10CC

Seventies legends 10CC are touring Australia and New Zealand at the moment. Of course we’re going to see them!

But first, the (by now I hope) obvious question: where to go for dinner? We haven’t been to Ortega for a good while, so we decided they were worth a return journey. And we weren’t disappointed. I had the prawns followed by gurnard, and Nicola had tuna sashimi followed by terakihi with a laksa sauce.

 A quick trot up Courtenay Place to St James Theatre, and we were in time for the opening act. the announcer said "Welcome to the stage, Graham Gouldman". Wait, isn't he in 10CC? Why yes, he is! Well spotted! He played a song he'd written called Pamela Pamela, originally recorded by Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders. Remember them? Me neither, but The Mindbenders included one Eric Stewart, who went on to form 10CC. Are you following all this? As he welcomed  further members of the band onto the stage, they played an acoustic set of songs written by Gouldman in the Sixties, including Heartful Of Soul and For Your Love, (The Yardbirds), Look Through Any Window and Bus Stop (The Hollies) and No Milk Today (Herman's Hermits). He also mentioned the N-word, dreaded by all concert-goers to "heritage" acts. That's right, he slipped in a couple of songs that were New Material from his 2012 solo album, Love And Work. 

They left the stage so the roadie could clear away the acoustic set seating and guitar stands; they played Neanderthal Man from the PA before returning to the stage as 10CC, together with a drummer this time, and kicking off with Wall Street Shuffle. They then played their way through the hits - you'll know all the names: The Things We Do For Love, Good Morning Judge, I'm Mandy Fly Me, Life Is A Minestrone, Art For Art's Sake, Silly Love, Donna, The Dean And I, I'm Not In Love. They fitted in a couple of album tracks too for a bit of variety, before finishing up with Dreadlock Holiday, and coming back on for an encore with a really extended version of Rubber Bullets.