Thank You for the Music

Weymouth Pavilion

By Marion Cox

THIS tribute show celebrating the 70s era of pop, glamour and glitz has been going the rounds for 10 years now and is beginning to look its age.

But with the songs of the Bee Gees and Abba on parade, there are plenty of spectacular hits of the past to enjoy.

The show kicks off with a threesome replicating the unique style of music of Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. If they had stuck to doing just that, all would have been well but when middle aged men start trying to behave like sex objects, the whole thing becomes deeply embarrassing.

Then, to make matters worse, lead singer Martin Spooner tried to get a couple of fans to join him on-stage, only to be given the brush-off.

It is also not very reassuring then most of the time the only instruments on-stage are a keyboard and drum kit, all the rest of the sounds coming from strangely distorted prerecorded vocal and instrumental backing tracks.

But Peter Deadman gives excellent value for money both as a vocalist and keyboard player while John Harringdon drums up a storm throughout the whole show to keep the beat alive and kicking.

It is virtually impossible to fail when it comes to paying tribute to Abba and the second half revives their old hits with all the verve you would expect. The terrible outfits of the two girls were perhaps partly responsible for the decidedly muted response of the Weymouth audience and it was only towards the end of the show that things picked up to manic levels.

For anyone seeking the solace of the magical era of 1970s pop when you could sing along to Staying Alive and Waterloo, this show is a pleasant enough experience and will be even better if given a bit of facelift to bring back the glitter of former days.