When Dusty Springfield walked on to the Albert Hall stage last Monday the vehemence, even hysteria, of the welcome she received was quite alarming.

The crowd rose to its feet and yelled fit to bust, flowers rained down upon her and what should have been a decorous charity gala immediately turned into a pop show of authentic sixties dimensions.

A less seasoned performer might have been taken aback by it all, wallowing in the adulation and making tearful little speeches. Dusty, however, launched into a brisk routine, refreshingly light on nostalgia and seasoned with humour. "Dustee, Dustee!" chanted a contingent up in the gods. "It's a big hall to cover, dear," she replied, "but Mother with do her best." And she did.

As she strode purposely about the stage, the cloud of adoration grew thicker and fans who could no longer contain themselves stood up with outstretched arms or rushed to the front of the stage. At the end there was an awkward moment when the stage-rushers had her in their grasp and it looked as though she would vanish from sight.

How does one explain these scenes? Certainly not by examining her material, a curious mixture of black soul music and sentimental songs of Italian origin. The answer must lie in Dusty Springfield's stage persona. Glamorous she undoubtedly is, but it is not the high-camp glamour of Shirley Bassey. Her appeal is rather like that of a pantomime principal boy - good-natured, energetic and full of fun. She is the original un-soppy girl, a kind of rock 'n' roll Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.

Because she retired temporarily early in the decade, Dusty is, for most people, still the archetypal sixties star. Her absence, however, has saved her from becoming an all-round entertainer like Lulu or Cilla Black. There are no Christmas specials to live down, no television series with their mandatory boring guests. She is still in charge of her own personality and free to employ it to devastating effect on stage.

Dave Gelly
The Observer, December 1979.

Dusty at the Royal Albert Hall

Ms Springfield is in a happy situation of knowing just what her fans want - and delivering it to them. No other artist, male of female, conjures up the same incredible two-way flow of love between artist and audience.

For those old enough to remember, the scenes at a Dusty Springfield concert are highly reminiscent of those which greeted Judy Garland during the fifties and early sixties. Which isn't to suggest that Dusty Springfield has passed her zenith as an artist and now on the slippery slopes going downhill.

Far from it. The voice still has all the texture and emotion which made it so distinguishable during the mid and late-sixties. And the lady herself has probably never looked better in a record career which has now spanned 20 years.

Her Royal Albert Hall act was predictable enough - a long medley of her golden hits, the inclusion of newer songs including the heart-stopping "Sandra" and "Hollywood Movie Girls," the disco beat of "Baby Blue," and some of the R&B flavoured songs that Dusty has for long made one of her trademarks. A well-balanced programme which had something for everyone. Combined with her concerts earlier this year at Drury Lane, and the recent success of "Baby Blue," this concert brought Dusty Springfield that much nearer the goal of making a complete comeback.

Chris White
Music Week, December 1979.