GIG NUMBER SIXTY-EIGHT
Who
After hearing a Gerry And The Pacemakers hits on the way, we arrived just a few minutes before the show started and found our way to the hilariously narrow seats that this posh theatre had to offer. As expected, the place was packed out with old people, mostly with grey hair and in fact largely older than I'd expected. These guys looked like they were well into adulthood during the sixties, or maybe the ravages of time hadn't been too kind!! The stage was set with a rather dull (possibly Victorian?!) image displaying the name of the tour and, despite the poor seats that would had been better suited to an Odeon, we had an excellent view as the lights dimmed and the voice of an announcer declared who was coming onstage as the strictly punctual timetable got underway.
Swinging Blue Jeans opened the set with terrifying strength for someone bottom of the bill. They delivered strong songs I'd never heard, particularly towards the start, and got the dancing in the aisles going right from the outset (for those downstairs who could physically move in their tiny seats!). They were a four piece all appropriately attired in blue jeans and, according to the singer, with a guest guitarist from The Kinks touring band (to fill in for illness). They all seemed quite energetic possessing (I believe) just the singer as an original member and started off what the others acts continued, namely lengthy pauses between songs both to rest and to tell us jokes about how old they all are. They perhaps pulled this off the strongest of all acts though, including jokes about wearing thongs onstage and the singer wiping his face with a towel and, upon being informed it was for the use of Gerry Marsden, wiping his arse as well!! The second most pressing question for me was if they were responsible for popularising the word "swinging" but the most pressing question was answered when The Hippy Hippy Shake was unleashed as the final song and obvious high point: a song so mainstream it's even been played on The Simpsons!
As with all the acts, the stage was set up quickly with a surprise that Gerry And The Pacemakers were second to play and not the closing act! He was a big guy supported by The (New) Pacemakers, making six guys in total arranged symmetrically on stage. He opened with the obvious choice of I Like It before a cover version of Great Balls Of Fire. How Do You Do It? was another excellent moment although at the time I somehow got confused and thought they were playing I Like It again!! His banter was foul-mouthed (particularly for a room full of Daily Mail readers!) but funny. A verbal sparring match with one of his two (!) keyboardists resulting in the guy being introduced as "a very talented homosexual" when his turn came in the introducing of the band, with the spotlight on him making him run to try and evade it! He'd prompted this by calling Gerry "Gerry-atric", and it's surprising how jokes about being old always seem to work! After telling us a lengthy story about how he wrote his next song for a girl who he married, then adding he wished he'd never wrote it, Gerry played Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying. His Liverpool origins were revealed with Ferry Cross The Mersey before dedicating his final number to "the best football team in the world" and countering the boos by claiming he was talking about Wolves! This was a moving tune as you'd expect and was worth coming out for alone. Despite the songs being 40 years old, the enthusiasm he managed to show in popping up for his allotted 30 minutes and playing all killer no filler was astonishing, as could be said for all the artists on the bill. A nice lesson for groups such as The Bluetones to learn from!
I went off for a coke and crisps in the 15-minute interval before The Merseybeats opened the second half of the show. They were good but probably the weakest act on the bill, boasting only one half-hit and filling out their set with (admittedly) excellent cover versions of songs made famous by others. The singer looked terrifyingly young considering (jet black hair being the trick!) and this was without doubt the most contemporary show, largely thanks to a proper rave-up with the lights and pretend fireworks during a very strong version of Live And Let Die. Johnny B Goode and Hi Ho Silver Lining padded out the show and to be fair were strong choices to cover. So strong in fact that the only remotely familiar tune made famous by The Merseybeats (Wishin' And Hopin') was not the highlight of their set. They were the only group not to allot a segment to introducing the band but revealed that they had two original members, who were in fact the core brains behind the music! Also the lead singers son was on keyboards and they casually reeled off name checks to supporting The Beatles at The Cavern! In a way The Merseybeats highlighted more than any other band tonight that so many groups of the 60s were famous merely for popularising older songs meaning that, once you take away The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Love and The Rolling Stones, what you are left with is an astonishingly overrated decade fuelled largely by drugs, vibes and cover versions: not great songwriting!!
The Searchers could boast five excellent songs (my research says none written by themselves!) and four were played, with Sugar And Spice the largest omission of the night but, considering they didn't have long to play, they could be forgiven for this. Sweets For My Sweet was an obvious opener and featured lovely harmonies, although highlighted their status as a less talented hybrid of The Beatles and The Beach Boys. They were all dressed in black suits and had their name lit up behind them (a little like The Hives!) but, despite their funeral attire, kept the hits coming with Needles And Pins and Don't Throw Your Love Away, as well as an extended cover called Young Girl. However, When You Walk In The Room probably won the award for finest tune of the night thanks to its astonishing riff!! My research confirmed they have one original member, one nearly original (the "front man"), and the lead singer who'd been in the band for 20 years after Mike Pender left to form his breakaway touring band. Original member John looked like he was about 80 but possessed a very charming smile and a full head of grey hair, the singer was bald, whereas the front man looked young thanks to his black hair! They also had a new drummer, although this fact perhaps more than anything highlights that I should try harder to learn the names of some of these guys to make my reviews more interesting to read! After saying they hoped to stretch it out to make their 50th anniversary, The Searchers drew the night to a close with strong applause and a blast of Land Of Hope And Glory.
The announcer continued as before to try and drum up hysteria by telling us to "give it up for..." again and again but his presumable desire to start a moshpit failed! The whole thing was over well before 7pm and I couldn't complain at all as everyone, restricted by their short time on stage, had managed to deliver the hits! I was also surprised to find the bands were all quite able-bodied yet all linked by the common thread of endless (surprisingly effective) jokes about being old (such as "no matter how old you feel, there's always someone older") and tributes to "sunny" Wolverhampton. The crowd had also been fairly good, although old people dancing in the aisles is more embarrassing than anything else!
Mark: 8.0/10
The Searchers
The Merseybeats
Gerry And The Pacemakers
Swinging Blue Jeans
Where
Wolverhampton Grand Theatre
When
2nd May 2005
Price
£19.50
Who with
Dad
Position
Dress circle (i.e. middle tier)
Comments
It was a last minute invitation that prompted this quite startling anomaly in my gig history, but how could I resist? Here were four bands who could all boast truly famous songs, particularly You'll Never Walk Alone, I Like It, How Do You Do It?, Sweets For My Sweet, Don't Throw Your Love Away, When You Walk In The Room, Wishin' And Hopin' and The Hippy Hippy Shake!! No-one else wanted to go, the ticket was free, I'd got nothing better to do, and any opportunity to increase my stock of famous bands seen rarely slips me by without good reason! It was the 4pm bank holiday matinee performance at The Grand Theatre in Wolverhampton (a new location for me!) and was apparently the 20th anniversary tour for this nostalgia fest so they'd pushed out the boat and went for a top drawer line-up.
