January 25, 1999
Beverley Picture Palace
Although most of her songs are so sickly they make you want to chew your own legs off (see [B]'In Too Deep'[/B], [B]'Vision Of You'[/B]), the guileless innocence of [B]'Leave A Light On'[/B] and th
Oh dear. That it has come to this. We find Belinda Carlisle, one-time pop supernova and ex-singer with The Go-Go's, in Beverley, near Hull, on a damp, winter evening. She has no record deal, but she has an acoustic guitar and a burning desire to play it.
Skipping onstage in a bright-red trouser suit, she and three Bryan Adams clones go straight into 'Big Scary Animal' to an outburst of unbridled toe-tapping and head-nodding from an otherwise still audience. It's slightly unnerving.
When she finally does 'Heaven Is A Place On Earth', the assembled crowd of smartly-dressed, sensibly-haircutted quiche-eaters breathe a collective "Aaaah!", as if they've suddenly been relieved of nasty constipation. It's the last time they show any sign of having a good time all evening.
Belinda, however, is unperturbed, and continues apace. Although most of her songs are so sickly they make you want to chew your own legs off (see 'In Too Deep', 'Vision Of You'), the guileless innocence of 'Leave A Light On' and the oddly Drugstore-like 'La Luna' are disarming and even charming. She leaves the stage to polite applause. Next stop, Carlisle. Probably.
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