Jukebox

Lulu - Live

To coincide with her 60th birthday, Lulu’s 1989 DVD Lulu – Live is being re-released. It was filmed during her Red Hot Tour at the Glasgow Pavillion, a great chance to see her performing in her home town. The tour was her first in 15 years

It’s a fairly short DVD with only 55 minutes running time and the extra features are dismissible, including as they do four pages of “fact file”, a discography, a slide show of photos you can’t control and a link the Weinerworld and Lulu website. Pretty pointless. It would have been really nice if they could have acquired a few more bonus features on there seeing as it’s for her 60th. Perhaps a few clips of recent performances or a new interview.

The DVD is a mix of Lulu performing and clips of her looking out across a grey Glasgow, talking about her history, her life and the songs she sings. We start with a moody shot of her looking out over the river before being jolted into the first song with no warning or introduction. The song is then interrupted with one of these little clips telling us why she likes Take Me Home so much. Throughout the show we’re also treated to her thoughts on the origins of Soul music and a brief story about how she got to go and see all these wonderful musicians that sparked her desire to sing the songs in the set when she was a teenager. It’s mildly interesting and does break up the show.

The vibe of the whole DVD is rather dated, as you’d expect I suppose, and lacks the atmosphere I have come to expect from music DVDs. There are none of the whizz bangs of her more recent performances but at least you get a full set (unlike some in recent years). Every song is delivered with her usual energy, humour and passion and there are some nice moments where she goes down into the audience and gets some of them up to dance.

Not many of the tracks are her own. In fact it was only because of this DVD that I have discovered that Shout! isn’t originally hers. Of course these days an appearance by her isn’t complete without it, even when she joins Jools Holland on stage. There is plenty on here you’ll enjoy though; lots of the old Soul classics like Sweet Soul Music, Gimme Some Loving and I Feel Good. There’s a ‘new’ song; a duet called Show Me The Way and To Sir With Love.

The band and the sound on the DVD are both excellent and it’s interesting to see how she’s changed over the years. I think most would agree that she seems to be in even better shape now than she was back then. It’s a good DVD to stick on in the background, to have a bit of a sing and dance to but it may be one that you want to watch the once before passing on.

“ lacks the atmosphere ”

File under: Pop

Tracklist: Take Me Home / Sweet Soul Music / I Feel Good / The Man Who Sold The World / You Send Me / You’re No Good / To Sir With Love / Ain’t Too Proud To Beg / Show Me The Way / Gimme Some Loving / Shout! / Can’t Turn You Loose

Written by Vikki Roberts - November 2008
Read more: DVDs, Pop, Lulu