CityLife

A little harsh. whats wrong with predictible happy sing a long tunes. I thought the show was awesome, the guys were geniune, and so honnestly happy to be where they were. The put on an great show, and everyone i spoke to thought the same. Katie (21)<br />

This review is in response to the rather negative review on the recent Scouting for girls concert: To say that the audience is primarily made up of pre-teen girls is ridiculous. Firstly, a fair amount of the audience were male and secondly the vast majority were aged around 17-25 and a good few in their 30s and 40s. Yes, there may have been some 12 year old girls there, but they were certainly not in the majority. The band’s appeal may not be apparent to all, especially those who choose to see the lyrics as boring, repetitive and clichéd But for the concert goers, the somewhat repetitive lyrics made for a great atmosphere with everyone joining in singing and dancing. For those people who can appreciate the fine art of loosening up, the somewhat clichéd notions of love and loss were entirely forgivable as they simply added to the atmosphere and in making sure everyone came out with a smile on their face!!<br />

WITH over 600,000 albums now sold, Scouting for Girls have overcome derision from all quarters to slowly become one of Britain’s most popular pop bands.<br /> <br /> An unlikely tale, but there is no doubting the evidence; the noise when the lights go out tonight is deafening and doesn’t cease throughout, the reaction to their many piano-pop hits so feverish at times it is difficult to hear the band over the adulation.<br /> <br /> These uncomplicated, lovelorn tales have undoubtedly struck a chord with the overpoweringly pre-teenage girls that hang on every word. <br /> <br /> Yet a listen to the music tells a different tale. Though popular, Scouting for Girls are a byword for offensive, a band who embody what is wrong with music and record labels who, in these desperate times, prey on the uninitiated and exploit them mercilessly.<br /> <br /> Glaring example<br /> <br /> New single I Wish I was James Bond is a glaring example. That the song’s subject matter concerns a fully grown man exclaiming his wish to be James Bond is (almost) a moot point; more disconcerting is the brazenly cynical manner it was released to coincide with the new Bond film, the song secondary to the brand, something SFG are all too guilty of.<br /> <br /> Guilty, too, of committing the most heinous of musical crimes; making pop records with no redeeming features.<br /> <br /> Here …Bond opens a show that continues in the same vein.<br /> <br /> Dumped<br /> <br /> Songs about how singer Roy Stride got dumped come and go, each one sounding extraordinarily similar to the last, complete with a list of tired reference points including Elvis and, bizarrely given that half the audience were barely born when she was in her ‘pomp’, Michaela Strachan.<br /> <br /> That they spend most of the evening sounding like a pub band is more forgivable than the uneasy feeling you get from watching them, where everything comes across as suspiciously calculated, with age old clichés about love and loss made to sound so syrupy as to be nauseating. <br /> <br /> Then there is the band themselves, who look, speak and act like they should be children’s TV presenters, giving the whole thing an air of Dick and Dom Go Pop, not entirely inappropriate considering they are grown men, balding and overweight, singing songs to 12-year-old girls.<br /> <br /> The houselights go up and the crowd, all deliriously happy, leave with the theme tune to Jim’ll Fix It ringing in their ears, a wonderfully fitting analogy for the proceeding hour or so; tacky, spurious and truly, truly awful.<br /> <br /> What did you think of Shaun's review? Have your say.<br /> <br /> Scouting For Girls play the Apollo until Tuesday, November 11. £17.50. Call 0844 847 8000 to check for returns.<br />