TRANSVISION VAMP - BIRMINGHAM O2 INSTITUTE, 29.10.26

BY SHARI BLACK VELVET

Picture the scene: It’s 1988. We’re in our bedroom and turn our record player on. We grab a 7” single – it’s Transvision Vamp’s ‘I Want Your Love’. The band, fronted by Wendy James, are one of the UK’s hottest new commodities. They’re packed with attitude and are exciting and fun. We play them on repeat. Hey, Wendy even inspires us to buy some pastel pink lipstick – and yes, we’re still wearing pastel pink today!

Now, let’s fast forward to 2026. The band have reformed and are playing their first UK tour in 35 years. Wendy James and Dave Parsons (who, later, went on to join the rock band Bush and played with them until 2002, when they went on hiatus) may be the only original members from their late 80s' lineup, but they sound as good today as they did back then. 

Performing as a six-piece, now also with Alex Ward, Pip Stakem, Jim Sclavunos and Matt Millership in the band, they don’t disappoint. Their set is packed with tunes from Transvision Vamp’s ‘Pop Art’ and ‘Velveteen’ albums, as well as a few other choice cuts, such as Wendy James’ solo tunes, ‘Speedball’ and ‘You’re A Dirtbomb, Lester’. Opening with ‘Trash City’, the first song from their debut album (which includes the lyrics ‘From 2001 to We’re No. 1, from Oh Wow to The Transvision Vamp’), starts the show back at the very beginning. You can almost picture yourself as a teen, listening back. A lot of time may have come and gone, but their songs still sound as fantastic as they did back then. They have definitely stood the test of time. Wendy’s voice is fabulous. The band’s electro-infused, poppy, punk rock tunes are catchy and captivating. 

The band’s cover of ‘Tell That Girl To Shut Up’, originally by Holly And The Italians, is magnificent. Always one of our favourites, and packed with spunky attitude, you wouldn’t know it was a cover if you hadn’t done your research. The band made it their own. It’s one of those songs that you just need to sing at the top of your lungs. 

‘I Want Your Love’ is equally as welcomed. The whole audience, who are mostly in their 40s and 50s, are all in their element, witnessing the band’s hits being performed live after so long. Wendy tells the crowd that the reformation started due to an Australian tour. “Why don’t you come as Transvision Vamp?” she was suggested. So, she did. 

They play ‘Pressure Times’, a track from their third album, ‘Little Magnets Versus The Bubble Of Babble’, which wasn’t released in the UK, due to a dispute with their record label. ‘If Looks Could Kill’, ‘Born To Be Sold’ (a T-shirt of which Wendy is wearing) and ‘Revolution Baby’ (the band’s first ever single from 1988) are all highlights and bliss points. Wendy reminisces a few times in between songs – such as telling the crowd how the ‘Born To Be Sold’ video was filmed in Barcelona on La Rambla. The set ends with the rousing ‘Baby, I Don’t Care’, which is pure, foot-stomping, gold. Wendy announces that there will be a new Transvision Vamp album released on October 3rd, 2028, 40 years to the day that the band’s debut album was released. It’s great news for fans. 

A three-song encore, which allows Wendy to do a quick costume change into a ‘No Wendy, No Party’ T-shirt, begins with the frontwoman’s own ‘The Impression Of Normalcy’, before ‘Bad Valentine’ and, then, the epic 9½-minute ‘Velveteen’ title track. “It’s the first time we’ve ever performed ‘Velveteen' in its entirety,” we’re told. ‘Velveteen’ wraps up the set in resplendent fashion.

While ‘Velveteen’ ended the band’s second album, and tonight’s show, it’s definitely not ending the band’s career, as the news of a new album bodes well for a great future for Transvision Vamp.  Some things are worth waiting for and this tour, and a new album, most definitely were, and are.