Champagne for Lulu at Lighthouse Poole Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Mel S-W
Do you want to Shout? Or just Relight My Fire? Or perhaps you know the Man with the Golden Gun? Lulu’s hits are … well legendary. And this legend headed down to the south coast to the Lighthouse Poole.
Starting her pop career at the age of 15, Lulu was a key voice from the 60s onwards. She’s known for her powerful voice, famous collaborations, and catchy tunes. Over the years, working closely with the likes of David Bowie, Tina Turner, Elton John and Take That. This tour was an amazing trip down memory lane and was an opportunity to bring us along on her career journey and introduce us to the amazing people who looked out for and supported her during her 60 years in the music industry.
There was no support act and the show started just after 7.30 and the Champagne for Lulu show was off! It was a show that was full of energy which was amazing given that Lulu is a sprightly 76 year old, coming onto the stage in platform heels. The show was around 2 hours long, with a short tea break in the middle.
The show was very cleverly executed, and even though I may not have been familiar with all of Lulu’s early music, I was brought along for the ride with the clever use of videos and pictures. Lulu mentioned right at the start that everything we would see had meant a lot to her and that’s why it was included in the show. There were a lot of “moments” and “there was this man…” After which she introduced some of the amazing people who sculpted her life.
I really enjoyed the evening, from knowing little about her music apart from Shout, and Relight My Fire in collaboration with Take That, but I left having caught a glimpse of her amazing journey from Glasgow, to LA, and where she talked through her collaborations with David Bowie and Neil Diamond. You could tell how much the videos actually meant to Lulu but this was especially evident when the David Bowie video had technical issues and was buffering. I really did think that she was going to stop the song and wait for it to work again. One emotional moment was where she was reminiscing about the time she asked Maurice Gibb to sing with her on An Audience With Lulu. I really enjoyed watching her sing live whilst we watched the recording of her singing partner. It was very poignant.
She has got a very distinctive and powerful voice and the performance last night was very energetic. The passion for music and what she has achieved really shone through.
Lulu has been busy over the last few years but she made it very clear that this isn’t her farewell tour and that she will be continuing to do what she loves for as long as she can do it. Tonight’s performance shows she’s at no point ready to slow down! Ending her show with Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing” was both a nod to a close friend but also to her not giving up!
Rating: 5/5
This was a one night only show and the tickets had started from £34.95. For upcoming shows visit their What’s On Guide here www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/whats-on/
Lighthouse, Arts and Entertainment, 21 Kingland Road, Poole, Dorset, BH15 1UG