Having not seen them in around four years, it was time to renew my acquaintance with one of my go-to bands growing up. I saw these several times back in the 80’s at the LCR, but tonight they had slimmed down to get on the stage at the smaller Waterfront venue and didn’t disappoint.
An intro welcomes the band onstage before breaking into tracks from their new album – The Monster, instantly the crowd could feel the lift from the band and sang and danced along to the music. Bob Catley bouncing at the front of the stage getting the crowd up doing the same, his stagecraft defies his age.
This was followed by a selection of other material from the past and from ‘The Monster’ and current favourites All You Believe In and Remember which are fast becoming classic Magnum in their own right.
Tony Clarkin, songwriter extraordinaire behind his guitar and motionless in any facial expressions of enjoyment, content to leave the flamboyance to Bob on vocals.
This was my first time seeing Magnum with their latest members Rick Benton and Lee Morris on keys and drums respectively. I couldn’t be more impressed with the performance they delivered, the band seems refreshed and better than I have seen them in years. Bob’s voice is in fine fettle and reaffirms that there is only one guy who could and should sing these songs.
With several of the songs from the set being pulled from the ‘classic’ era, I don’t need to tell you that the biggest cheers were for the likes of ‘How Far Jerusalem’, with Bob bouncing through the chorus egging on the crowd to follow suit, through the imagery and storytelling of ‘Les Morts Dansant’.
A truly mag(num)ificent evening accompanied with a great sound and lighting, Magnum rolled back the years proving that there is a lot of life left in these Crazy Old Mothers.