The Hollies - Concert Review

Reflections of the last 4 shows of 1999, 27^th November 1999 - by Doug Treible (Denville,NJ, USA)

There are not are very many bands that I would consider travelling over 7000 miles round trip just to see play live – in fact there is only one. Since I was in my mid teens 20 years ago The Hollies have always been the premier band to me – so much so that in the last 2 years I have made the aforementioned trip 4 times just to see this great band.

Most recently, I was able to see the last four shows of The Hollies latest tour Northampton, Grimsby, Nottingham, and Hanley. As is always the case, and as anybody who has seen the band perform can tell you, each and every night The Hollies put on a superb show. Although each night the set and running order stayed virtually the same, each night’s show was uniquely its own.

Having arrived in Northampton early I had a lot of time to wander about the town and even venture to some nearby towns such as Ashton (for some unexplainable reason I just happened to end up in this small town with it’s quaint thatched cottages!). When I got to the Derngate for that evening’s show I was happy to see old friends from previous visits Rob Haywood, his wife Lesley and son Andrew. Just before the show began I got some good news from Rob – thanks to new friend Norah I would be sitting dead center in the 2nd row! From this seat you really get a great view of the facial expressions of the different band members – everything from Tony’s nods and smiles to the familiar fans in the first row, to Ray’s comical gestures and "innocent" expressions, to Bobby Elliot’s howls during "We’re Through".

One thing that I was very happy to see this first night was that "Dead & Gone" was back in the set (it was missing in April), and I found it rather ironic that it followed immediately after "I’m Alive"! One other thing that stood out to me and was different from other tours is the simple yet very effective lighting trick with the cloth rolls appearing like flames at the beginning of "I Can’t Let Go". At Northampton and at each successive show the audience seemed quite awed by this visual effect.

The next night in Grimsby was interesting in that before the show I watched an exhibition of bowling in the sports center next to the auditorium. The only bowling I had ever known previously involves an alley and pins – but Rob quickly explained the objective of trying to bowl nearest to the little white ball, called the "JACK" and I was amazed at how adept the bowlers were at doing this! Speaking of adept, it wasn’t long after that that The Hollies were onstage opening as usual with "Here I Go Again". This night was notable to me for some of the humorous stories and tidbits that are always a part of The Hollies shows. First there was Allan’s story of his cab ride that night and the driver who asked who he was going to see at the Auditorium that night. When Allan told him "The Hollies", the driver asked "who are The Hollies?" – totally unaware that he had one of the greatest voices in rock and roll in his cab! A short time later Tony brought up the subject of football to the crowd, and then announced that since Grimsby had just recently defeated his team, The Hollies would be playing for ½ hour less!

Later came some humorous moments when Allan & Tony were making up songs about Grimsby and the local fishing industry. Lastly, when the time came for Ray to take center mic for "Blackbird", Tony told an interesting story from Ray’s "Mud" days involving the Mud drummer with too many explosives in his hat!

The next night in Nottingham was especially notable for me because just before the show started I got my seat upgraded to the front row thanks to Rob. I was right between Tony Hicks and Allan Clarke – the two men whose music has long played an important part in my life. When I first discovered The Hollies over 20 years ago I never dreamed that I would actually see the band live (in fact I didn’t think at that time they were even still together!). A few years later when I saw the band from the back of the Bottom Line in New York City I figured I had experienced a once-in-a-lifetime treat and would never get to see them again. But here I was 16 years later sitting in the front row of a sold out concert of my favorite band! Not even getting reprimanded by the usherette for setting my camera on the stage during the finale could take away from that moment!! One particular comment I enjoyed that night came from Tony early on. After Allan introduced "Sandy" by mentioning he had seen a Bruce Springsteen concert he asked Tony if he had ever seen one of Springsteen’s shows. Tony responded "No, I haven’t seen one of Bruce’s shows….but he’s seen one of my shows!"

The last night in Hanley began with dinner with Norah and some of the other regulars before the show. Unlike the previous night, at the Hanley show I was sitting way in the top of the theater – I believe it’s called the "upper stalls". Something about sitting way up there, and something about the old theater (probably hasn’t been painted since the 60’s!) seemed to make me feel as if I had gone back in time – almost as if I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Graham Nash and Bernie Calvert on stage that night. However once the show started and the light show began it was quite clear that these were the 90’s Hollies. From this vantage point I was able to appreciate more than the previous nights just how impressive the lighting is. The terrific job that the crew does with the lights really adds a great deal of energy and excitement to the music the band is playing – it all adds up to another great show – just one of the thousands The Hollies have performed in their long and illustrious career! When the show ended it seemed more people then usual gathered at the stage door, perhaps owing to the speculation that this was Allan’s last show. I, as I’m sure all Hollies fans, certainly hope that its not, but if it is I can be glad that I at least got to see this remarkable singer one last time.

When Rob asked me to write this "review" he asked me to include some observations from "an American point of view". As an American, one thing seeing the band live has done for me is help me to appreciate a previously unknown (to me) chapter in The Hollies story. For me personally, The Hollies have always been Allan Clarke, Tony Hicks, Bobby Elliot, Terry Sylvester, and Bernie Calvert. Of course I don’t want to overlook the contributions of Graham Nash, Eric Haydock, and Mikeal Rickfors and all the great songs they contributed to. Previous to coming over to England 2 years ago that’s where The Hollies story ended for me. But now I have come to appreciate the great talents of Alan Coates, Ray Stiles, and Ian Parker and the contribution they have made in keeping The Hollies a fresh and vibrant band. To me they are now just as much a part of the band as all the other members past & present. I feel privileged that I have been able to experience a part of this band’s great history that few other Americans have. While most people here in the States think of The Hollies as a long since disbanded group from the 60’s and 70’s, I’m happy to say that I know first hand how far from the truth that is! Perhaps one day yet The Hollies may set foot on American soil once again and remind us just what a force in music they have been and continue to be. (Just as a side point, if any of the band ever reads this, by my calculations at the l1 shows I have seen during the past 2 years I have been responsible for an additional 29 ticket sales in addition to my own. This includes my brother, nephews, friends in England, friends of friends in England, proprietors of B&B’s, friends of proprietors of B&B’s, etc. Don’t you think you owe it to me to save me some money by bringing the band to the States instead of me always having to fly to England?…=))

I have been putting Rob off a number of times when he has asked me to write a "review", so I figured I would make up for it this time by writing one long enough and boring enough so that he would never ask me again. I think I have succeeded!

So in conclusion I just want to say thanks to all the people I met on my recent "Holliday" who helped make the trip a good one – thanks Rob, Lesley, Andrew, Helen, Jayne, Norah, Norah’s good looking daughters, Mark, Gordon, Chris, Sheila, Pom (not Pam!!), Pom’s husband Jim, Dave, who bought all the drinks, and his wife Shirley who collected all the money at dinner, which she later no doubt had to give to Dave after he spent all his buying the drinks, the couple I gave the lift to from Rob’s house to Bingham, Claire and Howard, the nice people at Virgin Atlantic who found the package of brochures and posters I lost, Steve the sound guy with the IROC, and all the other many Hollies fans I talked to left unmentioned.

Doug Treible

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