Eternal rose to fame in the early 90s when their 1993 debut album ‘Always & Forever’ transformed them from unknowns to the biggest girl group in the UK. The foursome – sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett, Kellé Bryan and Louise Nurding (now known as Louise Redknapp) – had a string of hits including ‘Stay’, ‘Save Our Love’, ‘Just a Step From Heaven’ and ‘Oh Baby I…’. Following Louise’s departure in 1994, the group went on as a trio and released two more albums continuing to achieve huge success. Following the release of their 1997 Greatest Hits collection, Kellé was dismissed from the group in 1998 and Easther and Vernie continued on for one more album as a duo. The trio reformed briefly in 2013 for ITV’s ‘The Big Reunion’, only to disband again. Rumours were rife in 2024 that all four original members would reunite for a tour, but that fell through due to differences between the Bennett sisters and Louise and Kellé.
Just as it looked like fans would never see Eternal performing again, in any formation, the group announced the addition of Christel Lakhdar. Following their debut performance in 2024, the new trio has announced a string of shows for 2025 and last night they performed a headline show at London’s Scala. The venue was packed with fans who grew up with the band, and I’m sure many of them were as curious as I was to see how Christel fared alongside the Bennett sisters. Arriving on stage at 8.45pm, Eternal launched into ‘Power of a Woman’ as their opening song, and the fans went wild. It was the first of many moments where the fans sang at the top of their lungs, taking the trio by surprise.
The order of the night for the most part was the hits, and Eternal delivered all the songs their fans would want to hear. ‘Stay’, the band’s debut single, was the second song of the night while ‘Angel of Mine’, one of the group’s later hits, turned into a surprise sing-a-long session. A stripped-back version of ‘Save Our Love’ proved to be an early highlight and it was the first time you could really hear the harmonies of the trio, and where Christel’s voice fit into the mix.
Eternal has always been a showcase for Easther Bennett. She sings lead on the majority of their songs and she undoubtedly has the most powerful voice, which shone on ‘Oh Baby I…’ and ‘Someday’. It was nice to see last night that Vernie and Christel were given opportunities to shine too. Vernie took the lead on two songs – ‘Why Am I Waiting’ and a that she explained was recorded as a demo but never saw the light of day – while Christel led the group on a mash-up of Destiny’s Child’s hit ‘Lose My Breath’, which was mashed up with Eternal’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, and a cover of TLC’s ‘No Scrubs’.
The back-end of the set was packed with bangers. “Don’t You Love Me”, complete with the original choreography from the video, was a hit with the audience and it was nice to hear “What’cha Gonna Do” get a spotlight as the song has largely been ignored in their catalogue. ‘I Wanna Be The Only One’ brought the house down before the one-two-punch of ‘I Am Blessed’ and ‘Just a Step From Heaven’ as the encore.
Last night should be considered a triumph for Eternal. The fans lapped up every single song and the trio were on fine vocal form. Christel fits in really well with the group, and her personality and enthusiasm radiated from the stage. It was a timely reminder of just what a stellar catalogue of songs the group has, and that they could easily move forward with new music if they wanted to. Having followed Eternal right from their debut single, I can safely say I’d be more than happy to see this trio embark on a proper tour and reclaim their position as one of the UK’s most-loved girl groups.
Set list: 1. Power of a Woman 2. Stay 3. Good Thing 4. Angel of Mine 5. Why Am I Waiting 6. Save Our Love 7. Lose My Breath (Destiny’s Child cover) / Never Gonna Give You Up 8. No Scrubs (TLC cover) 9. Sweet Funky Thing 10. Oh Baby I… 11. Someday 12 (Unreleased song) 13. Don’t You Love Me 14. What’cha Gonna Do 15. I Wanna Be The Only One 16. I Am Blessed 17. Just a Step From Heaven Venue: Scala, London Performance date: 30th April 2025
