Friday night event

This event heralds the traditional start to Shadowmania – and as Bruce rightly pointed out during the Friday evening, this event is an integral part of the Shadowmania weekend & he said to the assembled fans that he couldn’t do Shadowmania without this event – endorsement indeed and one richly deserved by Roy and Cathy who work exceptionally hard to put this event on for the fans. 

Of course not everyone who attends Shadowmania attends this event but if you are reading this and hesitating, don’t – get yourself in – a warm welcome is assured.   Of course the opportunity to meet and chat with likeminded fans, meet old friends and indeed make new friends is an integral part of this event as well and I certainly wandered around throughout the course of the evening chatting to many new people who I’ve got to know via their own web sites or indeed via email and it was also great catching up with old friends (you know who you are!)

Gathering in the Peninsular suite several hundred fans assembled to be entertained by music from amateur guitarists worldwide.  This year also featured vocal spots as well which were most welcome. The standard was extremely high and we were all entertained with sounds from all The Shadows eras.  The sound was excellent and in the capable hands of Geoff and John from the South Coast Shadows Club -  I knew we were in for a treat and of course the sound was spot on.!    I am very fortunate to be part of this club which meet 3 weekly in Hampshire. Click here to visit their web page.  For a full play list of what was played click here – personal highlights for me was the set from the South Coast Shadows Club which included some stunning vocals from my pal Kaye - ladies and gentlemen an undiscovered talent lurks here on the South Coast – so if there’s a reason to visit the club then that’s it eh?!  But back to the story…  other highlights – John Lugos’ stonking Bohemian Rhapsody, Peter Lawson’s  Cliff vocals,  The Saunters, Rob Bradford’s vocal set; but all the performers were excellent – the former were my particular favourites.

 During the evening there was a raffle which had some super prizes (unfortunately I didn’t win anything!) including items from Brian Bennett, beautiful photographs courtesy of John Humphrey, CDs, records and many other items.  Happy prize-winners though. There was also a  Shadows quiz as well which was a keenly fought contest between Jim Nugent and a pal of mine who,  it turned out ‘snatched’ victory by half a point….  Jim now of course has until the next Shadowmania to swot up his Shadows facts before the rematch :O) !!

By 12pm the tiredness was beginning to hit so I retired to bed but as my room in the hotel overlooked the lake and was just over the way from the function room in the early hours of Saturday morning from the comfort of my bed room as the moon shimmered on the lake (getting poetic now!)  I was able to also enjoy Dave Robbo’s spot as well assisted by the South Coasts very own Geoff “call me Hank” Bearpark.!

A fabulous end to the start of Shadowmania it was time to sleep to prepare for the big day tomorrow.

However very early Saturday morning started painfully for me – I cricked my back getting out of bed – so I was on all fours trying to get moving.   In the absence of a hunky masseur to sort me out (come on.....!  :O) ) I had an early morning dash to Camberley for some back rub - so,  four sprays later plus a couple of pain killers and I was feeling no pain and was ready for the Shadowmania day

Shadowmania day

And so it was time for Shadowmania 2005, or “Welcome to Shadow… I wish I was at home watching the football… Mania” said Jet Harris!  Before introducing our first group, Bruce joked “England are leading 3-0, and they haven’t even kicked off yet!” before adding that he would have picked a different day had he realised that it was also the Wales versus England World Cup qualifier that afternoon.  But anyone expecting an avalanche of goals to fly past Giggs and Co. would be disappointed, as the final score was 1-0, making this gig much the better one to watch.

And so first up, at a shade after 3:00pm, was Legend, who specialise in reproducing the sound of the Burns era.  Paying tribute to the ‘Dance with The Shadows’ album, the group gave a fine rendition of Temptation before using this type of guitar to very good effect in Warlord, and then producing a very different type of sound for Lady Penelope! It’s amazing the tremendous number and variety of material that The Shadows have produced over the years, with it being nice to hear Warlord both on the album, and then live a few hours later.  This isn’t one of the tunes that are often played.  Legend’s set included a new tune called Mean Streets composed by David Martin, which I enjoyed and which fitted in well with The Shadows genre.   The group were then joined by Brian ‘Licorice’ Locking who began with Les Girls and then The Rumble before producing his harmonica.  I expected the excellent Dakota but instead Brian and the group played a great version of Blue Shadows, before Brian turned vocalist for the Louis Armstrong hit We have all the time in the world.  What a true all-round pro, and a really nice man as well. “I’m now going to play something out of the charts… it’s been out of the charts for 50 years!” said Brian before the producing the harmonica again, and this time it was Dakota.  A great way to end his guest spot.

