Mendez

The crowd at Margate’s Dreamland, for the final show of Sugababes’ first ever arena tour, was a mix of hen-party ladies in pink cowboy hats, long-term Sugababes fans and curious rock dads with their cameras out. Where we were standing, ten people deep from the middle of the stage, we had a clear view of the trio, now in their forties, all three glowing with purpose. Keisha looked so young she ‘must have been kept in Tupperware’, my friend Rosie said.

Mel C had opened, running through some of her solo hits and some of the Spice Girls’, but her mic seemed to cut her off in her soaring moments, so I wondered whether she hadn’t lost the top end of her voice. When Sugababes came on, whose voices have only grown in richness and agility as they’ve got older, I realised it was the sound that was at fault. The vocals were mixed low, notably quieter than the bass, which was so heavy it made the show sound as if it were happening next door. Some of my friends, partway through the set, moved to the sidelines and reported that life was much better there, that the girls sounded wonderful. But we were hemmed in where we were and I didn’t want to lose my sight of them.