Review

Kast-Off Kinks

Weymouth Pavilion

The answer to the opening song Where Have All the Good Times Gone? is quite simple.

They’re still here, admittedly greying and with a touch of sciatica, but alive and kicking in the timeless and matchless catalogue of songs penned by Ray Davies and thoroughly enjoyed by both the band themselves and the Pavilion audience.

Original Kinks drummer Mick Avory, bassist Nobby Dalton, pianist Ian Gibbons, and guitarist Dave Clarke, all of whom have a long association with one of the most successful British bands ever, set about the seemingly bottomless goldmine of classic pop songs with knock-about banter and the unbridled glee of a child let loose in a sweet shop.

And who can blame them when they have material of such joyous quality: Days, See My Friends, Dead End Street, Village Green, Lola, Apeman, Stop Your Sobbing, Sunny Afternoon, not forgetting the sublime Waterloo Sunset, all of which were lapped by a sedate but appreciative audience many of whom would have been doing their dating and dancing when The Kinks were in their pomp during the 60s and 70s.

Dalton is clearly the band wag, hauling a reluctant Avory down the front for a pantomime-esque Dedicated Follower of Fashion while forcing him to sport a fetching sparkling silver jacket.

Personally, I would have liked the band to be less restrained and cranked it up to eleven and my wish was granted with a double whammy encore of You Really Got Me and All Day and All of the Night, which not only showed off guitarist Clarke’s incredible flair with two unhinged solos but also managed to get us off our collective bottoms for a synchronised shuffle of sorts.

Oh, and my apologies to the lady in front of me for my enthusiastic foot tapping on the back of her seat. Not my fault, blame Ray Davies, okay?

NICK HORTON