Bassey Back with a Bang From The Western Mail, By Claire Hill, Jun 12 2003
A resplendent and triumphant Dame Shirley Bassey walked into the arms of a city
she left half-a-century ago, for her concert at the Cardiff International Arena
last night.
It was 10 years since she opened the venue with her gutsy, but distinctive
voice, and now as she celebrates five decades on the stage the voice is back.
Shivers of excitement ran through her shoulders as she sang the first bars of
Goldfinger - the song that made her famous.
"Good evening Cardiff," she belted. "It's nice to be back home. This is a big
celebration for me, I don't know where it's all gone. I remember it like
yesterday, leaving here at 16."
The hits which shaped her career rolled off her silver tongue. Critics had, on
the basis of her earlier performances of this Jubilee tour, compared the Tiger
Bay diva to a smouldering volcano of female sexuality.
Her polished performance smacked of a golden age when singers used their voice
as an instrument. And there was no better example, than the rip-roaring Hey Big
Spender.
Her Las Vegas-esque performance was only interrupted by the steady stream of
gifts. They came like a conveyor belt with bouquets of flowers and immaculately
wrapped but unseen gifts that one can only deduce from the Gucci bag were of an
equal value to her statute in the musical world.
"Keep them coming," she said, with a coy smile.
Highlights of her consummate performance included the all powerful History
Repeating Itself, a gift from Propellerheads that re-energised her popularity,
Hey Big Spender, Goldfinger and a cover of The Doors' classic Light My Fire,
which put Will Young's version to shame.
She professes that her favourite Country & Western number is Crazy.
It may be Country & Western to everyone else but in Dame Shirley's hands it
becomes another showstopper.
It was a performance benefiting the place she has earned in the musical
aristocracy.