ShareLulu CBE performing her Champagne For Lulu Tour at The Royal Concert Hall Nottingham on Wednesday 6th November 2024.
Images and Review by Kevin Cooper
Glaswegian icon Lulu took an enthusiastic crowd down memory lane as she continues with her last ever tour with an appearance at the Royal Concert Hall on Wednesday night.
Opening with the hit single that first propelled her into the spotlight as a 15 year old, Shout, delivered at a sedate pace, the singer looked younger than her 76 years, and you couldn’t not be in awe with how petite she is but how big her stage presence is.
Over a two hour set, she proved she was going out with a bang as she showcased her musical legacy performing the likes of Martha Reeves and the Vandellas’ Heatwave, Neil Diamond’s The Boat That I Row and the Bee Gee’s First Of May.
In the first half there was the abysmal Boom Bang-A-Bang which saw Lulu still looking mortified singing it 55 years later, whilst her moving rendition of The Man Who Sold The World went down a real treat as she dueted with the late David Bowie who appeared on the big screen. Her between song banter included tales of hanging out with The Beatles, her marriage to a Bee Gee, winning Eurovision, before she finished with a sublime version of To Sir With Love which got her a standing ovation.
Each song in the second half was greeted with loud applause as she bounced around the stage with all the verve and vigour of someone half her age. There was the lovely I Don’t Wanna Fight before she upped the tempo with Dan Hartman’s Relight My Fire which had the crowd on their feet, before Elton John’s I’m Still Standing seemed to be an ode to her outstanding career.
With an encore of a livelier version of Shout, the wee lassie with a big voice who left the tenements of Glasgow’s Dennistoun behind for the swinging London 60’s finally bowed out and Lulu has been around for so long that it is impossible to think of the music world without her.
