The Hollies - Concert Review

Manchester Palace Theatre, 6^th November 2004 - by Vince Ashbrook

Manchester - my home town and accepted home of The Hollies.

The town had changed a lot since my last visit, but it was not the changes to the town which concerned me, when my wife and I made our way to the Palace Theatre.

The tragic news of the death of Carl Wayne from cancer had left The Hollies needing a new front man. The appointment of Peter Howarth from Blackpool as lead singer had the regular fans wondering.

Was this just another singer brought in to complete what would be a final tour?

What would The Hollies sound like?

Would he blend with the rest of the band?

Upon arrival at the theatre the next bad news was confirmed - Alan Coates, a member of The Hollies for over twenty years had left to concentrate on his own music company. His place to be taken by Steve Lauri.

Would The Hollies survive two big changes?

We arrived at the theatre in good time and were somewhat reassured by our good friends Chris and Sheila, who had been to the “warm up” concert in Wales, that all was well.

So the lights went down and the intro music started, there was a strange nervous atmosphere, the boys came on stage and straight into “Stop in the Name of Love”, “Here I Go Again” and Sorry Suzanne” The sound was good and the audience appreciative.

Peter’s voice is more mellow that Carl’s and this allows the harmonies to shine. Steve’s backing vocals are higher then Alan Coates and so a more natural replacement for Graham Nash, giving the Band a more "Hollies" sound then for some years.

After a short chat by Peter it was into “Just One Look” followed by “On a Carousel”.

Tony introduced Peter and we were then treated to a terrific acoustic version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Sandy”, this showed the quality of Peter’s voice, and the skill of his guitar playing.

Tony, Peter and Ray next gave us “Gasoline Ally Bred” and the LA version of “Look Through any Window”.

Tony then told the audience of the sad loss of Carl and introduced Ray in a tribute rendition of The Move’s “Flowers in the Rain” - there wasn’t a dry eye in the house, God bless you Carl.

After Peter talking about the futility of war we had “Soldiers Song”. Then a different version of “We’re Through” with no walk-about by Ian, but a great new Drum solo by Bobby.

The first half ends with Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind”. None of those long notes we had with Carl but still lots of power from the whole Band.

The second half started with that great number “Curly Billy”. It’s a long time since we were treated to this cowboy shoot-out number. Then straight into “I Cant Let Go” and “Jennifer Eccles”

More memories of Carl with “Yes I Will” his favourite Hollies song, followed by the first International hit “Bus Stop”

A second acoustic spot starts with Steve in “I Cant Tell the Bottom from the Top”, and then Tony’s New Zealand hit “Too Young to be Married.

The Band was performing well and some of those early nerves seemed to have settled.

We ended the acoustic spot with a new version put together, sung and played by Peter of “Here I Go again” This is terrific - I hope we keep this in for the rest of the tour.

The whole band were then back for that number one hit “I’m Alive” Then with Peter on maracas we had “Carie Anne”.

This was followed by Peter wondering what the band had been “on” when they wrote “Stop Stop Stop”

As we approached the end of the show the audience were in full swing and “The Air that I Breathe” brought a terrific ovation, keeping the momentum going with “Long Cool Woman”.

Ray moves again to centre stage for that great Mud number “Tiger Feet” which had the audience up on their dancing feet. The show ended with “He Ain’t Heavy” and the Band received a well deserved standing ovation.

We the regular fans were left thinking Carl would have enjoyed that. Well done boys - as Peter said, Tony and Bobby have maintained the atmosphere of this great Band and the additions blend in well.

If you stopped watching The Hollies when Alan Clarke left, now is the time to return.

Setlist

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