 I
headed down to Westonbirt Arboretum to see new
romantic rockers Spandau Ballet take us back to
the eighties and it seemed like thousands of fans
and picnic lovers came along aswell as the Arboretum
with crammed with diehard fans at the front eager
for their heroes to take to the stage and your
more casual music lovers spread out from the middle
all the way to the back of the field chilling
out on their camping chairs enjoying a picnic
washed down with one or two ciders.
As
soon as I entered the Arboretum I knew tonight
was going to be a show that I would never forget
as first of all I have been to the Arboretum for
many concerts but have never seen the place as
busy as it was tonight and the crowd were really
up for it and buzzing for Spandau Ballet to come
on and the crowd was a massive mixture of ages
groups but with the average gig goer being in
their forty’s ready to relive their childhood.
When
the clock hit 9pm Spandau Ballet took to the stage
to huge screams from the eagerly waiting fans
and the front of the arboretum which was pretty
empty moments before Spandau Ballet took to the
stage was bursting at the seams as everyone took
a few steps forward to get closer to their heroes
and get caught up in the atmosphere as Spandau
Ballet played a near two hour running greatest
hits set.
The
members of Spandau Ballet looked as smooth and
gentlemanly as ever all dressed in suits and looking
that slight bit older and greyer and within seconds
they proved why their 2009 comeback was such a
good idea as their sound was solid and their on
stage performance was full of energy and you could
instantly tell that each and every band member
was in their element being on stage again playing
for their fans as they spent the majority of the
show smiling from ear to ear like Cheshire cats.
Spandau
Ballet opened with ‘Soul Boy’ and
played through the likes of ‘Highly Strung’,
‘Only When You Leave’, ‘How
Many Lies’, ‘Round And Round’,
‘This Is The Love’, ‘Steal’
and also a medley of some of their older material
such as ‘Reformation’, ‘Mandolin’,
‘Confused’, ‘The Freeze’
and they even teased the crowd mid set with an
acoustic rendition of regular set closer ‘Gold’
where the crowd sung the majority of the song
louder than the band.
As
the show come to an end the band treated the crowd
to a triple whammy of hits with ‘True’,
‘Through The Barricades’ and ‘Gold’
being played back to back which was a truly epic
finish to one of the best shows I have seen at
Westonbirt in years.
Spandau Ballet 5/5
Review By Trigger
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