About a year ago, I went to a performance at Malvern Theatres of The Classic Rock Show – a group of musicians who performed a set covering literally an A to Z of rock from AC/DC to ZZ Top. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, so when I saw that they were back at Malvern this week I thought I’d go to see them again.
I was a bit concerned that it would be a direct repeat of last year’s show, but it was in fact virtually a whole new set. Out of the nearly two and a half hours, I only remember hearing three or four repetitions from last year – including an absolutely stupendous and note-for-note rendition of the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic, Free Bird. Everything else was new, including one of the lead guitarists. It turned out that the Malvern gig was the very first outing for this year’s brand new show, and they are going to spend the next two months touring all round the UK.
I lost count of how many different guitars the two leads used, in order to sound just like everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Eric Clapton via Brian May and a load of others I couldn’t even name. The vocalists weren’t quite as flexible – it took three of the musicians between them to cover the likes of Freddie Mercury, Stevie Nicks, Meat Loaf, Roger Daltrey and all the rest. But they did it very well indeed. If you shut your eyes, it was very hard indeed to spot any differences from the originals. It was like having my iPod on shuffle, except that it was louder. Much louder. So loud that you could feel the vibrations in your chest, and I had ringing in my ears at the interval!
Seventies rock god long hair was the order of the day, and not just for the band. Several members of the audience who were old enough to know better were guilty of what can only be described as hair crimes! They tended to be the ones wearing original 1970s and 1980s rock tour T-shirts that only just fitted them these days!
All in all, it was a very loud but enjoyable evening. The musicians really were excellent. I will keep a look out for them visiting Malvern again next year – but I’ll make sure I continue to get the cheap seats right towards the back of the auditorium. I’m really not sure my ears would cope if I sat in the front rows of seats!
