Lulu takes audience on tour of career in Wolverhampton Grand show - review
Lulu burst onto the music scene in 1964 - and at Wolverhampton’s Grand Theatre on Sunday night she took her audience through five decades of her music and life.
And she wasted no time in getting stuck in, with a rendition of her version of the Isley Brothers’ Shout, which she released when she was just 15 years old, which went down a storm with the crowd.
It was clear from the very start that, at the age of 70, she hadn’t lost her unique and powerful voice that most still recognise her for today.
You knew you were in for a great evening after that.
She took the audience for her Lulu On Fire Tour through her career in chronological order, talking them through her experiences as a singer, actress, songwriter and television personality. She soon launched into a performance of The Boat That I Row, written for her by Neil Diamond.
She then told the audience of her shock of landing a role in a Sidney Poitier film, making her acting debut in 1967. She both acted and sang the title song, To Sir With Love, which became a major hit for her in America.
“I then met and fell in love with a Bee Gee,” Lulu told the crowd. Before she emotionally showed her audience video footage of her performing a duet with her late ex-husband, Maurice Gibb. She then revealed how the three brothers amazed her in the recording studio and how she was in awe of how they worked together.
The story of her Eurovision success followed, before launching into the song that won the country the competition in 1969, Boom Bang-a-Bang.
She told the crowd of her delight in singing the theme to a James Bond film, before singing her cover of David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World.
In the second half, Lulu performed the first song she had ever written, alongside her brother, which became a major hit for Tina Turner. She turned I Don’t Wanna Fight into a superb duet with her musical director.
A cover of Womack and Womack’s Teardrops had the crowd on their feet dancing away.
“I live to do this - I love it”, Lulu told the Wolverhampton crowd - her passion, enthusiasm and energy shining through from start to finish.
She finished the show with a performance of number one hit with Take That Relight My Fire, before raising the roof with a cover of Elton John’s I’m Still Standing.
The theatre setting provided an intimate close-up show with the star and proved that after 55 years in the business - Lulu is definitely still On Fire.
Her support act, musician Philippa Hanna was also entertaining - particularly delighting crowds with her own rendition of Ed Sheeran’s Perfect.
