Blast from past had them rocking in the aisles at Town House

Mar 21 2008 By Caireen Kelly

THE SIXTIES came back to Hamilton on Saturday night as the Town House was treated to a blast from the past.

As part of South Lanarkshire Council’s Young at Heart Festival, Reelinanarockin was aimed at the over 50s.

The show starred Mike Pender from The Searchers, Tony Crane from The Merseybeats, Mike d’Abo from Manfred Mann and Brian Poole from the Tremeloes.

Wayne Fontana from the Mindbenders was also scheduled to perform, but due to personal circumstances he had to be replaced by the show’s producer Derek Franks.

The first section of the show began with a medley of rock hits including numbers by Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry and finished with a group performance of “Whole Lot of Shakin Goin’ On.”

Producer Derek Franks then provided some light-hearted banter with the audience saying that the performers had a combined age of 742 and because of that they were grateful to get a gig anywhere.

The singers then performed a selection of songs they wish they had recorded, but never did. Standouts included Tony Crane’s version of “Wishin’ and Hopin’” and Mike d’Abo’s unique interpretation of “Build Me Up Buttercup” a song which never fails to get people onto the dance floor, or in this case, into the aisle.

Derek Franks sang Beatles classic “Hey Jude” and the (very) tuneful audience joined in for a calm but powerful performance.

Any sense of calm was soon destroyed as Brian Poole took to the stage to sing “Baby Baby Baby, You’re Out of Time” which sent the aging audience into a screaming and dancing frenzy, only added to when the whole group performed “Games People Play” which caused a riot amongst spectators.

The second half brought yet more highlights and in particular the standouts of the night for me.

For someone to even go near a “Dirty Dancing” song is somewhat dangerous, but for others it is a risk worth taking and for Brian Poole’s version of “Do You Love Me” it was worth it. People from the audience rushed from the rear stalls to the front of the stage to join the throng of people doing the “mashed potato”.

Mike d’Abo, a born performer, put his raspy rock voice to good use in “Handbags and Gladrags” made famous by Rod Stewart and the Stereophonics.

Often throughout the night Mike reminded me of actor Bill Nighy from “Love Actually” as he never stood still, but he was at his best on this song and the audience could not take their eyes off him.

Derek Franks closed the night with Jerry and the Pacemakers famous anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone” which again only served to rouse the already hyped crowd.

The finale, another 60s medley of glorified hits including “Do Wah Diddy”, “I’m a Believer” and “Hi Ho Silver Lining” only sent us home believing that the old days really were the best!