Saturday 26th January 2008

It’s a cold dreary night outside the Assembly Hall Melksham but inside excitement builds as MEG brings to Melksham another 60’s spectacular with another two fabulous groups in the shape of The FABULOUS MARMALADE supported by the very popular CUFFLINKS plus our own resident DJ Terry Vickers.

The crowd were eager as the announcement rang out and THE CUFFLINKS took to the stage and very soon the tables were looking empty as everyone took to the dancefloor, no matter how many times I have seen this group it never ceases to amaze me how quickly Brian & Gerry to two founding members of the CUFFLINKS get the fans onto the dancefloor as they belt out hit after hit of the 60’s with their very own popular When Julie Comes Around and their massive US hit Heather followed by their million selling Tracy, and I wonder how many tunes and hits of today can claim to be million sellers, it was soon time for the group to finish their spot but Brian said he wanted to finish their spot by paying a special tribute to a great friend and singer who had just died Rod Allen of The Fortunes and he would like to finish by playing a number of The Fortunes hits, this done they left the stage to mass applause.

Then the lights came up and it was time for our resident DJ Terry to do his stuff as the stage was reset for the next group.

Once again the lights were dimmed and the announcement rang out again to introduce The FABULOUS MARMALADE, this was a very different sound to the previous group, a lot faster sound much more harsher less chance for the dancers to slow down even the keyboard player seemed to be doing summersaults on the stage and even when the music stopped, if the crowd thought that their ears would get a rest they would be disappointed as the lead singer being of Scottish upbringing, spoke at a very fast rate to complement his music but like so many of the groups before hand the pace and the sound of the music lulled you into a false sense of time as before you knew it their slot was up but they finished with a relish playing one of their biggest hits OB-LA-DI-OB-LA-DA and then they were gone.

Once again it was left to our resident DJ Terry Vickers to finish off the evenings entertainment, but we would like to re-assure everyone that we will be back in May with two fabulous groups The New Amen Corner and the fabulous Dreamers, hope to see you all there.

Saturday May 10th 2008

Once again we are looking forward to a fantastic night featuring a well known band that has been to us before The Dreamers and a band that everybody has told us that is one of the best on the circuit that has been seen for many a year, the group is THE NEW AMEN CORNER, so we are anticipating a fantastic evening.

7.30 and the crowd is starting to come in and being warmed up by our resident DJ Terry Vickers with his usual array of 60’s music.

First up we have the ever popular Dreamers with their Liverpool sound mixed with their comedy renditions, this group has always been well received by our audiences, they give us a very good mix of their own music Beatles songs and other legendary groups, then it was time for their speciality song as they started to sing an old Ronnie Hilton song “I Saw A Mouse”, as several members of the group came down to the floor out from behind the stage came the biggest mouse I and the rest of the audience has ever seen but then it was time for them to finish off their act they left the stage to rapturous applause.

Then it was time for Terry Vickers to entertain the audience once again as they were allowed to take a well-earned breather from what was the best part of an hour of dancing and get themselves refreshed for what was to come next.

Now was the time whether we had heared correct about this next group as out on the stage came The New Amen Corner, dressed in only what can be described as reminiscent of The Beatles sgt peppers lonely hearts band, but as soon as the singer started, you could tell we were in for one of the best evenings entertainment in a long time as all we had heard about them was true as we were entertained to a varied amount of songs from 60’s & 70’s. To say the dancefloor was crowded would be an understatement as there was barely anybody sat at the tables, many of us can remember the original Amen Corner with the great lead singer Andy Fearweather-Lowe but this new group did not disgrace the name with great renditions of Lazy Sunday Afternoon & Itchy-Coo-Park to name but a few, this group proved to be so popular we’ve re-booked them for October next year, once again it was time for them to leave but not before they gave us what I can only describe as one of the longest encores I've ever heard.

This just left the evening to be rounded of by our resident DJ Terry Vickers as some of the crowd started to drift their weary way home but as always the die hards stayed to the very end not wanting to miss another second of another great 60’s evening.

Saturday 25th October 2008

Another 60’s spectacular awaits us, but tonight our numbers are slightly down on our usual events but that’s their loss as we have another fantastic line-up ready to perform, tonight we have The Merseybeat Legends followed by Love Affair and as always our resident DJ Terry Vickers, and as 7:30 was rapidly approaching the queue outside the door was getting ever longer.

7:30 and as usual Terry was doing his usual warm-up with great sounds even though they were on a modern CD didn’t distract from the great 60’s sound, then it was, SHOWTIME!!!

Out onto the stage came The Merseybeat Legends with that familiar Liverpool sound and to start off with you had Cant Buy Me Love, a great Beatles hit and very soon as always the floor was jumping with people bumping and grinding to sounds such as Sweets For My Sweet, Sugar And Spice, Needles & Pins, Stand By Me, and those 2 classics Ferry Across The Mersey, and You’ll Never Walk Alone, to name but a few of the hits that they sung to a very appreciative audience, but as always all good things must come to an end but no before the crowd gave them a rapturous applause and shouts of ENCORE these shouts soon bought The Merseybeat Legends back on stage for a couple more songs, and in my opinion I have heard a number of tribute bands but these boys were some of the very best and we will be looking to have them back at a later date.

Once again it was time for Terry to fill the gap and keep the atmosphere going as we changed the setting on the stage for the next band, what a fantastic job Terry does for us.

Next on the stage came Love Affair, we have had this group several time so we knew what to expect but their were several new faces in the line-up this time with a new singer, we were not to be disappointed as they started to sing great numbers such as You Really Got Me, Bringing On Back The Good Times, this really got the crowd up dancing with barely a seat left filled, the music continued to flow, A Day Without Love, We Got To Get Out Of This Place, All Or Nothing, Rainbow Valley, and the fantastic One Road, before too soon we were up to their final number which happen to be Everlasting Love, but if we thought this was their final number we were surely mistaken, not only did they give us an encore, they gave us a 20 minute long encore with some banging tunes, we were sorry to see this part of the evening end.

Then it was time for our old favourite Terry to bring tonights proceedings to an end, but as I said at the start we were slightly down on numbers but what a fantastic nights entertainment they had missed but theres always a next time and what a show we have for them next time in January, on the bill will be The Ivy League and The Temple Brothers (Everly Brothers tribute).

See you there,
Vic.