The British Invasion Tour 1973 Starring Hermans Hermits

                                                                    

The British Invasion Tour of 1973

@ Pine Knob

Starring Herman’s Hermits

It was a glorious sunny day for a rock & roll concert. It was an oldies show that included acts from England that were still performing and recording. The original Herman’s Hermits (without guitarist Keith Hopwood) co-headlined the show with the original Searchers .The support acts were very good for the most part but relied on the same backup band for each of their performances. The lineup included Gerry Marsden (Gerry & the Pacemakers), Wayne Fontana (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders), Freddie & the Dreamers and Billy J Kramer (& the Dakotas).

The show opened with Manchester-based Freddie & the Dreamers with most of his original band from the sixties. Freddie was just a wee bit over five feet tall and his peripatetic antics got the crowd up on its feet. He wore thick glasses and looked like a dweeb while his backing band wore shades and looked like hit men for the mob. It was a high energy set that included the hits I’m Telling You Now, You Were Made For Me, Do The Freddie as well as minor releases that charted below the Top 100 including I Understand and Over You. Freddie did the “Freddie” all over the stage. To do it you had to stand in place, then in rhythm with the music,  lift your left arm and leg, then your right arm and leg until the damn song ends. Ok, it was annoying but I mastered the Freddie right then and there!

Wayne Fontana opened with an early British hit, the soulful Um, Um, Um, Um,Um, Um (a tribute to Major Lance)  followed by minor hits Road Runner , Hello Josephine, She Needs Love  and Together - a big hit in Australia. He included Pamela Pamela, a sweet little rocker that charted in the UK but sunk into a black hole here in the states. Toward the end he performed a new song entitled Sweet America – a great rockin’ tribute to the USA. It worked on so many levels, the arrangement, the lyrics and Fontana’s powerful vocal. It should have been the hit that resurrected his career.  I never again heard the song  and Fontana slipped back into oblivion. He ended his brief set with his monster hit from 1965, Game of Love. He was in great voice and he looked good. He seemed to be on top of his game. It was a squandered opportunity.

The Searchers had their original singers Mike Pender and John McNally on board and they recently recorded an LP entitled Second Take that included new songs as well as re-recorded versions of their hits. It was a masterful performance with those trademark close harmonies and jangly guitars that the Searchers perfected. They were on their game and gave the audience a spectacular set of British Invasion pop – Love Potion # 9, Needles & Pins, Don’t Throw Your Love Away and When You Walk in the Room. The band opened with a tight performance of Sweets for My Sweet and they interspersed the hits with new songs such as Solitaire, Sing Singer Sing, Don’t Shut Me Out, The World is Still Waiting for Tomorrow and Bite it Deep. It seemed as if The Searchers were poised for a great comeback. It didn’t happen. Shame.

The next performer, Billy J Kramer gave an insipid performance of his hits. The dude was long, lanky and terribly awkward. He wore a shag haircut that may have been the original mullet except there was no party in the back. Kramer mugged the crowd, winced and sang off key for the entire performance. The band made faces in the background and rolled their eyes. Kramer was oblivious to the slights and continued to warble his hits – Little Children, Trains & Boats & Planes, Bad to Me, From a Window and I’ll Keep You Satisfied. The Beatles connection couldn’t save him. It made we wonder what Brian Epstein had seen in him in the first place…oh, yeah, Billy was caught buried waist deep into Brian’s bum. Strange bed follows don’t always make great music.

Gerry Marsden was something else indeed, an immaculate singer and showman. His husky baritone was perfect and he did all his hits. He did a superb nuance vocal on Bobby Darin’s I’ll Be There and nailed How Do you Do It and It’s Gonna Be Alright. It was like getting a close look at the early days of the Beatles when they battled the Pacemakers for the toppermost of the poppermost on the British charts. In the early to mid-sixties the Pacemakers were one of the premier acts in England. Marsden was a rocker who excelled on ballads and he sang beautifully on Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying and You’ll Never Walk Alone (Rodgers & Hammerstein would not be displeased). A masterful reading of his self-penned Ferry Cross the Mersey closed the set. The crowd roared for more, it was the most voracious response by the crowd so far. He was not only a great singer but a great showman. He came back onstage and did the Ray Charles chestnut What I’d Say. Marsden got the crowd revved up in third gear and then downshifted into the ancient call & response gambit. Perfect!

The crowd gasped when Herman’s Hermits walked onto the stage. It was the original band featuring Derek Leckenby (guitar), Karl Green (bass guitar), Barry Whitman (drums) .  When Peter Noone entered on stage left the crowd went wild. They started their set with Gary Glitter’s Hello! Hello! I’m Back Again. It was a great choice. It’s an upbeat and obscure rocker (in the states) and has the perfect lyrics for a popular hit-making band returning to form following a three year separation…

Hello Hello 

 It’s good to be back

Good to be back

Hello, Hello, hello

Did you miss me (YEAH)

While I was away

Did you hang my picture on your wall

Did you miss me every single day (YEAH)

I thought you didn’t need me at all

Noone looked youthful and handsome and he hadn’t lost a step. He was all over the stage mugging with crowd and flashing that toothy smile and capitalizing on his vaudevillian charm. He did his music hall numbers Mrs. Brown (You’ve Got a Lovely daughter), I’m Henry the VIII and Leaning on a Lamp. His reading on their first big hit I’m Into Something Good was a shining example of good time music. It was followed by Can’t You hear My Heartbeat and Listen People. It was a thrill to hear these wondrous sixties pop artifacts performed by the original band. Noone performed Sam Cooke’s Wonderful World and the ancient street corner soul of Silhouettes. He even did a great version of the Kinks’ underrated masterpiece Dandy. In my view it surpassed the Kinks original arrangement. Noone stretched out a bit with the Graham Nash chestnut A Simple Man accompanying himself on piano. His vocal was nuanced with a restrained emotion, “I just want to hold you; I don’t want to hold you down.”

He interspersed pop rockers – A Must to Avoid, Sea Cruise and Just a Little Bit Better - with the ballads End of the World and No Milk Today. They even did a few obscurities Here Comes the Star and Sentimental Friend

The crowd reserved the biggest ovation to Noone’s perfect reading of There’s a Kind of Hush – their last bit hit (#4 in America) and the last song of the night.

The British Invasion tour was a wonderful, low-tech affair that was somewhat flawed yet glorious in its subversiveness. God Save the Queen.