The Solid Silver 60’s Show at The Royal Concert Hall Nottingham on Saturday 18th April 2015.
Images and Review by Kevin Cooper
They say that the 1960’s was a time of love and peace with a sprinkling of magical music, and that was the case at The Royal Concert Hall last night, as legend after legend took to the stage to celebrate the 30th birthday bash of The Solid Silver 60’s Show.
Starting the show was The New Amen Corner, who did a sterling job of backing the other artists as well as getting the fun flowing with their version of Bend Me Shape Me. Next up was Miss P.P. Arnold who delivered a stunning Angel Of The Morning before getting this audience to really party with Uptight (Everything’s Alright), her version of The Bee Gees To Love Somebody and River Deep Mountain High, before finishing with her original version of The First Cut Is The Deepest; written for her by Cat Stevens.
Leaving the stage to 74 year old Chris Farlowe, this crowd were treated to such delights as Out Of Time and as Mike d’Abo had written Handbags and Gladrags especially for him, he could not leave the stage without singing it. He also showed that age is no barrier to writing new material as he showcased a new song, the melodic I Don’t Want To Love You Anymore.
Taking us to the interval was the The Merseybeats, who finished their energetic set with Jeff Beck’s Hi Ho Silver Lining, after such delights as Don’t Turn Around, I Saw Her Standing There and their original hit covered by David Bowie, Sorrow.
The second half opener was Mike Pender, originally from The Searchers who showed that age is no barrier to having a good time. Sweets For My Sweet, Love Potion No. 9 and Needles And Pins were all demanded by this audience as he called out for requests. He too has a new song; Four Strong Winds, on which he showed that vocally he is still strong.
Billy J Kramer brought this party to a close with his backing band, The Rising. On his own admission, he hasn’t toured the UK for over 18 years, but his old hits, I’ll Keep You Satisfied and Trains And Boats And Planes were instantly recognisable. He delivered other hits; Little Children and Bad To Me before finding time to plug his new album. He reminisced fondly about John Lennon and delivered a great version of Jealous Guy.
Despite their ages, I don’t doubt that the party poppers and streamers will be out next year, and that this audience will be there again to party along with them. As Chris Farlowe said “we are pensioners on acid”.
After seeing the show you might well wonder if the music of today will last nearly as long. Here we have artists of advancing years who are performing nightly on a 36-date tour, who will meet with their audience after the show, and for whom nothing is too much trouble; they simply love their fans and the fans love them.
Thankfully, the sounds of the 60’s never die, they simply groove away but not for a long time yet, I hope.