Live at the WUK in Vienna
Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Viral into career heaven
British disco queen Sophie Ellis-Bextor celebrated a more than successful Austrian concert premiere on Saturday evening in front of around 800 fans at Vienna's WUK, which had been completely sold out for weeks. Between her viral hit "Murder On The Dancefloor" and newer songs, there was also room for covers and humorous stories.
March 16 - a public holiday for Baxxter/Bextor. Hamburg's techno pope H.P. Baxxter celebrates his (unbelievable!) 60th birthday, London's pop queen Sophie Ellis-Bextor makes an appearance in Vienna. Nine years ago, in January 2015, she made her only and rather inglorious live appearance in this country. At the Vienna Rose Ball at around 2 a.m., she fired up an already exhausted or rather, rather over-lit, crowd as a DJ and with a few solo songs. One is tempted to say: pearls before swine. Apart from that, her performance on Saturday evening in Vienna's WUK, which has been completely sold out for weeks, is indeed the big live premiere, as she notes early on in the set. This time it is also sufficiently appreciated. The noise level rises to teen star level in places. The fact that the concert evening is taking place on a Saturday certainly doesn't hinder the ecstasy across the room.
Late career boost
The fact that Ellis-Bextor, at almost 45 years of age, is more acclaimed than she has been for almost a quarter of a century is thanks to the indie sensation film "Saltburn". In a striking scene at the end of the film, her top hit "Murder On The Dancefloor" is so well placed that the Brit was given another career boost with rocket propulsion at the end of last year through no fault of her own. Luckily for the show's organizers too, as they were still a long way from the "sold out" sign when streaming provider Amazon added its sensationally successful film to its program. After a quarter of a century on stage, Ellis-Bextor has enough experience not to be rattled by highs or lows. The mother of five did not take off when she took off in 2001 and did not fall into a hole when her label Universal Music suddenly gave her notice after the failure of the album "Make A Scene".
It is well known that foresight and humanity are not among the greatest strengths of listed companies. Thanks to "Saltburn", the record company has made up for the lapse from back then. It is to be hoped that Ellis-Baxtor has had her new contract well remunerated. The Vienna show is already one of the last dates on her European tour, but she and her four-piece band show no sign of fatigue. Their enthusiasm for the huge cheers from their longstanding and new fans seems completely unaffected, the evening's list of hits is long - and determined by others. She relies primarily on covers. She can't quite shed the nimbus of the one-hit wonder, at least outside the island. There she has five albums in the top 10 of the charts, which is by no means nothing. Beyond the island, her successes are more modest. You might remember "Get Over You" or perhaps "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" - the 44-year-old even gave the latter number away in a medley.
Lasciviously family-friendly
Sophie Ellis-Bextor live is also more of a disco party and stage karaoke than a concert in the traditional sense. She starts with the Alcazar cover "Crying At The Discoteque" with fellow musicians in animal masks, moves on to Cher's "Take Me Home", gets people dancing with her Armin van Buuren collaboration "Not Giving Up On Love" and picks up with "Like A Prayer" (Madonna) and "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" (ABBA), shamelessly taking on the greatest songs in female pop history. While the band is well-rehearsed and works inconspicuously in the background, Ellis-Bextor dances in various glitter garlands that leave little room for imagination and still remain suitable for families. This also fascinated Holiday Sidewinder, a one-woman show with a playback band, who heated things up with quirky indie pop in the opening program. "She is a very unconventional pop star. She has five children, a lot of class, is sexy but never too offensive, never swears around and is an event for the whole family."
Sidewinder got to know Ellis-Bextor years ago through their former joint management, as she revealed to the Krone in the run-up to the tour, from which a close friendship developed. She is currently on her fourth tour with her childhood idol. "As an eight-year-old, I was jumping around in my parents' living room in Australia when they played 'Murder On The Dancefloor' on MTV. Sophie is totally easy-going, lets me ride on her tour bus and during the day we often go shopping for clothes in second-hand stores. The music business can be really tough and mean, but whenever I think I can't go on, I see Sophie and her unwavering optimism, which in turn rubs off on me." Ellis-Bextor's own songs are also infused with this good mood. "Music Gets The Best Of Me" as a universally applicable mantra, "Hearing In Color" or the incredibly captivating "Bittersweet", which with its disco-esque urgency would also have deserved a viral revival, stand out.
Thank you, disco ball
At the very end, the British singer takes to the "B-Stage" at the back of the stage to perform "A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed" by her old band Theaudience a cappella and without a microphone. A magical, fragile moment which, given the heated atmosphere and the first alcoholic outbursts, didn't really fit in with this enjoyable Saturday evening. Following Irishwoman Róisín Murphy's brilliant show at Elevate in Graz two weeks ago, Sophie Ellis-Bextor now proves that the flickering disco ball is particularly effective in a global time of uncertainty and upheaval. The fact that her new songs from her latest album "Hania" are drowning in the process doesn't matter to the protagonist either. Careers come and go, but rarely are they reactivated as brilliantly as here. Sophie Ellis-Bextor makes the best of it and everyone in attendance is delighted. You can forgive her for the insipid joke that she has picked out special features of Vienna on Wikipedia (last heard almost word for word from Jeff Goldblum in the Globe) and brags about them. See you again soon.
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