YET again it was another full house at King’s Hall in Ilkley for a performance by The Searchers, one of the Liverpudlian supergroups of the 60s and second only in record sales to The Beatles.

The groups has had a number of personnel changes over the years but still has one of the original members in John McNally, the lead guitarist, who is still going strong at the age of 76. Also, from the 60s line up (although not an original member having joined the group after they had been going for two years), is bass guitarist Frank Allen who acts as spokesman for the group when on stage. They are joined by Spencer James ex-First Class singer on rhythm guitar who has now been with the group for the last 32 years plus drummer Scott Ottaway, a relative newcomer who joined the group in 2009.

The show opened with Sweets For My Sweet, the group’s first single from 1963 which topped the UK charts, followed by Don’t Throw Your Love Away which topped the charts the following year. Many groups were influenced by The Searchers and this included The Byrds, hence the reason for the group covering Mr Tambourine Man as the third song of the night. The 1965 song Take Me For What I’m Worth followed and then What Have They Done To The Rain, another top 20 number from 1964. Goodbye My Love, a number three song from 1965 was followed by Runaway, the Del Shannon hit, which had been an influence on John McNally’s guitar playing back in the early days of the group. The next song was from the late 70s, Hearts in Her Eyes, followed by Farmer John, and Bumble Bee which had been a number one song in Australia. To conclude the first half, we were treated firstly to a Buddy Holly medley comprising Peggy Sue and Oh Boy as again Buddy had been a big influence in the 60s as had Roy Orbison whose song Running Scared was superbly sung by Spencer James and then finally Seven Nights To Rock which had the audience on their feet and dancing at the front of the hall.

The second half commenced with Sugar And Spice, their number two hit from 1963 which always reminds me of that fabulous film starring Robin Williams, “Good Morning Vietnam” as this is the song that is blasting out as the US Marine Gunboat travels up the Mekong River. This was followed by the medley All My Sorrows and Where Have All The Flowers Gone after which there was another medley of four songs – Someday We’re Gonna Love Again, Ain’t Gonna Kiss You, Saturday Night Out and I Count The Tears, all songs from their early years, followed by Somebody Told Me You Were Crying. Their USA Number One, Love Potion No 9 was followed by Four Strong Winds and then an old Hollies number Have Your Ever Loved Somebody which was a hit for The Searchers in 1966.

Spencer James again excelled with his solo of The Rose, which was then followed by Gary Puckett’s Young Girl. The third of their number one singles Needles and Pins from 1964 was the penultimate number of the second half and then When You Walk In The Room which reached number three in the same year.

Loud applause from the audience necessitated an encore from the group and this comprised Twist And Shout which was the number that The Beatles often used to close their shows with, and then finally a mix of their main hits – Sweets For My Sweet/Don’t Throw Your Love Away/ When You Walk In The Room/ Love Potion No 9/ Sugar And Spice/Needles and Pins.

A great evening, thoroughly enjoyed by the audience most of whom like myself would have remembered these songs from our teenage years in the sixties and early seventies.

by John Burland