| Chemistry Tour | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arena tour by Girls Aloud | ||||
| Location | United Kingdom | |||
| Associated album | Chemistry | |||
| Start date | 22 May 2006 | |||
| End date | 3 June 2006 | |||
| Legs | 1 | |||
| Shows | 10 | |||
| Girls Aloud tour chronology | ||||
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The Chemistry Tour is Girls Aloud's second concert tour, in support of the group's third studio album Chemistry. Girls Aloud performed ten dates in various arenas across the United Kingdom, making it their shortest tour. The tour began in Nottingham on 22 May 2006 and concluded in London on 3 June 2006. They did not perform in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland during the tour.
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The tour dates were announced towards the end of October 2005.[1][2] Tickets went on sale on 4 November 2005, although pre-sale started two days earlier. The group did not tour in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland, due to low record sales in Ireland. Girls Aloud also made their festival debut at 2006's V Festival.[3]
Kimberley Walsh said the tour would be "bigger and better" than What Will the Neighbours Say? Live, due to the size of the venues. "Everything will be in an arena so it gives us a bit more room to do some of the things we would have liked to have done last time."[4] The stage included a catwalk which extended into the audience. There were two smaller video screens on the sides of the stage and a large one in the centre. The tour begins with an introduction "evokes memories of Weird Science", as a mad scientist creates five women. Girls Aloud then rise from underneath the stage.[5] The introduction was seen as a reference to Girls Aloud's reality show beginnings.[5][6]
During the show, Girls Aloud performed various covers. A sample of Amerie's "1 Thing" was incorporated into a dance break during "Love Machine". They performed a cover of Kaiser Chiefs' "I Predict a Riot". Audio of the performance was included on the rarities disc of Girls Aloud's greatest hits The Sound of Girls Aloud. A medley of songs from 1980s musicals was also included, featuring "Fame", "What a Feeling", and "Footloose". Their covers of "I'll Stand by You", "See the Day", and "Jump", which have been officially released, were also performed.
The tour received widespread acclaim from contemporary music critics who complimented the show's relentless fun. Laura Lee Davies of The Times praised the show, calling it "a thrilling hour and a half of skinny pants, fireworks and dry ice."[5] Sophie Heawood of The Guardian gave the concert four stars out of five. Heawood lauded the group's energy, vocals, and the show's "Broadway feel".[7] Scotland's Sunday Mail also gave the show four stars.[8] In a review for The Daily Telegraph, Michael Deacon said that although Girls Aloud aren't the best singers or dancers, "Girls Aloud aren't about polish and perfection. They're about fun, and they deliver it in heaps."[6] He wrote, "There's one vital thing that's absolutely un-manufactured about Girls Aloud, and that's their obvious love of what they're doing."[6]
The concert began with a Science themed introduction. Taken as a metaphor to their reality show beginings, a dancer appeared on stage dressed as a mad scientist. On the video screen in the middle of the stage, each of the members names appeared before one by one, data profile styled biographies was shown for each girl. This shown the mad scientist 'growing' the group. Once all five biographies was shown, a 10 second countdown began. The countdown began to malfunction once it hit 5. Explosions and sparks happened on stage before the opening song began. The sentence 'You Can't Mistake My Biology' is heard before Girls Aloud rise on stage whilst Nadine Coyle is heard sining 'We're Gonna Cause a Controvisy'. They are wearing Red, White and Black costumes. Biology, then begins which invovles a dance break. No Good Advice saw the group wear white lab coats over their costumes. Takining the theme of a lab, white sheet trolleys and shelves of potions and bottles was brought on stage. After a brief dance break, Cheryl Cole was put onto a box, before a red curtain was lifted around her, the curtain was then dropped, revealing Cole to have disappeared. Cole then reappears, and the song finishes. Album track, Waiting, then follows, ending with a talk to the auidience. A Pink panther themed dance was performed leading into Love Machine, which involved a sample of Amerie's hit single 1 Thing. The group then exit the stage for a costume change.
After the dancers perform a dance Break, Girls Aloud, return to the stage wearing summer type costumes and perform Long Hot Summer. Whole Lotta History saw the girls saw on benches on either side of the catwalk. Watch Me Go is the next song performed followed by the groups cover of the Kaiser Cheifs hit I Predict A Riot.
After a video interlude, the group is then rose onto the stage wearing showgirl type costumes and they perform See the Day. This is followee by their debut single Sound Of The Underground, which sees them perform the usual choreography, but instead of using microphone stands, they use chairs. Sarah Harding then talks to the audience before they perform a medley chose by Kimberly Walsh which involes musicals. the song within the medley were Fame mainly sung by Coyle and Cole. This was followed by Flashdance... What a Feeling with Nicola Roberts, and Walsh taking the lead, this left Harding to finish the medley with Footloose.
The Medley was followed on by a video interlude before the girls returned wearing different colored dresses. They open the new act with The Show, which saw them sat on stools behind lighted frames. Whilst singing Intro, the members eavch walk down the catwalk, during their respective solo lines, this is followed by Models. Racy Lacy was next performed as a dancer silhouette sliding down/dancing on a pole is seen on the screens. I'll Stand By You is sung whilst Girls Aloud stand at the end of the Catwalk. Acting like it is the end of the show, they sing a reprise of the opening song Biology, before exiting the stage.
The encore begins with Wild Horses, which sees the band and the dancers enter the stage wearing black cloakcs with large hoods. As soon as the song enters Wake Me Up, they take off the claoc revealing costumes imitating a police Officer (Coyle), a racing car driver (Walsh), a sailor (Roberts), a cow girl (Cole) and a cadet (Harding). The show then ended with Jump (For My Love), which involved a dance break.
ACT 1
ACT 2
ACT 3
ACT 4
ACT 5
| Date | City | Country | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22 May 2006 | Nottingham | England | Nottingham Arena |
| 23 May 2006 | Sheffield | Hallam FM Arena | |
| 24 May 2006 | Newcastle | Metro Radio Arena | |
| 26 May 2006 | Birmingham | National Indoor Arena | |
| 27 May 2006 | Manchester | Manchester Evening News Arena | |
| 28 May 2006 | Glasgow | Scotland | Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre |
| 30 May 2006 | Cardiff | Wales | Cardiff International Arena |
| 31 May 2006 | Bournemouth | England | Bournemouth International Centre |
| 1 June 2006 | Brighton | Brighton Centre | |
| 3 June 2006 | London | Wembley Arena |
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