The newest show from John Waters, featuring Stewart D’Arrietta and the Chartbusters, presents a phenomenal walk through nostalgia and an era of music that remains in the cellular memory of fans over several generations.
From the evocative strains of Peter Saarstedt’s Where Do You Go to My Lovely, and the memory dredging Waterloo Sunset by the Kinks and To Love Somebody by the BeeGees, to the infectious grooves of Itchycoo Park by the Small Faces and the anthemic My Generation by The Who, Waters and his band reprise and reinvent the classic hits. With a six-piece band and singers in brilliant voice, Waters recounts anecdotes and moving memories of the music of the era, taking the audience through the time continuum to songs that resound over decades, and remain as relevant as ever.
Born in London, Waters was in his teens and early twenties during the 1960s and considers himself one of the luckiest music lovers as a result. At a time when commercial radio licences were not available in the UK, pop and rock music of the day was broadcast from continental Europe. This access was courtesy of the independent principality of Luxembourg – a clever move by the British record industry to circumvent the laws of the day.
‘The great boom in pop music, which started in the US with Elvis Presley and his contemporaries, took a quantum leap with the arrival of the British-led “revolution” and was opened up to me and a whole generation by that great invention: the transistor radio,’ says Waters.
‘We could hide under the bedclothes to muffle the sound from our parents’ ears, tune in to 208 on the medium waveband, and listen to Roy Orbison and Frankie Avalon, Motown, The Four Seasons and Dion. The list was long beyond our wildest dreams. When we no longer had to hide, the Beatles exploded onto the scene followed by so many others, and the “British Invasion” really began including bands like The Moody Blues, the Kinks, The Who and scores of others. This was our identity.’
Waters is shameless about his passion for the music and says that aside from nostalgia that it represents one of the best and most influential eras in contemporary music.
‘This show is a special “thank you” to our amazing audiences and such a thrill for us.’
Tune in to Radio Luxembourg on Friday, December 1 at the Byron Theatre at 7.30pm and December 2 at The Regent in Murwillumbah at 8pm.
