Reflections of an Ageing Gig Goer! 5

David Essex and Tim Newman London Palladium September 23 2024

This concert was an anniversary present for Janet whose bedroom wall had a number of David Essex posters on it from when she was 12 or 13. Never having seen him in concert, I thought it would be a good opportunity for Janet to revisit her musical memories and have an evening that she would thoroughly enjoy. When you see a singer who is 50 years into his career, you are taking a chance that the voice and stage presence is intact, but in David Essex’s case his grounding as a performer in stage musicals made it very likely that it was going to be a very good night.

Tim Newman

One of the most common questions I heard at the start of the evening was ‘Who’s Tim Newman?’. Well, the people who asked that couldn’t have seen David Essex recently as this was Tim’s fourth tour with the legendary singer. David saw him when he auditioned for the musical All the Fun of the Fair which Essex wrote himself. Tim Newman is an absolute bundle of energy. He bounded on to the stage clearly determined to make an impression on the audience. As soon as I saw him, I said to Janet that he had to be a veteran of musical theatre as he reminded me of so many of the forces of nature I had shared time with on and off stage!

As an aside, I have been to three concerts in the last year or so aimed primarily at a younger demographic, Zoe Wees, Sabrina Carpenter and of course Taylor Swift. In each case, the support act was made to feel very welcome and supported by the fans. Older audiences are generally disposed to seeing the support act as something to be endured, and they tend not to be anything like as welcoming at first, so the artists have to really work hard for their applause.

Tim started with an excellent song from his new album The Light called Scared of Going Under. I immediately warmed to him because of the sheer quality and power of his voice. It was powerful with a really impressive range and a warmth to it that can’t be taught. He sang over a backing track, which is quite unusual in a venue like the London Palladium, so it was just him on the stage with no musicians to take the pressure off, but from the first song he showed that he could rise to the occasion. Let Me Sleep is a soaring ballad that just fizzed with vocal power and true emotion and I was completely won over by how amazingly good it sounded. I thought that it was definitely going to be the highlight of the set. In between songs, Newman was working the audience like a pro with humour, tiggerish enthusiasm and genuine gratitude at being on the tour. A large number of those in the audience were also starting to warm to him and extend their applause from the second song onwards. High Hopes was the third song, sung just as well as the first two, but good though it was, it couldn’t match the songs either side of it. The highlight of the set was I’m With You, a song co-written and sung by Tim and his son Parker, who has already appeared in the West End in Les Mis and Mrs Doubtfire. It is a reflection on the close loving relationship between father and son which made me quite emotional. The backing track featured Parker’s voice, allowing father and son to duet, and the result was one of the most heart warming moments you could imagine. He then introduced Parker, who was in the audience, and although we couldn’t see him in the Circle, the warmth of the applause when he was introduced was lovely to be a part of. The final two songs, Beat on Tap and Burn were delivered with real aplomb and with the confidence of a support act who knew he had done his job in warming up an initially resistant audience. Whether Tim Newman’s future lies in singing in concert or in musical theatre, the enthusiasm and entertainment value from this seasoned performer is guaranteed.

David Essex

The moment David Essex came on stage, there was a huge scream of delight from the fans who, for the most part, had almost certainly followed this legend of British music since his heartthrob days of the 1970s. Janet broke into a huge grin when he came on stage, a grin that didn’t leave her face for the rest of the night. One thing was clear from the first song, and that was the fact that the twinkle in his eye that endeared him to fans all those years ago was definitely still there. His ‘choreography’ consisted of rotating his left leg and then his right, to the accompaniment of screams in each case! The grin from the stage showed that he was not going to take himself seriously in his sixth decade as a performer. An early highlight of the performance was his second song, Lamplight, a top ten hit from 1973, delivered with flair and atmosphere that reminded me how good the single was even if it isn’t a track you hear on the radio these days. This was followed by the gorgeous If I Could from 1975 which unaccountably missed the Top 10. It is a love song from the heart of London, Canning Town to be exact, and from the heart of David Essex. The beauty of the tune and the plaintive delivery of the lyrics was undercut by his brilliant aside after the line ‘If I give you my life, would you be my wife?’ which of course caused the overwhelmingly female audience to scream out ‘Yes’ in unison! He turned to guitarist Gerry Moffett and said ‘I’m gonna need a bigger bungalow!!’ which bought the house down.

