On March 20th 1958, Buddy Holly & The Crickets
played Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.
Fifty years later to the exact
day a superb Liverpool tribute was played here to remember this historic
occasion. The concert was
masterminded by David Crosby, undoubtedly
a great Buddy fan. As far back as
2002 Dave had visions of this concert. Eighteen months ago he had the foresight
to put up a substantial sum of his own money to book the Philharmonic
all with the view of seeing his dream being realised. Not only that, the proceeds would be donated in aid of
the Cancer Research UK charity.
It was his idea and his
show. Should he book The Crickets?
Should he book Mike Berry? These were two obvious candidates to take part.
After much deliberation he decided this should be Liverpool's own tribute
to Buddy. .With the exception of
Americans Tommy Allsup, Johnny Rogers and Kevin Montgomery, this was to be an
'all Liverpool' affair. In the year of Liverpool's
European Capital of Culture
celebrations this was an appropriate decision.
Dave then spent the last three months persuading artists to give up their
time and perform for free.
At precisely 7.30pm Dave Crosby
came out and introduced the show making sure everyone was well aware that at
this time 50 years ago Buddy & The Crickets were taking to the stage.
Johnny Rogers and Tommy Allsup came on and did a dynamic version of
'Oh Boy'. I've never heard it
better. In fact, if you remember the 'Oh Boy' television show, this show was
reminiscent of that. The show had so many acts, so many songs, it had to drive
along at an urgent pace. As one song finished left
of stage, another started on the right.
It seemed they had two independent sound systems set up.
Above the stage hung a
giant video screen constantly displaying one of Buddy's best images with interchanging colours. Between this, all the Ed Sullivan clips were shown.
It all looked spectacular. The Philharmonic Hall is envied for its
acoustics and has been copied by others, the sound was superb. There were so
many acts and songs, it is impossible to review them all, but here is a list of
the artists and the songs they performed so well
The show concluded at around 10.30pm so apart from the intermission,
almost three hours of great
nostalgic entertainment. I
particularly liked the West Kirby Operatic Society's and the Liverpool Police
Band's interpretations, it showed how Buddy's songs have the substance and
melodies to be played by anyone. Even
boy band Eton Road bought
screaming hysteria to the Philharmonic with their version of 'Everyday'. As the 'Not Fade Away' finale got underway, Buddy's widow Maria
Elena Holly who had flown in from Dallas took the stage and gave a short
announcement to convey her admiration for the show.
My only disappointment was no photography was allowed. Sadly, this means
that images which could have been preserved for posterity now won't be.
Hopefully a DVD of the concert will materialise shortly so we can all
enjoy the moment again and give those unable to attend an opportunity to see it
too. For my wife Denise and it was a 500 mile round trip from the south coast.
My sincere thanks to Dave & June Williams who kindly put us up for
two nights and chauffeured us around the sights of Liverpool.
Well done to David Crosby
for having the courage to put on such an ambitious show.
Seeing the end result made me realise just how much work it must
have been to pull it all together. Here's
to the next 50 years.
Ian Higham
Extracted from http://www.buddyhollylives.info/526962/1292762.html
