There are rumours flying around that there is a superb tribute band to Fleetwood Mac doing the rounds. For once, the rumours are, in fact – er – fact, and the celebrated Rumours of Fleetwood Mac are touring their acclaimed show in an exhaustive 26-date UK tour. The original Fleetwood Mac had a string of hits from ‘Albatross’...
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I first saw Rebel Dean perform in 2002, at the annual `Eddie Cochran Memorial Weekend` in Chippenham, UK, from where I would regularly broadcast my radio show live. Given the event, Rebel was obviously doing a mostly Eddie set, but I could see this young guy was more than just a `tribute` artiste. So I was pleased to see him there...
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By Martin Hutchinson Back in the sixties, Manfred Mann was a big hit-making machine, and from 1964 to 1969, they were almost ever-present in the charts due to such classic hits as ‘5-4-3-2-1’, ‘Doo Wah Diddy Diddy’, ‘Pretty Flamingo’ and ‘Come Tomorrow’ to name but four. Their music was so good that they survived a change of...
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I caught up with the 2015 Solid Silver Sixties Tour in The Pavilion, Bournemouth last month. I was greeted at the stage door by the highly-professional tour manager Bob Balchin, who was obviously pleased to see me – I don’t know why! He gave me the layout of the dressing rooms so I went for a walk round to see who had...
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John Lodge releases his second solo album ‘10,000 LIGHT YEARS AGO’ ahead of the Moody’s UK tour in June.
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Don Mclean: from aspiring young songwriter to internationally acclaimed artist.
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By Jim Stewart ‘The Voice’ was one of The Moody Blues biggest hits and to their legion of fans worldwide JUSTIN HAYWARD is The Voice. Since joining the band late 1966, he has enjoyed incredible success both as a band member and a solo artist. In 2015 he is touring the UK in both guises, with promoting a new eight-disc box set ‘THE...
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By Jim Stewart Ray Thomas, The Moody Blues, ‘The Magnificent Moodies’ 50th Anniversary Deluxe 2CD Edition, Esoteric Recordings: ECLEC 22473 As the sixties turned the page for 1965 the future looked good for THE MOODY BLUES, their UK No.1 ‘Go Now’ was now repeating its success worldwide, and their follow-up had also...
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Originally scheduled as the second leg of 10cc’s 2014-15 Nationwide Tour the dates now have a greater significance to their fans as the band will feature the complete ‘Sheet Music’ album onstage for the very first time. They begin at Reading Hexagon on February 5th, followed by The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury on Saturday 7th...
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Singer Jimmy Somerville is releasing his sixth solo album, Homage, on March 9. The record, a collection of 12 original disco tracks, is a tribute to the genre that inspired Jimmy so much during his teenage years. “A homage to disco is something I always wanted to do. I never really thought I could pull it off but I did, and it’s a...
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Martin Hutchinson They say the New Year is a time for new beginnings, and so it was exactly 40 years ago for Fleetwood Mac. After a number of hits between 1968 and 1970, blues-based, times were hard for the band. ‘Black Magic Woman’, ‘Albatross’, ‘Oh Well’ and ‘The Green Manalishi’ had all been successful, but they had not had a...
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By Katie Davis The Rag dolls, one of the top European Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons tribute acts, take you back through the Jersey Boy’s career and before their fame, playing songs such as Oh! Carol and Teenager in Love that Frankie, Tommy, Bobby and Nick would have covered in the early days. I had the pleasure of seeing them...
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Orchard Theatre, Dartford, September 22, 2014 When Danny And The Juniors sang ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Here To Stay, It Will Never Die’ it was as much in hope as belief, music experts gave it a year, let alone seeing the 50s out, and now as the 60th Anniversary approaches it remains the most popular form of...
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Orchard Theatre, Dartford, September 16 Throughout the ‘70s Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn reigned supreme, writing huge chart hits for every year of the decade, including 5 number one’s, mainly short, catchy, infectious tunes that got inside your head and within 90 seconds you’d be singing along to them. Transferring...
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By Martin Hutchinson AFTER 42 years of touring, Joan Armatrading is undertaking her first solo world tour, and it’ll be her last major tour. “I’ve always toured with a band before, but as this will be the last major tour that I’ll be doing, I’ve decided to do it on my own.” It will be a chance for her to pay the...
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GODSPELL THE 70s MUSICAL at the QUEENS THEATRE, HORNCHURCH By Leslie Dunn I first saw Godspell in the early 70s when a 23-year-old actor called David Essex played the part of Jesus and I loved it. I wasn’t sure if putting it on in 2014 would work but how wrong I was. It was truly amazing. Coming from the...
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Orchard Theatre, Dartford, August 4 As we entered the auditorium of The ORCHARD THEATRE, DARTFORD for the opening night of ‘ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS’, we were surprised to find we were midway through a Skiffle session: new songs, authentically played and delivered in true ‘Lonnie’ style, intended to set the mood for an...
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CHURCHILL THEATRE, BROMLEY 17 June 2014 A Broadway and West End smash hit, a hugely successful movie, which I viewed with caution as the music featured is so precious to me but I thoroughly enjoyed, and now the nationwide tour of ‘ROCK OF AGES’ hits the CHURCHILL THEATRE, BROMLEY with a huge bang. The simplest of...
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The Rolling Stones Gear by Andy Babiuk & Greg Provost. Backbeat Books: isbn: 9781617130922 If you are to devote 10 years of your life to researching and preparing a book, you need to know the final presentation is going to warrant the effort. Rolling Stones Gear by Andy Babiuk & Greg Provost with Backbeat has done...
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