GIG NUMBER EIGHTY-EIGHT
Who
As well as being at the same venue I was again with my Dad, we parked the car in the same space and sat in almost the same seat, just one row further forwards. There was a CD stand at the venue which had sold out by the end of the evening. I noticed that the crowd were geriatric as I'd expected, and even the soundman was getting on a bit. I'm pleased to report that the show was a sell-out, and the hall appeared much fuller than last time, with far more seats put out. There was no proper support but promptly at 7:30 some anonymous guy came onstage. Incredibly frustratingly, I cannot verify his name, making a rare gap in my gig "records". Supported only by his guitar he played for around 20 minutes and I suppose by not declaring who the hell he was he has spared himself the bad publicity I'm about to give him. Quite ironic about old people complaining about "that racket" when this guy had been turned up so loud I just only wince in pain. Thankfully the mixing got better later on but the tunes were all substandard. He covered California Dreamin' and took much of the life out of it plus played his own anonymous songs. He told stories of attending Manchester University and (gasp!) drinking a bit and I could just tell all the old people were thinking "what a nice young man" and thinking "what a nice change this makes to the music they play nowadays." Although I didn't hear anybody saying it, I am so utterly confident that these neo-Conservative thoughts were going through everybody's minds I just wanted to thump them all. Modern music is amazing if you listen to the right stuff, and the bulk of the shit is stuff inspired by Abba or the fuck-awful boy bands that old people think are "nice" anyway! I can't excuse much rap, R'N'B etc but the fact is that music in 2006 was much more vibrant and varied than it was in the 60s! And shame on this young guy shamelessly playing to the closed-minded old people around me!! Anyway, I should explain my strong criticism of the people at the same gig as me: I have an open mind and am trying to experience new things. Nobody else here would ever have dreamed of seeing somebody new just to see what they're missing, and that's the difference between me and them.
Anyway, The Tremeloes came straight on after this so on with the review. They were all wearing leather, which is a bit scary, but they were very energetic for their age. Chip Hawkes looked every inch the father of Chesney Hawkes and was therefore cool in my book. The white-haired drummer had apparently never left the band and had played the frontman (from his drum stool!) when both Chip and Brian had left the band. There was also another guy and a keyboardist who looked like Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys! They started off without Brian Poole and played Here Comes My Baby second song in but generally were holding onto all the hits for later on. A few songs in another guy came on and started some tribal drumbeats just like Franz at Reading had done on Outsiders. I have no idea who this guy was but he was a bit younger than everyone else and wasn't a founder member. I would now attempt to sequence this review according to the order they played the songs but as I have made very vague notes and am writing this four months later my recollections are rather fuzzy. I do remember though that when Brian Poole appeared things hotted up. Quite simply he is a born showman and that made proceedings much more exciting. I was amazed when they launched into I Want Candy, which was famously played on The Simpsons: I couldn't quite believe that The Tremeloes were behind this famous number! The depth of talent in the band was excellent, as even the drummer kept stepping forwards to sing, leaving nobody on the stool to replace him. Once again I must aim some more venom at some members of the crowd. Although most were showing reasonable enthusiasm I saw some acts of offensive conservatism. One guy walked out after whispering in the ear of the soundman, apparently because it was "too loud"! He wasn't even that old and after sitting through the awful support expecting the venue to turn down the perfectly normal volume just because he didn't like "the noise" was an act of staggering selfishness. Also towards the end a silly bint next to me asked the people in front to sit down after they had followed most of the crowd in standing up. She then threw a strop and perched on the upper bit of her chair when they rightfully ignored her. If you're disabled fair enough. But if you're just a boring old fart who isn't prepared to stand up for two minutes you deserve to be shot or at least banned from the real world!!
