“It’s always charming when the star is as excited to be on stage as the crowd is to be there,” says Eleanor Halls. “And Sophie Ellis-Bextor was fizzing with delight as she bounced around the stage in a gold leotard streaming with gold tinsel, injecting our tired souls with a restorative dose of happy nostalgia with hits such as Groovejet, Heartbreak, Crying at the Discothesque and Murder on the Dancefloor, her voice as lovely as ever – even offering a ‘little hug’ to anyone who really was crying at the discothesque, but thankfully nobody needed one.
“‘This is a really big deal for us,’ she admitted, before introducing her band, ‘a family affair’ that included her husband Richard on bass (who also plays bass for The Feeling) and her brother Jackson on drums. Her mother and one of her five sons were in the crowd.
“The 44-year-old Noughties star has had a second wind of fame following her adored kitchen disco sessions over lockdown, when she livestreamed a concert from her kitchen on Friday nights after work, performing her own hits as well as covers for special people in her life.
“‘They were like my love letters,’ she said. ‘And today I have a love letter to you.’ Utter euphoria when she then announced she was going to ‘take us to church’, launching into a cover of Madonna’s Like a Prayer. Not many people could get the entire Pyramid arena jumping in the air before lunchtime on the fifth day of Glastonbury – even more impressively, Ellis-Bextor was jumping in six-inch sparkly heels.”
