The Solid Silver 60's Show 2006

[paulclarkson]

THE SOLID SILVER 60’S SHOW
THE LONDON PALLADIUM
SUNDAY 7TH MAY 2006

The Solid Silver 60’s Show, 21st Anniversary Tour, started way back in February in Manchester and worked its way all around the country ending up at The London Palladium for the final show. We love going to the London Palladium as it has such a great history, it conjures up many memories of our childhood when all the family would gather round to watch Sunday Night at the London Palladium with all the stars of the day performing. In those days people would dress up for an evening out, suits and dickie-bows being the order of the day, how times have changed, t-shirts and jeans seemed to be the dress-code for this show.
Wayne Fontana kicked off the show, backed by The Pacemakers. Wayne has a great sense of humour and loves sending himself up, his first comment ‘You were expecting someone much older weren’t you’ had the crowd laughing, he continued with tales of incontinence and memory loss which struck a chord with many of the ‘older’ members of the audience. Wayne still has a great voice and started the show with ‘I’m a Believer’ the old Monkees song, he continued with other hits of his own, including ‘Um Um Um Um Um Um’, ‘Game of Love’ and ‘Groovy Kind of Love’. In between the songs we had more of his self-deprecating humour and stories from the sixties. He related the story of Graham Gouldman (later of 10cc) who wrote many hits for other artists including ‘Bus Stop’ for The Hollies, ‘For your Love’ for The Yardbirds and, we quote, “He wrote this load of s**t for me” Wayne then proceeded to sing ‘Pamela Pamela’, you can imagine the look on Pam’s face as she’s always loved that song for obvious reasons.
Next on were Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich, we’ve seen this group many times and they’ve always been terrific, tonight was no exception. They started with ‘Hold Tight’, which always gets the audience clapping and singing along, Dave Dee always has a great rapport with the crowd and looks fantastic for his age as do the rest of the group. They continued with ‘Hideaway’, ‘Save Me’, ‘You Keep me Hanging On’, ‘Bend It’ (which was banned in America for being rude) and ‘Zabadak’ which we were all encouraged to sing along to. Dave Dee then said that they liked to include a couple of songs that were by other artists and to keep things fresh for people that had seen them before, to our astonishment they proceeded to play a medley of the Led Zeppelin classic ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and The Who’s ‘Pinball Wizard’. It was absolutely brilliant and showed what a great guitarist Tich is, he can rock it with the best of them. Then the whip came out!! Of course this means ‘The Legend of Xanadu’, which is probably their most famous song. There is always banter with the audience at this point with the band checking that nobody in the first couple of rows is wearing a wig just in case Dave catches them with his whip and also comments to the women in the audience as to who might possess a whip of their own. This fantastic set was coming to an end and Dave Dee remarked that at this point bands would usually go off and wait for the audience to call them back for an encore, he joked that they had been left in the dressing room so many times that they don’t risk it anymore and stay on stage to complete their set. They then paid tribute to The Beatles by saying that it all started way back in 1962 when four boys from Liverpool recorded their first LP and paved the way for other groups to follow their success, they then sang a wonderful version of ‘This Boy’ with all the group standing at the front of the stage accompanied by Beaky on acoustic guitar, magic.
After the interval P J Proby bounded onto the stage, he too was accompanied by The Pacemakers and he was amazing. His hair is now grey but he still has that wonderful deep voice that was so prominent on his songs from the sixties. He treated us to his hits including ‘Hold Me’ the beautiful ‘Somewhere’ and ‘Maria’ which were met with great appreciation from the audience. He looks in fine health and said that he hadn’t touched a drink in 14 years. As well as The Pacemakers a young girl accompanied him on the stage playing saxophone and flute, which gave an extra edge to the songs. He paid tribute to Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley by singing ‘I Walk the Line’ and ‘American Trilogy’, which sent shivers down your spine as he related it to events that have happened in recent times. It was a great set and fantastic to see P J Proby back on stage, the audience responded by giving him a much-deserved standing ovation.
Gerry and the Pacemakers then took to the stage as the final act of the evening, it was good to see Gerry looking fit and well after his recent health scare. The hits just kept coming, ‘I’m the One’, ‘I Like It’, ‘How Do You Do It’, ‘Ferry Across the Mersey’ and the lovely ‘Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying’. Gerry and his group were in fine form as they sang a rocking version of ‘Jambalaya’ and ‘Great Balls of Fire’. We were then treated to Garth (the voice) on bass singing ‘I Heard it Through the Grapevine’ while Gerry left the stage for 5 minutes. Gerry Marsden still has that great voice that was part of the Mersey Sound coming out of Liverpool all those years ago and still has the cheeky smile that we all remember from those days. Throughout the set Gerry regaled the audience with stories about his girlfriend, who later became his wife, the early years of Merseybeat and Liverpool Football Club. For the encore they played ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ with everybody in the audience waving their arms from side to side and singing along.
It was a great evening and special mention must go to The Pacemakers for their hard work backing three of the artists on the bill. It’s a privilege to still be able to see these groups because they come from arguably the greatest era in popular music. As we once heard Dave Dee say, “If you keep coming, we’ll keep playing”, so if you haven’t been to a Solid Silver 60’s Show check it out next year, you won’t be disappointed.
Paul & Pam Clarkson

www.waynefontana.com
www.dddbmt.com
www.proby.co.uk
www.gerrymarsden.co.uk
www.brandx60s.com
www.swinging60szone.net