The Sugababes are back!

Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan, and Siobhan Donaghy, the original line-up of the Brit-Pop trio, took to the glittering stage of London’s Mighty Hoopla Festival for a triumphant return performance that thrilled a colorful audience of 40,000 fans with their first gig in almost a decade.

More after the jump…

Having originally regrouped in 2013, Mutya, Keisha, and Siobhan adopted the moniker MKS (their initials) for legal reasons. Though most, ultimately, referred to them as the Sugababes.

Now, the first and most critically-acclaimed incarnation of the group has finally acquired the rights to use the name by which we know them best, and they’ve kicked things off with a headline slot at Mighty Hoopla, the UK’s premier festival for Pop-fanatics.

Despite their long hiatus, the Babes’ slipped back into performance mode with pristine professionalism, stirring up the rapturous crowd with their tight harmonies and bullet-proof setlist. Sugababes’ back catalog should rightfully be acknowledged as one of the best in Pop music history, lurching from tracks with inflections of UK Garage (‘Freak Like Me’), to Euro-infused dance-Pop (‘Push The Button’), to Rock-tinged ballads (‘Too Lost In You’).

The entire show was a relentless onslaught of some of the best British Pop of the last twenty years, and it was clear the girls – particularly Mutya and Keisha, who spent the longest amount of time in the band during its original run – can do a performance of this scale with their eyes closed. Siobhan shone in earnest too, claiming Sugababes hits such as ‘Stronger’ and ‘Caught In A Moment’ as her own with brave new interpretations of the original vocal riffs, silencing the ‘Where is Heidi?’ crowd with one big note after the next. There was even a bit of light choreography from the famously static trio, a move greeted by cheers and applause from their enthusiastic fans.

Notably, the other major reclamation of the night was the group’s decision to sing ‘About You Now’, one of their six number ones, and a track that is arguably “the” Sugababes hit. The controversy lies in the fact that only Keisha was present in the lineup when it was originally released, but its inclusion on the setlist reveals a crucial and telling truth of the reunion: the girls are here to have fun. The moment they began to sing the opening lines of the song, the festival became electric with delight. Waves of glee rushed through the audience, every voice joining the girls to sing the track’s brilliantly massive chorus.

Unlike some reunions, where groups can hold resentment to the very qualities that made them so beloved in the first place, it’s clear that Sugababes know their audience, and they know what makes the group so special. It’s all about the harmonies, the tunes, and the fizzing bond between the three members. The politics and the drama are gone this time around, and the intent seems clear and simple: to celebrate and immortalize the beloved legacy of one of Britain’s best girl bands.

[Christopher Richmond [@ChrisKnowles_94] for That Grape Juice]

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