Girls were great, shame about the venue

Girls Aloud

At Newmarket Nights

Friday, July 18.

Girls Aloud 1. Newmarket Nights 0.

While the band had me grinning from ear-to-ear and strutting dance moves that in all honestly I shouldn't be proud of, this venue left me thinking that Life Got Cold.

Girls Aloud were terrific. Great pop songs, cheeky-come-raunchy dance routines and a dab hand at looking pretty. And no matter how uncool you think they are, you can't deny that songs like Sound of the Underground, Love Machine and Biology have pop brilliance written all over them.

It's clear that some girls are better singers, others better dancers, but between them Cheryl Cole, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh aren't half bad.

The set included several cover songs and while a weak attempt at Robyn's With Every Heartbeat bombed, Salt-n-Pepper's Push It was a touch of genius. The girls' former hits I'll Stand By You and Jump went down well with the older of the horseracing crowd.

The girls' chat between songs was a bit naff, leaving the crowd only able to assume they are lacking in the personality department somewhat, but that's only a small criticism.

The only other missing element to the show itself was the lack of costume changes. Blue and black minx leotards and gold spangly mini-dresses are all well and good, but there was definitely room for one more.

The venue was the biggest let down of the night. The sloping ground means everyone in front of you is taller and too many drunk people jostling for position made finding a good spot nigh-on impossible. Getting off site afterwards took an age because of a lack of car parking organisation and the ladies toilets in the Premier enclosure - where people had paid more to get better facilities - were closed and made the queues elsewhere horrendous. The infectious cheeriness of the girls really saved what could have easily have been a miserable night.

I really like them and I'd go to see them again, just not at the races.

HAZEL BYFORD