I had a very different and extremely loud evening earlier this week. I had noticed in the theatre listings that, for one night only, the UK tour of The Classic Rock Show was coming to Malvern. This is essentially a glorified tribute band, but rather than sticking to replicating the sound of just one group (like the UK Pink Floyd Experience I saw last year) they covered the whole genre. So they went from AC/DC to ZZ Top via David Bowie, Dire Straits, Jimmi Hendrix, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Meatloaf, and just about everyone else you can think of.
I suppose I knew about 80% of the songs, and they all sounded extremely authentic to me. And if by any chance there was one you didn’t like, there would be something completely different in a few minutes time! The lead guitarist got through at least seven different guitars in an effort to replicate the sound of so many different guitarists – from Marc Knopfler to Eric Clapton via everyone in between. One of the female singers was also a member of a leading Fleetwood Mac tribute band, so she did a couple of Stevie Nicks tracks, and the resemblance was uncanny.
They saved the best to last, and did a stupendous, and entirely note-perfect rendition of Freebird for an encore. Overall, it was like having my iPod set to shuffle, but much, much louder! I was sitting in the cheap seats right at the back of the auditorium and I could feel the sound waves in my chest cavity as much as hear them! I was pretty glad I hadn’t shelled out on an expensive seat closer to the stage, as my ears were still ringing when I went to bed!
