IT may be summer but try and tell that to the thousands of drookit, rain-sodden fans who'd flocked to the Ross Bandstand yesterday morning.
With some of the country's biggest pop acts in attendance not to mention being broadcast live, Vodafone's
To Be Announced Mini Festival threatened to be a washout. But with Sugababes, The Hoosiers and The Feeling in fine form; no-one seemed to care about the rain as they all shone their unadulterated pop on Edinburgh.
With a gig in Liverpool later on, it was the sugary trio of Keisha, Heidi and Amelle who opened the day and had the task of warming and waking up some of the bleary-eyed punters.
Having completed another sell-out UK tour and sealing their place as one of the nation's biggest music acts, they gave locals another glimpse of just why that is.
It's evident in hits such as About You Now and Freak Like Me, they've got the recipe for commercial success down to a tee with their songs. Take something retro like Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Two Tribes or Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who, sample it and mix it together with an indie-rock backing band.
There is something extremely likeable about Sugababes performing live that you don't grasp from them on record though.
Maybe it's the stage show complete with doppelganger dance troupe. Maybe it's the fact they each look distinctively stunning in their own way, or maybe it's the fact they seem to have the balance spot on of enjoying themselves onstage and seemingly looking each of their thousands of fans right in the eye.
Kisses are blown, hands are waved and they make it all look so genuine at the same time. It's helped them become the girl-band the boys want to be with and the girls want to party to. In short – a record company's dream. But with strong singing particularly with their cover of En Vogue's Don't Let Go, these girls proved they're more than just clever marketing.
Another band keen to get their message across are The Hoosiers. Appearing on stage in Spiderman and skeleton suits with their band name lettering, they seem keen to be seen as the 'wacky' ones of the pop world.
They're infectious and enthusiastic with a sound reminiscent of Dexy's Midnight Runners while Irwin Sparkes' vocal range goes into Robert Smith territory at times.
But for all their bravado, their set was rather straightforward with singles, Worried About Ray and latest release, Cops and Robbers getting the best reception and a rather unusual version of Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire getting people moving, although by this stage, it could've been just to circulate the blood.
Finally, it was The Feeling's turn to keep everyone moving. They're the type of band you don't admit to liking but catch yourself whistling to in the shower. But with a plethora of catchy and camp singles to perform, easy on the ear harmonies and front man, Dan Gillespie's energetic twisting, turning and leaping about, there's no doubting they know how to put on a show.
They're not quite Queen and even if some of their stadium rock pretensions such as jumping off monitors and duel guitar solos do verge on the cliched, yesterday proved The Feeling can also be exciting and dynamic as a live act. Ending on the ridiculously cheerful I Love it When you Call meant everyone left, damp, cold and soaked but definitely not miserable.
The full article contains 603 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
