It's not been the greatest of weeks for Hear'Say.
Having been subjected to a good old fashioned mauling at the hands of the tabloid press, which implied that the Camden Monarch might have been a more suitable choice of venue for their London dates, the self- styled 'luckiest people in British pop' were looking increasingly battered, beleaguered and on the defensive.
After a commendably dignified minutes silence for the victims of mass terrorism in the US, however, which rather put any problems the band might have into sharp perspective, it quickly becomes clear that Hear'Say are intent on using this tour to silence their critics once and for all.
And it sort of works. After an hour and a half of the breathtakingly over-indulgent spectacle that is Hear'Say live you do kind of forget about the rumours of poor ticket sales - not true on the basis of tonight's show.
That's saying nothing for the cold, horrendous reality of Hear'Say: 'It's Saturday', surely the most uncomfortable, 'can't quite believe it's happening' Saturday night viewing experience since the Tom O'Connor's Summer Roadshow.
The great thing about Hear'Say is that they're not afraid to make fools of themselves in public. Believe me, if they were, the majority of tonight's show would have been ditched at the first rehearsal.
Right from the word go, as the band are lowered on to the stage from the ceiling of the London Arena dressed like a bunch of Kwik Fit Fitters crossed with a rather camp SAS S.W.A.T. team, it becomes clear that stylish understatement is never going to be the evening's abiding theme.
The show that ensues is a sensory overloading mass of giant pinball machines, trap doors, twenty-foot flames, ticker tape mayhem, conveyor belt dance routines, and over-elaborate vocal arrangements.
It's not necessarily the all-pervading sense of over the top extravagance that proves so compelling. It's more that everything that happens on stage tonight is infused with Hear'Say's very own brand of charming unsophisticated tackiness - an ingenious showbiz device which allows Myleene to perform a surprisingly affecting, yet supremely naff, S&M-lite dance routine to Tina Arena's 'Chains'.
It also later gives Kym the freedom to bawl out Leann Rhimes' 'How Can I Live Without You' with a slide show of her kids flashing by in the background. There is even a kiddies Popstar's style singing contest complete with Hear'Say goodie bags for the lucky contestants.
Throughout tonight's performance Hear'Say come on like a gang of over-ambitious Red Coats who have just won the lottery and have decided to squander their winnings on the most overblown, toe-curlingly embarrassing, unashamedly entertaining whore of an old fashioned end-of-pier variety show.
Which, come to think of it is not too far from reality, and in truth makes for an endlessly entertaining, if sometimes cringeworthy, spectacle.
