Reviewed by Louise Totton
As a big Mike & The Mechanics fan, I was both incredibly excited to see them perform live, and incredibly interested to see exactly what the band would sound like given 4/5 of the original Mechanics were missing from the line-up, including the two lead singers, Paul Young and Paul Carrack. Other than Mike Rutherford, the only surviving original Mechanic is drummer Gary Wallis, the remaining members all being relatively recent additions to the band. But from the moment they stepped onto the stage, it was as though they had been performing together for decades.
Yes, the sound was different to the Mike & The Mechanics of the 1980s and 90s, but in no way worse. New lead vocalists Andrew Roachford and Tim Howar had the audience from the very beginning, as they played and sang their way through a wonderful selection of songs from the last 25 years, including some of their new material, some of Roachford’s own hits and a couple of Genesis numbers.
For me, the highlight of the evening wasn’t The Living Years, although Andrew Roachford performed the song beautifully, it was Over My Shoulder or a superb audience participation version of Word of Mouth, that had every single member of the crowd on their feet.
The vocals were faultless all evening, the ultra-talented band didn’t miss a beat and were as much a part of the performance as Rutherford, Roachford and Howar.
St. George’s Hall in Bradford put on a superb concert, I have been to a few recently, and the sound is always excellent the theatre very comfortable and the selection of acts is truly fantastic.
Yet another fantastic evening, amazing act, fantastic venue, I will certainly be keeping my eye open for the next Mike & The Mechanics tour.
An amazing evening.
Rating: 5/5
For more information and tour dates visit www.mikeandthemechanics.com.
