Who
Buddy Holly And The Cricketers
Where
Birmingham Town Hall
When
10th March 2018
Price
£25.00
Who with
No-one
Position
Seated, towards the front
Comments
I'd spent the day of this concert writing up my review for the Half Man Half Biscuit show over a month beforehand, and as I'm determined to clear my backlog of tasks I have forced myself to write up this review the very next day! My Dad had said no to the idea of seeing what felt like a top-class high production tribute to Buddy Holly, but for me I wanted to cross Buddy off my list in the best way I could manage, and the opportunity to finally see a concert at Birmingham Town Hall made the decision for me. I've had a ludicrously busy couple of weeks after my trip and wonder how I'll ever catch up with TV, photos and many other things short of just avoiding doing any activities for the bulk of 2018! I saw a moving and impressive BBC Documentary on Buddy Holly a few months beforehand, and the day before the show I'd surprised myself at work by getting drunk on just two lunchtime pints, which was an indicator of just how sensible I've become, although to be fair I was tipped over the edge by the sight of samosas upon my return! For tea on the Saturday night of the show I nearly ran out of time as I had to dash out to buy some Micro Chips, rushing out on the latest possible train as by now I felt so busy that I didn't really fancy going all the way into Birmingham to see a concert by myself. I heard Buddy Holly songs on the way in, making up for the time I'd been repeatedly listening to Half Man Half Biscuit or Euros Childs as opposed to brushing up on my knowledge of Buddy Holly tunes! By the time I set out it was well on the way to getting dark, and I paid a full price rip-off train ticket rather than facing the hassle of changing trains and splitting my fare. In addition to catching up on my internet, I also wrote the initial notes for this review, and upon arriving in Birmingham had to make my way around roadworks on the approach to the Town Hall, headed into the venue and picked up my ticket from the Box Office.

The stewards were much like at the Symphony Hall in that they felt professional and friendly and not the type to enforce trivial rules, but in fact were there to help us! I sat on the fifth row in the centre, noting that there was unusually plenty of legroom, and being surprised that the venue wasn't as long or as large as one would expect from looking at the outside. For such a landmark building, the size came as a surprise, although it was certainly very grand! One of my primary motivations had been to photograph the building, so I was hugely frustrated that the back of the stage had been completely blacked out, with just the top of the landmark organ visible above it. I don't see what this would achieve beyond making the room look like any other boring concert hall, so I wasn't at all impressed! Still, I took the best photos I could, and it was nice to cross this venue off my list, although I wish I could just casually pop in here outside of a show and have a quick look, as it's a tragedy that such a great space is only opened up for concerts. There was an impressive if small balcony around the back and sides, but I'd chosen the stalls so I could see a bit of everything, and to be fair the nicest angle was looking back up at the stalls, and I was pleasantly close to the stage. I'd arrived with well over 20 minutes to spare so got back on the internet, noting that Wolves had somehow managed to lose 4-1 to Aston Villa, trying their best to throw away their massive lead at the top of the Championship table. The room was pretty full but didn't seem to be a sell-out, not that I can say I checked very carefully, and the show commenced a little after the advertised start time of 7:30pm, as the lights went down. A compere took to the stage to introduce proceedings and try to hype us up, but I know I wasn't keen on dancing around with a group of old people, and luckily for me most of the crowd were similarly reluctant to get too deeply involved!

The compere in fact slotted into the band as one of The Crickets after introducing Buddy Holly on stage, who of course was wearing his trademark glasses, but also looked surprisingly like Eddie Redmayne! I don't think I knew the opening tunes, but after a couple of numbers Buddy introduced the band, and also took some time to introduce us to what I think was called the Texas Holler, which surprisingly I can't find anything about on Google! Basically it was about punching the air and making a noise like an impression of an American Indian in some kind of 1950s film, and the band kept pushing it but I was much happier to clap! The musicians were very polished and professional and clearly were focused on playing their roles, which is why in their repeated attempts to gee us up, they always claimed that we did it well the second time round, even if to me the audience were pretty lousy throughout! Perhaps the change of energy after seeing some high-class concerts was a bit too much for me to take, and I do wonder if tonight's crowd were good by the standards that these guys usually get to play to? For me it feels a bit wrong to go too crazy to a tribute act, and when it's a seated show at a sophisticated venue and I'm surrounded by older people, I just want to sit back and watch, while at the same time questioning if it was worth my while in attending, when I've been to so many concerts that only the best will impress me now! The guys also encouraged us to stamp our feet and were looking very smart in suits and bow ties, and there was a knowing wink to the audience as Buddy Holly kept pronouncing Birmingham in the most American way possible. In fact it had been 60 years to the very day that Buddy Holly had played this exact same venue, and sadly the band missed the opportunity to clarify exactly how many people had attended that very show, but did say they'd be keen to meet fans in the foyer afterwards and hear about their experiences. Google suggests that Buddy Holly had somehow failed to sell out the venue too, but he didn't have that bloody black back screen to contend with either!

