First Night: Gwen Stefani, SECC, Glasgow

Stefani excites with a curious mix of pop magic
By David Pollock
Published: 21 September 2007
The arena-filling chanteuse is a ten-a-penny commodity these days, although most of them are so unerringly bland as to appear rather expensive at that price. The very hit and miss flippancy of pop's production line nature ensures that only old-stagers (but beware, old is a dangerous word in this game) like Madonna and Kylie have the back catalogue to filter a decent set from all the deal-completing dross.

So it's with a measure of trepidation that this first night of Gwen Stefani's UK tour arrives. Undoubtedly a pop star with a certain unique style and a greater portion of charisma than the majority of her rivals, might her relative lack of history in the solo game show her up as one of the chancers who rely on far more filler than killer?

For the most part, reassuringly, no. Even shorn of her numerous hits as the front woman of No Doubt, as she was here, Stefani's particularly glamorous oddness still shone through in almost every way.

Despite the fact her set was milked from only two albums released under her own name, the singer has obviously engaged a team of songwriters, stylists and choreographers who are far less afraid than other comparable artists' somewhat lazy entourages.

She has rather few instantly recognisable hits and many songs which are obviously designed to fit neatly into place with the passions of her time, yet in-between exists a range of tracks which sound like almost nothing out there, at least in the arena of popular music.

It's a mystifying concept, but the show manages to be almost entirely vacuous and somehow hugely endearing at once. It was all visual flash and spectacle for over an hour and a half, from the large gold-lit letter "G" that dropped from the ceiling during "Hollaback Girl", to Stefani's various and ever-more-ostentatious clothing changes. Most of which were similarly monogrammed.

Yet for all her magpie-like tendencies towards brightly-sequinned hot pants and body suits, tottering white cords, and barely-concealing wraps and shawls, it's pleasing to note her music benefits from a similarly attention-grabbing cut-and- paste approach.

Ignoring the tepid R'*'B of "Luxurious" and the bland balladry of "Early Winter" and "Real Thing", – "Wind It Up", "Danger Zone" and "Now That You Got It" were a careering combination of grinding funk, stabbing electro and Stefani's squeaky, high-pitched rapping. Not since Debbie Harry has a blonde white girl stolen hip-hop's soul with such winning dedication.

There are familiar arena elements such as the moveable band riser and Stefani's run around the hall to perform "Cool" amidst the crowd. Yet the energy and invention with which she attacked her set was a blessing to anyone who might feel they're bored of music.