The Hollies Newcastle Mayfair 1984
I’ve been a big fan of the Hollies since I first heard those great singles in the 60s. Bus Stop was my favourite, but the band produced so many wonderful songs. Hollies Greatest Hits remains one of the album that I continue to play a lot to this day. It wasn’t until 1984, however, that I got to see them in concert. The Hollies played very few concerts in the UK in the 70s, and I certainly can’t remember them coming to the North East, so I was delighted when I spotted posters around Newcastle advertising the Mayfair gig. I went along with a friend to the Mayfair, looking forward to hearing all the old hits. In some ways The Mayfair was a strange venue for the Hollies to play, as it was usually host to heavy rock nights. For the Hollies the venue was transformed into a cabaret club, complete with older audience and chicken in the basket suppers. There was lots of dancing along to the hits (but not by us I am afraid 🙂 ). 
At the time of this gig the Hollies had just released a version of the Supremes Stop In the Name of Love, from the album What Goes Around, and the line-up featured original members Allan Clarke on vocals, Tony Hicks on guitar, and Bobby Elliott on drums, along with Alan Coates on guitar, Steve Stroud – bass, and Denis Haines on keyboards. The set featured all the hits, and the band were just great. Since that gig I have seen the Hollies lots of times, taking every opportunity I can to see them in concert. They never fail to impress me, their musicianship, harmonies and stage show are all just perfect, and they have such a rich back catalogue of songs to draw on. The programme pictured here is probably not from this gig, and is more likely to be from a later gig in the 80s or 90s. I have lots of Hollies programmes, and may not have managed to date them all correctly. I’ll blog more on the Hollies over the next few days.
2 May
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