“10-9-8-7-6 …” yell the audience as Steps’ teasing five-minute countdown nears its climax. Videos of the band in Star Wars-type costumes are projected on to a giant box which lifts to reveal Steps themselves, in purple capes and thigh boots. Opening new song What the Future Holds and superb oldie One for Sorrow set the tone for a two-hour stream of giddy-tempo, sugar-coated, Abba-sounding bangers.
Approaching their 25th anniversary and having been kept from touring by Covid, the five-piece are back with an extravaganza: choreographed dancing, trademark hand movements, a marching band and wonderfully preposterous outfits. Heartbreak in This City is illustrated – obviously – by a giant heart. The stage revolves for Take Me for a Ride. Something in Your Eyes brings – but of course – dancers wearing crash helmets with tassels.
“Are you ready to party?” asks Lisa Scott-Lee as the mega-setlist stretches from hoedown debut 5, 6, 7, 8 to six songs from lockdown albums What the Future Holds Pts 1 & 2 via banger covers of Kylie Minogue’s Better the Devil You Know and the Bee Gees’ Tragedy. The brothers Gibb-penned Chain Reaction – a 1985 hit for Diana Ross – sees the group “playing” a drum kit with luminous lightsabers. The pace only relents for Heartbeat, where they sit on stools and come over all emotional. For It’s the Way You Make Me Feel, four of them – including widely grinning Ian “H” Watkins – parade around in Elizabethan ballgowns.
New father Lee Latchford-Evans’s comments about parenthood and Watkins’ affirmation of Steps’ “support for the LGBTQ community” recognise the audience demographic. There are huge cheers when he thanks the fans for their support since he came out in 2007 and says that boys should be able to wear dresses if they want.
Although Steps acrimoniously split in the 2000s, their affectionate glances and cheeky banter suggest that, in their mid-40s, they’re enjoying themselves as much as the crowd. “All we ask is that you have fun with us,” declares Latchford-Evans. Who could possibly refuse?
At AO Arena, Manchester, 12 November. Then touring.
