Shortly before Bananarama took to the stage at the Danforth on Friday night, Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” was played in it’s entirety over the PA and while people didn’t quite go crazy, there was enough singing and dancing going on to prove that even before the show had started, this was a crowd that was ready to party. And Bananarama were more than up for the task, getting the party going and keeping the energy level reasonably high throughout the night.
The English trio, touring with the original lineup for the first time after Siobhan Fahey recently reunited with bandmates Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward, came out of the gate strong, all glittery outfits and synchronised dance moves as they started things off with “Nathan Jones” and “Robert DeNiro’s Waiting.” “Our outfits are an homage to Winter Olympics,” joked Fahey later on in the night. They ran through a bunch of other hits during their set, including “Venus,” “Cruel Summer,” “I Heard A Rumour,” and a cover of “Stay” by Shakespears Sister, Fahey’s post-Bananarama project. The ladies and their backing band put on a solid performance that got me thinking about the possibilities of a reunion of a fiftysomething Pussycat Dolls or S Club 7 fifteen or twenty years down the line. Who knows? It could happen.
After closing out the main set with a cover of “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye,” the band returned for a two song encore of “It Ain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It)” and “Love in the First Degree” before ending off a show that definitely had the fans dancing and partying for the duration. Mind you, with the crowds for these kinds of big pop reunion shows, who generally come prepared to have fun and relive their youths, it’s pretty easy to keep the party going.