Shirley Bassey, Arena, Manchester




Some peculiar items have fallen at the feet of singers. Ozzy Osbourne was hurled an active bat; Bonnie Tyler once was pelted with bags of urine. No such nonsense for Shirley Bassey. There are the flowers and cards, a Chanel bag. Moments later, someone proffers a huge bottle of champagne. "They've been with them printed,louis vuitton shoulder bags," squeals the singing legend with childlike glee. "Thank you to the years Shirley." Bassey is celebrating her 50th anniversary in showbusiness with the album called Thanks for many years. "Where did all of them go?" she sighs, that is a good question. Bassey is 66 and makes jokes about her bus pass,louis vuitton outlet, but she looks terrific. Maybe the secret of eternal youth is based on absorbing the passion for teenagers, gay people, drunk people and several very, very old people, all who look for a special connection with a lady who wears waterfalls of diamonds and outfits that could well have scuppered several generations of ostriches. Bassey's James Bond work and dance collaboration with Propellerheads has ensured her endurance, but her biggest ace in the hole may be the way she brings songs your. When she sings of betrayal, you would like to storm happens, banish the cads and take her on a castle inside sunset. The expression of disgust she boosts the line "Impossible to reside in with you, impossible to reside without you" might be inclined to someone in Row P. Diamonds Are Forever is brilliantly reinvented as an eerie cry from someone who has lost everything but is driven to find solace in materialism. The most important surprise is her sexuality: not merely the expected nudge-wink of Hey Big Spender, but the stirring sexual volcano she gives the Doors' Light My Fire. It's alarming but exciting to locate a 66-year-old is sexier than Kylie. For one hour and a half, the show rollercoasts through emotions, with an orchestra drilled perfectly. She overdoes the camp for I Am Some tips i Am, riotously received by the gay contingent, but her emotional farewell is heartfelt, and she departs to a different flurry of gifts including, bizarrely, a massive band. · At NEC Birmingham , tonight, the touring.