Review Of Blue And Steps, Keep Moat Stadium, Doncaster

Doncaster seems to be getting some top acts performing in the town - a few days previously it was A-Ha who played a gig at the Keep Moat Stadium.

Fast forward 3 days and 2 acts who were successful 10 years later and you will find Blue and Steps on stage.

These days the individual members of Blue seem to be more on reality TV shows, Hollyoaks or in pantomime than performing together on stage. Back in the day they were so successful that they could easily sell out Sheffield Arena.

It is hard to forget how many hits they have had, the fact that they can all sing is a huge bonus too. They remind the audience about the old TV shows such as CD:UK that they used to regularly appear on.

Simon Webbe is a northerner so it's not surprising to share that "it's good to be back up north."

All Rise still sounds fresh, I Will, their Eurovision Song Contest entry baffles why it didn't win the contest for them, whilst One Love had the audience doing the hand movements that go with the track.

It was Lee Ryan's birthday so a birthday cake arrives on stage to his delight. A double celebration that made you wonder why Blue are not back in the charts.

Steps might be more cheesy than a slice of mature cheddar but who can deny their pure pop credentials. Yes, most of the songs are pastiches of Abba but when it's this good who cares!

Down to a four piece for the Doncaster gig due to Lee Latchford-Evans being absent for family reasons it did not detract from their performance.

You would have thought that they might just stay in the same outfits but credit to them for getting changed at least 4 times during the show.

Accompanied by a dance troupe it was a visually and polished performance.

Summer of Love started the evening which led into a cover of Kylie's Better The Devil You Know. Chain Reaction saw the 4 piece change into Doctors and Nurses uniforms.

If you wanted deep and meaningful music you would get that at a Radiohead concert; if you wanted a frivolous hands in the air pop show then Steps are up there at the top. It's not rocket science but good old fashioned fun.

Newer tracks such as Tears on the Dancefloor sounded as good as the older songs. There was a local connection too - Lisa Scott Lee's husband comes from Doncaster.

One For Sorrow is probably their best number - with the fans doing the dance too. It might have been even cheesier than a Wensleydale creamery but you have to hand it to them.

Closing with Tragedy - whatever your take on the group, it was hard not to join in. We could do with more pop like this in the singles chart these days. A pure pop evening.