An Evening with Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour - Sheffield City Hall - Review

The icon’s tour manager defended her by suggesting “If they expected to hear the Whitney of 20 years ago, go buy a CD.” It transpires that this comment was a premonition because – thanks to the wonders of technology – the departed superstar is back on stage bellowing out her greatest hits via pitch perfect recordings and a glistening hologram.

Flanked by live dancers and a band, hologram Houston is confined to a central box from which she eerily smiles and sings, side- stepping but never straying too far.

Stage review: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie - Sheffield CrucibleThe brilliant energy of her entourage makes Houston seem all the more ephemeral, as the dancers’ hearts pound out of their chests, the diva effortlessly floats through songs – beautifully but without one ounce of emotion.

At first the audience doesn’t know how to react. After opening with Higher Love, Houston tries a bit of on-stage patter, but on asking if we’re here to have a good time, no-one responds (not even the woman who yelled “I think you’re amazing” at the support act Rob Green).

By the time we hit I Wanna Dance with Somebody, people are dancing in the aisles, arms clutched around one another, singing every line.

Stage review: Rambert - Bradford AlhambraThere is a party atmosphere in the room, but this causes trouble during the ballads. Without the gravitas of the real Houston being present, audience members have no qualms screeching out horrible notes in the pauses of I Will Always Love You destroying the tender intimacy of the song.

And at one point, someone even shouts “get off!” When hologram Houston sings “No matter what they take from me/ they can't take away my dignity” in Greatest Love of All, I cringe knowing that this money spinning knees-up with heckling fans and a glassy-eyed Whitney does not do justice to the spectacular talent that once left the world speechless.

Two stars