Help The Heroes Charity and MPS in Barnsley

Well , this was a great night, the place was packed out, I must say - mind you, ticket price was £6.00 - bargain or what? The night was about raising money for the 'Help The Heroes' charity. The audience were very very appreciative and loved the show, really did sing along, shout alot, danced alot and got two encores... even if Mike had to drag the band members out of the dressing room for the last one! Mike had a new sound company for this show - they were excellent, best sound I have heard for some time. All band members were in good spirits and really enjoyed themselves, Mike and Mike Jnr having only returned from their holiday the day before.

So we kicked off with 'Sweets for my Sweet', followed by 'Sugar and Spice', 'Aint Gonna Kiss Ya' and the Orbison 'You Got It'. We then heard 'Dont Throw Your Love Away' and one of my favourites, 'Goodbye My Love' - not a regular one this. Then' My Girl' and a super rendition of 'Love Potion No 9' with great guitar riffs from both Mike and Keith .
 
Mike then spoke about when he was last in Barnsley - no one knew that answer -  anyway he dedicated the next song to all the Miners in the club and all those of Barnsley. He admitted that the band didn't know about this so Mike sang it on his own and accompanied himself on guitar. To be fair Keith picked up some chords on the way to help out. The song was 'Its a Working Man I Am', a song about Miners, originally recorded by Rita MacNeil, that went down well with everyone.

We then had 'Games People Play' and 'Hold Me' which always brings out the 'Iron Maiden esq' side of Mike and Keith – ha ha – great stuff lads. Then another new song which all the band played and sung brilliantly – 'Its a Heartache' – the 1977 hit for Juice Newton, Rod Stewart and Bonnie Tyler. The atmosphere by now could only be described as---well--- hot and sweaty? – maybe BUT really exciting, the crowd would have been up for ''crowd surfing'' had they been 30-40 years younger I think and I was sitting down by this time I can tell you!

Next was 'Needles and Pins' then straight into 'Summer of 69', just the best song ever I think and the band love doing it, just to watch the duelling guitar riffs is a joy. That was supposedly the end, but after calls of 'more' and 'more' they were back for what Mike called his personal favourite 'When you Walk in the Room' That was the end then? No – too much noise from the crowd so Mike appeared quickly and said what do you want next? The majority said 'Needles and Pins' again, at which point Mike disappeared briefly and got the lads back on stage to a great final, final number. Yes, a great night indeed.

– Roger Askey