The Shadows – The Final Tour

 

Picture: B-     Sound: B     Extras: C     Concert: B

 

 

The Shadows have been their own band for most of their existence, yet they also had their period where they had British Pop phenomenon Cliff Richards as their lead singer.  Yes, that was them made up as SuperMarionation puppets in the Thunderbirds Are Go! Feature film reviewed elsewhere on this site.  All of them play instruments and sing, but they decided in 2004 to end public performances, so there they are live in The Final Tour.  Drummer/Percussionist Brian Bennett, Lead Guitarist Bruce Welch and Rhythm Guitarist Hank Marvin are joined by keyboardist Cliff Hall and Bass Guitarist Mark Griffiths for a 135 minutes-long program that includes:

 

1)     Apache Intro

2)     Riders In The Sky

3)     The Frightened City

4)     Theme For Young Lovers

5)     Peace Pipe

6)     The Savage

7)     Let Me Be The One

8)     The Stranger

9)     Kon-Tiki

10)  Going Home (Theme From Local Hero)

11)  Dance On

12)  Nivram

13)  Lady Of The Morning

14)  My Home Town

15)  Guitar Tango

16)  Geronimo

17)  Sleepwalk

18)  36-24-36

19)  Shazam

20)  Don’t Cry For Me Argentina

21)  Equinoxe V

22)  Mountains Of The Moon

23)  Shadoogie

24)  Gonzales

25)  Don’t Make My Baby Blue

26)  The Rise & Fall Of Flingel Bunt

27)  Atlantis

28)  Shindig

29)  Man Of Mystery

30)  Foot Tapper

31)  Please Don’t Tease

32)  In The Country (not the Three Dog Night hit)

33)  I Could Easily Fall

34)  The Day I Met Marie

35)  Gee Whiz It’s You

36)  Summer Holiday

37)  Bachelor Boy

38)  Little B

39)  Theme From The Deer Hunter

40)  Wonderful Land

 

 

Most of the performances are terrific, though I wished The Deer Hunter theme did not sound like a distant rehash.  The all-time classic deserves a livelier rendition.  Otherwise, the set is remarkably consistent and reminds us the one-of-a-kind British phenomenon they were on their own in the long run.  It seems like everyone is having a farewell tour, which has become a spoof of itself, but The Shadows never sold out and the playlist proves it.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 16 X 9/1.78 X 1 image is not bad and recent, showing the band on stage complemented by the usual assortment of limited-color stage lighting.  The other winner here beside the show is the sound.  Eagle Vision continues to release dozens of their titles in DTS and this is another 5.1 winner in that format.  You can tell this was conceived for such playback and it is not too often that this kind of music gets this kind of treatment.  The only extra on the DVD is a 45 minutes interview segment where the band talks about their career and history, but it is a good one.  Even Cliff Richards shows up.  A paper foldout insert inside the DVD case with text by Malcolm Campbell is short, but informative.  This is another solid concert disc.  Hope we get more like it.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo