Melanie C at Olympia Theatre on March 5th 2012
Review: Aisling O’Brien
Photos: Owen Humphreys
Melanie C was in town on Monday night. The former Spice Girl who is on tour to promote her fifth studio album ‘The Sea’. Accompanied by a full band, Melanie C clad in red leather trousers took to the stage as the audience took to their feet. Kicking things off with a mash up of Rock Me and Yeh Yeh Yeh straight through to Weak, it’s a high energy show we are treated to tonight.
As Sporty Spice, I always felt she had the best vocals but sometimes overlooked by some of the other girls extrovert tendencies. Northern Star, one of her better known tracks, is beautiful live and sees the crowd sway. She comments to the crowd that it’s ‘surreal’ and ‘fucking weird’ to be performing in Dublin after an 8 year absence. Even when The Spice Girls reformed four years ago they didn’t stop off in Dublin. Throughout her interaction with her fans she seems to be relaxed and genuine which is endearing.
Never Be the Same gets a superb reaction as she works the stage. She brings her two backing singers forward and remarks that its time to get intimate for If That Were Me. She seems to have a dedicated following as groups of people in the audience sing along, word for word, song by song. When a fan shouts out Spice Girls she quips back “get ooout..just kidding”, but this seems to confirm we won’t be hearing any Girl Power classics tonight.
She worked her way through her impressive back catalogue which if I’m to be honest I wasn’t really familiar with prior to the show, sometimes it’s the gigs you don’t expect to, that unearths an act you should have paid more attention to. She has an eclectic sound playing a guitar for Burn, then moving to a rockier vibe for Go. She tells the crowd that the Olympia is the best theatre in the world and seems rather humbled to be playing the multi-storied venue. When You’re Gone is the performance of the night as she reinstated her incredible vocal range, before wrapping up for the encore with Think About It.
Returning for Stupid Game. I think everyone knows what to expect with the closing song. She swaps her stilettos for a feather boa and launches in to I Turn To You which gets the Olympia rocking of a Monday night. Just before leaving she reconfirmed her appreciation to the crowd ‘”Thank you, you’re fucking brilliant, thanks for coming out on a Monday night”.
Melanie C Photo Gallery
Photos: Owen Humphreys
