on a free ticket and they were such a breath of fresh air that, when I heard about the Albert Hall gig, I just had to get tickets. And I'm so pleased I did - what a great way to end the working week and start my holiday!

The 'Babes were on for 1.20 hours of non-stop music, movement, colour, dancing, smiles and great songs. The 'Babes were in great voice, synchronised movement sharing the front of the stage, weaving in and around each other and the band kept it tight. It's not the biggest of stages but the 'Babes made the best of it with great staging and backdrop, exploiting the height of the Hall and giving us a spectacular show to remember.

Firstly, the frocks. There were loads of frock changes, sometimes off stage and sometime onstage, either removing one frock to reveal another underneath or, sometimes, the 'Babe-dancers helping them en-robe onstage. The 'Babe-dancers were three lithe lookalikee dancers who were well practiced and strutted in time as they brought on and took off props and 'Babes clothing. Colour and sparkle was the order of the day and I'd single out their glitter-ball glam rock frocks (courtsey of Noddy Holder and Dave Hill via Madonna), their Macy Gray inspired long frocks and the gloriously scarlet red dresses they wore to sing 'Red Dress'. The lasses certainly kept us guessing.

The music was tres fab. Considering how young they are they've got a significant back catalogue that makes it seem like they've been around forever. Favourites were 'Freak Like Me' morphing into 'Virgin Sexy' and back again, a lovely sequence, 'Round Round', 'Stronger', 'Overload', a great version of 'Denial' (the new single), rocky versions of 'My Love Is Pink' and 'Three Spoons of Suga', and a lovely emotive version of 'Ugly' (while the 'Babe-dancers tarted themselves up like models in the background).

Highlights were using the intro of Frankie's 'Two Tribes' to morph into 'Red Dress' and The Who's 'Baba O'Reilly' intro morphing into 'Push The Button', both being great sequences. Big wow moments, especially to the accompaniment of flame throwers in the background, cannons shooting sparklies into the audience and fireworks going off all over the place. WOW. And finishing with 'About You Now', one of the best pop songs in recent years and the place was awash with people singing and clapping along.

The award for the biggest smile goes to Heidi, as ever. That girl has the loveliest, most infectious smile and she couldn't stop smiling tonight. Amelle gets the award for most hand-shakes with the crowd and Keisha gets the award for keeping looking the other way whenever I took a photo. Keisha, pay attention please! They all sounded great and looked like they were having a ball - I hope they really were since we were!

Here are a few photos of the fabulous 'Babes - thanks for a great evening, lasses!