Ultimate 50s & 60s Experience hits Worthing stage

Rave On is promising nothing less than The Ultimate 50s & 60s Experience as it hits the road for a mammoth tour taking it through to the end of November.

Along the way, dates include Friday, August 21 at Worthing’s Pavilion Theatre; Sunday, October 11 at the Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne; and Thursday, October 22 at the Chequer Mead Theatre, East Grinstead.

From the arrival of rock ‘n’ roll from Memphis to the British invasion, it delivers a show packed full of iconic classics, vibrant, vintage costumes and colourful staging from The Bluejays, a group comprising stars from West End productions including The Buddy Holly Story, Million Dollar Quartet and Dreamboats & Petticoats.

Amelia Rendell, one of the singers in the show, has been with it for around ten years.

“The show has been in many different guises, and I started when I was quite young. It was basically 50s and 60s music, telling the story of how rock 'n' roll formed and its influences and the effect it had on other types of music. We talk a lot about how it created the teenage landscape but above all it's just a really good time that gets everyone completely involved.

“The boys started it up again after Covid and gave it a new name. It's very much about exploring the 50s and the 60s. It was originally the 50s but as time went by we started to move into the 60s as well. The show changes slightly each year. The core remains the same, but we like to bring new songs to it and new stories.

“We've got a male singer and a female singer. We front it and we do a lot of the talking to the audience and just giving the history and telling different anecdotes. It's primarily about hearing the songs but at the same time it's nice to have a little bit of background, to know where the songs came from and what was going on at the time and just a bit of context.”

In the current show a particular favourite for Amelia is Something's Got a Hold on Me by Etta James: “She was raw. She really found the sound and came up from the dive bars. She was not like all the well brought-up female singers. There was something about her.”

The show also includes The Everly Brothers… transforming them for the night into The Everly Siblings.

“It is much more about the feel and the atmosphere of the songs rather than trying to impersonate the people. I think if we tried to impersonate the people, it would lose some of the magic. We want people to feel like they did when they first heard the songs. It's about us taking the songs on and singing them with much the same gusto that they originally had.”

It's a long tour ahead: “But it is super exciting to be going from place to place and seeing different audiences and different venues. It's a great way to get to know the country but, yes it can be tiring when you're getting into your car late at night and going to another venue. But it is great fun to be doing this show.”