REVIEW
Icons of the 80s – Go West, Nik Kershaw & Cutting Crew
Cliffs Pavilion
23rd March 2018
8pm
Icons of the 80s – Go West, Nik Kershaw & Cutting Crew
Cliffs Pavilion
23rd March 2018
8pm
Legendary stars join forces in one concert
Entertainers is proud to bring together your favourite eighties artists all on one stage! The latest line-up includes Go West, Nik Kershaw and Cutting Crew together in one unique concert.
The auditorium of the Cliffs Pavilion was packed to the rafters with ladies and gents of a certain age on Friday night, all anticipating the return of their favourite eighties ‘icons’ on the Southend stage.
Kicking off with Cutting Crew, taking on the role of support band for the night, an enthusiastic and energetic Nick Van Eede instantly whipped up the crowd starting with a few of their original numbers including I’ve Been In Love Before with the gorgeous vocals of backing singer and long term friend, T J Davis dueting. With the promise of the night being a great big party, Eede, guitarist Gareth Moulton and backing band showed some great musicianship and in particular with a great guitar solo leading in to probably their most popular and recognised song, I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight. They also played a song from their newest album 'Add to Favourites’, Berlin in Winter, a song written by Nick and based on events surrounding the Berlin Wall and its eventual downfall. It sounded great and I’ll certainly be checking out this 2015 album if this is anything to go by.
After a quick set change Go West and Nik Kershaw came to the stage much to the delight of their fans, beginning with a cover of U2’s Beautiful Day. I had expected them to come on separately but they actually worked really well together and took turns to sing their own songs as well as joining forces. Highlights from Nik were Wide Boy, Don Quixote, The Riddle and of course Wouldn’t It Be Good. The song he wrote for Chesney Hawkes, The One and Only had the crowd up and singing along just before the interval. Go West singer Peter Cox towered like a giant next to the bespectacled and smaller framed, Kershaw and proved that he can still push out those raspy tones that fans will remember from their days of Don’t Look Down Girl, Faithful and Goodbye Girl - all firm favourites with the Southend audience who by this time were up dancing to almost every tune.
Padding the evening out with a few covers such as Tears for Fears, Rule the World, Duran Duran’s Hungry Like the Wolf, Sam Sparro’s Black and Gold helped to keep the crowd’s enthusiasm and finishing with We Close our Eyes, interspersed with Nik Kershaw’s I Won’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me and ending with The King of Wishful Thinking before returning with a rousing encore of Kings of Leon’s Sex on Fire.
From the reaction of the crowd throughout the evening, fans of all of the Eighties Icons playing at the Southend venue were certainly out in force and even those of us who weren’t die-hard followers were drawn into the great atmosphere which was created. A perfect opportunity to revisit the sounds of the Eighties, whether you were there at the time or not.
The tour continues http://entertainers.co.uk/show/icons-of-the-80s-full-listings/
Kicking off with Cutting Crew, taking on the role of support band for the night, an enthusiastic and energetic Nick Van Eede instantly whipped up the crowd starting with a few of their original numbers including I’ve Been In Love Before with the gorgeous vocals of backing singer and long term friend, T J Davis dueting. With the promise of the night being a great big party, Eede, guitarist Gareth Moulton and backing band showed some great musicianship and in particular with a great guitar solo leading in to probably their most popular and recognised song, I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight. They also played a song from their newest album 'Add to Favourites’, Berlin in Winter, a song written by Nick and based on events surrounding the Berlin Wall and its eventual downfall. It sounded great and I’ll certainly be checking out this 2015 album if this is anything to go by.
After a quick set change Go West and Nik Kershaw came to the stage much to the delight of their fans, beginning with a cover of U2’s Beautiful Day. I had expected them to come on separately but they actually worked really well together and took turns to sing their own songs as well as joining forces. Highlights from Nik were Wide Boy, Don Quixote, The Riddle and of course Wouldn’t It Be Good. The song he wrote for Chesney Hawkes, The One and Only had the crowd up and singing along just before the interval. Go West singer Peter Cox towered like a giant next to the bespectacled and smaller framed, Kershaw and proved that he can still push out those raspy tones that fans will remember from their days of Don’t Look Down Girl, Faithful and Goodbye Girl - all firm favourites with the Southend audience who by this time were up dancing to almost every tune.
Padding the evening out with a few covers such as Tears for Fears, Rule the World, Duran Duran’s Hungry Like the Wolf, Sam Sparro’s Black and Gold helped to keep the crowd’s enthusiasm and finishing with We Close our Eyes, interspersed with Nik Kershaw’s I Won’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me and ending with The King of Wishful Thinking before returning with a rousing encore of Kings of Leon’s Sex on Fire.
From the reaction of the crowd throughout the evening, fans of all of the Eighties Icons playing at the Southend venue were certainly out in force and even those of us who weren’t die-hard followers were drawn into the great atmosphere which was created. A perfect opportunity to revisit the sounds of the Eighties, whether you were there at the time or not.
The tour continues http://entertainers.co.uk/show/icons-of-the-80s-full-listings/
|
Go West
It has been over 30 years since Go West had their first hit single We Close Our Eyes. Other hits followed including Call Me, Goodbye Girl and Don’t Look Down, Faithful and the smash hit theme song in the film Pretty Woman King of Wishful Thinking. |
|
|
Nik Kershaw
Nik Kershaw first achieved chart success in 1984 with Wouldn’t It Be Good?, followed by other classics such as Won’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me and The Riddle. A prolific writer for other artists, Nik also penned the number one single The One and Only for Chesney Hawkes. |
|
Cutting Crew
Originally formed in the mid-80s, this Grammy nominated, Anglo-Canadian rock band will always be remembered for their classic song (I Just) Died In Your Arms, which helped define the musical sounds of the club scene during the eighties and is still played widely today. Over twenty years later, with millions of album sales, original singer/songwriter Nick Van Eede has signed new recording publishing deals and is back on the road promoting his awesome new material. |
|