Leo Sayer 

The Show Must Go On – 50th Anniversary Tour

Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

  November 12

Last night the legendary music Icon that is Leo Sayer came to Liverpool on the final date of his hugely successful The Show Must Go On – 50th Anniversary Tour, and what a climatic end-of-tour show it was! NSGs Billy Vitch was there to cover all of the action from one of music’s all-time greats!

The venue chosen for tonight’s show was Liverpool’s ‘Philharmonic Hall’ and what a fantastic choice of venue it is. Based in the heart of Liverpool’s bustling Georgian Quarter, the hall has been here in one form or another since 1839! This venue has played host to some of the most iconic artists of the 21st century, the list of artists who have graced its stage are too many to mention but try to think of music royalty and try to find a name who hasn’t played here and you would be hard pressed to find one who hasn’t. The hall is also home to the world-famous ‘Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra‘.

Its a busy night and arriving at the venue it was obvious to see that the show had sold out by the 100s of people in attendance. At the age of 74, Leo Sayer has no trouble at all filling a large venue like this, but then again, what artist of his calibre would?

Happily seated the show starts with little delay as Leo appears centre stage with his now famous mane of curly hair and welcomes the audience. Tonight, on the last show of a massive 30-date tour Leo tells us that MTV are filming the show and asks us all to scream and shout even louder while he remerges back onto the stage, and the fans do not let him down!

(Leo Sayer_Credit: Billy Vitch)

Before the songs start flowing Leo casually chats with the crowd, making us all laugh with his natural humour, telling us how excited he is to be in Liverpool tonight and introducing his band. Then the music starts and we are instantly transported back in time as he treats us all to his hit song “The Show Must Go On“. Watching him perform this song makes me realise why he is one of the all-time greats.

His next song, “One Man Band“, is one of my all-time favourites. “The song is one of his earliest hits, with the song being about a hungry busker trying to make a few coins by entertaining passersby on a bustling road in London. Sayer and his songwriting partner ‘David Courtney’ were working on material for Sayer’s first two albums when ‘Roger Daltrey’ showed interest in their work for his first solo release, the album titled ‘Daltrey’. As a result, the ‘Who’ frontman got the first crack at many of the tunes intended for Sayer, including this one, on the 1973 album”. You may remember that Sayer originally took on the persona of a Pierrot clown and performed many of his early songs, including “One Man Band,” in costume.

Leo sailes through several more songs and then takes our breath away with a harmonica solo that lasts several minutes during his hit song “Raining in My Heart” it truly is a sight to behold, his skills know no bounds and it really is a magical moment as he and his guitarist go back and forth with each other, reminding me of a conversation between two instruments as if one asks a question and the other answers back with beautiful harmonics. We are treated to a few more lesser-known but beautiful songs as we come to the end of an hour-long first half of the show that takes us to an interval.

(Leo Sayer_Credit: Billy Vitch)

The second half of the show comes with a mega burst of energy from Leo as he comes back on stage dressed now in a stunning sequin silver jacket and belts out one of his biggest hits “Thunder in My Heart“, and the crowd love it! Everyone is up and dancing now, myself included and that is a very rare thing for me to do lol! Several more hits come thick and fast and Leo’s energy and stage presence is absolutely amazing, he looks like a man in his 40s and not his mid-70s! His delivery and vocal range are some of the best I have heard and unlike some, he sounds even better live than he does on record!

Next Leo tells us that he’s got a little treat for us and says he’s immensely excited to be able to sing some ‘Beatles’ songs in Liverpool to a Liverpool audience.

So you may be wondering why Beatles songs? Well during the lockdown period while Leo was at home in Australia he found time to self-produce a new album – Northern Songs, his own take on songs written & composed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr which is out now on CD and vinyl and tonight he treats us to two of them. The first one is his take on the famous Beatles song “Eleanor Rigby” and wow, does he make it his own! The bass line reminds me of ‘Michael Jacksons’ “Billy Jean” and it’s a really funky-sounding song! I was pleasantly surprised. The next song is Leo’s version of my all-time favourite Beatles song “Across The Universe”, and I must admit it brought a tear to my eye, “Jai guru deva, om” indeed.

Leo brings us back to Sayer land with “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” and yes, everyone was dancing! During the next few songs, he asks the audience to turn on the lights on their phones so everyone can wave them along to the music and it’s such a beautiful sight, seeing everyone dancing and singing along so happily. People now start approaching the stage and Leo is handing out high-fives, he must high-five about 40 people and where some artists may understandably get frustrated having to do this mid-song he takes it all in his stride and goes out of his way to make sure that he doesn’t miss one single adoring fans hand for a shake or high-five!

As the show builds up towards its climax we are treated to several more of his hits including  “When I Need You”, “Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance)”, and “How Much Love”.

(Leo Sayer_Credit: Billy Vitch)

As we come to the end of this spectacular show and the encore we are treated to two songs, “It’s a Hard Life” and “Giving It All Away” that Leo had written for ‘Roger Daltrey’s’ solo album ‘Daltrey’.

A beautiful end to a beautiful show that made me feel like I was back in the 1980s watching one of the then-biggest stars on the planet. Leo still has what it takes to be the megastar that he is and I’m excited to see what this icon does next.

We interviewed Leo back in September, click on this pink link to read it: Leo Sayer Interview.

Review and photography by Billy Vitch

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