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originally made famous by The Shirelles in 1961 and later by the Beatles, ‘Baby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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