Lulu has been around so long that it’s impossible to think of the music world without her. But how fitting it is that the pop legend begins her farewell tour of Britain with her final performance in front of an audience in her hometown.
Glasgow was the 75-year-old’s first port of call in a series of dates that will culminate at the London Palladium next week.
Lulu sang her heart out for the last time in Scotland, amid reports that, like her old friend Elton John, she will finally bring the curtain down on her life on the road with a performance at Glastonbury this summer.
From Bond to Bowie, hanging out with The Beatles, or breaking into the Top Ten in 1964 at the age of 15 with the debut single Shout: Lulu’s life and times read like an AZ of pop culture.
And that’s before we talk about her marriage to a Bee Gee, winning the Eurovision Song Contest with Boom Bang-A-Bang, scoring a US No. 1 with the title track of the hit film To Sir, With Love, or the rekindling her fire in the 1990s alongside Take. That.
Scottish singer, actress and television personality Lulu performs live at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow
How fitting it is that the pop legend begins her farewell tour of Britain with her final performance in front of an audience in her hometown
Lulu in the photo next to her sister and backing singer Edwina
So the opening night of this career-spanning trip down memory lane to celebrate 60 years in show business was always going to be a little special.
‘I’ve had the most incredible life. And this is where it all started,” the little girl with the big voice who left the tenements of Glasgow’s Dennistoun for Swinging Sixties London tells a crowd determined to give one of their own the send-off she fully deserves , on an evening full of emotion.
And they do: every song is greeted with loud applause in a two-hour set packed with hits (Relight My Fire; The Man With The Golden Gun) and covers that show that retired Lulu remains a force of nature, as she stage bounces with all the verve and power of someone half her age.
The star’s ‘little sister’ Edwina joined her on stage for show opener Shout and Motown classic Heat Wave, and she stayed for the rest of the party.
Fans were sent into overdrive with the promise of special guests. Would Elton fly to Glasgow? What about Take That or Ronan Keating?
As it was, Mike and the Mechanics star Paul Carrack may not have been quite the A-lister some fans expected.
The opening night of this career-spanning trip down memory lane to celebrate 60 years of show business was always going to be a little special
The star’s ‘little sister’, Edwina, joined her on stage for show opener Shout
From Bond to Bowie, Lulu’s life and times read like an AZ of pop culture
When she said goodbye to Glasgow for the last time, there was a tear in her blue eyes
And the introduction of TikTok singer Nathan Evans caused some in the audience to quickly Google his name.
Not that there was a shortage of superstars – at least on video – as a choked Lulu watched as the big screen showed ex-husband and Bee Gee Maurice Gibb joining her on a TV show to sing the duet First of May .
She also mixed live vocals on stage to the footage of David Bowie singing The Man Who Sold The World and Tina Turner performing I Don’t Wanna Fight.
With Shout inevitably wrapping up proceedings and a visibly moved Lulu reluctant to leave the stage as she said her final goodbyes to Glasgow, there was a tear in those blue eyes. Many fans in the crowd will have lost a few too.
