Monday 29 August 2022

MUSIC REVIEW: Beryl Marsden In Concert: Celebrating 60 Years Of Music - The Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.


Described by compere, local Liverpudlian DJ Billy Butler, Beryl Marsden is UK’s answer to Little Miss Dynamite, Brenda Lee, and he’s not far wrong. At 75 years of age, Marsden has a remarkable voice and can still belt out rock and roll numbers and thrill with beautiful ballads.

This show was a celebration of her musical journey, having been singing from the age of fourteen and finding fame during the Liverpool Merseybeat era in 1962, being one of the very few female singers at the time.

Marsden’s band, featuring Dave Goldberg on keyboards and guitar, bass guitarist Joel Goldberg, drummer Adam Goldberg and lead guitarist Luke Hague opened the show with Booker T And The MG’s classic,‘Green Onions’. After which she burst onto the stage inviting the audience to get the party started. The audience needed no persuasion and Marsden had them in the palm of her hand throughout her performance.

Billy Butler (now eighty years of age), did an outstanding job as compare for the evening, keeping the audience entertained with memories from his Radio show, ‘Hold Your Plums’, and divulging personal anecdotes about his age and life. He introduced Beryl Marsden as being an old friend of his from the 1960s and she started the show with a song she released in 1963, ‘I Know (You Don’t Love Me No More)’ followed by The Shirelles song made famous by The Beatles, ‘Boys’.

A guest appearance from American artist Ralph Kluseman, who entertained with renditions of ‘Norwegian Wood’ and ‘Chains’ came next. Kluseman is in Liverpool as part of The Brian Epstein Legacy Project which has been successful in the installation of a statue of the late Brian Epstein in Liverpool city centre.

Guest artist Daniel Taylor entertained with a short tribute to George Harrison, singing ‘Something’ and ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ featuring a much-admired guitar solo by lead guitarist Luke Hague.

Marsden’s rendition of ‘High Heel Sneakers’ closed the first half of the show after which she was back with her delivery of the Doris Day classic, ‘Everybody Loves A Lover’ and another hit originally made famous by The Shirelles in 1961 and later by the Beatles, ‘Baby It’s You’.

A guest appearance by Karl Terry, formerly a firm Liverpool favourite in the 1960s as lead singer of Karl Terry And The Cruisers, still performing at eighty years of age, he had the audience clapping and singing along to long-standing favourites such as, ‘Shake, Rattle And Roll’, ‘Boppin’ At The Hop’ and sang and danced during a duet with Marsden of ‘Let’s Have A Party’.

Marsden’s band gave an outstanding performance of ‘Oh Well’, dedicated to Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac, who sadly passed away in 2020; and musical theatre star, Gillian Hardie, who portrayed Beryl in ‘One Dream’, the musical about Beryl’s life, gave an exceptional performance of ‘Dancing In The Street’.

The show culminated in a sentimental finale with all those who had taken part in the show plus the inclusion of Billy Hoy and the SingMe Merseyside Choir performing ‘Imagine’ and ‘Hey Jude’.

By this time everyone in the audience were on their feet singing and swaying, hands in the air and calling for more. Looking around at the age of most of the audience, they would have been young teenagers in the 1960s and had probably been part of the Merseybeat scene visiting The Cavern and similar clubs, remembering the bands that played then, so they were positively delighted to have been taken back in time to sing along to the songs performed in the show. Most were most definitely firm Beryl Marsden fans and if they hadn’t been when they went in, they would positively be when they left.

This show was a fitting end to Liverpool’s International Beatles Week; it was a nostalgic trip down memory lane and a very entertaining night due to all those who performed. This was to be one of Marsden’s final concerts and it proved to be a very memorable one and a fitting tribute to a performer who had been undeservedly overlooked during her younger years but one who has stayed the course and made a long-standing career from her remarkable singing voice.

Reviewer - Anne Pritchard
on - 28.8.22


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