Shakin’ Stevens is on a roll since his win in ‘Hit Me One More Time’ and the screamers and the dancers were out in force to see him at the Liverpool Phil. He was backed by a superlative seven-piece group, which included his former producer Stuart Colman on bass, but unfortunately I could not make out his announcements and have no idea who the rest of them were. In fact, I could make out nothing that Shaky said. I presume this is because the microphone had the echo full on for his vocals and no one adjusted it when he talked. As I heard it, there was no point in him speaking at all, which was a pity when you’re trying to review the show. I suppose the years pass and it was too much to expect Shaky at full throttle. He did not do the splits and although there was plenty of dancing, his movements were pretty much the same in each song: one hand swapped with another on the mike: the mike stand held at an angle: the quick circular actions of his body: pointing to musicians who are playing solos: playing air guitar: the Frankenstein walk, plus plenty of smiling and lots of shakin’ legs. | "At first I thought his voice had lost some of its strength especially on ‘Give Me Your Heart Tonight’ but it gained in power as the evening progressed" | | Spencer Leigh |
Although Shakin’ Stevens played the entire show, he was only on stage for 100 minutes and performed 22 songs. There was no ‘Green Door’ but there was ‘This Old House’, ‘You Drive Me Crazy’ (the best-received song of the night), ‘I’ll Be Satisfied’, ‘It’s Raining’, ‘It’s Late’, ‘Oh Julie’, ‘Lipstick Powder And Paint’, ‘A Letter To You’, ‘Marie Marie’ and ‘Hot Dog’. Considering Shaky has recorded as many Christmas songs as Cliff, I was surprised that he didn’t include one. There were rock’n’roll classics – some well-known (Fats Domino’s ‘Ain’t That A Shame’, Chuck Berry’s ‘Don’t You Lie To Me’) and some less so (Webb Pierce’s ‘I Ain’t Never’, Del Shannon’s ‘You Never Talked About Me’). At first I thought his voice had lost some of its strength especially on ‘Give Me Your Heart Tonight’ but it gained in power as the evening progressed. My favourite moment was a terrific revival of ‘Baby It’s You’ with a very tasteful instrumental break from the piano. This struck me as a potential single. Although Shaky has had immense success with his hits and DVD compilations, he desperately needs a new album. I’ve no idea why it is taking so long as he performed several songs that he hasn’t recorded and presumably are ready for the album. Some of them had that rolling New Orleans sound and they sounded excellent. I don’t know whether ‘Rockin’ The Night Away’ or ‘Please Don’t Tell Me We Are Through’ are originals or not, but they sounded like they had plenty of possibilities. |
