Belinda Carlisle, Edinburgh review: 'bouncing, barefoot physicality'
Devoted fans and nostalgics all left this Edinburgh show happy, but a few more Go-Gos numbers might have livened things up a bit, writes David Pollock
Belinda Carlisle, Usher Hall, Edinburgh ★★★
There was a sublime moment during the encore of this opening headline date of Belinda Carlisle’s latest UK tour, as she reminisced about her early days as a singer “back in 1977, in the punk days of Los Angeles,” and the first time she toured the UK with the Go-Gos, alongside Madness and the Specials.
This bled into the tale of her bandmate Jane Wiedlin and the Specials’ Terry Hall co-writing the song Our Lips Are Sealed. “I have to do one Go-Gos song, right?” teased Carlisle. Then, unexpectedly, she played Our Lips…, its brisk indie-pop chorus sounding as thoroughly irresistible as ever.
By the turn of the 1990s, of course, Carlisle was a hitmaker to put her old group in the shade, albeit with her intuitive way around a powerful chorus firmly turned on the middle-of-the-road market, and it was this solo career which was celebrated here.
It’s genuinely surprising to discover Carlisle is 67; she performs with the bouncing, barefoot physicality of someone two decades younger, and her voice is strong but natural. An elfin and energetic onstage presence, in the opening minutes she shifted from 1990’s light, saccharine Runaway Horses and breezy pop thrill (We Want) The Same Thing to Big Big Love from her 2023 EP Kismet, possibly the most Go-Gos non-Go-Gos song here.
The rest of the set followed a similar trajectory, exploring polite balladeering in its early stages, spiced up by signature hits I Get Weak and Circle in the Sand, and only really bursting into life with Carlisle’s self-professed favourite song she’s ever recorded, the heartstring-striking Summer Rain.
The set then kicked into high gear for its final third, cramming in the anthems Leave a Light On, Heaven is a Place on Earth, Big Scary Animal and Live Your Life Be Free.
The evening ended on the Hollies’ The Air That I Breathe, from Carlisle’s recent covers record Once Upon a Time in California. Devoted fans and nostalgics all left happy, although a burst of We Got the Beat or Head Over Heels in place of one or two ballads might have livened things up even more.
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