 Needless to say SHADOWMANIA at the Lakeside Country Club 0n 30th May was an unqualified success! 1050 tickets had been sold by Saturday morning and by the time the evening came, the event was a complete sell out. I am not going to give a track by track report here as others have provides that elsewhere - lookout for George Geddes super report in Shadsfax #17. Bruce Welch stepped on to the stage at just after 3 o'clock to a thunderous welcome from the the 1000+ Shadows fans who had come from all across the globe (did Rick Remelin, from California, travel the farthest?)- to be part of this unique occasion and celebrate 40 years of Shadows music.  After
welcoming the audience, Bruce introduced a young Norwegian band, 'the Reflections' who had
the daunting task of opening the musical side of the proceedings.
They accomplished this task with distinction, playing a selection of Shadows tunes
(including two of my favourites, 'Round and round' and 'Mustang') for about 30 minutes. A
first class opening to the show thanks to Erik, Sven, Arild and Kjetil. |
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 Included among their set were 'The Lute number' and 'Main theme' from Rhythm
'n' Greens together with a medley of Shadows hits 'Flingel Bunt', 'The savage', 'Geronimo'
and 'Apache'. |
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| After FBI had finished their stint, there was time to seek refreshment but the afternoon's entertainment was not yet over. | |||
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The session finished with Pat Terrett introducing the 'Young guitarist' competition where seven excellent young guitarists, six boys and one girl - the youngest only 11 -, played two numbers apiece. Bruce was the judge and I don't think anyone in the audience envied him having to make the choice of the winner!..the standard was brilliant and all the young stars received well deserved acclaim from a very appreciative audience. | ||
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| Following the "Young
Ones" competition, we had a 45 minute interval during which large screens played
"Shads On The Box" (a compilation of vintage Shadows TV clips and promo films).
For those who didn't want to watch the archive video footage on show, there were plenty of
stalls just outside the main hall with Tony Hoffman signing up new members for SHADSFAX
and Pat and John Read of Leo's Den selling CDs. Echoes From the Past, Oasis Music, the
Fender Club, Burns guitars and the UB Hank Club were all represented, and there were
programmes, T-shirts and other SHADOWMANIA
memorabilia available to tempt you into parting with your cash. Back in the main hall, the evening session started just before 7.30pm.  The Rapiers began their set with
'Saturday Night at the Duckpond' and then went on to play a great choice of numbers from
the repertoire of Cliff and the Shadows.     The Rapiers
gave a very polished performance mixing Shadows instrumentals with vocals such as 'Baby my
Heart'. They also included a couple of non-Shadows numbers. and finishing with the William
Tell Overture played 'at the gallop'.  This very professional group have justifiably earned themselves a high reputation for their act; and they did not let us down on this occasion. After the Rapiers had finished, we had enjoyed almost 5½ hours of terrific music from three fabulous bands and some talented youngsters. Many in the audience were wondering if it was possible for the occasion to get any better. It could, and it did. At about 8.30pm, the curtains opened and the audience rose to welcome BRUCE WELCH'S MOONLIGHT SHADOWS.   Appearing with Bruce on-stage, the 'Moonlight Shadows'
comprised drummer Bob Watkins, Cliff Hall on the keyboards, Alan Jones on bass guitar and
Phil Kelly on lead. Such a superbly talented band of musicians. It was immediately
apparent that we were in for a very special evening. The first guest to be introduced was Jet Harris. Bruce emphasised the historic nature of the event, saying that this was the first time he had played on an English stage with Jet since 1962. If Bruce had received a warm and enthusiastic welcome, the reaction to Jet's appearance was fantastic.   Jet, visibly moved by the wonderful audience response,
produced a stunning performance, taking the lead for his hits 'Scarlett O'Hara' and
'Diamonds', then switching to bass for 'Apache' and an immaculate 'Nivram'.Alan Jones then returned for a couple of numbers before giving way once again. This time to Brian 'Licorice' Locking , the next special guest to join the team. Yet more first-rate performances as he played bass on 'Dance on' and 'Guitar tango' as well as being featured on harmonica on 'Dakota' and 'Argentina'. For the latter part of the set Barry Gibson, leader of Local Heroes and another very talented guitarist, took over from Phil on lead guitar.   It didn't stop there. After Licorice had left to be replaced once more by Alan, Bruce brought Tony Rivers and John Perry to join him on stage and proceeded to remind us of his vocal talents by stepping up to the microphone for 'Let me be the one' and a selection of vocal hits such as 'Please don't Tease' from the early days of Cliff and the Shadows, including Bruce's biggest hit(?) 'Bachelor Boy'.  In their two hour set, the Moonlight Shadows included well-known Shadows hits as well as album tracks and 'B' sides such as 'Blue star', Bossa Roo, Blue Sky Blue sea Blue me, a stunning version of 'The breeze and I' and 'Sweet dreams', plus many, many more. A special mention should go to geography teacher Bob Watkins who drummed superbly throughout but brought the house down with a magnificent NOTE FOR NOTE rendition of Brian Bennett's 1962 drum solo Little B.   Phil Kelly returned to the stage as the band closed the show with the traditional rousing rendition of 'FBI'. After the inevitable standing ovation, Bruce invited all the bands back on stage for a final bow. What a day, and that wasn't the end of it! Back at the nearby Lakeside Hotel, fans from all over the world mingled with the bands until the wee small hours. No-one wanted the day to end.
A truly memorable weekend, made even more special by the chance to meet
old friends and so many fine people in person, many of whom I have previously only known
via e-mail. SHADOWMANIA was indeed a fitting celebration of the music of the world's
premier instrumental-vocal band and it is sure to be talked about for a long time to
come.! Our thanks must go to Bruce and everyone else who made the occasion possible and
such a success.
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 The concert programme is 8 pages in
black and white with an introduction by Bruce and a collection of photographs.Further details may be obtained by contacting Oasis Music at 3 West St, Ringwood, Hants Tel (44) 01425 478135 or fax to (44) 01425 480595 Return to
index |
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Rob, Roydon, Hoss and
Constant, the members of FBI began their set with 'Happy Birthday to you' in recognition
of the occasion and continued to entertain us for nearly an hour.
