The night was divided into two sets.
The first was performed by the current Zombies 'touring band':
Colin Blunstone (voc),
Rod Argent (keys),
Keith Airey (brother of Deep Purple's Don - gtr),
Jim Rodford (ex-Kinks/Argent - bass) &
Steve Rodford (Jim's son - drms),
and comprised a medley of Zombies tunes mixed with Blunstone & Argent solo tracks and a few covers.
I Love You (Zombies original)
Can't Nobody Love You (Cover - from Zombies first album)
Mystified (From the Blunstone/Argent album Out of the Shadows - 2001)
What Becomes of the Broken Hearted (Cover - obviously!)
Misty Roses (Tim Hardin cover - from Colin Blunstone solo album One Year)
I Don't Believe in Miracles (Written by Argent's Russ Ballard - from Colin Blunstone's Ennismore)
Say You Don't Mind (Written by Wings' Denny Laine - from Blunstone's One Year)
Sticks and Stones (From Zombies first album)
Hold Your Head Up (From Argent album All Together Now - written by Chris White)
So what were they like? Well, they were bloody great! Straight onto the stage and into I Love You. Any doubts about Colin's vocals were quickly dispelled when he hit that "and I don't know what to say" line. If anything, his voice is better than it was on the original recordings - a lifetime of recording and touring have honed his instrument - he jumps from a breathy whisper to a shout effortlessly. He has always been one of my favourite vocalists but I have never seen him live before - he didn't disappoint at all!
The rest of the band were as tight as John Holmes' condom and the mix was perfect from where we were sitting (Oh, didn't I mention? We were dead centre on the front row!!
)Hold Your Head Up was a real treat. It is a true rock anthem and Colin Blunstone gave every inch as good a rendition of the vocals as Russ Ballard's original.
Anyway, this section was just the warm up for the main event. There was a thirty minute interval, during which roadies and sound engineers were frantically running back and forth trying to fix a problem with a second set of keyboards - there was a horrible farting noise if anyone stamped on the stage near to them - but thankfully, they tracked down the dodgy lead in time for part two!
So now we have a different line up.
Blunstone, Argent and Airey as before,
Chris White, original Zombies bassist (bass)
Hugh Grundy, original Zombies drummer (drms)
Darian Sahanaja, of the Wondermints and collaborator with Brian Wilson (keys)
Jim Rodford was relegated to backing vocals, along with Chris White's wife (whose name I can't remember), Steve Rodford also assisted with additional percussion on a few tracks.
Added to this there was a 4-piece horn section (3 trombones, 1 trumpet) on a few tracks.
The set list comprised of the entire Odessey and Oracle album
Care of Cell 44
A Rose for Emily
Maybe After He's Gone
Beechwood Park
Brief Candles
Hung up on a Dream
Changes
I Want Her, She Wants Me
This Will Be Our Year
Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)
Friends of Mine
Time of the Season
Followed by
Tell Her No (The Zombies second single which hit #4 in the US but never charted in the UK.)
Going Out of My Head (A cover that the band released as a single in 1966)
She's Not There (Obviously the last song of the set.)
The aim was to reproduce every note on the O&O album and they made a damn decent fist of it. The album was never toured by the band after its release because they had already split up, it took 40 years to get it onto the stage and boy were they determined to do it right! The line up constantly changed between songs, with members of the ensemble leaving or changing places as required.
For The Butcher's Song, Chris White took over on vocals (as he had on the album), accompanied only by Argent on 19th century pipe-organ (the organ played on the album had been owned by White but he had since sold it - Rod Argent had spent months tracking down and buying an exact replacement!) and although he was a little shaky, he nailed it. The harmonies, by as many as 8 voices in some songs, were perfect.
After a magnificent version of Time of the Season with harmonies that ripped through you and left you in shivers of ecstasy, and a couple of minutes of standing ovation - a long time to stand for an audience that looked as if it may well have first seen the band in 1963!) Rod Argent spent 10 minutes introducing everyone (and explaining how they were all related - including such snippets as Jim Rodford lending the band equipment for their first ever gig, as well as being the 'Jim' of 'Jim & Jean' in the lyrics of Friends of Mine!) before continuing with the last few songs. If anything, the ovation after She's Not There was even longer and the band departed for the obligatory ritual of being called back for an encore.
Finally, all 13 of them trooped back on stage and Colin Blunstone announced that they were going to play the first thing they ever recorded as a band. George Gershwin's Summertime. More rapturous applause and it was time to drive home from Manchester (walking past 'Hacienda Apartments' on the way - yes that Hacienda, the site of it anyway!)
Normally, I would finish a review of a gig that good by urging all of you to go and see them. Sadly, although you will be able to go and see the touring band, this was the last but one time that the original members were going to play together and that O&O was to be performed in full. The last time was the day after - last Saturday. I will say though, that the touring band are worth seeing on their own, especially for Colin's voice.
10/10
