An evening with The Sats, Sophie and GCC

Yesterday we spent an evening with Fascination Records as part of the month-long iTunes Live Festival at Camden's Roundhouse. We can't offer a full review because, truth be told, the evening featured nearly as many G&Ts as corking pop tunes, but here are a few notes on the night's performances.

First up is Sophie Ellis-Bextor, who trots about the stage in a bright red ra-ra skirt and heels her chiropodist probably wouldn't deem suitable for dahn-cing (dahn-cing). 'Heartbreak' and 'Murder On The Dancefloor' are both real crowd-pleasers, but the highlight is her first ever performance of 'Starlight', an ace new track with a filter disco feel.

Then come Girls Can't Catch, who arrive looking glam/bad girly on giant white podiums and proceed to give vocal performances worthy of their "three lead singers" billing. 'Turn Me Up', as premiered on the Girls Aloud tour, still sounds like a smash, but a bombastic new electro-ballad called 'Echo' is almost as impressive. Oh, and debut single 'Keep Your Head Up' goes down well enough to suggest they shouldn't feel too nervous come midweek hour next Tuesday.

Now, just before 9.30, it's time for the main event. The Saturdays have flown back from LA especially for tonight's gig, but there's no sign of jet laggy sluggishness as the girls turn in a slick, well-drilled performance. They canter through a slightly abridged version of their 'Work' tour setlist, which means we get the 'Shut Up And Drive' / 'I Kissed A Girl' / 'So What' medley, acoustic renditions of 'Beggin' and 'Chasing Lights' (nice strumming, Una), and stomping newbies 'Wordshaker' and 'One Shot'. A lovely 'Up' singalong rounds off a cracking evening. Ta very much Fascination Records!