A couple of words on the Puppini Sisters, who we saw last night at the Town Hall in Birmingham.



Imagine that the Andrews Sisters had been put into cryogenic suspension in 1944. Imagine that when they were thawed out in the 21st century they decided to carry on where they left off, but this time singing modern songs in their own inimitable style. In essence, that is what you would get if you went to see the Puppini Sisters perform live.

OK. Sure it would not be for everybody. Sure the whole thing is a gimmick. Sure it is the kind of thing that you would probably not want to see live more than a couple of times. But on a cold December evening, with yours truly getting over the flu, it was exactly what I wanted to see. Once the sound mix had been sorted after song 2 or 3 (what are soundchecks for?), I thought that the Puppini Sisters were kind of brilliant.

Fantastic voices. Camp beyond belief. Divas supreme. An excellent trio of male musiciains (upright bass, guitar and drums) backing them. A startling selection of cover versions (Blondie's "Heart Of Glass", Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights", the Smiths' "Panic", Beyonce's "Crazy In Love", Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" and some swing standards ("Don't Sit Under The Appletree", "In The Mood", that bugle boy song whose title escapes me). It was wonderful. Really funny and entertaining. I throughly enjoyed myself. So did Jennifer. Or at least she said that she did.

And I have to say it. I am in love. The redhead in the Puppini Sisters (ah... sweet Stephanie...) was really kind of something, in the... er... flesh.