I am sure I was not alone, but I had never heard of the Swiss group Indra and Move It before today’s show.  Having said that, I had never heard of Thierry Henry before he joined Arsenal.  Having seen both in action, I can now report that both have something in common, being class acts. The group began with the opening bars of Move It (not surprisingly) before launching into Main Theme and then The drum number.  An impressive and high energy start saw the group go on to perform Theme from a filleted plaice and then a chance for Cyrill to bash the drums again with Tales of a raggy tramline.

I suspect that when the Shadowmania sets are worked out, some of the more ‘famous’ tunes have to be left for Bruce Welch’s Shadows, which is perfectly understandable.  However, Indra and Move It seemed to have a lot of freedom of choice across The Shadows’ material which included some pleasant surprises, such as an instrumental Devil Woman, Shazam and Man of Mystery – which was just like hearing the real thing from those wonderful Shadows tours of 2004 and earlier on this year. All Shadows fans like a drum solo and were not to be disappointed with the improvised version of Duke Ellington’s number Caravan, as performed by Indra and Move It. Shadowmania is effectively five concerts in one show and we were certainly getting great value here, including Parisienne walkways and then a rousing Pipeline. 

I remember the first time I saw The Reflections play, which was some years ago at the Millfield Theatre, north London.  A great show, which also featured Zoe McCulloch, Jet Harris, Cliff Hall and The Rapiers.  (Shadows fans may be interested to know that Bert Weedon performed at the same venue a few years later).   That night, lead guitarist of The Reflections Svein had asked the audience how many people knew the tune Old Spinning Wheel.  Only a few hands were raised, to which Sven explained it was one where you recognised the tune without perhaps knowing its name (and the same is true for me with some of The Shadows tunes).  It was fitting then that The Reflections opened here with the very same Old Spinning Wheel..   Since the date at the Millfield Theatre I have seen The Reflections also previously perform at Shadowmanias, although I have to be honest and say that for me today wasn’t the best I have seen them play, particularly the early part of the set.  Perhaps this was partly due to the fact that I didn’t immediately recognise some of the tunes – although listening to the ‘Original Chart Hits’ album tape earlier on had refreshed my memory – or perhaps it was partly due to the fact that I couldn’t always hear the group’s introductions or sometimes anything at all that they were saying.The early part of the set did include very agreeable versions of Temptation, the always popular Joe Meek hit Telstar and also Jack’s good which I’d last heard performed by The Vibratos at Shadowmania 2002.  However, I did wonder if perhaps The Reflections might have been best placed first on the bill, with Indra and Move It staying second and then Legend – including ‘the legend’ Brian ‘Licorice’ Locking – setting things up for the appearance of the other former Shadows in the evening session.

Things were now picking up on stage with The Reflections performing a fine version of Rodrigo’s Guitar Concerto de Aranjeuz.  This gem can be found on the ‘String of hits’ album and, in my opinion, is perhaps the finest arranged of any tune performed by The Shadows.  Today’s version was true to that sound.  Now Arild was demonstrating great bass work on Istanbul / Constantinople and another highlight for me was their performance of The Saturday Western from the much underrated ‘Guardian Angel’ album. The Reflections finished with Quatermaster’s Stores, take two after Kjetil dropped his drumstick – this proving it was a live show and not recorded – which blended into Red River Rock and a very good number to end a full value afternoon session.

The Rapiers have always been a fantastic group to me.  For anybody unable to see The Shadows in concert, which applied to all of us between 1990 and 2004, a trip to see The Rapiers was always the next best thing, particularly for fans of the music from the early years, which has always been an inspiration to lead guitarist Colin. Opening with Shadoogie the group went on to perform Saturday dance and then Be-bop-a-lula; anybody still at the bars or in the merchandise area was very quickly back in their seats!

During the interval two large screens at the venue had played historical footage of The Shadows over the years and now it was being replicated by the group on stage, with Baby my heart and Gonzales.  The same look and the same sound, as I said, the next best thing.  Now a pleasant surprise: one of my favourites is Round and round – a great dance number – and a great performance of it today by The Rapiers!

