Four stars
'Welcome hame, wee yin', one Lulu fan posted on the singer's Facebook page, hours before she took to the Glasgow stage once again. The sentiment was mutual: Lulu admitted at one stage that she was 'a wee bit welled up' to be back where it all began.
Now 66, she is touring her well-received (and largely self-penned) album, Making Life Rhyme, although she is also at pains to showcase some of the many songs that have meant so much to her.
Backed by a tight five-piece band, all of whom supply backing vocals, she kicked off with a fired-up version of the Republica hit, Ready to Go. She's always been a good judge of other people's songs, as well as being a talented songwriter in her own right (frequently with her brother, Billy).
It was followed by Relight My Fire, originally recorded with Take That, and Faith In You, the opening cut from the new album.
Lulu got emotional when talking about getting nostalgic for her hometown, prior to a reflective version of one of her best songs, Where the Poor Boys Dance, shorn of the synths that made it such a stand-out on her Greatest Hits album of 2003.
Other highlights included I Don't Wanna Fight (the Tina Turner hit), here a fine duet with guitarist John-Louis Riccardi; Bee Gees numbers To Love Somebody and I've Gotta Get a Message to You, and, the audience up on its feet, barnstorming renditions of Shout, her very first smash, and the Edwin Starr hit, 25 Miles. Throughout it all, she was in fine voice, and engagingly chatty.
On her Facebook page, incidentally, one fan has written that he was travelling today from his home in Australia to see Lulu's London gig this weekend. Now that's dedication.
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