Here Come The Girls at Hammersmith Apollo

Tonight we went to see the 'Here Come The Girls' show at Hammersmith Apollo - no VIP tickets tonight, not like my last visit to the venue. And I was gender-disadvantaged - I hesitate to guesstimate, but over 90% of the audience was female, and a goodly proportion were hormonally-challenged middle aged ladies. It was scary.

Anyway, 'Here Come The Girls' is a show featuring Lulu ('60s onwards), Chaka Khan ('80s onwards) and Anastacia ('00s). It's a surprising partnership that worked surprisingly well, Lulu and Anastacia pounding round the stage while Chaka was slightly more sedate. Three women with big voices and big songs behind them and, in the case of Lulu, a great big dollop of music history behind her with her first hit song back in 1964. And she still looks and sounds good!

I wasn't sure what to expect - I didn't expect the 'girls night out' aspect of the show - but they've obviously put a lot of thought, time and money into the show, with videos shot especially for it, a small dance troupe, loads of lights and a good set. The song, 'Here Come The Girls' from the Boots advert and a Sugababes hit featured throughout, which was a shame - a song from an advert isn't the best advert for the talents of three big voices.

I have records by all three of the 'girls' and was sort of expecting each would have their own segment of the show to sing their big hits but that didn't really happen. From the outset they were, mostly, on stage together, singing songs together, swapping lead vocals every other verse, that sort of thing, with them performing solo only once or twice. Even on Chaka's 'I Feel For You' they swapped lead vocals for each verse (and I can't hear that song without hearing Maximo Park's version of 'Like I Love You' and Paul talking about hearing the record years ago).

They started off with a Motown selection of songs before moving straight into the '80s with Madonna and Michael Jackson for the dancers (what's wrong with the '70s?) and then each took a '60s song themselves. Lulu, for some reason, did Duffy's 'Mercy' - I would've much rather she'd done on of her own '60s hits - there's lots to choose from! We eventually got some '70s in the form of disco but I was slightly disturbed by the Lady GaGa cover...

After an interval (and a massive queue at the bar) we got back to the music and a costume change for the girls, sticking to the same format as the first half, sharing songs and striking poses, and doing a great version of 'Lady Marmalade'. I liked the song selection, all well-known songs, but why did they cover other people's songs rather than sing their own? It was a puzzlement indeed, when they have so many between them. From Anastacia we got 'Left Outside Alone' and 'I'm Outta Love', from Chaka we got 'I Feel For You', 'I'm Every Woman' and a ballad, and from Lulu we got a section of 'Independence' and (you guessed it) 'Shout' (which sounded great by the way). The encore started off with 'Relight My Fire' which counts as a Lulu song before heading into a disco medley and closure. Phew!

It was a fast-paced show, lots of lights and razzmatazz, definitely a 'show' and not a 'gig. Rather than sing other people's songs it would've been nice to see the 'girls' sing more of their own songs but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Lulu was clearly lead 'girl' which is to be expected, given that she's been working an audience for 45 years, Chaka was, well, an individual, not fully joining in the dance routines but still being an enormous presence, and Anastacia was lovely.

I'm delighted to have seen all three 'girls' but I'm not sure I'd pay to see this show again (and the tickets weren't cheap). Anyway, I enjoyed it, but I want more Lulu!