Colin paid tribute to Bruce for organising Shadowmania over the years, comparing it with Elvis Conventions in the States which consist of a man with a tape recorder!  Here it was on with the live music as the group donned Burns Green Marvins to perform Don’t it make you feel good and Rhythm and greens.  Barry Gibson had very generously donated one such guitar to be raffled for the Wayne Nicholls Memorial Fund, following on from a similar donation he had made at the Memorial Concert earlier on in the year.

Now it was time for Cliff Hall and Jet Harris to take to the stage, two legends who had of course achieved their fame through hard graft over a number of years.  As Colin made these introductory comments I realised that at the same time a talent show was airing on national television which will give a £1million recording contract to somebody, in scarcely over two months, based solely on telephone calls.  The irony was not lost on me.  Jet is always great entertainment and his opening numbers of The man with the golden arm and 36-24-36 went down very well with the now full house audience, of just over one thousand people. 

I must comment that to me there were times when Jet’s lead guitar did not sound quite right, and prior to one number he did shout backstage if it sounded a bit piercing – “All this bloody modern technology and I still have to shout!”  Jet said.  Maybe it was just me, or maybe there was a detailed technical explanation, which I am not particularly interested in – I have purposely avoided reading any other reports on the day before penning these words.  One certainty is that it did not spoil the set for me at all, because it’s not often that you are only a few feet away from a legend!

Jet and Co. played great versions of Scarlett O’Hara and then (Jet said) “Here’s one that nobody likes!” which was Applejack.  Next up came a golden moment as Jet dueted with Billie Davis on No other baby.  Billie had pulled Jet from the wreckage of his limousine following the terrible crash in 1963 and they had been, in the words of Jet, “the Posh and Becks of our time”… “and he could play football” added Billie!  Another gem saw Mrs Harris appear on stage brandishing a rolling pin during the guitar changeover, after No other baby!

Along with Jet, Cliff Hall is always great entertainment too and his solo of Hank Marvin’s composition Stand up and say that was note-for-note perfect.  No performance from Jet would be complete without Nivram although he quipped that Bruce had told him to play it… “And I always do what Bruce tells me!”  Mentioning the bass solo during Nivram, Jet added that we should save the applause for the standing ovation at the end!  However, an eruption of applause still greeted the end of the solo, at which moment Jet was seen to smile!  A great section of Shadowmania, and it finished with the other tune which we all associate Jet with: Diamonds.

And so to the final ‘concert’ of the evening, featuring Bruce Welch’s Shadows, and a fine opening with Riders in the sky – great keyboard effects from Cliff!  A noisy start which was followed by Flingel Bunt before the other extreme with the exquisite Spring is nearly here! We were treated to some rarities (being played live) today which included The genie with the light brown lamp and Blue sky, blue sea, blue me which is another featuring classic arrangement by The Shadows.

The rendition of the old classic Stardust required three attempts as Bruce got to grips with his A Flat Minor – “I bet that felt great!” (to all the assembled guitarists) – but it turned out fine as did the always popular Let me be the one.  Is it just me, or could the old Eurovision entry make inroads into the charts if it was re-recorded and released now?

Bruce’s group treated us to all the favourites, including Atlantis, Don’t make my baby blue, Foot tapper and an impressive performance from Bob on the drums during Little B.  Memories of wonderful nights in York, Brentwood, Southend, London and Birmingham, watching The Shadows in concert, were coming flooding back…

Another treat saw Bruce on electric acoustic guitar for Mustang, My resistance is low and Geronimo, then later on Albatross  which, as Bruce said, was one of the tunes which The Shadows wish they’d had.  Cliff Richard fans were happy with Gee whiz it’s you which in my opinion has always been one of the better Cliff songs.  All too soon it seemed (although Bruce’s group had been on stage beyond the 90 minute mark) it was time for Equinoxe V – another great from the tour – and then Apache and FBI.

During these closing numbers I had reflected on my disappointment that when I had opened my Shadowmania programme, unlike previous years a flyer advertising further concerts for Bruce’s group had not tumbled out – I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to see their concert in Weston-Super-Mare in 2003 – especially in view of the rumours that this would be the last ever Shadowmania.

It looked a little ominous when, in his closing comments, Bruce mentioned how much he had enjoyed the Shadowmanias over the last seven years, although he genuinely seemed to have enjoyed this one very much.  Any doubts appeared to have been dispelled when Bruce asked “Shall we do it again next year?” and his advice, upon receiving the expected answer, is that we should keep our eyes and ears open.