SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR + SUMNER – BRIGHTON DOME 4.6.25
It was 27 years ago that I first saw Sophie Ellis-Bextor perform as the lead vocalist of indie rock band theaudience at Brixton Academy. Sophie had only turned 19 a week before the performance as her band played support to popular Manchester outfit James.
At the time, theaudience only had one single to their name: ‘If You Can’t Do It When You’re Young, When Can You Do It?’. It missed the Top 40 by just eight places. The follow-up single ‘A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed’ was released a month after the Brixton gig and broke into the Top 30 at No.27. A further single made the Top 30 three months later, and their debut album charted at No.22 soon after. Unfortunately, the demo for their follow-up album was rejected by Mercury Records, and they were dropped. This may have been a blessing in disguise for Sophie as she then teamed up with Italian DJ Spiller. They recorded ‘Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)’ and topped the UK singles chart, then two months later, the Hounslow-born singer was signed by Polydor to embark on a solo career of pop, dance, and disco.
The Brixton gig wasn’t the only time I’ve seen Sophie perform. In June 2019, I visited Cartmel Racecourse, where after an afternoon of racing on a warm summer’s day, Sophie played opening support to Sir Cliff Richard.
Last year Sophie played support slots for Take That and The Human League. One of the shows with The Human League was at the Brighton Centre in December. You can read about that show HERE.
Tonight’s Brighton Dome show is number 11 of their 17 date UK and Ireland tour. The tour started with two dates in Dublin two weeks ago. Sophie and her band have gone on to play in Glasgow, Newcastle, York, Nottingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Cardiff and Birmingham so far, with further shows coming up in Bournemouth, Oxford, Bristol, Plymouth and Sheffield, followed by a sold-out show at The Royal Albert Hall in London.
Tonight was an all-seated sold-out show with hardly an empty seat in the house. We got to see a one-hour and 42-minute set. The lights dimmed at 8:31pm and there was a lot of cheering from the audience. The intro music kicked in as Sophie’s band members took up their positions around the stage. Two minutes later, Sophie appeared centre stage about three-quarters of the way back, dressed in a short black and silver sparkly dress with her audio signal receiver strapped to her upper right arm. The opening number was ‘Relentless Love’, an upbeat pop song that has been available to stream since the end of March. This will feature on Sophie’s upcoming album ‘Perimenopop’, which is due for release on 12th September.
Around halfway through the song, Sophie ventured nearer the front of the stage and got the crowd clapping along. A good start to what will turn out to be a fun, enjoyable evening. As the song finished, Sophie said “Hey there Brighton”, she chuckled then said “Good to see you”. We then moved swiftly on to Cher’s disco cover, ‘Take Me Home (A Girl Like Me)’. This gets most of the audience on their feet and shaking their hips. Once the song comes to an end, there is a big cheer. Sophie says “Thank you Brighton. It’s very lovely to be back at the Dome. The last time I played here was on my orchestral tour.” Sophie had obviously been studying the history of the building as she proceeded to mention that ABBA performed ‘Waterloo’ here, David Bowie played a number of times and on his last performance got banned as fans were ripping up the seats, and Pink Floyd performed ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ here. Further historical events were rattled off, then the 46-year-old singer thanked the audience for coming and said “Let’s enjoy ourselves in these hallowed halls”. Next, he heard ‘Taste’, another upbeat song from the forthcoming new album.
Things remain upbeat and disco-influenced for the next song. The popular ‘Hypnotized’, this has some of the audience joining in to the choreographed movements performed by Sophie. Keyboard player Ciaran Jeremiah then plays a short instrumental interlude as Sophie sorts out her dress straps that were causing her a few issues. A member of the stage crew then brings out an implement that Sophie calls the button. This is a small, mushroom shaped object with a button on the top of it. The large LED backdrop screen that has been projecting many different things on it throughout the early songs of the set then reveals a number of rectangles with song titles on them. It looks like something from a television game show. The idea here is Sophie presses the button, and one of those rectangles will highlight the next song they will perform.
From the pressing of the button, the screen highlights ‘Wild Forever’, which is a tune Sophie mentions is a song she wrote with Ed Harcourt. It’s the only song we hear tonight from the 2016 ‘Familia’ album. The first guitar chords played on this one remind me of the opening guitar chords to The Who’s ‘Baba O’Riley’. During this song, Sophie dances, waving a red ribbon.
Following this, two stools are brought out to the front of the stage, Sophie tells us that her brother Jack is on drums and he recently completed his first marathon. This was in Belgium, and he did so in a decent time of 3 hours and 6 minutes. Well done to Jack. Sticking to family matters, Sophie tells us that she will soon be celebrating her 20th wedding anniversary with her husband and bass player, Richard Jones. She also reveals there are members of her family in the audience tonight including her eldest son. Lead guitarist Pablo Tato switches to an acoustic guitar and joins Sophie down the front as they perform the beautifully sung, ‘Young Blood’ while sitting on the stools.
The stools are removed and we move on to the next composition ‘Hearing In Colour’, which is one of two songs performed tonight from the 2023 album ‘HANA’. The other song was ‘Hypnotized’, which we heard earlier. During this song, Sophie exits the stage and comes back moments later in a change of outfit. Now wearing a snazzy green swimsuit-type outfit with lengthy matching streamers. We hear ‘Ready For Your Love’, a single from last year, then it’s time for a return of the button. The songs listed on the LCD screen this time are all from the forthcoming album. We get to hear yet another upbeat track, this is the most recent single ‘Vertigo’. Following this, we hear ‘Get Over You’ from the 2001 debut album ‘Read My Lips’. For this one, Sophie encourages the audience to sing along, which they duly oblige. Sophie says, “You have voices of angels.”
