Belinda Carlisle - Wednesday 8th January - Oxford New Theatre

Brief review:  Much postponed trip to see Belinda in Oxford. Booked in May 2020 and subject to Covid delays and rearrangement, the show was originally on a Sunday (24/11/21). Busy midweek traffic meant we only caught the last 2 songs of the support (The Christians), but I'm not especially a fan of theirs, so not much missed for me. 

Belinda bounded on stage at precisely 9pm and her silver shoes didn't even last the first song before being discarded. The next 90 minutes were excellent - basically a "Greatest Hits" show. A great evening and I even made a merchandise purchase which is unusual these days!

I'm annoyed that I can't go to the Guildford show later in the tour - especially as I had front row tickets.

Venue and View:  Front row, centre of circle. Nice theatre and perfect view.

Setlist

(We Want) The Same Thing

Do You Feel Like I Feel?

In Too Deep

Deep Deep Ocean

I Get Weak

Circle in the Sand

Vision of You

La Luna

Summer Rain

Fool For Love

Our Lips Are Sealed

Mad About You

Leave a Light On

Heaven Is a Place on Earth

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Runaway Horses

Big Scary Animal

Live Your Life Be Free

Belinda Carlisle - Wednesday 18th September - Anvil Theatre, Basingstoke

One Liner: Belinda's first night of the tour celebrating 30 years since the release of her "Runaway Horses" album. Beautifully performed with excellent vocals and setlist choice. Glad to have decent 3rd row seats for this one.

Setlist
Runaway Horses
(We Want) The Same Thing
Whatever It Takes
I Get Weak
Circle in the Sand
Deep Deep Ocean
Fool For Love
Vision of You
La Luna
Summer Rain
Our Lips Are Sealed
Mad About You
Valentine
Leave a Light On
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Live Your Life Be Free
(It's Too Real) Big Scary Animal
Heaven Is a Place on Earth
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Shades of Michaelangelo

Belinda Carlisle - Friday 13th October - Indigo2

One Line Review: Front row view and a fantastic set.

Setlist
I Feel Free
Nobody Owns Me
World Without You
I Get Weak
Circle in the Sand
Fool for Love
Summer Rain
Should I Let You In?
Vision of You
We Can Change
Valentine
(We Want) The Same Thing
Leave a Light On
Heaven Is a Place on Earth
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Big Scary Animal
Mad About You
Live Your Life Be Free
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Runaway Horses
Love Never Dies

Belinda Carlisle - Friday 29th September - HMV, Oxford Street

One Line Review: No performance, but Belinda signing new releases in support of "Wilder Shores" and the 40th Anniversary Super Deluxe "Heaven On Earth"

Belinda Carlisle - Saturday 10th October - Indigo2

More Belinda Carlisle, this time at the Indigo2 in London. Decent 4th row seats acquired meant no need to be in the venue especially early, meaning time for a nice meal at the Prospect of Whitby in Wapping and a quick drink in the "rooftop" bar of a restaurant in front of the O2.

As at Brighton, Belinda's audience was mixed - with a predominantly middle aged crowd mixed with some fabulous campness!

She was once again on great form - although it is a shame that the setlist was shorter than many of the recent US shows. "Mad About You" was included which was a highlight and there was much singing throughout from the audience - apart from maybe during "Bonnie & Clyde" which was possibly the only lull in proceedings. 2 really enjoyable shows from the former Go Go's star - let's hope there are more on the horizon. Rumours of some shows with Susanna Hoffs - now that would be great!

Setlist
Runaway Horses
(We Want) The Same Thing
I Get Weak
Circle in the Sand
In Too Deep 
Bonnie and Clyde
California
Vision of You
La Luna
Summer Rain
Valentine
Mad About You
Leave a Light On
Heaven Is a Place on Earth
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Big Scary Animal
We Got the Beat
Live Your Life Be Free

Belinda Carlisle - Saturday 3rd October - Brighton, St George's Church

A new venue for me. It's good to see some working churches being put to addition use within their community and this looked a very pleasant venue whilst the support was on. However, the problem with a non-purpose built venue became apparent as soon as Belinda hit the stage and the audience stood up. She is not exactly a tall lady (particular in the flat shoes she wears for shows) and the "stage" was less than a foot tall. The result meant that no-one beyond the front 5 rows could see a thing. I was half way back and at 6ft 3" could only get a flash of reddish hair occasionally. Everyone was in the same position and so we all did what a typical middle-aged British crowd would do - moved ourselves to somewhere we could see - ie down the front.

The security didn't quite know what to do. On one hand people refused to go back to their seats and one the other, there was absolutely no risk to Belinda or the band. A happy truce was reached where security just tried to keep the aisles clear - with mixed results.

Once we were able to see, the show was great. Belinda looked and sound fabulous and the setlist was full of hits. One other slight disappointment was that whilst she did play one encore, she didn't reappear for the scheduled second one printed on the setlist. I am seeing her again next week in London and really looking forward to it.

Setlist
Runaway Horses
(We Want) The Same Thing
I Get Weak
Circle in the Sand
In Too Deep
Bonnie and Clyde
California
Vision of You
La Luna
Summer Rain
Valentine
Leave a Light On
Heaven Is a Place on Earth
Big Scary Animal
We Got the Beat 
Live Your Life Be Free

Belinda Carlisle - Saturday 17th May - IndigO2, London

Belinda Carlisle arrived in London as part of a small run of shows across the UK. Remarkably poor booking from me (not realising the downstairs stalls would be seated (most unusual for the IndigO2) meant we were up in the balcony. The view would have actually been fine in such an intimate venue, were it not for the handrails and glass walls which did impact the sightlines quite significantly. Still, comfortable seats with decent legroom and a near-private bar / lounge did ease our pain.

Ms Carlisle was on fine form. Her vocals were considerably better that the live set on her recent “Anthology” boxed set (which is otherwise excellent by the way). The band were also impressive. I don't know if they are Belinda’s regular touring band (does she play enough shows to have one?) or hired hands, but they certainly got to grips with the set, which from online reports had evolved over the week.

We even got a couple of fairly new songs – time will tell if they grow to stand alongside the more established singles from the 80’s and 90’s. An enthusiastic crowd lapped up every moment and it was nice to see so many younger faces in the crowd clearly enjoying the performance. Let’s hope she comes back soon as promised.

Setlist
Runaway Horses
(We Want) The Same Thing
Sun
I Get Weak
In Too Deep
California
Circle in the Sand
Valentine
Vision of You
La Luna
Summer Rain
Mad About You
(It's too Real) Big Scary Animal
Live Your Life Be Free
Leave a Light On
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A Woman and a Man
Our Lips Are Sealed
Heaven Is a Place on Earth
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Goodbye Just Go

Belinda Carlisle - Tuesday 4th May - Jazz Cafe, Camden

Went with Mrs B for this one and sat up in the restaurant overlooking the stage. Very civilised and an excellent view away from the crush below. Food wasn't bad either!

 

This was another acoustic evening and Ms Carlisle performed a good selection including most of her solo and Go Go's hits. It was really rather good. The band had to walk past our table to get to and from the stage - Di couldn't believe how attractive Belinda remains at 51.