Sugababes perform live at 35,000 feet to launch Starlink on Virgin Atlantic

The last time I saw Sugababes live was at Glastonbury in 2024. The field was so rammed, all access routes were closed off an hour before showtime, there was barely enough room to scratch my nose and I could definitely hear all the band’s hits, even if I couldn’t quite see them most of the time. The moment was so iconic they even released merch emblazoned with the sign Glastonbury used to tell punters that the full-to-the-brim West Holts Stage was closed off.

Two years later, and I’m joining them for a performance which couldn’t be more different and, indeed, more intimate. Today, I’m joining Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donaghy onboard a Virgin Atlantic flight from London Heathrow to New York to celebrate the arrival of high-speed Starlink onboard all the airline’s planes in every cabin. The band plan to play a set in the Upper Class social area that will be streamed live globally using only seat-back power, followed by a Q&A session with fans watching.

I’m not camping this time, but I have other concerns: what if there’s turbulence halfway through ‘Push The Button?’ What if I want to go to the loo mid-performance and have to elbow past Mutya to get there? The band seem unbothered. Since they released their debut single Overload over 25 years ago, they’ve weathered several line up changes including all three original members eventually leaving the band, fought a legal battle to reclaim their name and discovered they are still just as popular as in the early Noughties. A gig in a space no bigger than two square metres at 35,000ft doesn’t phase them one bit.

“When we were first asked,” Siobhan says onboard. “I remembering thinking, technically, how will that work? I was wondering if we’d have to sing while walking down the aisle. But then I thought, we could totally do that if we have to.”

Luckily, they don’t need to duck round the drinks trolley. They take the non-existent stage in front of the aeroplane door four hours into the flight, ready to go live. There’s a nervous ten-minute countdown while they reapply lipstick, take selfies and fist bump each other before they sing, all dressed in on-brand shades of Virgin Atlantic red and black. In person, it’s much quieter than you’d expect – the streamed audio is taken directly from the microphones – but even in such unusual circumstances, they throw themselves into the performance like they’re back on stage at Glastonbury. Up close, their vocals in all three songs played – ‘Push The Button’, ‘Too Lost In You’ and ‘About You Now’ – are astonishing; powerful, soulful and perfectly harmonised. There’s an easy solidarity between them, a hard-won sense that things have finally fallen into place for one of Britain’s best loved pop bands. A brand-new album is nearly ready and will follow soon, they tell me later in the flight, but for now they have plans for shopping and sightseeing in New York with assorted children and family members they’ve brought along for the ride. Sadly, the in-flight entertainment may not be quite as memorable on the way home.