Classic_Pop_Issue_30_July_2017

I

t’s a bright, sunny Sunday

afternoon at a covered

car park in the centre

of Birmingham, and

Charlotte Church is ready

to party! A surprise hit at

several festivals last year,

Charlotte’s Late Night Pop

Dungeon sees the angelic

voiced million-selling

former teen classical star turned

chat show host, TV judge and

gawd-knows-what-else delve

deep into her favourite CDs and

retro playlists.

If that whiffs of karaoke hell,

fear not, as in the hands of the

self-confessed “dank dungeon

bitch,” and backed by an

airtight band who look like

a cross between Funkadelic,

Hawkwind and a stag/hen

night, the concept becomes an

expertly curated celebration of

several decades of top pop.

With only an hour to fill

• there’s Jamelia, Gabrielle,
  Boney M and Sophie Ellis-
  Bextor to follow – the Dungeon
  Diva makes every second
  count, as hits slide and collide
  into other hits, songs morphing
  and genres jumping. The
  monster 30-plus setlist opens
  with a storming barge through
  Prince’s Gett Off, Missy Elliott’s
  Get Ur Freak On and Black
  Sabbath’s War Pigs, before
  turning up the heat with Nelly’s
  Hot In Here, a cry from hip-hop
  classic The Roof Is On Fire and
  Talking Heads’ Burning Down
  The House.
  Elsewhere, Fleetwood Mac’s
  Everywhere suddenly drops
  into Dream Academy’s Life

In A Northern Town, before

heading off into another

stylistic maze. There’s Destiny’s

Child’s Survivor and later

Bootylicious, but also There Are

Worse Things I Could Do (from

Grease), Rage Against The

Machine’s Killing In The Name,

even an operatic ET: The Extra-

Terrestrial! Yes, John Williams’

movie theme!

At times, the pace is so

frenetic that before you can ID

one track – was that Charlotte’s

own Call My Name and Crazy

Chick? – she’s off elsewhere,

dropping a slick R’n’B anthem

like En Vogue’s Don’t Let Go

or mashing Fatboy Slim’s

big beat Millennium blinder

Right Here, Right Now with

Snap!’s Rhythm Is A Dancer.

“I’d be out there with you, but I

have a bun in the oven!” she

declared to the crowd before

heading into Diamonds and

Pearls. “Grab your partner,

grab a partner – obviously

consensually – and let’s bash

out a slow dance!” We get,

Ultra Nate’s You’re Free as

a rocking lurcher, Wham’s

Freedom, and so much more

that by the end of the set you

can barely remember what

you’ve heard. Did she do

Britney and Jack White? Or

did you just imagine it?

For those who embraced

the concept, it was a ride

like no other: a bold, cheeky,

sassy, joyous and occasionally

silly celebration of pop

from someone who clearly

understands, and loves, music.

Dave Freak

CHARLOTTE CHURCH’S

LATE NIGHT POP DUNGEON

BIRMINGHAM PRIDE

28 MAY

THE WELSH SONGSTRESS PRESENTS A MIXTAPE OF GUILTY (AND NOT SO GUILTY) PLEASURES

© Getty Images

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