Without a setlist and without encyclopedic knowledge of Buddy Holly songs it's hard to keep track of what happened, but I was pleasantly surprised when the drummer's assigned song turned out to be I Fought The Law! It was mentioned that (of course) The Clash had made it popular, so I'm very surprised to learn that one of The Crickets had originally written it. I was really shocked when That'll Be The Day was played rather early, and even more so as it was followed by Heartbeat! The crowd just weren't warmed up yet, and as this was a concert rather than a musical there was to be no repeat version later either. By this point I think the orchestra had shown up, who to be fair weren't essential to the sound, sometimes just clapping and smiling along, and their main contribution was to make the concert feel like a classy and high production show. Buddy referenced Elvis's run of shows at Vegas and did a Buddy Holly take on how that could have been, and my favourite song Everyday was transformed into a slower and more emotional rendition, which perhaps makes sense as it whizzes by rather fast on the record. The people to my left disturbed everyone by arriving and taking their seats a full 30 minutes into the show, although to be fair the venue hadn't made it especially clear that 7:30pm was to be the start time and that there would be no support act at all. They'd already missed some of the biggest hits, so had seriously fucked up there! Each of the members were given their own tune, and the keyboardist asked us if we liked Chuck Berry, before confounding us by playing a tune from The Everly Brothers! The first set ended with Not Fade Away followed by Peggy Sue, and it felt that the momentum was rising, although as I thought deeply about what was left to play I could only think of one big hitter remaining (True Love Ways), and I couldn't see how the guys could possibly meet their promise of making the second half the dancing half, when there were seemingly no uptempo tunes of merit remaining!

I stayed put during the interval and caught up on my internet again, catching up on all the new Facebook friends I'd added from work. When the lights went down again and the band returned they joked about having been meditating and drinking fruit juice, although given the venue and age of the crowd I doubt very much that anyone here tonight was pissed out of their mind! One of the guys sported a bright and spotted waistcoat for a tune I didn't know, which in fact was a number by The Big Bopper. I'd also expected La Bamba by Ritchie Valens, although perhaps playing all the tunes by the people who'd tragically died alongside Buddy Holly would have been too emotional. But still, it felt like a missed opportunity to play a classic hit. Buddy Holly talked about his Gospel influences and got us all to chant hallelujah, and said that it was about time we caught up with that girl Peggy Sue before playing Peggy Sue Got Married. I think we also got Maybe Baby too at some point, along with a few other tunes that I vaguely knew, although a lot was outside my knowledge, and I suspect weren't even by Buddy Holly. The band nudged the crowd into coupling up, hugging the person next to them then standing up, but it was bloody hard work to get more than a handful of people on their feet, although the two tunes that merited this action were worth the effort. I'd forgotten all about the loveliness of Raining In My Heart, and after this they delivered the final smash hit of merit - True Love Ways. One of the guys in the band even danced with one of the old ladies in the audience, and when they announced that it had now reached the dancing section of the show, I was very doubtful that they'd be able to get this audience to move, and especially with practically no hits left to offer us! You should have seen the looks of disgust that the people in front of me shot toward the few people on their feet to the left, although I myself wasn't in the mood for dancing either, but I do reckon fans should focus on enjoying themselves how they see fit rather than resenting the enjoyment of others who aren't harming anyone!

So yes, I must say that the age of the audience and the sedateness of the room wasn't up my street, although it was nice to cross Buddy Holly and a landmark venue off my list, and especially so when the date had such significance as the 60th anniversary of the original concert. A few fans started to take photos and even film, and it was nice that the venue just let them get on with it, although I suspect that the looks of annoyance they got were mainly from people like me who also wanted to take photos, but didn't want to disrupt others, and it can be difficult when you're sitting on a flat floor and can only get a decent shot with the camera above your head. I think there was a Chuck Berry song which sounded a little like School Days, and it took me a while to recognise Burning Love by Elvis Presley, which was sufficiently good to make me wonder if I've unfairly dismissed Elvis as a talented karaoke star and nothing more. Let's Twist Again made me think of jokes about dozens of songs about twisting, and this may be a good time to mention the cheeky guy to the right of the stage who was playing what I could only describe as a super-sized guitar, but there may be a proper name for it. Amusingly toward the end of the show he hoisted it out of its standing position a few times to play it as a regular guitar, and also enjoyed riding it and even briefly played it upside down, to looks of exaggerated amazement from his bandmates. The people next to me seemed so ignorant of how shows work that they whinged loudly when it was announced that it was to be the final song, apparently unaware of the existence of mandatory encores! The guys in fact never left the stage but offered to pull a couple more out of the bag, basically playing a medley of oldies, before finishing up with the classic Johnny Be Goode.

Buddy's performance threatened to go all Marty McFly at the end, but the rocking out was kept under control, and when the band got to the front of the stage and aimed their guitars at us like guns it felt surprisingly like Primal Scream, which was not a comparison I expected to make! As the set drew to a close there was a standing ovation, which I suspect was a mixture between enthusiasm and also people like me who fancied the chance to stretch their legs and take a couple of photos - one of which is above - before attempting to beat the crowd to the exits. It took a while to get out with all the slow people in front of me but I eventually escaped them, and it was fortunate that I had 15 minutes in total to get onto my train. It was perhaps for the best that Boots was closing up so I could resist an unnecessary meal deal, instead getting onto my train and securing the one seat by myself I could find. The journey back gave me an opportunity to write up the most extensive notes I could muster - which has made the process of writing this all up much faster than I normally achieve - and when I got off my train I was shocked to see the same guy who'd been onstage as one of the contestants for Knightmare Live in Brierley Hill just two days earlier. I resisted saying anything as it seemed weird and he'd been totally shit in navigating the dungeoneer so I'd had struggled to say anything both nice and sincere, but it was still a real surprise and coincidence. The train journey back was tense as some tosser was shouting loudly about politics, pointing out the obvious about how the Tory's have ruined everything, which is a dumb thing to say as to most people it's clumsily stating the obvious, and the few who disagree are so resistant to reality that no reasonable argument could persuade them anyway, and certainly not a viewpoint of a loud annoying whiny guy! Although I'd had quite enjoyed a relaxing night in, I think this concert was just about worth the effort, and I'm pretty sure that there were no notable omissions either, although when you're in the realm of the tribute act there really isn't much excuse to miss anything out anyway!

Mark: 7.0/10