Hammers Heroes at Cliffs Pavilion Southend Review
Hammers Heroes
Cliffs Pavilion, Southend
16 September 2016
Reviewed by Claire Turner
I was looking forward to tonight (Friday 16 September 2016) because I’ve been to a couple of these Hammers Heroes evenings now, but tonight felt even more special… an opportunity to hear from the midfield maestros and club legends that are Sir Trevor Brooking, Billy Bonds and Alan Devonshire.
As usual, I made use of the free parking on the sea front and then walked up the steps to the Cliffs Pavilion. There is limited parking on the roads around the venue, but there is also a decent sized pay and display car park nearby (if you prefer to avoid the climb up the steps). I like to arrive a bit early because the Cliffs has plenty of comfortable spaces to sit and have a pre-show drink, snack and chat with friends.
As soon as I go through to take my seat, I noticed that the stage was set up a bit differently tonight… there is a drumkit, amps and musical instruments? The reason becomes clear straight away when Mitch and his band of ‘old irons’ take to the stage to perform a new song which they have written for the Hammers, and it isn’t long before we are all singing along ‘True, true, true, claret and blue, through and through, yes I am!’ Definitely a catchy little number and good to hear that the CD (and other merchandise) is on sale with all proceeds going to the Booby Moore Fund.
After this song, we all stand for the ‘anthem’ and everyone in the theatre belts out ‘I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles’ (it sounded great!) and then the real reason we are here can begin.
Tony Gale is our host and will be asking the ‘Legends’ the questions… this is a role which Tony is very good at. It’s obvious that he gets on with all the guys, he can get away with teasing them and giving out some abuse (he gets some back too), and he can coax out some great stories which have us all laughing whilst keeping it all feeling very relaxed. The first half of the show sees him interviewing each of them one at a time, and then in the second half we get to see all of them on the stage together.
Lots of topics get covered, going right back to the 60’s and 70’s and then coming right up to date with discussions and views about the current team’s performance, the challenges facing the manager (Slaven Bilic), and the move to the new stadium. A review of last season leaves us all feeling a bit emotional again about leaving Upton Park, and that fantastic last game when we beat Manchester United.
We finally get to hear the real reason why Billy was missing from the stadium during that last game, and a couple of my favourite stories involved hearing about the old training sessions and methods of John Lyall and Ron Greenwood, and a great story which Alan tells us about a bet for Lou Macari (when he was managing the team).
It is sad to think that this might be the last time we get to see one of these shows at the Cliffs Pavillion, I have really enjoyed tonight and I think any football fan would be entertained – I for one, will be hoping to see more in the future. Come on You Irons!
5 stars out of 5 from me ⚒
Rating: 5/5 
For other shows at the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend visit www.southendtheatres.org.uk.
Cliffs Pavilion, Station Road, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS0 7RA | 01702 351135
