Over
the past few weeks I have been very fortunate to see a wide & diverse range
of musical acts all serving to widen my appreciation of the recording artists
and helping me to relive my youth or share in the living of my daughters youth.
In my
quest for continuing this I ventured back in time to a period (way)
before I was born - The 50's & 60's ! Accompanied by someone who
could give me a much better critical appraisal of the fayre on show,
my Mum & Dad, we made off to the Tyne Theatre in Newcastle for a night
of Rock 'n' Roll legends.
The
show is billed as The Voice of Roy Orbison, and, supported by 'The Everly
Brothers' and 'Buddy Holly' promised to be a blast from the past from 3 of the
eras best known and well loved acts.
There
are many tours on at the moment; lots of them are the actual original artists
who are still playing to their fans, bringing their hits back to stage and
doing their very best to recapture the atmosphere and stage presence of the
'first time round'. Unfortunately these artists, whilst still masters of
their trade, are often showing the effects of time (don't we all) - lets be
honest, an artist who in 1963 was bouncing round stage, belting out their top
10 hits would now be almost 50 years older; the legs, the eyes, the voice all
will have suffered (except for Tom Jones) and sometimes this leaves the
audience lamenting the passing of time and comparing them to the recordings of
the past.
For
this show we had artists who were still very much able to not only give an amazingly
accurate recreation of the original artists, but who also were able to maintain
the energy and strength to 'own the stage' with movement, charisma and
presence.
For
over 2 hours we were treated to an amazing rendition of over 40 'hits' - and,
contrary to the current music climate where selling 150 singles from the back
of a Vectra Estate at a Sunday car boot warrants entry into that weeks charts,
these hits were ALL classics. The audience were quite an eclectic mix of
ages, group demographics, styles and fashions proving that real songs cross all
boundaries. The fact that many of these tunes have become almost anthemic
through their use in TV, Movies and even Adverts just goes to further prove
that form is temporary, class is permanent.
Anyway,
back to the show - The Everly Brothers, who tonight were
played by Geoff Bate & Colin Fidoe were completely in character as the two
brothers from Brownie, Kentucky - (so much so that when we met them at half
time and asked where they really came from they still maintained it was the
Bluegrass State, despite them actually hailing from Wolverhampton
!). Geoff & Colin are seasoned pro's on the music tour scene
having played in their own bands, as solo artists and even line dancing
shouters before they harmonised their talents into 'The Everly's Experience'.
They have spent hours meticulously recreating every detail of the toothy
two-some, the hair, the costumes, the guitars and of course the
songs; everything from 'Bye Bye Love' and 'Wake up Little Susie' all
the way to 'All I Have to Do is Dream', '('til) I Kissed You' and,
prophetically, 'Claudette' which was penned by Roy Orbison and given to the
boys to record 45 years before this show brought The Big O and the brothers
back together.
Ask
anyone if they know Tim Harwood and I would expect all but his mum to answer
'Who ?' ..... but there are thousands & thousands of people who have
watched Tim in his many forays into stage, screen & music. Tim has
toured as a dancer, been in the West End with Michael Ball & Jason Donovan,
has an extensive Musical list (Grease, Fame, Joseph, Rocky Horror, Blues
Brothers, Chitty Chitty...) has played Elvis in Bill Kenwright's national
tour and even starred in George Lucas' Star Wars Phantom Menace. But, in
the famous words of a Saturday evening, "Tonight Mathew I will be.....
Buddy Holly" ...and he was !
Playing
one of the founding fathers of Rock 'n' Roll, Tim delivered Buddy's full repertoire of guitar lead 'Western Bop' which has formed the bedrock of almost
all genres of popular music ever since. Complete with Buddy's trademark
NHS-style specs and perfect in his stance and rhythms, we were treated to
a catalogue of pop-tastic, foot-tapping, hand-jiving classics
including 'Everyday', 'Peggy Sue', 'That'll be the Day', 'Rave On' and 'True
Love Ways'. The fact that Buddy died all the way back in 1959 aged only
22 and yet his music and legacy is still as strong today as ever, is testament
not only to the originals genuine brilliance but also Tim's amazing talents.
Finally
it was time for the headline act and again another artist whose overall
impact on the music scene was most certainly greater than the sum of its
parts. Roy Orbison was an amazing song writer, performer, poet and producer who
made soulful, lost-love, almost manically depressing ballads into mainstream
mega-hits. His vocal range was unbelievable; from deep, smooth, velvety
tenor all the way up to a belting falsetto. Elvis Presley once famously
declared that Roy Orbison was 'the greatest singer in the world'.
Not an
easy feat to replicate but in Damien Edwards we had an absolute masterclass in
vocal ability. Damien is a human mynah bird when it comes to stars of the
late 50's and early 60's - he has starred as Elvis Presley, Ritchie Valens, Del
Shannon and, in his biggest and longest staged role, Roy Orbison. He
has also performed in an eclectic theatrical & TV mix including
Captain Walker in the Who's 'Tommy', Parson Nathaniel in 'War of the
Worlds', an irate cabby in 'Doctor Who' and even a drunken lush on BBC2's 'See
Hear'.
Roy
Orbison's hit list includes 'Only the Lonely', 'It's Over', 'Crying' (which was
brilliantly parodied by Jim Broadbent in an episode of Only Fools &
Horses), 'Pretty Woman', 'Blue Bayou' and umpteen more which have subsequently
been covered by artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Don McLean and even Van
Halen. And Damien gave every one the Big O treatment.
The
finale of the evening saw all the artists take to the stage together to
complete an amazing medley which had everyone up out of their seats, singing
& dancing and genuinely enjoying a wonderful end to a fabulous show.
My dad
said that as each act came on stage, if you closed your eyes, you really
believed that it was the originals that were there; the originals from the
1950's, backed by their original bands and singing with the original, naive
excitement of people just doing it for their love of being heard and
making people happy.
I have
to admit, while I would never profess to be much of an expert on music of the
50's & 60's, I recognised almost every song and surprised myself as to
how many I actually knew the words to. A great show by a group of artists
who are truly phenomenal in their craft - if you like live music, great pop
songs and are aged between 8 and 108 then this is one show you will certainly
be sad when 'It's Over' !
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