The Hollies - Concert Review

Southport Theatre, 11^th October 1997 - by Yvonne Larkins

Work commitment meant that there had been a frantic 2-train journey to Southport, resulting in my arrival at the hotel for 7.10pm – just enough time to collect my sister who’d had a lazy afternoon in the hotel. The theatre is situated right on the sea-front and excitement increased as we walked past the flashing lights of the amusements. That sea-side thrill was in full flow. The theatre has a curious seating arrangement, the front row consists of two seats, either side of the centre section and pointing at 45 degree angles to the high stage! “Stay” was greeted with a warm applause and so was “Here I Go Again”, but it was not until “Yes I Will” that the audience had warmed up and began to really show their appreciation. Tony was soon to let us know where he would have preferred to be this night, as he commented ‘Southport and The Hollies manager are not interested in football or we wouldn’t be here’. His attention was noticeably away in Italy where England were playing their vital World Cup qualifier. But Clarkey had no reservations and with full commitment he belted out “I Can’t Let Go”.

Justifiably Allan Clarke introduced Ian Parker as ‘quite brilliant’, but held back from being over critical of Ian’s dress colour scheme of green and orange when he remembered Ian’s parents were in the audience. Ian’s brilliance was shown on the early 80s rocker “Draggin My Heels”, at times the keyboards gave a ‘Phantom of the opera’ feel to the song. The audience may not have responded positively when Allan asked ‘who likes Bruce Springsteen?’ but Allan’s rendition of “If I Were The Priest” brought an awe of silence then rapturous applause. It may be an obscure song but the audience appreciated it for the way Allan Clarke put a sense of feeling into it. After “Helplessly Hoping” came the beautiful “Butterfly”, and as had occurred at all concerts this tour, the song was applauded with great appreciation. “I’m Alive” was followed by “On A Carousel”, but all the hand clapping could not drown out the squeaking of the seats we were sitting in – if only we’d thought of taking an oil can with us! The first half was rounded off with “When I’m Dead And Gone” – more vocal solos by Tony please!

A change of seats in the second half, to ones right in front of Tony, but we had to twist ourselves in the seats so we could actually look at him. “Stop in the Name Of Love” was The Hollies opening number, which was quickly followed by “Jennifer Eccles” – this got the audience clapping again. The slow 80s version of “Just One Look” came next. Allan Clarke may have scorned doing a summer season in Weymouth in 1964, but for us it was a season well spent as it produced the fun loving “We’re Through”, and my first chance to see Ian Parker do one of his ‘walkabouts’. This also provided Tony with the opportunity to come up with an apt name for our Ian as the ‘amazing splendido on accordion’.

Part and parcel of a Hollies concert is the banter between Allan and Tony, this part I always look forward to and Southport’s topic was Tony’s stage suit. Allan, unsure of the cut of Tony’s suit asked if it was finished, Tony replied ‘it’s the style, I’ve been wearing it for 5 years, you must have noticed it before’. Alan, not to miss an opportunity to get one over on Tony told the audience ‘I told you he wouldn’t buy any new stage suits’. In response Tony promptly told the audience about his new suit with a waistcoat, sounding very proud of it, until Allan came in with the quip ‘yes, but he takes off the jacket for the 2nd half and puts on a waistcoat, to make it look as though he’s bought 2 suits, and he thinks he’s fooling everyone!’ Tony admits he’s cheap and it’s quickly on to “Bus Stop”. The Buddy Holly numbers follow, but after “Peggy Sue” Tony starts the guitar intro to “Rave On”, but Allan has other ideas. Quietly Clarkey begins singing another 50s song, Tony says he doesn’t know it. Undeterred Allan continues and Tony struggles to pick up the tune, and in the end Allan lets Tony off the hook! We did laugh, but to be honest, we didn’t know the song either. This impromptu deviation from the song running order was a welcome inclusion, more please! Finally they got round to the Ray-orientated “Rave On”.

Back to The Hollies hits with “Look Through Any Window”, the middle guitars curiously reminiscent of the Grand Prix TV theme tune by Fleetwood Mac. After “Carrie Anne” we were treated to the long banjo intro to “Stop, Stop, Stop”. Tony could do no other though, after the loud shouts of ‘long’ had come from the first 3 rows! After this Tony played the unmistakable intro to “The Air That I Breathe”, the applause continued for “He Ain’t Heavy”. We stood to applaud and dashed to the front of the high stage. It was a slight hindrance to us ‘shorties’, but we had a great view of Tony’s shoes! All crowded round, the stage was set for some rock ‘n roll and we were not to be disappointed. With the classic “Great Balls Of Fire” and “Let’s Dance” they brought out Clarkey’s vitality on stage which belied his 50 plus years. “Long Cool Woman” had to come with its accompanying finale, hands clapping to the final individual pieces, acting as a countdown to the end of another fantastic show. But Tony had one last act to play as the group were leaving the stage. Our football mad Tony dashed over to the Crew eager for the match result – The thumbs up and big smile on Tony’s face said it all, England were through! We all left the theatre happy.

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