Christmas came early this year for me. Never did I think that Me First and the Gimme Gimmes would be playing Dublin, and never did I ever think I'd get to shoot one of their shows! Well, that all changed last week when they played the Academy in Dublin on a cold, damp, Monday night! I've been a fan since 1997, when one of the lads I worked with, brought in a copy of Have a Ball . It was love at first listen! I did manage to catch them live back in 2019 when they played the O2 Forum in Kentish Town , London, and it was every bit as good as I'd hoped, but it paled in comparison to Monday night in Dublin. So, how did it come about? Well, back in 2013, I interviewed the band for a now defunct Irish website called Chunk.ie . Over the years, I've stayed on their PR roster, so I took a chance and emailed my contact there. Lo and behold, a few emails later and all was sorted, I was down to photograph the show. How was it? Brilliant, amazing, fantastic,...
I've been a Sugababes fan since I first heard Overload way back in 2000. It was, and still is, a pop classic. Over the years, I managed to catch them live a couple of times.
The first time I caught Sugababes live was way back at Creamfields 2002. Unfortunately Siobhan had left the band by then and been replaced by Heidi, so I never got to see the original lineup. Did it matter much at the time to me? No, not at all, I was just their to party!
As a side note, post Sugababes, Siobhan went on to release two solo albums, Revolution in Me in 2003 and Ghosts in 2007.
The next time I saw them was at Oxegen 2008, and by then Mutya had left the band and was replaced by Amelle, leaving Keisha as the only remaining original member. It was a tad strange seeing the band with only one remaining member, but again, it was a festival and all we were looking for was a good time, which we definitely got!
Another side note, just like Siobhan, Mutya went on to release her own solo work, a great album called Real Girl, featuring the fantastic Song 4 Mutya with Groove Armada!
In September 2009, the last remaining original member of the band, Keisha, left. She was replaced by Jade Ewen, and the band went on to have two more UK Top 10 hits before disbanding in 2011.
In July of 2012, it was announced that the original trio of Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan had reformed as MKS and were back in the studio making music and 2013, they released their debut single Flatline.
Seven years later, in 2019, they finally reclaimed the rights to the Sugababes name and started their comeback, playing festivals around the UK and appearing on the BBCs Graham Norton Show performing a cover of the SFA song, Flowers.
So, with all that said and done, when I heard that the original line up of Siobhan, Keisha and Mutya were headlining one of the nights at "Live at the Iveagh Gardens", I instantly bought a ticket for the show! It was my chance to see the original lineup and I was not going to miss it!
Our summer here in Ireland has come and gone, it was a Tuesday back in May, so the weather was horrendous. It rained long and hard for the whole night. I got soaked, they got soaked, we all got soaked together, but it didn't dampen spirits as the crowd danced and sang along.
So, was it a good show? Absolutely, and, as you can see from the setlist below, they started strong and just kept feeding us hit after hit!
I suppose the question is, would I go again? I think you know the answer, hell yeah! A little bit of classic pop music never hurt anyone! Plus, as I have said in previous posts, it's good to step out of your comfort zone every now and again.
As for photos? Well, I wasn't shooting the show, so I only brought my small Sony DSC HX60, and unfortunately, the conditions didn't really suit... But hey, I got 4 shots that are, well, ok'ish, I just wish I could have brought the big toys with me!
Support on the night was from DJ January Winters, who got the crowd moving early in the evening!
Right, you've had a somewhat brief history lesson on Sugababes, now on to the rest of those photos:
