The Pussycat Dolls have launched their comeback tour in Birmingham, with Nicole Scherzinger's star power dominating a fraught reunion that features just three of the original lineup.
A fraught road to reunion
Originally announced in 2019 with all but one of the group's original members on board, the tour was cancelled due to the pandemic and then a legal dispute. After a few years of silence, three members – Scherzinger, Ashley Roberts and Kimberly Wyatt – shared plans for a 53-date world tour as a trio.
Poor ticket sales nixed the US leg, while Maga-supporting former member Jessica Sutta alleged she was left out of the reunion because she was viewed as “a liability” (the group did not comment).
A whirlwind spectacle in Birmingham
On stage at the Utilita Arena, the trio gives it their best go. The nearly two-hour show is a whirlwind of hair-flipping, booty-shaking and synchronised strutting. Throughout When I Grow Up, Beep and I Don't Need a Man, Scherzinger is still on lead vocals, predictably so after her recent Tony award-winning run on Broadway in Sunset Blvd.
Roberts and Wyatt are given some time to shine, though: their solos amid the clacking pots-and-pans percussion of Wait a Minute feel pointed, as if to say that, yes, their mics are on.
Uneven but entertaining
Each member also gets their own solo section to varying degrees of success. Wyatt's, for some reason, involves a strange faux DJ set, while Roberts, showing off her dancing skills, is more restrained. Scherzinger gets the most airtime, beginning with a vocally impressive version of Sunset Blvd's As If We Never Said Goodbye complete with X Factor-style cascading pyrotechnics, before her white gown is unwound like toilet paper for a breathless joyride through her solo material. Thundering Eurodance ballad Don't Hold Your Breath and the cacophonous EDM of Wet are particular highlights.
It's all very entertaining, but uneven, with Roberts and Wyatt struggling against Scherzinger's imperious star power. With more members, this inequality may not have mattered, and in the final act – especially during honking 2020 single React and the slinky Buttons, which features a dance break by students from Wyatt's dance academy – the scales seem to just about level out. Whether this imbalance is sustainable remains unknown, but it works for tonight's spectacle, at least.
The Pussycat Dolls play Leeds First Direct Bank Arena on 2 October, then touring UK until 13 October.
