Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
If you look back with fond memories of music from the 1960s, then this is the concert for you. With an average age of 60 plus both on stage and off, fans were treated to an evening of nostalgia, which from start to finish stirred the emotions of those heady days long ago.
With a night packed with great musicianship to the brim, the music filled the south coast air with fine precision, with the audience first being treated to the unforgettable Brian Poole, on stage again with the charismatic Chip Hawkes, who made a welcome return after a very serious illness. A fabulous performance ensued starting with Here comes my baby before playing their massive hit Silence is Golden. The pair finished their part of the evening with Do You Love Me? and to a person surely the answer that would have escaped their lips would have been, “Yes we do!”
Age is no barrier to sheer talent, it either stays with you or fades into the memory of all those that ever caught you live and no matter that at 75 P.J. Proby is a man that many of today’s younger music fans would have perhaps not even figured to check out, his evergreen youthful outlook was a huge presence on the night. His voice was as strong as ever as he belted out songs the audience all knew and loved. From We’ll have a party tonight, the fantastically written Eddie and Bob Cochran Three Steps to Heaven and finishing with the song Hold Me, each song being greeted like a returning hero from a far off and lonely war, just superb.
With the evening gathering pace, Liverpool’s own Gerry and the Pacemakers were next on the bill. For many in the audience, the chance to remember this band that shared the Merseybeat stage with The Beatles, would manifest itself in joining in fully with the singing, some bands you just have to enjoy fully and with great voice. Gerry Marsden never fails to deliver a polished performance, a man who clearly loves being on stage and infront of a crowd as he proved with tracks such as How Do You Do What You Do To Me?, Beloved, Ferry Cross The Mersey and the iconic, emotionally spellbinding You’ll Never Walk Alone. By the time the band had finished their set, each member of the audience must have felt as if they were swaying in time to the voices and ghosts that made the Anfield Kop as famous for its support as its footballing history or of the legend of Bill Shankly.
The superb evening was completed by the songs of the Birmingham group The Fortunes and Liverpool’s own The Searchers. The Fortunes have their own distinctive style of classic pop and the duel vocals on tracks such as Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again, Storm in a Teacup, Crying in the Rain and a stylish performance of You Got Your Troubles all were enthused over with full approval
The searchers proved once more that legendary music never really goes away as they provided the final glittering entertainment on a very cool night. The energy they provided for songs such as Where Have All The Flowers Gone?, Sugar and Spice, the brilliant Needles and Pins plus two outstanding cover versions of Union Gaps Young Girl and the song made famous by Roy Orbison, the gentle beauty of Running Scared completing an excellent night of music gold.
A night in which younger bands could do well to imagine that age is no barrier to performance; it just gets better and better as you go along.
Julie Anne Hall