Sugababes push the button for big crowd

Sugababes, Somerleyton Hall, Friday August 10Visitors to the first night of the Somerleyton Music Weekend were in for a treat as the Sugababes put in a performance worthy of ushering in this year's belated summer.

Sugababes, Somerleyton Hall, Friday August 10

Visitors to the first night of the Somerleyton Music Weekend were in for a treat as the Sugababes put in a performance worthy of ushering in this year's belated summer.

The special picnic-style event was perfect for those frazzled by the day's heat and wanting to lie back and relax as well as those in the mood to get up and dance to hits like Freak Like Me, Round Round and Push the Button.

A performance by one of the country's top girl bands inevitably brings with it its fair share of teenyboppers and their parents, but it should not be forgotten that the girls were one of the first pop groups to take to the stage at Glastonbury and are adept at handling the more diverse crowds attracted by a venue like Somerleyton Hall.

Such diversity was perhaps reflected best by the somewhat eclectic support acts which ranged from punksters The Neutrinos; pop, funk, soul and rock fusion act Kojo; and the five-piece Ben Brother, who took to the stage immediately before the main act.

The performance started in suitably upbeat style with Red Dress, as Keisha, Heidi and Amelle worked their way through a series of routines which were surely too energetic for the soaring temperature. But this is a band which also knows how to slow the tempo and turn out ballads like Caught In A Moment to provide respite.

As first nights go this was one to savour and, with Jools Holland expected to attract a similar crowd tonight, the event looks set to become an annual fixture.

It will surely provide yet another fillip to the region's burgeoning live music scene. Gig and festival-goers are rapidly becoming spoilt for choice when it comes to seeing high calibre artists on their doorstep.

Ben Kendall