The Girls Aloud Show is an emotional rollercoaster, and a reminder of how they made history

Before I launch into gushing about just how incredible Girls Aloud were at Utilita Arena Sheffield last night (May 28), I have a disclaimer to make: When I was about seven years old, I made the biggest financial choice I ever had, and invested about £8 in a CD which was, and still is, solid gold: ‘The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits’.

All that to say, I was coming to The Girls Aloud Show, about 16 years after that moment, with my nostalgia-tinted glasses firmly on. And, looking around, noticing the mishmash of ages, and old, old gig t-shirts on display, I realised I wasn’t the only one. Nostalgia was what brought most people there - what else is a reunion tour for?

Nostalgia-tinted glasses or not, Girls Aloud are absolutely smashing the tour, and reminding audiences all over the country just how they made pop history, crowned the biggest-selling girl band of the 21st century in 2012.

A few news articles have alluded to a few hiccups so far - a wardrobe malfunction and a few forgotten lines - but the Sheffield show was plain sailing, and the band played hit after hit, including ‘Love Machine’, ‘Sound of the Underground’, ‘Jump’ and ‘Something Kinda Ooooh’.

The stage presence of Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Kimberley Walsh, and Nicola Roberts is something to be reckoned with. From the curtain dropping to show them each on a podium in the same pose, the synchronised choreography ramped up and up, and made every person in that audience forget they were watching one of the band’s first shows in over a decade. The choreography throughout was so quintessentially and perfectly ‘girl band’ - and that’s before we get to the stunning coordinated outfits and four (yes, four) costume changes.

Nadine Coyle told the crowd: “This arena in particular - I feel like if we check back and we ask, this is going to be one of the first big arenas that we’ve actually done,” and she was right - in May 2005, Utilita Arena Sheffield was the band’s fourth arena show.

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“We thought, wow girls, we have made it, we have seriously, seriously made it. And now we’re back again,” she added, and was met with massive cheers.

But with the celebration of their progress and history, and nostalgia and joy of the crowd able to revel in it too, there was one clear missing piece of the puzzle. Sarah Harding, who died in 2021 from breast cancer when she was just 39, is prominent throughout the show. A few moments brought people close to tears on and off stage, including Sarah’s vocals from ‘Whole Lotta History’ paired with clips of her from the music video.

How Girls Aloud managed to pull off touching, emotional tributes throughout the show, while still celebrating so joyfully what they all achieved (and at one point being suspended from the ceiling each on a motorbike) was nothing short of an art, and I feel totally dazed after watching it all play out in such close proximity.

Fittingly, Sarah’s vocals were present in the last song of the show ‘The Promise’ in her catchy ‘here I am, walking Primrose’ lines, which played while the four women looked up at her image in silence for a moment. Walking through Sheffield Station an hour later, and hearing those lines being sung over and over again by friends in their very own ‘girl groups’, it seems certain that Sarah’s memory will live on far beyond this tour.

Tickets are still available for some of the remaining The Girls Aloud Show dates via Ticketmaster.