Review: Cliff Richard and The Shadows, The O2

REVIEW
They may not have been hip for decades but for a generation Cliff Richard and The Shadows define British popular music.

Their brand of sunny, upbeat pop dominated the pre-Beatles music scene in the UK and Saturday's show was a trip down memory lane for artists and audience alike.

Notching up enough hit singles between them to firmly cement their places in the top 10 bestselling British acts of all-time the long-standing pop collaborators brought their 50th anniversary tour to The O2 over the weekend.

For anyone under the age of 50 Cliff's enduring appeal remains baffling but to the pension convention of silver haired fans packed into the arena this man can do no wrong.

Two weeks shy of his 69th birthday the Dorian Gray of Pop - he must have a very wizened portrait of himself locked up in his Portuguese wine cellar - proved he could still cut the mustard when it comes to live performance.

This was a double-whammy treat for fans as Cliff was joined by The Shadows, who interspersed the show with a selection of their greatest hits.

But Cliff remained the main attraction for the devoted audience.

The hits, of late 50s and early 60s vintage, were all present and correct and were trotted through with note-perfect ease, although one perhaps wished for a little more spontaneity.

Perhaps there were concerns too much adventure might prove dangerous for some of the more elderly members of the audience, some of whom still had the energy for a soft-shoe shuffle in the aisles.

But the most obvious aspect of the music was the sheer politeness of much of the material.

Rock'n'roll was born as the soundtrack for a new phenomenon in the 1950s, the rebellious teenager, with the likes of Gene Vincent and Elvis setting the template for American youngsters.

But here in Britain we got Cliff and his shtick was never really rebellion, despite the urgency of early hits like Move It. Instead, rather anodyne pop like In The Country was more indicative of the direction he was following.

Those songs, plus other old favourites like I Love You, Bachelor Boy, A Voice In The Wilderness and Livin' Doll all featured in a show dripping with nostalgia and the crowd lapped it up.

And fair play to Cliff, he got stuck in, belting out the songs with gusto and bounding around the stage - even moonwalking at one point - and regularly getting the fans out of their seats.

He even found a moment to be, for him, controversial as he mildly criticised the X Factor culture of modern music, pointing out his first number one came with his fifth single release, something Simon Cowell would view as failure these days.

As for The Shadows their rhythmic, tremelo-heavy instrumentals began to blend into one as mid-tempo tune followed mid-tempo tune while Cliff took several costume change breaks.

Of the original line-up Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch and drummer Brian Bennett remain, and they still know how to play. The bespectacled Marvin, in particular, showing why his guitar playing influenced a whole raft of later axe heroes.

It was a faultless, seamless display of musicianship but as smooth and bland as elevator music, although the classic Apache was still a thumpingly sublime number greeted with howls of delight from the crowd.

The show closed with a faithful, irony free version of The Young Ones, dedicated to the decidedly not-young audience, and then they were gone, leaving the fans to face their coach journeys home to Bournemouth, Eastbourne and Southend happy to have seen their idol one more time.

As a lesson in longevity in a fickle business the eternal bachelor boy is a paradigm. Don't discount him still being around a decade from now - it's his fans who might not be.

Cliff Richard and The Shadows play their last date at The O2 tonight. Visit theo2.co.uk for tickets.