All Saints, at the Empress Ballroom, Blackpool

ALL SAINTS' performance at Blackpool, opening their spring tour, should rate among the steamiest of the season.

The girls thrilled and teased the sell-out crowd with 90 minutes of sexy dance routines and the best of their back catalogue.

The girls outfit have spent the early part of the year writing new material but chose not to unleash any of their new ideas.

Playing things safe with a set packed full of surefire winners, Shaznay and her counterparts instead turned their fans' attention to a string of raunchy dance routines, with Beg carrying the strongest adult theme as the girls dominated their four male dancers.

With such a risque show, it's incredible just how young their fan base is. Many in the audience were pre-teen and at times some of the Saints' naughty routines seemed, fortunately, to sail well over their young heads.

But quality showstoppers like opening track Booty Call and I Know Where It's At left no one in any doubt of the girls' talent. Melanie Blatt looked radiant with a waif-like figure, despite having just had her first child.

After the Appleton sisters, Nicole and Natalie, put in a powerful rendition of the Jacksons' Can You Feel It, the stage was set for the mighty Never Ever. As the curtain came down on on a breathtaking evening, All Saints had never looked better.

This summer the girls are set to complete their new album, although no release date is yet set. A single looks likely at the end of the year with the LP scheduled for the turn of the millennium.

CLIVE LAWRENCE

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.