Anyway, I must remember that this show was pretty good and it was only some people in the crowd who had frustrated me. The band all stepped to the front to perform a song a capella at one point, which was magical stuff. The first half of the show finished with a stomping rendition of Twist And Shout. It was in fact the only time the majority of the crowd rose to their feet, and finally the adrenalin of standing up started to kick in. The band then vacated the stage to "have their cocoa". After their break, Brian Poole took to the stage in the role of compere to announce that The Tremeloes were going to play their songs and that he'd show up again later on. I though this was a pretty cool way of spreading things out, giving everyone in the band a chance to shine. Helule Helule was particularly impressive, introduced with a made-up story about meeting a man from Cannock in the heart of Africa who inspired the song! They also forced us to sing along and stomp our feet, which was nice. Although competent without Brian Poole they were much less interesting, admitting themselves to be "old farts". There was no part of the show dedicated to introducing the band, there was a lot of back-slapping going on and they kept on giving shout-outs to each other. They covered tunes by Dave Berry and also The Everly Brothers (jokingly referring to themselves as The Elderly Brothers). My Little Lady was introduced by a discussion of their personal lives, revealing that the four founder members were all still married to their original wives. They then answered my main question about founder members by revealing that the only original member not here tonight had died 11 years back and they dedicated Silence Is Golden to him. It was a nice song, and their biggest hit without Brian, but it's hardly great.
They left the stage then returned for an encore, surprisingly still without Brian Poole. Even The Bad Times Are Good was amazing and vibrant, even causing somebody to spill their beer on me! I was again shocked to learn that this was their hit, and disappointed to hear it on record afterwards: I regularly say that many old tunes are classics ruined by awful recordings, and this tune is a prime example. The natural highlight though came when the band cocked their ears to hear "you broke my heart" coming from the back of the stage: Brian Poole was returning to storm through Do You Love Me! It was a brilliant moment, especially the way he dragged out the intro, and I can't believe that this immortal classic failed to get everyone to their feet. Brian put on the brightest glittering coat ever and the night finished with a medley featuring Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On, Hound Dog and Johnny B Goode. The group frantically switched vocals and it was a storming finish, even if it was only 10pm. I'd expected some friction but everyone had played well together and the band had successfully balanced their "stars". It wasn't all great: Some of The Tremeloes songs hadn't aged that well and I've already covered the undesirable element of the crowd. However, there were some amazing tunes thrown in and Brian Poole was electric with his proper band backing him. With a bit of decent promotion Brian Poole & The Tremeloes would now be bigger than the likes of The Who, but as it stands they are just a sparkling act on the nostalgia circuit, which is good enough for me.
Mark: 7.0/10
Brian Poole & The Tremeloes
Support
????????
Where
Cannock Prince Of Wales Centre
When
8th October 2006
Price
£14.50 (FREE for me!)
Who with
Dad
Position
Seated, towards the back
Comments
Yet another "nostalgia" show, but I'm hardly going to turn down free live music am I? In fact this was quite a special event, being the reunion of Brian Poole with The Tremeloes. It was the first tour in over 40 years to bring together Brian Poole, Chip Hawkes, Dave Munden and Rick Westwood. Although I have regularly been told that The Tremeloes had greater success after Brian Poole left, I believe that the universally popular Do You Love Me is proof that it was downhill after they went their separate ways. Quite worrying to see that they couldn't get anywhere better to play than Cannock, and also that this was cheaper than Mike Pender's Searchers had been at the same place. At this point I must make my predictable comment of this being evidence that only a handful of 60s acts remain of any relevance today. However I should add that the chance to see the band behind Do You Love Me, and also a few other good tunes, is one that everybody who was around in the 60s should relish, so the more fool the old farts who don't show enough interest to get a show of this potential at the NEC (or at least the NIA) where it belongs! I dressed up a bit and, even though it was a Sunday night, I had lots of odd jobs to do so turned down the chance of an Indian meal. It was a pretty decent time for gigs: I nearly went to see The Ordinary Boys playing Wolverhampton this evening and Cerys Matthews was playing the next night, albeit minus the hits of Catatonia. And while I'm on the subject of gigs, I should mention that I once saw Brian Poole playing (I believe) Pontins on holiday. I have no memory of this show and it probably only remained in my mind when I realised that 90s pop group Alisha's Attic were his daughters! I also must confess I have seen Chesney Hawkes live in Manchester (albeit as part of a club night). It came as some surprise to realise that Chip Hawkes was his Dad: I must maintain that The One And Only is a more famous song than anything that Chip mustered up though!
