Live Review

Scouting For Girls – Royal Centre, Nottingha,

• 14th May 2010

Performing at the cosy venue of the Royal Centre in Nottingham, Scouting For Girls were hosting one of their first headlining tours. The venue was large but with intimate seating all the same, and great choice in location.

Supporting was Scottish pop singer Alex Gardner with his team of musicians and looks that seemed to be sending teenage girls utterly doo lally. The crowd were a combo of teeny boppers, middle aged couples and families. It was quite interesting to see that the kind of innocent lyrics and music of Scouting for Girls was filling the gap of the once upon a time ‘boy band’ culture in the 1990’s.

Bursting onto to stage with opening track ‘Heartbeat’ (which got everyone singing along straight away) and then proclaiming to all ‘we were the fourth member of the band’. Roy Stride, Greg Churchouse and Peter Ellard certainly were happy to be there and knew how to excite everyone. The screams and anticipation of what the night would behold got all the more excitable for many.

Plunging into a mixture of old and new tracks from self titled album ‘Scouting For Girls’ & new album ‘Everybody Wants to Be on TV’ the crowd were going wild for the boys who seemed to be equally enjoying the fantastic reception they were recieving. The guys were very interactive with the audience they often stopped to chat, including singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to a very delighted 18 year old and running about into the tired seating. They gave us a trip through their hits and also did a cover of Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing, now I doubt from the age ratio that many knew who originally sang this and perhaps knew it only through the TV show Glee. Either way it was chanted back and thoroughly appreciated.

I can’t say it would be a first choice of concert if you wanted to relax and enjoy the music because the screaming teenagers totally put you off. However with about an hour or so long set the boys really tried to deliver the best they could and after speaking to many who attended, the feedback was fantastic. So verdict is if you’re a fan you ought find out when they’re playing next!