The Hollies :: View topic

Hi Rob and Everyone Exclamation

Last night I went to The Rooty Hill RSL Club (in Sydney not far from Penrith where I live) and saw Herman's Hermits and they were absolutely sensational and brilliant. They came on stage about 8.50pm and the concert ended at 10.30pm and I loved every second and didn't want it to end. I was in the front row directly in front of Geoff which was fantastic. There is only one original band member - Drummer Barry Whitwam, the other 3 guys names are Geoff, (Lead Guitar) Eddie (Bass Guitar) and Kevan (Keyboards) and the 3 of them take it in turns to do lead vocals. The band sang many of their own hits from the 60's as well as songs from other artists of the late 1950's/very early 1960's.

About 5 minutes into the concert Barry Whitwam got up from the drums and walked to the front of the stage and took us down memory lane and talked a bit about Herman's Hermits in the heyday (the 60's) and about how excited they were when they got to meet Elvis in 1967 when they did a tour of the USA.

Herman's Hermits performed a instrumental (originally done by The Shadows) called Let there be drums and Barry did one of the best drum solos I have ever seen which lasted close to 5 minutes. He sure has a lot of energy for his age (62).

All 4 guys wore identical cloths that look very nice on them. They wore dark grey trousers with matching sleeveless vests with white long sleeve shirts, dark grey ties and dark grey jackets but by about half way through the concert all of them took of their jackets.

Some of the non Herman's Hermits songs they performed include - Poetry In Motion, Runaround Sue, Diana, Dream Lover, Oh Carol, Lets Do The Twist and other songs that I've heard before but don't know the title. Below is a list of their own songs that they performed.

Silhouettes (the song they opened the show with)
Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter
No Milk Today
A Must To Avoid
Sleepy Joe
Listen People
Can't You Hear My Heartbeat
Wonderful World
Sunshine Girl
Dandy
Leaning On The Lamp Post
My Sentimental Friend
I'm Into Something Good (my favourite)
There's A Kind Of Hush All Over The World
I'm Henry The VIII I Am

Like many other bands I've seen, Herman's Hermits also do some Banter which is very funny. At the beginning of the show after they sang Silhouettes, Eddie said jokingly "Hands Up Those Who Thought We Were Dead?" and some people actually put their hands up and Eddie said "Well We're Not" and everyone laughed. Then Geoff said that they were going to do the Full Monty complete with G-Strings and a Hammock for Barry at the end of the show that they were going to throw into the audience and told us people in the front to watch for the Hammock because 3 people were still recovering in Hospital after being hit by it the night before , he was only joking of course.

Herman's Hermits are true entertainers and they put on a truly magnificent show and I'll definately see them again next time they visit Australia.

My rating for the concert - 10 out of 10 with 10 gold stars too.

Herman's Hermits had a suppoting act - a lady named Donna Campbell. She came on a 8.05pm and performed some songs from the 60's until 8.35pm. then there was a 15 minute intermission before Herman's Hermits came on.

Donna was really good and I give her 10 out of 10 for her performance.

Susie

I tend to agree with you, Susie. I saw them here in Oslo 2 years ago, and they were good. Also in the show were Tremeloes and Animals, and I must admit that Animals in my mind took the cake. Recently a 4-CD-box with Herman's Hermits came out and I listened to it this week-end. What amazed me was the number of Graham Gouldman penned songs they had. I knew the Hollies were offered No milk today, but turned it down. The song was a hugo hit here in Norway. Graham was and is a brilliant songwriter, but the song our Hollies did were superior to the HH songs. Or maybe it was the Hollies touch that made the difference?

Acoustic Guitar Joined: 06 Jun 2005 Posts: 107

a version of the band without Peter Noone?