Next, it’s a lengthy four-song medley that includes Sophie and Spiller’s number one single ‘Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)’ and culminates with ABBA’s ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)’. There is a quick introduction of the band, then we move onto ‘Freedom Of The Night’ and a short version of Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’. For this song, Sophie wears a pair of Orbital-style glasses that reveal bright blue lights at the sides of each of her eyes. The end of this song merges into the next one, ‘Not Giving Up On Love’. At the end of this, we get a big cheer from the crowd. Sophie then says, “Of all the nights on the tour, this is the one I’ve been most looking forward to. Let’s go to the discotheque.” We hear ‘Crying In The Discotheque’, then Sophie says, “It’s time to take you to church, Brighton”. A cover version of Madonna’s 1989 hit ‘Like A Prayer’ is what we hear next, with the screen at the back of the stage now showing three stained glass windows.
‘Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer)’ sees Sophie asking the crowd to jump and as the song ends the popular vocalist says “Brighton, I want to thank you so much.” She then thanks her amazing crew and says it’s time for our last song of the night. There are whistles from some in the audience then it’s time for the very popular hit ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’. A song that has spent a total of seven weeks at number two on the Official UK Singles Chart, two weeks when first released in December 2001 and then a further five weeks last year when it featured in the five-time BAFTA-nominated movie ‘Saltburn’.
The band leave the stage at the end of the song and return for an encore a minute and a half later. Sophie says “Well, hi, friends, One for the road. How about something bittersweet?” They play ‘Bittersweet’, a song that featured on Sophie’s debut album ‘Read My Lips’ along with ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’. As the song nears its ending both Sophie and Pablo leave the stage. They reappear together on the balcony. Pablo with his acoustic guitar and Sophie without a microphone. Sophie asks the crowd for quiet and sings ‘A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed’, her first Top 30 hit with her original band theaudience, a cappella. At the end of the song Sophie says “Thank you, Brighton”.
Thelma Houston’s ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’ is blasted through the speakers as the audience make their way to the exit. A fitting end to a great evening of joyous entertainment. I must give a final mention to Sophie’s band as I thought they all performed very well, especially Tina Hizon who played keyboards, percussion, violin and sang backing vocals.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor:
Sophie Ellis-Bextor – lead vocals
Pablo Tato – lead guitar, acoustic guitar, synth
Richard Jones – bass guitar, synth
Ciaran Jeremiah – keyboards
Tina Hizon – keyboards, violin, percussion, backing vocals
Jack Ellis-Leach – drums
Sophie Ellis-Bextor setlist:
‘Relentless Love’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Perimenopop’ album)
‘Take Me Home’ (1979 Cher cover) (from 2001 ‘Read My Lips’ album)
‘Taste’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Perimenopop’ album)
‘Hypnotized’ (with Wuh-Oh, from 2023 ‘HANA’ deluxe edition album)
‘Wild Forever’ (from 2016 ‘Familia’ album)
‘Young Blood’ (from 2014 ‘Wanderlust’ album)
‘Hearing In Colour’ (from 2023 ‘HANA’ album)
‘Ready For Your Love’ (with Felix Jaekn, 2024 single)
‘Vertigo’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Perimenopop’ album)
‘Get Over You’ (from 2001 ‘Read My Lips’ album)
‘Lady (Hear Me Tonight)’ (2000 Modjo cover) / ‘Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)’ (with Spiller, 2000 single) / ‘Can’t Fight This Feeling’ (with Junior Caldera), from 2011 ‘Make A Sense’ album) / ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)’ (1979 ABBA cover)
‘Freedom Of The Night’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Perimenopop’ album)
‘I Feel Love’ (1977 Donna Summer cover)
’Not Giving Up On Love’ (with Armin Van Buuren, from 2011 ‘Make A Sense’ album)
‘Crying At the Discoteque’ (2020 Alcazar Casino cover, 2020 single)
‘Like A Prayer’ (1989 Madonna cover)
‘Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer)’ (with The Freemasons, from 2011 ‘Make A Sense’ album)
‘Murder On The Dancefloor’ (from 2001 ‘Read My Lips’ album)
(encore)
‘Bittersweet’ (from 2001 ‘Read My Lips’ album)
‘A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed’ (from 1998 theaudience album)
Tonight’s support act are Australian electronic dance duo Sumner from the small native woodland town of Launceston in Tasmania. They released their first material in early 2018 and have gone on to sell out shows in Sydney, Melbourne and their home state of Tasmania. The UK and Ireland tour with Sophie are their first international shows. Unfortunately, not long after they were signed by Australian label Lab78, lead vocalist Chloe Wilson started suffering from seizures and was soon diagnosed with epilepsy. Despite this, the duo have managed to produce fresh tunes and perform live.
Along with keyboard and player Jack McLaine, the pair enter the stage at 7:31pm and play a 28-minute seven-song set. They get straight into their performance with Jack using an Akai MPK 261 MIDI keyboard controller to produce the rocking dance beats that Chloe performs too. Tonight’s set includes the 2019 single ‘Blame Myself’ which Chloe tells us is a song about breaking up with someone and realising everything was your fault. They also perform ‘Starlight’ from their second and latest EP ‘Retrograde’ which was released in February and finish off with the excellent 2021 single ‘Stranded’. You can get to know Sumner by watching this 10-minute documentary HERE.
Sumner:
Chloe Wilson – vocals
Jack McLaine – keyboards
Thirteen different Sophie Ellis-Bextor photos from tonight’s performance can be found HERE.
