Poole Lighthouse,
21 May 2024 19,30
With The Wandering Hearts
The Zombies are:
Colin Blunstone – lead vocals
Rod Argent – keyboards, vocals
Steve Rodford – drums
Tom Toomey- guitar, vocals
Søren Koch – bass, vocals
SET LIST
It’s Alright With Me
Summertime
I Want You Back Again
Sticks & Stones
I Love You
Different Game
You Could Be My Love
Tell Her No
You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me / Bring It On Home
Dropped, Reeling & Stupid
The Odyssey & Oracle section:
Care of Cell 44
This Will Be Our Year
A Rose For Emiiy
Time of The Season
then
Merry-Go-Around
Hold Your Head Up (Argent)
She’s Not There
The Way I Feel Inside (Colin Blunstone & Rod Argent)
SEE ALSO: The Zombies, 2023 Tivoli Wimborne
The 2023 review has all the background information, and was almost exactly a year ago. They’ve shifted up to a different level of venue. However, it’s the Theatre at Poole, not the Concert Hall. The Concert Hall is a major challenge for sound mixing … it’s extremely lively. The Theatre is smaller and more forgiving. The 2023 review has notes (and pictures) for individual songs. It looks like they’re starting the tour in this BCP conurbation again. They’ve made it to their 60th Anniversary of recording. They created two all-time greats, She’s Not There and Time of The Season, and Care of Cell 44, is of equal quality.
They started out with the oldest material. Summertime hadn’t appeared in 2023.
The set list and sequence is little different from a year ago (OK, almost identical), more early material at the start. but I thought they were even better. I would have praised their sound, but last week I saw The Average White Band, who had virtually perfect sound. In comparison, this was louder and harsher. Partly it’s money. The Zombies don’t have a dedicated and designed lighting plot, and their PA and monitors are definitely smaller scale than the Average White Band. After the sublime sound of The Wandering Hearts they really did seem a little too loud. It’s a universal ploy for the headliners to sound louder than the support, but here the support got the level spot on.
They were very proud that their latest album, 2023’s Different Game entered the UK chart at #15, and the Billboard 100 at #35 (which is way better than UK #15). The title song is a stand out of the set, with beautiful guitar playing from Tom Toomey to match the Procul Harum-esque organ. I rarely say this, but I’d’ve brought the lead guitar up a notch or two, especially here.
They did a four song suite from Odyssey & Oracle, and talked about Odyssey & Oracle, nowadays selling more per year than in its heyday. Yes, it regularly gets in lists of all-time great albums, and they broke up when it failed to set the world alight. They seemed bemused that Time of The Season was # 1 everywhere except the UK, but is now considered a major golden oldie. That is down to the Rock Machine Turns You On budget sampler LP, which sold at the level of a single in the UK.
The main writers in the original 60s band were Rod Argent and bass player Chris White. You couldn’t replace Rod Argent or Colin Blunstone and call it The Zombies, but Chris White was also important to their sound and vocals. The revelation this time was how integral Søren Koch, the bass player’s vocals are to the three vocalist sound (sometimes four). He also does a great job getting the audience going. He has personality. In She’s Not There his solo with chords on bass guitar was phenomenal.
Hold Your Head Up is the only non-Zombies original, and was a #5 UK and US hit for Argent in 1971. According to Wiki, Rick Wakeman has praised it as the best rock organ solo ever (then I keep finding Rick Wakeman superlatives online). It was written by Chris White, though Argent & White did a Lennon & McCartney dual credit on songs. The intro tries to make it an anthem for women across the world, (Hold your head up, Woman!). To be frank, I was not fond of its stomping military beat in 1971 and in some ways is was a template for other monotonous stompers of the early 70s. To be more generous, it established a style. The organ solo is incredible, and the bass guitar and guitar players have such a simple task they can wander all over the stage during it.
As last year, She’s Not There turns into a solo showcase for Tom Toomey on guitar and Søren Koch on bass. Both are tremendous performers.
![](https://peterviney.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/screenshot-2024-05-22-at-20.58.10.png?w=340)
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She’s Not There
On the important merchandise stall, I thought them wrong in only selling the Live In Studio Two CD signed at £30. I would have bought one, but I couldn’t care less about signed. It’s no premium to me.
Overall, a straight 90 minutes and a really good evening.
The Wandering Hearts
Alexander Dean-Revington – vocals, acoustic guitar
Francesca Whiffin – vocal, mandolin
Tara Wilcox – vocal
SET LIST
About America
Still Waters
Waiting
Scarborough Fair / The Sound of Silence
Letter To Myself (FW- mandolin)
What Fools Believe(FW- mandolin)
They are simply the best support act I’ve seen in years. Acoustic guitar, three harmony vocalists. They’re very West Coast USA in sound. They reminded me of when King Crimson booked the unknown duo America as support on a tour. By the day it started, America were number one in the charts with A Horse With No Name. This trio had sublime sound, real, never too loud but the acoustic guitar drove it along as if Don Everly was playing it. Francesca Whiffin played mandolin in the last two songs, and both women played percussion. Their latest album is Mother, as both women became mothers in lockdown. Of course I bought a copy. The album has full support musicians. However, just the three work perfectly on their own. The songs are stripped to their essence.
The original songs are all melodic, and I loved them on first hearing. Wisely, they did a cover, as support artistes should. I’ve seen Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel, and Martin Cathy playing Scarborough Fair. Here it soon segued into The Sound of Silence. Yes, they stand in comparison with the original. I want to find out where they are playing and see a whole show.
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