Sugababes, Glasgow Hydro review: "all three are great singers"

The beloved pop trio – back with their original line-up – can still deliver a sugar rush of big hit singles, writes Fiona Shepherd

Sugababes Siobhán Donaghy, Keisha Buchanan and Mutya Buena (Picture: John Phillips/Getty)

Sugababes, Hydro, Glasgow ★★★

As entrances go, it wasn’t spectacular. The curtain dropped on Sugababes’ first arena tour to reveal….three women sitting on stools executing the world’s most minimal chairography. The soundtrack – Sugababes’ audacious debut hit Overload – did all the heavy lifting but the lack of additional bells and whistles was typical of Sugababes.

This beloved pop trio always manifested as the impassive shy/cool girl gang, pouring most of their energy into their individual and harmony vocals. But like all gangs there were unharmonious fractures, resulting in a revolving door line-up. Throughout the Noughties, Sugababes were the Charlie's Angels of pop with a fluid but always capable membership.

For what it’s worth, the group have returned in their original format – school friends Keisha Buchanan and Mutya Buena with Siobhan Donaghy, who was the first to jump back in 2001 and now found herself singing a repertoire she was never originally involved in with a cool commitment.

All three are great singers, best showcased by a montage of lesser known R&B-flavoured tracks from their debut album, One Touch, and fluttery new song Weeds. The stools were out again for Shape, essentially a cover of Sting’s Shape of My Heart. In contrast, they chose to salute the UK garage gem Flowers, by fellow girl band Sweet Female Attitude, with a demonstrative group hug.

But the fans came for the hits. Sugababes’ singles catalogue remains solid, from the perky diss of Hole in the Head to the dynamic Red Dress, which sounds like two different songs sandwiched together. The mighty Freak Like Me, meanwhile, literally did splice two songs, Adina Howard’s Freak Like Me and Tubeway Army’s Are “Friends” Electric? to potent effect.

In the end though, it was the more straightforward pop strains of Round Round, Push the Button and especially the fluffy About You Now which hit the spot for the audience.