13/12/2010 | Sophie Ellis Bextor – Islington Academy, London

Given that this is Sophie Ellis Bextor’s first solo tour in over 3 years, I was a little excited! Support came from Sinead and the Dawnbreakers who played an 8 song set including Just A Ring, What Would I Do?, Yes Woman and their newest song Down Your Gun. They also played a fantastic cover of Why Do Fools Fall In Love? which had everyone singing along and clicking their fingers!

Sophie meanwhile, opened the show with Dial My Number from her upcoming album which instantly got everyone dancing. She kept the high tempo going, following this with Bittersweet, which sounds even more incredible live than on record. This lead into Take Me Home, Me and My Imagination, Today The Sun’s On Us and we were treated to an outstanding performance What Have We Started? which Sophie told us was her favourite track from her third album, Trip The Light Fantastic.

She then played Starlight, another new track from her upcoming album (which is sounding really beautiful) followed by an excellent cover of Rebellion by Arcade Fire. She followed this up with rare track Can’t Fight This Feeling, and her latest trance single Not Giving Up. There was a good bit of audience participation, singing the intro to Get Over You and the chorus of her iconic anthem Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love) which was interjected with the chorus of Sing It Back.

She finished her main set with Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer), my soundtrack to summer 2009. The electrifying strobe lighting set the room alight, keeping everyone’s hands in the air, clapping along. As always a fantastic show left us wanting more. And more we got, with an encore of Revolution – another brand new track – and classics Catch You and Murder On The Dancefloor.

All of the new songs are sounding fabulous, the old ones are sounding better than ever and there was such a brilliant atmosphere. Suffice to say it’s great to see Sophie back in action.  Speaking to her after the show, she told me that her fourth studio album is due for release in the Spring and is again titled Make A Scene after a brief name change to Straight To The Heart.

http://www.sophieellisbextor.net/