The next act seemed a tad out of place in today’s lineup. The Christians are a musical ensemble from Liverpool, England, who had several UK and international chart hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Garry Christian on lead vocals is a top-level frontman and his band rocked out as tight as a drum. In today’s parlance one could describe the band as pop-rock with an element of soul heard in their performance of previous hits. This band has a history of break-ups and change but today they earned their place on this stage with a good performance.

The Sugarbabes have also gone through numerous changes: The Sugababes were formed in 1998 by founding members Siobhán Donaghy, Mutya Buena and Keisha Buchanan. In August 2001, after just one album and some initial success, Donaghy departed and the introduction of Range later in the year was met with the commercial success. The group survived a second line-up change in December 2005, when Buena left the band and was subsequently replaced by Berrabah. In September 2009, it was confirmed that after eleven years in the band, Buchanan was no longer part of the group and had been replaced by Jade Ewen.

Heidi I have to say looked out of place in the current lineup of the svelte and slim… The group have survived for ten years and spent their time on stage illustrating why with a reprise of some of their biggest hits. The kids and mums loved what they saw and heard while I started thinking about Feeder and The Australian Pink Floyd tomorrow. As I wondered just how this girl group had garnered so much success, the answer was provided with
yet another local FM radio presenter asking ‘are you having a fantastic time?’ and claiming to be Chester’s most popular. You see it’s radio stations like these plus Radio 1 that have provided airplay and sales for these ladies and the acts that followed.

Time to visit the Dawsons (instrument shop) Alterntive venue and unsigned acts… Room Service is a 6-piece band headed by a decent female singer and performing pop-rock songs in front of a very small audience. The line between signed and unsigned is becoming blury with good talent on both sides of the fence. These guys were no exception with a couple of songs that I would expect to hear on today’s radio stations.