Dangerous is a track from the stage show All the Fun of the Fair and having heard it, I wonder why the musical isn’t more widely known and hasn’t been revived in the West End. It is powerful and subtly menacing in the way Essex himself delivered it, combining a pop sensibility and stage experience that he expertly brought to the performance. The next two tracks, Father and Son, which trod similar thematic ground to Tim and Parker Newman’s I’m with You, and the 1982 hit Me and my Girl (Nightclubbing), showed us both sides of David Essex the pop star. The former demonstrated his emotional connection to his family that reflected his older self, and the latter his roguish persona that drove his early career. Both sides are still alive and well! Vocally, the most impressive song of the evening was Oh What a Circus from Evita, a Number 3 hit from 1978. He was the original Che Guevara on stage and his delivery of this amazing song was so good that it was as if the 46 years had never gone by. He was note perfect, passionate and utterly mesmerising, and proved that he could still handle the big show stoppers with aplomb. Next was one of my favourite songs ever, penned by the genius Mike Batt, sung incredibly then and now by David Essex, and as he said a song you will hear when pushing your trolley at Sainsbury’s! A Winter’s Tale reached Number 2 in 1983 and, in my opinion, was very unfortunate in not taking that final step to the top. It’s one of the great Christmas songs, but it also sounds pretty damn good on a balmy September evening I can tell you!

City Lights, Stardust and Imperial Wizard are three songs that radio has forgotten, but all three are definitely worth revisiting, especially the last of these. Imperial Wizard sounds like the template for a Pet Shop Boys song with its sardonic lyrics and thumping chorus, and for some unknown reason only reached Number 32 in the charts. It certainly deserved to do much better than that and it’s a track you really should seek out. Rock On was David’s first really big hit and, I have to admit, not one I warmed to. Hearing it live, however, made me realise that it is in fact an urgent, brilliantly constructed song that was way ahead of its time. It has a sparseness to it that was genuinely innovative at the time and sounds no less innovative 50 years later. There are a number of songs I have only really understood and appreciated when hearing them live and Rock On is the latest of those. The next trio of tracks featured Here We are All Together, another heartfelt, reflective song that he delivered beautifully, I’m Gonna Make you a Star, his first Number One which had everyone singing along, delivering the ‘I don’t think so!’ line with gusto, and finally Silver Dream Machine his ode to the power and beauty of the motorbike. Leaving the stage, it was clear that there had to be an encore as he had missed out perhaps his best song, at least in my opinion.

Sure enough, the encore started with Hold Me Close, a genuinely joyful, euphoric love song that raised the roof on the Palladium. I loved it as a 10 year old and I love it now. It is one of those songs that just makes you feel good whatever your mood. He followed that with You Really Got Me, a cover of the Kinks classic. Here, I must just mention the band that supported David Essex so ably throughout the night. Dave Needham on lead guitar was just superb all night with every solo seeming to lift already excellent material. Keyboardist Steve Turner was excellent, whether playing in the background, giving a texture to the songs, or taking centre stage with solos. Bass guitarist Gerry Moffett and drummer Dave Wallace were the heartbeat of the quartet, giving their fellow musicians and David himself the opportunity to shine as well as taking centre stage themselves during their solos.

When the show ended after the final two songs, It’s Gonna Be Alright and Missing You (Magic), Janet and many other fans floated away on a cloud of nostalgia having revisited one of their first musical loves and found him just as much of a cheeky chappie as ever. It was one of the happiest nights we have had at a concert and proved that David Essex is still one of England’s consummate entertainers. It was a reminder of everything he has done and the way he still holds the affection of his fans. Janet went home with her merchandise but more importantly with the memories of a joyful evening.