Cliff and The Shadows at the NIA - review

As a starstruck 14-year-old I, like most of my mates, longed to play a gleaming red Fender Strat just like Hank Marvin.

Last night at Birmingham's NIA I joined a full house of more than 11,500 ecstatic fans to turn back the clock and welcome Cliff and The Shads back to the Midlands as part of their much anticipated reunion tour, celebrating 50 years in the business.

Click here to see more pictures from the show.

Love him or hate him, you don't get to stick around in showbusiness by being ordinary, and Sir Cliff's tenure as the Peter Pan of Pop, rock and rolls on, unabated.

They haven't performed in concert together since 1989 but last night rolled back the years in spectacular style with an extremely polished performance that would have left even the most cynical observer glowing with admiration.

Sir Cliff took to the stage looking surprisingly sprightly for a man approaching his seventieth year, dressed in black shirt, pink jacket and gold lame tie, a throw-back to his very early days, he reminded us that he released five singles before gaining his first number one, Livin' Doll, and from then on the hits just kept coming.

The harmonies provided by Bruce Welch and Hank, not to mention the drumming of the excellent Brian Bennett made this a night to remember.

After half an hour, Cliff left the stage to The Shadows and we were reminded what a superb guitarist Hank B Marvin really is with a selection of Shadows hits. In fact one of the biggest cheers of the night was for The Shadows iconic Apache.

The show was sprinkled with relaxed banter between songs.

Three hours and almost 50 songs later Cliff looked as fresh as the opening song, while many of us were wilting towards our Ibuprofen and Horlicks as they launched into the encore of Move It, Singing The Blues, the new single, concluding with The Young Ones.

This was one of those shows I wasn't sure about going to. It was my 63rd birthday. I felt 14 again.

By John Hackney.