REVIEW
✭✭✭✭✭ 5/5
The Searchers ‘Thank You Tour’
Towngate Theatre Basildon
14th May 2023
✭✭✭✭✭ 5/5
The Searchers ‘Thank You Tour’
Towngate Theatre Basildon
14th May 2023
The Searchers are back in town, well the Towngate, Basildon, performing, as bassist, Frank Allen says, ‘the first of their seven comebacks.’ The band stopped touring, and retired in 2019, but here we are four years later and they are still going strong. They have been around with various line-up changes since the sixties, coming along in the wave of the Mersey sound with the Beatles and the London based, Stones. However, they still fill venues today as the packed crowd at the Towngate proved.
Entering the venue, smartly dressed as always, to the sound of a dramatic Close Encounters’ style introduction, they launched into Sweets for My Sweet. This was closely followed by Don’t Throw Your Love Away and then hit after hit. It is amazing to realise just how many hits the band have had. There were brilliant renditions of Take Me for What I’m Worth, What Have They Done to the Rain, Goodbye My Love, Needles and Pins, Ain’t Gonna Kiss You, and many others. Lead singer Spencer James, who joined them in 1985 when Mike Pender who sang lead on most of their hits left, was in excellent voice. This tour also had the addition of Richie Burns who provided a powerful drumbeat.
The Searchers were always known as an experimental group with complicated harmonies and jangling guitar sounds that are still there today. Founder, John McNally has unfortunately injured his hand recently, and it is still a problem. Frank joked that there might be a few wrong notes on the guitar. However, if there were, the audience didn’t notice. He also joked that they were out of practice after four years, and might have difficulty all arriving at the end of the songs at the same time.
John was obviously enjoying performing as much as ever, and Frank did his usual chat, telling tales and interacting with the audience. Much to the crowd’s delight, he invited everyone to sing along and arms were waving around performing all the various song actions with gusto.
As well as the famous chart hits, the band performed covers. There was an excellent Mr Tambourine Man, Del Shannon’s Runaway and a Buddy Holly interlude with Peggy Sue and Oh Boy, led by John on vocals, whilst demonstrating his terrific guitar playing.
As well as the hits, Spencer lent his excellent voice to a Roy Orbison tribute, singing Running Scared, and the powerful song The Rose.
As usual, there was the amusing onstage banter between Frank and John, with John being the butt of the ageist jokes as he’s nearly 82 years old. However, Frank isn’t far behind, being 79. Frank reminisced about performing in prestigious shows. They played Wembley Stadium with Cliff Richard to an audience of over 80,000 a night in 1989, and the Royal Variety Performance in 1981. They were honoured to be invited to perform there so many years after their first chart successes in the sixties. The band also performed to young soldiers in Bosnia, Belfast and the Falklands. Although, the squaddies had no idea who they were, The Searchers soon had them doing the Chuck Berry duck walk with their automatic weapons to Johnny Be Good.
Frank also spoke about their big successes in America that came about by accident. The hit song Bumblebee was picked up from their 'Sounds like the Searchers' album, sometime after it was released. Additionally, their biggest hit in the States, Love Potion No. 9 was also a song taken from an album, 'Meet the Searchers'.
The evening rounded off with a reprise of their hits in a medley with the excited audience cheering and clapping. Although their last chart hit was in 1966, the harmonies on their songs are as good as ever. Frank and John are still as sprightly despite various bouts of ill health. They have proved yet again that the old songs are the best, and if this is really their last tour, they will be sadly missed. However, I don’t think that founder member John McNally will hang his guitar up any time soon.
This tour ends in Liverpool where it all began over sixty years ago.
Review - Jacquee Storozynski-Toll
The tour continues:-
May 2023
Thurs 18th Whitley Bay Playhouse
0191 251 5484
Fri 19th Darlington
01325 405405
Sat 20th Halifax Victoria Theatre
01422 351158
Sun 21st Birmingham Town Hall
0121 780 3333
Thurs 25th Swansea Grand Theatre
01792 475715
Fri 26th Yeovil Westlands Centre
01935 422 884
Sat 27th Rugby Benn Hall
01788 533719
Sun 28th Loughborough Town Hall
01509 231914
June 2023
Thurs 1st Ipswich Corn Exchange
01473 433100
Fri 2nd Lowestoft Marina Theatre
01502 533200
Sat 3rd Northampton Deco Theatre
01604 491005
Sun 4th Llandudno Venue Cymru
01492 872000
Weds 7th Shrewsbury Severn Theatre
01743 281281
Thurs 8th Basingstoke Anvil Theatre
01256 844244
Fri 9th Eastbourne Hippodrome Theatre
01323 80 20 20
Sat 10th Tunbridge Wells Assembly Hall
01892 530613
Sun 11th Stevenage Gordon Craig Theatre
01438 363200
Weds 14th Hull City Hall
01482 300 306
Thurs 15th Leeds City Varieties
0113 243 0808
Fri 16th Stockport Plaza
0161 477 7779
Sat 17th Liverpool Philharmonic
0151 709 3789
Entering the venue, smartly dressed as always, to the sound of a dramatic Close Encounters’ style introduction, they launched into Sweets for My Sweet. This was closely followed by Don’t Throw Your Love Away and then hit after hit. It is amazing to realise just how many hits the band have had. There were brilliant renditions of Take Me for What I’m Worth, What Have They Done to the Rain, Goodbye My Love, Needles and Pins, Ain’t Gonna Kiss You, and many others. Lead singer Spencer James, who joined them in 1985 when Mike Pender who sang lead on most of their hits left, was in excellent voice. This tour also had the addition of Richie Burns who provided a powerful drumbeat.
The Searchers were always known as an experimental group with complicated harmonies and jangling guitar sounds that are still there today. Founder, John McNally has unfortunately injured his hand recently, and it is still a problem. Frank joked that there might be a few wrong notes on the guitar. However, if there were, the audience didn’t notice. He also joked that they were out of practice after four years, and might have difficulty all arriving at the end of the songs at the same time.
John was obviously enjoying performing as much as ever, and Frank did his usual chat, telling tales and interacting with the audience. Much to the crowd’s delight, he invited everyone to sing along and arms were waving around performing all the various song actions with gusto.
As well as the famous chart hits, the band performed covers. There was an excellent Mr Tambourine Man, Del Shannon’s Runaway and a Buddy Holly interlude with Peggy Sue and Oh Boy, led by John on vocals, whilst demonstrating his terrific guitar playing.
As well as the hits, Spencer lent his excellent voice to a Roy Orbison tribute, singing Running Scared, and the powerful song The Rose.
As usual, there was the amusing onstage banter between Frank and John, with John being the butt of the ageist jokes as he’s nearly 82 years old. However, Frank isn’t far behind, being 79. Frank reminisced about performing in prestigious shows. They played Wembley Stadium with Cliff Richard to an audience of over 80,000 a night in 1989, and the Royal Variety Performance in 1981. They were honoured to be invited to perform there so many years after their first chart successes in the sixties. The band also performed to young soldiers in Bosnia, Belfast and the Falklands. Although, the squaddies had no idea who they were, The Searchers soon had them doing the Chuck Berry duck walk with their automatic weapons to Johnny Be Good.
Frank also spoke about their big successes in America that came about by accident. The hit song Bumblebee was picked up from their 'Sounds like the Searchers' album, sometime after it was released. Additionally, their biggest hit in the States, Love Potion No. 9 was also a song taken from an album, 'Meet the Searchers'.
The evening rounded off with a reprise of their hits in a medley with the excited audience cheering and clapping. Although their last chart hit was in 1966, the harmonies on their songs are as good as ever. Frank and John are still as sprightly despite various bouts of ill health. They have proved yet again that the old songs are the best, and if this is really their last tour, they will be sadly missed. However, I don’t think that founder member John McNally will hang his guitar up any time soon.
This tour ends in Liverpool where it all began over sixty years ago.
Review - Jacquee Storozynski-Toll
The tour continues:-
May 2023
Thurs 18th Whitley Bay Playhouse
0191 251 5484
Fri 19th Darlington
01325 405405
Sat 20th Halifax Victoria Theatre
01422 351158
Sun 21st Birmingham Town Hall
0121 780 3333
Thurs 25th Swansea Grand Theatre
01792 475715
Fri 26th Yeovil Westlands Centre
01935 422 884
Sat 27th Rugby Benn Hall
01788 533719
Sun 28th Loughborough Town Hall
01509 231914
June 2023
Thurs 1st Ipswich Corn Exchange
01473 433100
Fri 2nd Lowestoft Marina Theatre
01502 533200
Sat 3rd Northampton Deco Theatre
01604 491005
Sun 4th Llandudno Venue Cymru
01492 872000
Weds 7th Shrewsbury Severn Theatre
01743 281281
Thurs 8th Basingstoke Anvil Theatre
01256 844244
Fri 9th Eastbourne Hippodrome Theatre
01323 80 20 20
Sat 10th Tunbridge Wells Assembly Hall
01892 530613
Sun 11th Stevenage Gordon Craig Theatre
01438 363200
Weds 14th Hull City Hall
01482 300 306
Thurs 15th Leeds City Varieties
0113 243 0808
Fri 16th Stockport Plaza
0161 477 7779
Sat 17th Liverpool Philharmonic
0151 709 3789