Sunday For Sammy 2012

Over two and a half hours of entertainment and boy, do those Geordie lads and lasses know how to throw a party! Conceived to honour the memory of Sammy Johnson (Jimmy Nail’s mate “Stick” in Spender) in 2000 this bi-annual concert always manages to turn out the goods. The line-up features a North-East cornucopia of the music, stage and film world including Billy Mitchell, Ray Laidlaw, Kevin Whately, Tim Healy, Chris Fairbank, Chelsea Halfpenny, Denise Welch, Brendan Healy…sharp intake of breath….well, I could go on but the list would take up all of this review. The most notable additions for me this year were the impressive talents of comedian Josh Daniels (definitely one to look out for) and Nathalie Stern (originally from Sweden but now based in Newcastle) and her looped acoustic guitar and sultry vocals. Of course with members of the cast of “Auf Wiedersehen Pet” on stage writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais contributed the script of “Camelot…Not” with plenty of in-jokes and banter to keep the laughter level high whilst surprise guest Joe McElderry gave a performance of the classic “Big River”. It was also nice to see Billy Mitchell singing a duet with himself (courtesy of some back projected trickery) on Randy Newman’s “I’m Different” and leading a rousing finale with “Run For Home”. If I’ve whetted your appetite enough to purchase a copy of the DVD available from the link below then you’ll be pleased to know that you’ll also be contributing 75% of that amount to the Sunday For Sammy Trust. Finally…a bit of trivia for fans of Jez Lowe…the Camelot sketch features a cameo by Mike Neville as famously featured in Lowe’s song “Mike Neville Said It (So it Must Be True)”.

PETE FYFE

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