Last year I took my teenage daughter along to see The Drifters (http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/blogs/showblog.php?post=1883) but last night my friend came with me to see “The Masquerade” tour which had much less announcer history of the band and more great singing. She was as familiar with the songs as I was and we spent the evening clapping and singing along for what was a lovely evening with tunes from our younger days. We had a lot of fun.
Things got off to a bit of a shaky start though. The five piece band plus a harpist – with US and UK flags behind them – struck up while disco lights swirled into action and a young Sax player got into the Stevie Wonder classic “I wish” with Michael Williams taking the lead. Fantastic. There was a quick announcement reminding us that The Drifters have been going for 59 years with over 65 members and then there was a well-intentioned thanks to the American (and UK) armed forces with “God bless America”. After such a rousing start, the enthusiastic audience were not quite sure how to react to this slower number. Then the full line up (Ryan King, Pierre Herelle and Carlton Powell) came on in masks for “Masquerade” which had some decidedly dodgy choreography.
But then things got properly going with “Hello Happiness” and we were off. The audience cheered their approval and the real fans started dancing at their seats. The harmonies, “doo wops” and “shoop, shoops” were fabulous and put the young reality show pretenders that fill our screens these days to shame. Hit after hit rolled out (with an occasional slower number in between) including “Down at the club”, “Down on the beach”, “Under the boardwalk”, “There goes my first love” and “Little red book”. We knew all the words and felt happy to be singing about the innocence of young love. Happy days.
The second half opened with “Fools fall in love” and then went a little mellow with tracks like “Like sister and brother” and “Broadway”. A personal favourite “When my little girl is smiling” came next. Then there were French and Italian versions of “Evergreen” and even some farsi (which delighted my Persian companion) in “Whole world”. We even sang along with the (relatively) new single “Do you dream of me”. The audience went wild for “Stand by me” and just about everyone was on their feet by the time we got to “Saturday night at the movies” and the encore “Kissing in the back row”.
These smart-dressed guys thanked the audience for the support of their latest album (which went gold). What I really like about The Drifters is that they seem to have such a great time on stage – laughing with each other, dancing around yet totally professional and really rather humble. They seem as happy playing the old favourites as they do adding a more modern twist to things. They worked real hard too – judging by the amount of times those sweat towels came into use. Dressed impeccably in first loose fitting dove grey suits and then shiny silver suits with bright waistcoats they oozed style. And the audience went wild when they left behind the organised dance routines and did their own thing.
Web site - http://www.thedrifters.co.uk/ The hardworking guys toured the UK throughout 2012 and London-ish venues included Bromley, Hornchurch, Wimbeldon, Hayes and Dartford. 2013 dates have not yet been released so keep an eye on the web site.
