Review: Belinda Carlisle treats Cambridge to all the hits and more
American pop superstar Belinda Carlisle performed the last date of her Decades tour at the Cambridge Corn Exchange on Saturday, February 25, and although the gig wasn’t officially sold out, it certainly seemed like it.
Support came from fellow 80s hitmakers The Christians. Singer Garry Christian proved to be a very entertaining frontman, delivering the songs with aplomb and laughing and joking with the audience. He succeeded in getting the crowd on their feet for emphatic closing number, Harvest for the World, a top 10 hit for the band back in 1988.
Belinda Carlisle’s five band members came out first before the very youthful-looking singer joined them, resplendent in a black top and sparkly gold skirt. Jumping up and down, gliding and twirling her way around the stage, the star’s energy was infectious and the anthemic sing-along that is (We Want) The Same Thing was the ideal opener. It instantly got the audience on their feet and for the most part, that’s where they stayed.
The California-born songbird mentioned that it was the last night of the tour and suggested that she might cry. “Not really,” she joked. A few songs in, Belinda named some of the artists that she’s worked with over the years, including Lindsey Buckingham, Jackson Browne, The Bangles and, by way of an introduction to the song Deep Deep Ocean off her third solo album Runaway Horses, George Harrison, who played guitar on the track.
Ahead of I Get Weak, the second single to be released from her 1987 album Heaven on Earth, the singer revealed that she had thought that the album was released in 1988 before someone reminded her recently that it actually came out in ’87.
As well as being a very active presence on stage, Belinda was in fine voice throughout and she shone once again on the wonderfully mystical Circle in the Sand, one of my very favourite songs from her extensive catalogue.
La Luna and Summer Rain were further highlights, while Our Lips Are Sealed, a hit for both The Go-Go’s (Belinda’s band before she went solo) and Fun Boy Three, was played in tribute to Terry Hall of Fun Boy Three and Specials fame who sadly died last year.
Belinda, who recalled that one of the first times she came to the UK was with The Go-Go’s to support Madness and The Specials on tour, noted that the song was written by Hall and Jane Wiedlin, a fellow Go-Go.
The timeless pop classics that are Leave a Light on and Heaven Is a Place on Earth were the perfect way to bring the main set to a close. The encore consisted of three songs from the 90s: the outstanding Runaway Horses (the singer had earlier cited the 1989 album of the same name as her favourite), Big Scary Animal and Live Your Life Be Free.
[Read more: Roachford: ‘We need to help these independent music venues thrive’, The Specials treat Cambridge to 40 years of hits]
After waiting more than 30 years to see this titan of 80s pop music live, I came away feeling happy and satisfied that I’d finally done so - and from what I could see, I wasn’t the only one that enjoyed it.
