The Manchester, England born Peter Noone and his four-man band played a set jammed with songs that included the some of their Top 20 hits the band had during its 1964-69 heyday.
It was a relaxed, fun night and Peter made it that way – still boyish at 71, bounding on stage in a blue three-piece suit with his mop of blond hair to start with the band’s 1964 breakthrough hit “I’m Into Something Good”. The songs and all stood up exceptionally well including the 1964 Top 5 cover of Sam Cooke’s “Wonderful World”, “Silhouettes” and “Dandy”.
Peter had plenty of fun with the audience throughout the night telling the "older" crowd that in the sixties "...we had girls in mini-skirts throwing themselves at the stage." When another fan walked up to the stage with Herman's Hermits vinyl albums for Noone to sign, he joked, “you know this is boring for the audience" and signed it for her. He had a copy of the greatest album, which has a full head shot of Noone on the back. He launched into "Leaning on the Lamp Post". Noone began to criss cross the stage while singing the song with the young head shot in front on his actual face before giving it away.
And, of course, there were the jokes about age - noting there were some younger people in the audience. “This little girl is my youngest fan yet, and she knew all the words to “no Milk today”. When I come back next year I may need your help with that.
On a cover of The Searchers’ “Love Potion No. 9”, the crowd sang along even though it wasn’t a Herman's Hermits song. The band even did The Rolling Stones “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, with Peter mimicking Mick's moves, which Peter noted, Herman’s Hermits “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” displaced at No. 1 in 1965.
The main set closed with “I’m Henry the VIII, I Am” and by the third verse, it became a crowd sing-along stretching to six minutes as Noone went into the crowd to urge even more people to sing. The encore was their 1967 gold hit “There’s a Kind of Hush” and it was a fitting close – a song that warmed the spirit after a night that took the crowd back to the innocence of youth.
Comments