DESPITE four number ones, it has taken Sugababes since 2000 to reach the arena circuit fora the first time. That caution looks well judged as, even now, they fell well short of a sell-out on Saturday night.
Then again, could you predict the make-up of a Sugababes crowd?
The answer, at their 9.20pm start, turned out to be mums and tired daughters at their first concert; groups of teens empathising with the be-yourself sentiments of Ugly; cuddling couples who knew a hit or two; and the odd stray male with a crush.
The street rough edges have long left Sugababes. Instead they gave the standard arena pop performance after opening with Red Dress in silver tops and silver wraparound dark glasses that still looked more high street than high fashion.
Built around ubiquitous screen projections and a plea to make poverty history, the stage presentation targeted the teens, as founder member Keisha, first replacement Heidi and second replacement Amelle guided the audience through the greatest hits with smiling chatter between songs on stage or screen.
By comparison with American urban pop acts, their choreography was reticent, dancing around mike stands or posing on chairs in Christine Keeler mode. This show by numbers was too tepid until an acoustic version of Ugly revealed personality at last and a cover of Primal Scream's Rocks brought a smile, widened further by the encore invitation to Feel My Hits, a girls' night-out message stretched across tightly stretched T-shirts. That was naughty, the rest was just nice.
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