Filed in Sarah Harding

Nottingham review

BUDDING pop stars, please take note: if you’re going to take on the demands of a full-scale arena tour, then last night’s Girls Aloud show was an object lesson in how to do things properly.Lesson One: Don’t stint on the Wow Factor. The girls started their set suspended on high wires, black capes flapping in the breeze, before slowly descending into the arms of their hunky male dancers. (Note: if you must make economies, then it’s quite OK to deprive your dancers of their shirts for most of the night.)Later on, a massive illuminated catwalk dropped from the ceiling, stretching all the way to a platform at the back end of the arena. The girls sashayed across it, crooning and waving all the while, before greeting the folks in the “cheap seats” to wild acclaim, and giving them a three-song performance. Lesson Two: Don’t cut corners. Many acts have a revolving stage. Girls Aloud’s stage revolved in two directions at once, allowing for some clever choreography. Most acts let off a couple of fireworks towards the end of the show. Girls Aloud’s crew blasted us with pyrotechnics throughout, as well as firing off enough ticker tape to keep the Arena’s cleaning staff busy for days. Lesson Three: Don’t play it too safe. It takes nerve to drop sure-fire favourites such as No Good Advice, Long Hot Summer and The Show, in favour of album tracks such as Girl Overboard, the pounding crowd-pleaser Close To Love, and the slinky, ska-tinged Control Of The Knife (as mashed up with Kelis’s Trick Me). And it’s a brave act indeed who can take on Robyn’s brilliant but challenging With Every Heartbeat, and make it their own.Lesson Four: Don’t forget to have fun. In stark contrast to last year’s sulky showing by the Sugababes, the five girls genuinely looked as if they were enjoying themselves. Self-confessed party girl Sarah larged it from beginning to end, while even sulky old Nicola was wreathed in smiles throughout. And while the Sugababes treated each other like strangers, Girls Aloud bonded like a gang of best mates. Lesson Five: Don’t mime! OK, so Nadine slipped out of key a couple of times. But who knew that Nicola had such a great, gutsy voice? Lesson Six: Don’t act too cool for school. During the encore of Something Kinda Ooooh, middle-aged mums bopped in the aisles, while the gays squealed and the pre-teens waved their glow-sticks. (My ten year old niece’s verdict: “fantabulous”.) Lesson Seven: Don’t take us for granted. There’s a reason why Girls Aloud have stayed at the top of their game for over five years, with eighteen consecutive Top Ten singles to their name. It’s because they deliver the goods, to the best of their ability, time after time. Long may they continue to delight us. MIKE ATKINSON Set list:Sexy! No No No…Girl OverboardSound Of The UndergroundClose To LoveCan’t Speak FrenchLove MachineBlack JacksBiologyWhole Lotta HistoryWith Every HeartbeatI’ll Stand By YouFlingPush ItWake Me UpWalk This WayControl Of The Knife/Trick MeCall The ShotsJumpSomething Kinda Ooooh

Share
Filed in Sarah Harding

GIRLS Aloud will feature on Norwegian pop cutie Annie’s new album Don’t Stop after resolving recording confusion.
The band were unaware that their backing vocals had been kept on a track called My Love Is Better, which they sang a demo of.Now it’s been put on the 29-year-old’s LP – and it sounds exactly like a belting GA tune.Despite gaining rave reviews for their Tangled Up tour, the sexy five-piece are battling nerves.Sarah Harding, 26, admitted: “I’m sh*tting myself. It’s the biggest production we’ve done.”She added that they hope to do something “extra special” at the Virgin Mobile V Festival in August.

Share
Filed in Sarah Harding

Shout it out loud Girls

GIRLS Aloud have confirmed what Playlist readers have known all along – they’re not splitting up.

During their sensational show at London’s O2 Arena, the delightful Cheryl Cole, 24, thrilled fans with a revelation.

She declared: “We’ve got some exclusive news for everyone in here, we are in preparations for our sixth album.
“So forget the rumours, we’re coming back.”

My favourite female five-piece put on a dazzling show to 20,000 screaming fans last Friday – they also sold out the venue on Saturday.

I joined the Girls in their dressing room at the gig. Cheryl told me: “The tour has been going really well – we’re so pleased.”

So you should be.

It blew Spice Girls out of the water in my opinion.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/playlist/view/38274/Shout-it-loud-girls/

Share
Filed in Sarah Harding

SARAH’S DOUBLE TERROR

Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding was left badly shaken after being confronted in her dressing room by a fan who looked her double.
The blonde lookalike tricked security staff into letting her backstage by pretending to be the singer.
Last night one of the group’s crew said: “The girls had done a great performance in Brighton on Wednesday and walked into their dressing room buzzing.
“But there was someone in there waiting, a girl in her 20s who looked exactly like Sarah. She was carrying a book with lots of photographs of Sarah and started screaming, ‘I love you. I’m your biggest fan’.
“Sarah was pretty shocked and the band’s security removed the woman. “
Sarah, who lives in North London with her DJ boyfriend Tom Crane, has since bought burglar alarms and a panic button.

http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/sunday/2008/05/18/sarah-s-double-terror-98487-20421178/

