With the final curtain slowly coming down on a glittering 25 year career, frontman Mick Hucknall said au Revoir to his loyal fanbase at Birmingham’s NEC LG Arena on Saturday night. Predictably the show was a sell-out. Twelve thousand came to pay homage.
Of course, this wasn’t THE end, as more UK gigs are scheduled, but it’s the last time I will see them.
On a personal note, this was a sad occasion. Trying to be objective is nigh on impossible, because I’ve been a big fan from the start.
It must be nigh on 21 years since first I saw ol’ red perform at Manchester’s GMEX arena promoting the album New Flame.
Since then, I’ve seen the band 15 times, and as with previous shows, it’s always a great night, especially that brilliant voice, sounding better than ever.
For me, along with some superb sophisticated pop, his amazing voice is always the highlight. Tonight, those cultured tubes got a right work-out.
Love him or hate him, Hucknall is still one of the greatest singers (if not the) Britain has produced, and this night he was out to prove it.
Rolling back the years, Mick, immaculate in light great suit and dark blue shirt, he unleashed his incredible back-catalogue.
This was a night for the fans – they usually are though – but the setlist was tailored specifically as a Greatest Hits show of 20 songs.
In less than two hours, he gave us a masterclass in universal pop songs which have been the soundtrack to our lives. Most of us knew the lyrics, but if we didn’t, they were handy in the glossy programme.
The band normally starts with mellow tunes building up to crescendo. Tonight was an exception. Straight out of the blocks he hit us with It’s Only Love as I sat in the snapper’s pit frantically trying to get the best shots from the first three songs. A New Flame soon followed with old blue eyes whipping up the packed arena, not that he needed to.
Jericho, a minor hit from 1986 was superb. It’s been years since he played it, and it was great to hear it again in all its glory, especially Ian Kirkham’s top sax solo.
“This next song was recorded in Kingston Jamaica with Sly and Robbie,“ he announced before getting to the reggae grooves of Night Nurse with the chorus engulfing the arena with fans joyfully joining in.
Huckers became a father in 2007; so inevitably, he dropped in the next one. “We’re gonna go into some ballads that have made us famous. Why not eh? This was originally written for you. Now it’s for me,” he proudly said, introducing Your Babies.
Wasting little time, he said in a mock Welsh accent, “This one made me famous.” And it did. Holding Back The Years, on it’s re-issue in May 1968, became a world-wide hit making the band a household name. Twenty three years on, it still has the same effect: an incredible song (most of it written when he was 16) and brilliantly sung, as ever.
Until then, it brought the biggest cheers.
Hucknall always had a knack of doing brilliant covers (except the Moody Blues’ Go Now, a disaster in my opinion and a sad end to their singles output), though his choice of matching the vocal gymnastics of The Stylistics’ Russell Thompkins Jr. was never in doubt. You Make Me Feel Brand New was sensational with that voice as sharp and disciplined as it ever was, and his contorted face emphasising the loveliness of the song’s sentiment.
After two more covers – The Hollies’ The Air That I Breathe and Go Now, he was back to originals – the classy Thrill Me. Whopping drums and the funky bass-lines exploded while Huckers rolled up his sleeves at the halfway mark. Fake was very good. “Track one album one, isn’t this fun?,” introduced a stirring Come To My Aid with the night really hotting up.
It was the raspy innuendo of The Right Thing, “Track one , album two”, that finally got everybody in the seated area on their feet. Hall and Oates’ sampled Sunrise was cool and slick. Closing the main set we got pulsating beats of Fairground, Simply Red’s one and only number one. Wriggling a writhing, the ladies went crazy for his moves.
Jacket on, “Thank you”, a bow and a wave and he was gone after one hour 25 minutes.
After the usual round of clapping and stomping they were back to hysterical screams, going straight into disco-oriented Something Got Me Started and (yet another brilliant cover) of The Valentine Brothers’ (appropriately) tilted Money’s Too Tight To Mention.
Keen for a response he quizzed, ”Have you had a good time then? Thank you and good night?”
Quickly off-and-on-again for a second encore, the arena lit up with small white lights and they were into Stars, arguably their most popular song of the night. Back to a cover, one that definitely surpasses the original – If You Don’t Know Me By Now - got everybody singing, the way he likes it to be.
And now it was all over. “Ladies and gentlemen, Simply Red,” a proud Mick shouted. ”If this was our last time, then it was beautiful baby. Good night.” Indeed.
The verdict - He’ll be missed by millions.
Concert Recording – to get a recording of this (or listed shows) go to –
simplyred-live.concert-online.com
for an MP3 concert stick or mail-order double CD.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
It must be nigh on 21 years since first I saw ol’ red perform at Manchester’s GMEX arena promoting the album New Flame.
The band normally starts with mellow tunes building up to crescendo. Tonight was an exception. Straight out of the blocks he hit us with It’s Only Love as I sat in the snapper’s pit frantically trying to get the best shots from the first three songs. A New Flame soon followed with old blue eyes whipping up the packed arena, not that he needed to.
Huckers became a father in 2007; so inevitably, he dropped in the next one. “We’re gonna go into some ballads that have made us famous. Why not eh? This was originally written for you. Now it’s for me,” he proudly said, introducing Your Babies.
After two more covers – The Hollies’ The Air That I Breathe and Go Now, he was back to originals – the classy Thrill Me. Whopping drums and the funky bass-lines exploded while Huckers rolled up his sleeves at the halfway mark. Fake was very good. “Track one album one, isn’t this fun?,” introduced a stirring Come To My Aid with the night really hotting up.
After the usual round of clapping and stomping they were back to hysterical screams, going straight into disco-oriented Something Got Me Started and (yet another brilliant cover) of The Valentine Brothers’ (appropriately) tilted Money’s Too Tight To Mention.
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.
