CityLife

Sir Cliff Richard and The Shadows

Cliff and Hank Marvin of The Shadows

IT WAS billed as a golden anniversary – and pop’s living legend Sir Cliff Richard didn’t let his fans down with three hours of 24-carat hits.

There wasn’t a spare seat in the house as one of Britain’s most successful groups – Cliff And The Shadows – played two nights to mark their 50th year in the music business.

And with its billing as their farewell tour, it was also a chance for the fans and their idols to say goodbye after a lifetime together.

Those fans had travelled from as far as South Africa and Japan for the chance to see their heroes one last time.

Cliff was once as big a pop star as we had. In a pre-Beatles world, he was considered Britain’s equivalent of Elvis and able to induce pandemonium from his largely female audience.

Cliff and The Shadows scored an amazing 19 number one hits between them, including seven during the years they were first together in the late fifties and early sixties.

So when Cliff first appears in pink jacket and matching sparkly tie, the atmosphere is at fever pitch and over the course of a two-part, three hour show he and the Shadows roll back the years.

Dazzling

The Shadows, guitarist Hank Marvin in particular, are dazzling, shining when performing nine songs of their own while Cliff is offstage, with Apache standing out.

But it’s Cliff the crowd is here to see, and he plays them with the assurance of a man who has been doing this for 50 years. His choreographed moves may fall into the ‘dad dancing’ category, but his voice is still commendably strong and his banter humorous and intuitive.

The best songs – Move It, C’mon Everybody, Do You Wanna Dance – not only get the crowd going, but prove Cliff has a legacy that stretches far beyond singing in the rain at Wimbledon.

“We might meet again, and even if it’s our 100th anniversary, we’ll still be ‘The Young Ones’,” Cliff says before finishing with his biggest-selling hit.

And with Cliff, would you really bet against it?