The Hollies - Concert Review

Glasgow and Stirling, 11^th March 2004 - by James Towill

GLASGOW PAVILION THEATRE 11 March 2004 and STIRLING ALBERT HALLS 12 March 2004

These were the first concerts which I had attended with Carl Wayne on lead vocals, my previous two outings to see the Hollies being at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in 1998 and 1999. To tell you the truth, I didn't really know what to expect although I had a feeling that CW's vocals would be much more "soulful" than Allan Clarke's. In reality, Carl did produce a very soulful, strong vocal, supremely confident and also with several ad-libs.

The set was the same on both nights, although the sound seemed somewhat sharper to my ears at Stirling. [Coincidentally, the Glasgow venue was an old-fashioned theatre, whereas Stirling's Albert Halls were a typical 'town hall' setting, not unlike venues the band probably played in during the 60's and 70's].

The band were on top form both evenings. Bobby was just Bobby: brilliant drumming throughout the set, down to embellishing the songs with nice little percussion flourishes and even finger cymbals on 'Soldier's Song'. The exemplary 6 and 12-string playing of Messrs Hicks and Coates was a marvel.

I was particularly keen to hear 'The Baby' live - I think this is possibly one of the band's most overlooked singles, and more is the pity, featuring as it does masterful electric sitar from Tony Hicks. The introduction to the song was astounding; I could easily have listened to this for another 10 minutes! It's a very dramatic song, and Carl's vocals were first class, not unlike Mikael Rickfors' original performance.

Other song highlights for me were 'I Can't Tell The Bottom From The Top', 'Blowin' In The Wind' and the acoustic 'Gasoline Alley Bred' and 'Listen To Me'. On the downside, I certainly felt that Long Cool Woman had lost its edge (after all, it was Allan's 'baby') but to compensate, 'Soldier's Song' is one which Carl Wayne has made all his own. I also missed the extended introduction to 'Stop Stop Stop', getting a bit more mileage from the banjo, but you can't have everything!

The inclusion of three Move classics was a treat for sure, any chance of 'Night of Fear', lads? The nights rounded off with 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother' and a verse from 'It's In Every One Of Us' to warm appreciation from the crowd. I always like to 'earwig' in on what other members of the audience are saying about the performances - I didn't hear anything negative and the Scottish crowd certainly seemed to warm to the post-Clarkie line-up.

I hope that, much although many members of the audience only want to hear material they were familiar with, the band will delve into the wealth of material from their past and pull out some album classics to dovetail with the hits. I think that tracks such as 'Say It Ain't So, Jo' and '48 Hour Parole' would suit Carl's voice particularly well, for example.

To conclude:

Request 1: Live album, please.

Request 2: New studio material, please.

Request 3: Appearance in Scotland in 2005, please.


Well done lads!

James Towill, 14 March 2004

Setlist