Chemistry Tour

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
What Will the Neighbours Say? Live (2005) Chemistry Tour (2006) The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits Tour (2007)

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.

History

The tour dates were announced towards the end of October 2005. 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.

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." 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. The introduction was seen as a reference to Girls Aloud's reality show beginnings.

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.

Critical response

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." 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". Scotland's Sunday Mail also gave the show four stars. 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." 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."

Concert Synopsis

The concert began with a Science themed introduction. Taken as a metaphor to their reality show beginnings, 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.

Opening acts

• Frank
• Nylon

Setlist

Act 1: Red/Black/White Costumes

1. "Biology"
2. "No Good Advice
3. "Waiting"
4. "Love Machine" / "1 Thing"

Act 2: Summer Costumes

5. "Long Hot Summer"
6. "Whole Lotta History"
7. "Watch Me Go"
8. "I Predict a Riot"

Act 3: Showgirl Costumes

9. "See the Day"
10. "Sound of the Underground"
11. "Musicals Medley: "Fame" / "What a Feeling" / "Footloose"

Act 4: Different Coloured Dresses

12. "The Show"
13. "Intro" / "Models"
14. "Racy Lacey"
15. "I'll Stand by You"
16. "Biology" (Reprise)

Encore: Police Officer/Cow Girl/Sailor/Race Car Driver/Cadet Leotards

17. "Wild Horses" / "Wake Me Up"
18. "Jump"

Tour Costumes

Act 1

The group performed the songs Biology, No Good Advice, Waiting and Love Machine in these costumes:

• NADINE: Black and white Horizontal striped top, Black and White Vertical striped Bask, Black Leotard Pants, Black Heels
• CHERYL: Red Top, Black Vest, Black Leggings, White Heels
• NICOLA: Black and White Horizontal striped dress with Black and red Belt. Black Ankle high socks, red Heels
• SARAH: Black Leotard with White and Red Spotted Shoulder Pads. Black Kneww High Boots
• KIMBERLY: Black Vest with red buttons, Black Leggings, Black Leather Bask, Black Heels

Act 2

The group performed Long Hot Summer, Whole Lotta History, Watch Me Go, and I Predict a Riot, in summer type costumes which consisted of:

• NADINE: Green Bra, Pink Tank Top, Gold Sequence Shall, Green Kinckers, Yellow Three Quarters,
• CHERYL: Pink Bra, Red Crop Jacket, Denim Shorts, Pink Hat
• NICOLE: Red Bra, White Net Crop Top over the top of the bra, Yellow and Gold Shorts, Red Ankle Warmers
• SARAH: Pink Bra, White Hoodie, Blue Shorts, Pink Tights, Pink Ankle Warmers
• KIMBERLY: Pink Crop Hoodie, Pink Sequnce Tank Top, Light Green Shorts,

Act 3

The costume for act 3 was worn during the songs See The Day, Sound Of The Underground and the Musical Medley, these costumes were:

• NADINE: Pink Corset leotard with pink fanned skirt. White stockings that stop mid thigh. Silver Heels
• CHERYL: Black And White diamond striped leotard with black strands hanging at bottom. Black Knee High Boots
• NICOLA: Purple Leotard with black Bask, Purple Fanned Skirt, Black Knee High Stockings, Silver Heels
• SARAH: Purple Leotard, Suspenders, Black Knee High Boots,
• KIMBERLY: Gold dress with holes at waist, Black strands hanging at bottom of dress, and over chest. Black Heels

Act 4

The shows forth act consisted of the songs The Show, Intro, Models, Racy Lacy, I'll Stand By You' and the Biology Reprise. For this act the girls wore:

• NADINE: A white ballroom dress that rises at front.
• CHERYL: Pink Bra and Pink Strand Skirt joined together at front.
• NICOLA: Green Dress with gold pattern under boobs.
• SARAH: Blue Bra and Blue shredded skirt joined together by cross over stomoach
• KIMBERLY: Lime Green Bra and Lime Green shredded skirt joined together by cross over stomoach

Act 5/Encore

The shows encore consisted of the songs Wild Horses/Wake Me Up, and Jump. to perform the songs, the members of Girls Aloud wore:

• A Black cloakc with large hood covering costumes, was worn for Wild Horses. As soon as the song corssed into Wake Me Up, these cloacks was taken off revealing:
• Nadine: POLICE LEOTARD: White Top, Black High Wasted shorts, Black & White Chequered collar.
• CHERYL: COWGIRL LEOTARD: Pink and White Chequered shirt, tied under boobs, High Wasted Denim Shorts.
• NICOLA: SAILOR LEOTARD: White Top with Blue Collar, High Wasted Blue Shorts. Tassle at end of Collar.
• SARAH: CADET LEOTARD: Gold Bra, Yellow Shorts, White Ring Leader Jacket.
• KIMBERLY: RACE CAR DRIVER LEOTARD: Pink Leotard, with Black & White Patterns.

Tour dates

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