Festival-goers at Lytham this year have experienced two fabulous evenings’ worth of music and spectacle with Stevie Wonder and Justin Timberlake headlining on Thursday and Saturday night (Alanis Morissette was sadly cancelled on the Friday due to high winds). There was certainly plenty on offer at the final night of the festival, but did headliners Texas and Simple Minds have what it takes to make it a third night of high-class musical entertainment?
First, there was a tribute to the Alarm best known for their air-punching hit Sixty-Eight Guns. Lead singer, Mike Peters, was due to perform at the festival but sadly died of cancer earlier this year. He was a tireless campaigner and founder of the cancer charity Love Hope Strength Foundation.
Next up was Cast (they are also supporting Oasis for their reunion tour) who had a string of hits in the late ’90s of which their biggest hit Walkaway got the most reaction from the crowd. Pete Waterman appeared in between the acts with his DJ set and did his best to entertain the crowd. Looking somewhat out of place in his dark grey suit, he resembled the good-time uncle who had done a bunk from a wearisome family wedding to keep the party going on Lytham Green instead.
Then came Texas! If you haven’t seen Sharleen Spiteri perform before, then you will be surprised by what a powerpack of energy this woman is. She is 57 but she moves and dances across the stage with more energy and enthusiasm than most 20 year olds. She is also very funny. I’m not sure I’ve seen a musician who has built up a better rapport with the audience than Spiteri. Her effervescent personality fizzes through at every opportunity whether having banter and fun with the crowd or singing one of Texas’ greatest hits. And Spiiteri can sing! Boy, can she sing!
They started off the set with I Don’t Want a Lover, the band’s first ever single back in 1989, with Spiteri belting out the lyrics and thrashing out the chords on her sparkly green guitar. She kept up the high energy performance throughout the night, and the band played all those songs you thought you had forgotten about. Highlights included Tired of Being Alone (a Northern Soul cover) and Summer Son one of their greatest hits of 1999.
The main set closed with Black Eyed Boy and Say What You Want and Spiteri joked about pretending that they were at the end of the set, though we all knew she was coming back for an encore which, of course, she did much to the delight of the audience. She finished off the encore with Everyday Now, Inner Smile and an amazing cover of Elvis Presley’s Suspicious Minds which had all the audience singing and dancing. Spiteri’s vocal range is impressive, she doesn’t miss a note, and she appears to do it all with such ease. She is, of course, backed by a band of extremely talented musicians who remained tight throughout the performance. Texas are definitely a band to see live!
Finally, exactly on time came Simple Minds, providing a rock solid performance for festival-goers on The Green. Starting off the show with the stadium sonic Waterfront, with large reverberating riffs from long standing guitarist Charlie Burchill, instantly pleasing the crowd.
Vocalist and also founding member, Jim Kerr, used the stage well, sweeping from left to right in a white denim jacket on the huge stage apron. The set compromised of their greatest hits, that sounded as fresh as they did back forty plus years ago. Hit followed hit, Love Song, Glittering Prize, Let there Be Love, Promised You a Miracle.
The set finished with Don’t You Forget About Me, and with the expected audience participation singing,‘Laa, la, la Laa’. The track was a good five minutes longer than its studio version. In fact, Jim claimed, it was ‘probably the longest on record’.
The highlight of the evening was the great Simple Minds instrumental, Theme For Great Cities, which epitomises that full ’80s electronic sound. The tune finishing with a drum solo from the incredible Cherisse Osel. Simple Minds just wouldn’t be Simple Minds without the big drum sound and Cherisse owned it, even throwing her drum sticks into the crowd. On a similar note, Sarah Brown sung the first encore, Book of Brilliant Dreams, with extraordinary commanding vocals.
The evening finished with Alive and Kicking. By now the sun had gone down and the amazing lighting, sound and viuals took full effect with the supersized screens, line array sound and the rich lighting rig. The look was mammoth and beautifully aligned to cater for such a substantial crowd of 20,000 or more.
We all get older, but the music, professionalism and skill still echo like it was yesterday. This band have heart, they connect, they are living musical heritage and should never be archived. So back to the opening question. Was it a third night of high-class musical entertainment? You’re damn right it was!
