Cheryl brought a Girls Aloud concert to a halt as she addressed a comment she had previously made. The Geordie pop princess and her bandmates Nicola Roberts, Nadine Coyle and Kimberley Walsh were performing on the closing night of their The Girls Aloud Show reunion tour in Liverpool. It comes after the band decided to reunite to honour their late bandmate Sarah Harding who tragically died aged 39 in September 2021. Prior to hitting the road, Cheryl revealed that she and Sarah had spoken about the possibility of Girls Aloud working together after her death, with Harding insisting that the quartet get back on stage and raise vital funds with The Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal.
But while on tour, Cheryl has addressed a comment she previously made about not reuniting with the band. In a now-viral clip taken from Girls Aloud: Off The Record, Cheryl was seen walking her beloved dogs as she addressed a possible reunion if the band ever split. She said to the camera: “There’ll be no reunions though. Could you imagine? 30-odd-year-old ‘I’m just a Love Machine’ nah.” However, in a major plot twist, Cheryl, cleared the air as she celebrated her 41st birthday in Liverpool. Addressing the 11,000 fans inside the arena, she said: “Ok, you might have seen a video of me floating around that is of me saying I would never perform Love Machine in my thirties. “Ok but if we’re going to go there, last tour I was 29, today I’m 41! I never performed Love Machine in my 30s, HA! Let’s go, do we have any love machines in the house tonight?” before the band burst into the iconic track.
The night was an emotional one for the quartet as they ended the tour in Nicola’s hometown. Addressing the crowd, Nicola, 38, said: “What an honour it is to spend the final night of the tour with Scousers, I’ve been waiting this whole tour to finally come back to this city!” The red-headed pop princess was blown away by the enormous response she received as the crowd began chanting her name.
But emotions continued to run high as the band paid tribute to Sarah. Nadine informed the crowd that during their song I’ll Stand By You, they would use a recorded track of just Sarah’s vocals from the original recording, with the girls singing along with her. During the track, Nadine was seen wiping away her tears as she looked back at the huge screens which were showing videos of the late singer. Throughout the concert, Sarah’s memory was kept very much alive, with her iconic “Take a walk on the wild side of life,” from Something New being played across the arenas.
As the band wrapped up their performance, a huge screen appeared on stage during The Promise, allowing Sarah to shine once again as she belted out: “So here I am, a walking primrose, wondering when I’m gonna see you again,” as fans and the band cheered for the late star. Moments before the four girls walked off stage, a photograph of Sarah appeared behind them alongside the text: “In loving memory of Sarah Nicole Harding. 17.11.81 05.09.2021.”
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