Review & Photo Copyright © Judie Tingle
It’s not been that long since I was here at Liverpool’s biggest venue, the Echo Arena, for the “Stepback 80’s” event, so it was great to return to the same venue for the “Stepback – The 90’s” event on Friday last week and, like the first time, I was not disappointed. Neither in fact were the thousands of people who descended on the Echo Arena for what was a fun night of energetic dancing to a soundtrack of some of their favourite acts from their younger years.
That being said, what better way to get this party started than with the amazing Peter Andre. The longest act on stage at half an hour, his set passed so quickly and saw him spend a bit of time off stage in the photographers pit dancing with two lovely singers! Even this early in the night, the arena was packed out and full of happy people giving it their all with Peter wowing the crowd just like he did in the nineties. Looking even better now, the highlight of his set was his most famous track “Mysterious Girl” which saw fans going weak at the knees with many recording the song on their phones as a lasting memory.
Next up were East 17, whose Christmas number one “Stay Another Day” was one of the hits from back in the day and, following that, the acts just kept coming with Blazin’ Squad, Booty Luv and Big Brovaz, Boyzlife and S Club 3 all taking this packed arena on a magical trip down memory lane. Still relatively young lads, my personal favourite was Blazin’ Squad who put on an amazing performance although it has to be said Booty Luv came a close second.
Given about twenty minutes on stage each act performed all their hits and had fans dancing in the aisles before it was the turn of B*witched who came onstage all lovely smiles and great voices. Fun stage props saw the girls swinging umbrellas during “Blame It On The Weatherman” while the crowd joined in the fun throwing inflatable balls around the venue.
5ive were the penultimate band to hit the stage and it has to be said that Richie, the lead singer, doesn’t look like he has aged at all. As with all the other acts, 5ive put on an energetic performance to an audience who knew all the words as if it was only yesterday.
Closing the night was the colourful Vengaboys and, accompanied by pyrotechnics which sprayed colourful shiny foil into the sky the ‘boys put on a fantastic performance to bring the curtain down on an action packed, fun-filled show packed with great music from start to finish.
