By Aditi Hrisheekesh, Co-Deputy Music Editor
Disco-pop enchantress: glam, glitz, and power-pop vocals. That's Sophie Ellis-Bextor for you. You’ve almost definitely heard ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ - an iconic 2000s party track that seeped back into collective consciousness after Saltburn dropped in late 2023. Welcome back to her gleaming reign, because who said disco was dead?
Long before, in the days of yore (the late '90s), Sophie had fronted indie rock band Theaudience, before stepping solo into the sparkling world of the early 2000s. Her sound is undeniably eclectic – disco-pop with the synthy edge of 1980s electronica. Seeing her live was an incredible experience.
She quite literally put the Beacon into Bristol Beacon that night, harnessing a blazing charisma that was off the charts. She interacted with the crowd constantly, giving us snippets of Bristol trivia in between songs. I found out that the city claims the world’s first chocolate bar, the Easter egg, and invented Ribena - iconic. ‘Might be jumping the gun a bit… but I think we have chemistry, Bristol,’ she says.
Sophie’s brand of theatrical disco-pop naturally lends itself to visual storytelling. It’s the sort of genre that creeped its way onto many 2000s film soundtracks - cheeky and cinematic.
At one point during the set, she appears wearing a VR headset, with bottle-green laser beams zig-zagging across the crowd. It instantly reminded me of a specific scene from St. Trinians where the characters dodge lasers to Sophie’s track ‘If I Can’t Dance’ - a song that got me into her music. The perfect sweet spot of 2000s electro-pop whimsy, she nails so well.
The technicoloured visuals felt straight out of video games like Candy Crush – at one point, the screen morphed into a cascading rainbow road – Mario Kart anyone? It was camp, kinetic, with a psychedelic buzz that just made you want to dance.
She’s got a new album coming - Perimenopop, out September 2025 - and teased that it’s about bringing fun to a stage of life that can often zap your confidence. Sophie kept the energy taut, pumping four tracks from her upcoming album - ‘Freedom of the Night’, ‘Relentless Love’, ‘Taste’, and ‘Vertigo’ - alongside classic hits like ‘Music Gets the Best of Me’, and of course, ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ at the end.
However, she didn’t just lean on her back catalogue - alongside her own hits, Sophie kicked off with a handful of dazzling covers. She plunged into a feel-good mashup - Modjo’s ‘Lady (Hear Me Tonight)’, Spiller’s ‘Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)’, REO Speedwagon’s ‘Can’t Fight This Feeling’, and a blast of ABBA’s ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)’.
A favourite of mine was her rendition of Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ as she reimagined a ‘70s disco anthem with a more modern, electro-pop edge. Then, she effortlessly paid tribute to the attributed Queen of Pop, Madonna, with her take on ‘Like a Prayer’.
We were all on our feet at this point, surrounded by fluorescent lights, the atmosphere reminiscent of a nightclub (but with better music!). And to keep things fresh, Sophie let the crowd help pick the next song via a projected game-show style screen - no two nights would be the same.
Dialling down the visuals and dropping the dancefloor theatrical gloss, she slows the pace and leans into the intimate love ballad ‘Young Blood’, backed with just a mellow acoustic guitar. Right before she starts, Sophie describes the love song as ‘the part of you that always sees each other as the age you were when you first met’ – a timelessness in feeling.
Her final song harked back to her indie rock origins with ‘A Pessimist is Never Disappointed’, but she didn’t perform from the stage. She left it entirely and reappeared on the balcony, performing a fully acoustic solo. No mic - just pin-drop silence, an acoustic guitar, and a crystal-clear voice.
It’s been nearly 25 years since Read My Lips, her debut album, exploded onto the scene. From indie-rock to disco-pop, her arc is a blueprint for reinvention. Watching her perform that early track from Theaudience as a final song felt like a homage to her journey – a full-circle, commemorative moment.
Featured Image: Aditi HrisheekeshAre you excited for the new album?
