David Essex at Colston Hall in Bristol - Live Concert Review
Posted on: 2016-11-23
Our rating:
David Essex may be due to celebrate his 70th birthday next year but as he delivered one after another of his crowd pleasing classics it was apparent that he has lost none of his appeal and sounds as good as ever.
More than 40 years after he first burst onto the music scene, David Essex took to the stage at Bristol’s Colston Hall on Monday 21st November for the last leg of what has been billed as his final tour.
Back in the 70s posters of the cheeky, tousled haired, twinkly eyed pop star adorned the bedroom wall of many an adoring teenage girl. Today the curls are gone, the blue eyes sparkle with just a little less mischief but the devotion of the fans has remained as strong as ever. Now they are a collection of middle aged women who showed immense dedication to their hero by venturing out on a cold, stormy Bristol night for the chance to see their idol just one more time. And from the moment he strolled on to the stage they were not disappointed.
Embarking on a playlist drawn from fan requests submitted on Twitter, he began with the fun and cheerful 'If I Could’ complete with its requisite audience participation. Moving rapidly on to Lamplight -another timeless 70’s hit- he whipped the audience up into a frenzy which only got more intense as the evening progressed.
The huge hit Hold Me Close saw the audience on their feet and singing along at the top of their voices. This was swiftly followed by Oh What a Circus, taken from the stage show Evita in which he originated the role of Che, and the classics kept on coming with the soft sentimentality of the wonderfully festive Winter’s Tale and upbeat renditions of Stardust and Rock On - favourites from his hugely successful but often forgotten movie career - that brought the energy levels back up and got the audience buzzing once again.
Rounding off the main set with the crowd-pleasers Gonna Make You A Star and Silver Dream Machine the audience were enraptured; screaming, clapping, rushing the stage for a chance to get nearer to the man and desperate for more.
Showing alongside the music was an on-going montage of film and press footage. Projected onto a huge screen it was a nice touch which showed us images of his amazing career along and took everyone on a trip down memory lane. The audience loved every minute of this sensational concert; devouring every image and clinging to each word spoken, lyric sung and move made, and he seemed to be having a pretty good time too.
A fabulous night of feel good songs that had the crowd on their feet and harking back to their youth, was rounded off by a more subdued encore of tracks- Here We Are All Together, It's Gonna Be Alright and I'll Be Missing You- clearly designed to bid the fans a fond farewell, emphasising that this really is David Essex’s last tour and the end of an era.
5/5
Article by:
Sarah-Jane is an aficionado of film, theatre, culture and the arts. A voracious reader and avid crafter, she can be found volunteering her face painting talents at Bristol Zoo when she's not cementing her reputation as Coalpit Heath’s cake maker extraordinaire. Known to have an opinion on everything she’s never happier than when sharing these with the good folk of Bristol!
