Shadowmania 2003

Saturday 20 September 2003 saw me and 1,000 other Shadows fans, from all over the world, descending on the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green, Surrey, for the 6th Shadowmania.  I didn’t have the best drive there, a 45 minute journey taking over double that time, owing to the fact that the M25 had more jams than the ‘Hartley’ factory! and I would guess that other people had similar trouble, the Lakeside venue being only about two thirds full at 3:00pm.   

“Look at the stragglers…” said Bruce Welch to some late arrivals… “Some people have come from Australia and they’re here already.”  I could only imagine that there is not an equivalent of the M25 in Melbourne or Sydney!  For those who have not been to Lakeside before, the audience sit at long tables seating 16.  The main section is on floor level, in line with the stage, containing around 80 tables.  There is also a raised perimeter section with further tables, and a bar/food area at the back.  The view of the stage from some of these upper tables is not great, but I guess we were hear to listen rather than to look at!  But all in all the Lakeside is a great venue, with an excellent sound system in place, though it could do with a few more direction signs for motorists exiting the M3.

UB Hank Guitar Club Band

Shadowmania 2003 began proper with the UB Hank Guitar Club Band, who had appeared previously at the event in 2001.  Last time they played Shadowmania the band played tape extracts from ‘Radio Luxembourg’ over the speakers before almost every tune they performed – which eventually became a little bit repetitive and irritating to me.

Today, although their act began with another taped extract, there was less of this and more music which worked better for me.    The group launched into a good rendition of ‘Another Night’ from the ‘Tasty’ album, and this was soon followed by ‘Pipeline’.  Whilst it would have been nice to have heard a bit more echo used, this was still a good recital of one of my favourite tunes.

The band went on to play some quieter stuff, not helped by the fact that many people were still arriving at Shadowmania, noisily finding their seats, buying drinks, etc – one of the hazards of being the first group on I guess.   At this point I felt that the group lost the audience a little bit during this time, which was a shame. I must admit that I didn’t immediately recognise some of the tunes that were being played, and I am sure that some other audience members must have felt the same.  Hank once said that a lot of people recognise the tune but can’t remember the name, and this was sometimes the case here – it would have been nice to have been guided a bit more by the band and to have had a little bit more audience interaction… all they said was “Hello Lakeside!” .  However, later on in the band's set the audience’s attention was won back, as ‘The Frightened City’ was followed by ‘Man of Mystery’ and then ‘Razzmatazz’ – an unusual choice perhaps, but performed well.  Another surprise inclusion was ‘The Magic Doll’ from the London Palladium ‘Babes in the Woods’ days however all were well received.  Towards the end of their set the band performed a perfect rendition of the Richard Rodgers composition ‘Slaughter on 10th Avenue’.  This was by far the best tune that the band had performed today, and their rendition would have done any group justice.  The audience, most of whom had now arrived, gave it a great reception and Shadowmania 2003 was well underway.

The Rapiers

Next up were “the real Shadowmania regulars and stars in their own right… The Rapiers” who launched straight into a great version of ‘Shadoogie’.  Lead guitarist Colin Pryce-Jones welcomed Neil Ainsbie back to the group and also welcomed to Shadowmania Jimmy Jermaine – who had starred with The Rapiers in ‘Cliff the Musical’.  “It might be back… you never know” said Colin; referring to the musical.   “And now we’re going to have some fun…” said Colin, the prelude of course to ‘Quarter to Three’ – although it seemed that not many of the Shadowmania crowd had bought the ‘Live at the ABC Kingston’ CD!  Other vocal work included ‘Saturday night dance’ and ‘Baby my heart’ before Colin paid tribute to Greg Ogarrio - Administrator of the The Rapiers web site.  The Rapiers had a great time performing ‘Rhythm and Greens’, and next it was the turn of Brian ‘Licorice’ Locking to take centre stage (who,  as the fans know,  got his nickname by virtue of the fact that he had previously played the clarinet – also known as the licorice stick).  Today, with harmonica rather than clarinet, Brian played an excellent version of ‘Dakota’ and then one of Brian Bennett’s compositions ‘Spring is nearly here’.  Next… “you’ve never heard this one before!” said Licorice as he and The Rapiers played ‘Dance on’, to be followed by ‘Shazam’, before the harmonica came back out for ‘Sleepwalk’.  A wonderful, haunting sound during which the audience was held spellbound and you could have heard a pin drop.  The set finished, however, with the other extreme – a noisy version of ‘The Boys’, complete with high kicks!

