Pop reunions are a hard art to perfect. And for many of the contemporaries of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy, aka the original Sugababes (est. 1998), attempts to recreate the magic of a group’s first run at the industry often come with lacklustre results. However, since the London trio’s re-grouping commenced in 2019, they’ve not only recaptured their original glory but built upon it, a case in point being this One Night Only bonanza at London’s biggest indoor arena – the biggest headline show any lineup of the band have ever performed.

A venue they might not have played before but it feels they were always meant to – “It’s been a rocky road to get here…,” Donaghy admits to the crowd, but what follows is an overdue victory lap commemorating a tumultuous but era-defining pop story. With seated fans on their feet before the trio even enter the stage, 2005 hit “Red Dress” makes for an early-set eruption, before their undulating versatitlity dials in as they settle on stools for camaraderie-fuelled body positivity anthem, “Ugly”.

The greatest hit they never had, 2013’s Dev Hynes co-write “Flatline”, arguably the sonic centrepiece of the band’s discography, released under Buchanan, Donaghy and Buena’s temporary alias MKS amidst legal restrictions on them using the name they originally coined shortly after the final lineup of the band went on hiatus, follows. Despite failing to reach the Top 40 at the time of release, this loyal O2 crowd’s grasp of the track’s significance in the group’s story is palpable, and one might imagine that any lack of commercial success is made up for by the eagerness with which its lapped up. It precedes a run of tracks from the body of work released by the group last December, The Lost Tapes, intended originally to be released alongside “Flatline”.

“Run For Cover”, taken from their 2000 debut One Touch makes for an underdog set highlight and original video footage beamed behind them highlights the incredulous reality that they were merely 15 and 16 upon the considered pop record’s release. Debut single “Overload” implodes into a UK garage, strobe-lit rave and before we know it, they’ve re-emerged in an outpost stage in the middle of the auditorium to continue the festivities with their cover of genre classic, Sweet Female Attitude’s “Flowers”.

By the time closing number “About You Now” leaves the crowd feverish and on their way, it’s hard to process the density of hits packed into this 90-minute set. However, as proven by their first new single in a decade, “When The Rain Comes”, released on Friday ahead of the gig, the Sugababe’s reason for being in 2023 is far more than simply re-hashing old successes, but remaining the propulsive force in pop they always were. The inspried choice of Shygirl as their support act serves as further evidence that they sit adjacent to boundary-pushing artists of today, as much as they did at the time of their inception.