Share
Filed in Sarah Harding

The heels are alive

THE bigger the band, the wilder the stories it seems.
It’s almost an unwritten rule when it comes to the tabloids and chartland’s profile-rich and internationally famous.Take Sarah Harding, arguably the most glamorous of the five chart minxes and the subject of one of the daftest, most recent tabloid tales.While Cheryl Cole was dealing with hubby Ashley’s unofficial away game it was claimed the blonde model and Kit-Kat ad star was proposed to via a horse.Talking exclusively to Hear & Now, the 26-year-old from Ascot – the racecourse town – denied both engagement or equine intervention.”That was a load of b*****ks,” she says on the phone from final rehearsals. “No way. I’m not getting married – I’m quite happy as I am, thank you.”It swiftly becomes apparent Sarah takes all this kind of thing in her stride, however, not least having had a much-publicised romance with a former tabloid showbiz writer.”Yes, I know how it works. They like to have a dig at anything,” she says. “That gave me an insight. “I like what I do, even if it has it’s down times. But the most bizarre thing has been that horse story.”Among the other yarns have been suggestions that Sarah was aiming to go solo – tittle tattle that follows any thriving boy/girl band members around.”That’s not coming on to the agenda. I take it day by day and I just want to carry on and be successful.”It’s part of the reason Sarah says she doesn’t Google herself, through fear of what she might read. “I have done, years ago, but sometimes you see things about yourself you don’t want to see,” she confirms.”There are more stupid things said than nice things. People like to build you up and knock you down – it’s the way of the world.”

http://www.thestar.co.uk/music/The-heels-are-alive.4088991.jp

Share
Filed in Sarah Harding

Weight watcher: Sarah Harding keeps an eye on her boyfriend’s middle-age spread

Weight watcher: Sarah Harding keeps an eye on her boyfriend’s middle-age spreadGirls Aloud star Sarah Harding had a weighty matter on her mind last night – her boyfriend’s slight paunch. The 26-year-old gave her beau Tom Crane a friendly hint to keep an eye on his waistline after the pair dined at London’s restaurant-of-the-moment Automat last night. Ultra-slim Sarah gave his presumably full tummy a little pat as the DJ proudly showed it off in all its glory, almost sending a button flying in the process. Paunch watch: Sarah Harding and her boyfriend Tom Crane leaving London’s Automat last nightThe couple had been enjoying a romantic night together, with Sarah making the most of a night off from her Girls Aloud sell-out Tangled Up tour. The pair, who began dating a year ago after Sarah split from her journalist boyfriend Joe Mott, now live together in the singer’s £1 million flat in London’s Camden. They have already discussed marriage and Tom has agreed to propose to her in Venice when the time is right. The notorious party girl is even contemplating starting a family. Sarah says: “We have talked about children. Tommy wants loads. More than I think I can pop out!” She is set to take to the stage again with her band mates at the 02 arena tonight. Night off: Sarah made the most of a break in Girls Aloud’s Tangled Up tour

How GORGEOUS does Sarah look <33333
Share
Filed in Sarah Harding

Sarah interview

Interview: Sarah Harding
May 16 2008 by Gordon Barr, Evening Chronicle
Girls Aloud’s Sarah Harding chats to Entertainment Editor GORDON BARR on the run-up to the group’s two Newcastle shows
WE’RE used to seeing Girls Aloud’s Sarah Harding taking a break and eating a Kit Kat these days.
She’s all over the TV screens in the chocolate bar’s latest advertising campaign.
But when she takes time out to chat to myself, it’s not a Kit Kat she’s munching on – rather a Scotch egg.
“I’m a classy lady,” laughs Sarah, who will be performing with Girls Aloud at Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena on May 24 and 25.
“I’m eating a Scotch egg for my breakfast on the way into rehearsals! Lovely things – they’re so tasty.”
She admits that unlike in that TV ad, there is little time to relax at the moment. “It’s full on. It’s worth it, though, once we get on the stage,” she says of what to expect when the group arrive in Newcastle.
“There will still be a few hits in there but I think it will be different in the fact that every year it gets a bit more elaborate, a bit bigger, a bit better, better costumes. Onwards and upwards.”
Onwards and upwards is probably the kind of advice Sarah and the group gave their fellow bandmate Cheryl Cole in light of her recent personal problems.
While Sarah refuses to talk about that, she does give comment on Byker lass Cheryl’s duet with the Black Eyed Peas’ Will I Am on Heartbreaker. “I love it. I think it is going to do really well. I think it is perfect timing for them both to collaborate and I think it is going to really help them both.
“It’s definitely going to boost his sales!!”
Girls Aloud have been one of Britain’s most consistently successful pop acts since being formed on Popstars – The Rivals back in 2002.
Did Sarah ever think that, five and a half years on, they would still be churning out the hits?
“I didn’t really want to think about that to be honest. We were just taking it every day as it came. You’ve just got to live for the moment and enjoy what you have for now.
“There’s no use fretting about what might not be in the future.
“Because we are all strong, feisty, opinionated and ambitious girls, I think that’s helped, and plus the fact there is room for us in the market and we have a great team around us to help us do that.
“We’ve been extremely lucky in that case, but despite being extremely lucky I don’t think if none of us had our heart in it we would still be here now.
“We have our downsides, definitely, but the upsides definitely outweigh that.”
One of those upsides is the touring.
“It will be interesting to see what feedback there is to the songs we haven’t released. We’ll definitely be doing all the big hits too, though.
“My personal favourite is Wake Me Up. I’m more of a rock chick.
“But then I like Something Kinda Ooh as well as it has a really nice dance side to it as well, uplifting.
So what next? “After the tour we have a book coming out. There’s quite a lot of honesty gone into it.
“But remember we have young fans. I think the old warts-and-all one will come later on! When our fans are all grown up!”

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on-newcastle/music-gigs/2008/05/16/interview-sarah-harding-72703-20921945/

Share