 Jet Harris

The third session began with the unmistakable sound of ‘The man with the Golden Arm’ – and the artist with whom this tune is synonymous – the one and only Jet Harris – who had now, along with Cliff Hall, joined The Rapiers on stage.  Jet imparted to the audience how he got his nickname (apparently through being a champion sprinter at school – his friends said he ran like a jet).  During his act Jet also paid vocal tributes  to both The Rapiers and to ‘Cliff the Musical' by saying “How dare those bloody papers slate it!”  (Too true, but we all know how it seems fashionable in some quarters to knock anything to do with Cliff Richard.  I just wonder how many of today’s ‘stars’ will still be producing hits 45 years from now… I suspect the answer could be counted on the fingers of Captain Hook’s hand!)  Jet implored the audience by saying “When it comes back go and see it” … and added “that’s enough plugging, I’ve got videos out there by the way!”    

Back to the music the audience were treated to a great selection of tunes including ‘Scarlett O’Hara’ and ‘Gonzales’ before one of the particularly memorable songs from Shadowmania last year – ‘No other baby’.  Some ‘Fishermen’s Friends’ helped with the vocals in this, and Cliff Hall’s keyboards compensated for the missing vocals in ‘Besame Mucho’.  Next Cliff was in the spotlight himself when performing Booker T and the MGs ‘Time is Tight’ – which included him standing on his stool on one leg, playing keyboards with one hand –( which had hopefully been rehearsed!)  Jet took his turn in the spotlight again when playing ‘Nivram’.  This section of Shadowmania 2003 finished with Jet and Co. performing ‘Diamonds’.  “It was in the chart for six weeks, nowadays they’re in the chart for six minutes” said Jet with feeling.  “You know last year I called this Pension Mania?” concluded Jet.  “Well next year it will be… I’ll have to do a few more gigs!”  Yes please.

Interval

During the interval the big screens at Lakeside showed various clips from Shadows’ performances over the years, and I particularly liked those from ‘Rhythm and Greens’.  There were also clips from The Shadows performing live at The NEC Birmingham – who would have thought that this would ever happen again?    In the Shadowmania programme, Bruce himself says “The big news this year is that the ‘Sunshine Boys’ have finally spoken and by now you are all aware that The Shadows are touring together for the last time next year.  Hank, Brian and myself on our final tour.  Who would have thought it after fourteen years away?  We hope you can all make it, it will be an amazing and emotional way to say goodbye”.

Bruce, Licorice and Jet Question & Answer session

The show continued with the now familiar question and answer session, featuring Bruce, Jet, Licorice and Tony Meehan.  Today the fans had a treat in that three tracks from the ‘BBC sessions’ were played: ‘Shotgun’, ‘Midnight’ and ‘Perfida’ – a much slicker version, in my opinion, than that which was finally recorded.  Much of the question and answer session was devoted to the ‘BBC sessions’, but sadly it seems that their release is no nearer.  Bruce told the assembled fans that allegedly a former Engineer had the foresight to take home a number of the master tapes including material by Cliff and The Shadows, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles etc; but, before such an album could ever be released the various interested parties in such recording e.g. the Engineer, the BBC, EMI, etc would all want a share of the money & it was this that was causing a hold up.  Jet Harris however succinctly offered one solution by saying -  “Where does the engineer live & can we send the boys round?!” 

