Review: Tony Blackburn's Sound of the 60s tour, Princess Theatre, Hunstanton

They say that if you can remember the Sixties then you weren't really there. But veteran DJ Tony Blackburn had a pretty good stab at it last night as he kicked off his nationwide Sounds of the 60s tour in Hunstanton.

There was a packed house for the gig which consisted of Tony regaling us with a roughly chronological walk through his experience of the decade accompanied by the Sounds of the 60s All-Star Band, led by saxophonist (and fellow Radio 2 presenter) Leo Green.

Don't worry, Tony told us, despite making 29 records in his pre-DJ days he was not going to sing, He stuck to the talking.

Tony started the evening by promising that the audience would be hearing excerpts of 100 standards from the 60s and he didn't shortchange us. Every thing from Bobby Vee to the Beatles, taking in all genres from that incredible musical decade.

There were in truth one or two rough edges to what was after all an opening night (some lyrics had to be more read off the dias than others) but overall the band and singers delivered brilliantly and by the end the audience were just about all up and dancing to a medley featuring the Stones and the Who.

Tony said that those coming to the tour would be able to come back because his commentary would all be ad hoc each time so may never be repeated.

So we got tales of the pirate ships and the policeman with the walkie-talkie who kept in touch with them from Frinton seafront and how he saved Kenny Everett's life as he set off from the boat to walk back to Essex.

Most of all, what came through was his love of music, particularly Motown and soul and that was one of the highlight sets of the evening.

An excellent coup for the Princess Theatre to launch this tour and well worth catching elsewhere in the country.

Mark Leslie