The Vibratos   - See Vibratos at Shadowmania page for pictures & report  - click>>> here

Bruce Welch's Shadows 

And so the curtains opened for the final time, and the shares in ‘Kodak’ trebled as a multitude of flashbulbs went off to welcome Bruce Welch’s Shadows on stage.  They couldn’t go far wrong in having ‘The Rise and fall of Flingel Bunt’ as their opener, and this was soon to be followed by ‘Shindig’ – which has been used as an opening number by Hank.   We were treated to almost two hours of music, including some rarely heard gems such as ‘The miracle’, ‘Summer Love ‘59’ and ‘Thing-me-jig’.  Soon the roof was to be raised again as ‘Let me be the one’ was performed.  This of course was the Eurovision Song Contest entry from 1975.  The hits continued, including ‘Wonderful Land’ and ‘Foot Tapper’… (I had to smile when Cliff Hall stepped back to look in apparent amazement at Bob Watkins pounding the drums during the solo part in ‘Foot Tapper’, then applauding him at the end of the solo!)  We also had a wonderful rendition of ‘Equinoxe Part V’ with some great keyboard work from Cliff.   About halfway through the set the stools came out for an acoustic section featuring Bruce, Phil Kelly and Alan Jones, including ‘Oh Boy’ and ‘Crying in the rain’ from ‘Live at Abbey Road’, to complement ‘Runaway’ from the same album, which had been performed earlier.  A tribute was played to Elvis Presley with ‘All Shook up’.

Back on the electric guitars… and it was time for a nice easy one: ‘The Savage’!  Bruce did give the audience a choice of not hearing it, if they didn’t want to… guess what option they chose?!  As usual Bruce and Co. played it to perfection, and at the end of the tune Cliff Hall re-appeared on stage and innocently asked “did I miss something?”  Somebody in the audience also requested that it be played faster next time… I wonder what Jet’s response to that might have been?!  The day wouldn’t have been complete without a drum solo, and what started off as ‘Honourable Puff Puff’ became a fantastic performance from Bob Watkins which had the audience on their feet.  “Did you enjoy that?” asked Bruce… ‘Let’s do that one again!”

All too soon the final act was coming to an end, but not before a great rendition of ‘Riders in the Sky’ – one of my personal favourites.  I was a little disappointed that ‘Atlantis’ had not been included, and a bit surprised that neither was ‘Don’t cry for me Argentina’.  However there is only so much that could be fitted in, and everybody has their own personal favourites!  Bruce did actually ask the audience what they wanted him to play, I think he meant on tour next year rather than at that particular time… the replies back included ‘Mountains of the Moon’ and ‘Please Mr Please’. The band finished up with ‘Apache’ and then ‘FBI’ – two ‘fairly’ popular hits!!  Bruce commented that he always finished with ‘FBI’ and Hank always finished with ‘Apache’… “so next year (on tour) should be interesting”.  Indeed it will be!

The End?

At the start of this year's Shadowmania, after welcoming us all, Bruce had said “who knows what is going to happen next year.”  At the end of his set Bruce addressed the audience by asking if the fans wanted there to be a Shadowmania 2004, in view of the Shadows tour that would be happening next year; and  judging by the roar of "yes" from the audience I don’t think he was left in any doubt as to views of the assembled fans -  so start plotting your journeys to Frimley Green for 2004!   Shadowmania 2003 was another wonderful event, enjoyed by the 1,000 enthusiastic fans.  Our thanks go to Bruce for organising it, and to all the bands taking part for such fantastic entertainment. 

In conclusion however I think the last word should go to the inimitable Jet Harris, whose comment during the question and answer session seems appropriate at this point; after discussing how his career had begun at the ‘2 Is’  Jet said “if you had told me we’d all be sitting here 40 years later, talking about it all, I’d have told you b*****ks!!!”. Chris Kennedy