Review: 10cc at Chatham's Central Theatre, Friday, March 18 and Dartford's Orchard Theatre, Thursday, March 31.

by Keith Hunt

The fact that a much vaunted, hit-making band from the mid-70s can fill a sizeable theatre and leave an audience baying for more really speaks for itself.

That was the euphoric scene at Dartford's Orchard Theatre recently when 10cc belied their mature years and left us in their thrall.

I can vouch for the fact that it was no fluke, as I had witnessed them receiving a similar ecstatic reception a couple of weeks before at Chatham's Central Theatre. Yes, they were so good I saw them twice!

Graham Goodman, now a stately 64, is the one remaining original from the witty songwriting powerhouse completed by Eric Stewart, Lol Creme and Kevin Godley. Godley and Cream left after the How Dare You! album in 1976 to do their own thing but 10cc flourished, despite then being dubbed 5cc by some cruel critics.

The band posted 12 top 20 hits and while out of the charts in recent times, the latest five-man line-up completed by Rick Fenn, Mike Stevens, Mick Wilson and Paul Burgess, continues to blaze a red hot trail.

Gouldman was a prolific songwriter for not just 10cc but other top acts too and starts the evening off in gentle fashion with an acoustic set which reminds us of those days when some of the most simple pop tunes were the best.

Joined one by one by Fenn, Stevens and Wilson, he breezed through Yardbirds hits For Your Love and Heart Full of Soul, Herman's Hermits' No Milk Today, The Hollies' Bus Stop and Look Through Any Window and Wayne Fontana's Pamela Pamela.

While the disgraced Jonathan King gave the group its name (those interested in the meaning should check the 10cc website), Gouldman gushes about his late father's inspiration, which was to spawn the lyric "Art for art's sake, money for God's sake".

It was a short hop to the interval and then the serious stuff was underway with top notch musicians skilfully recreating the 10cc sound. The memories come flooding back with Donna, The Dean and I, Dreadlock Holiday, Wall Street Shuffle, Silly Love, Life is a Minestrone, The Things We Do For Love, the anti-love song I'm Not In Love and the inventive chord changes of I'm Mandy Fly Me.

Rick Fenn, a regular with drummer Burgess since the mid-1970s, gives a master class in guitar playing on Feel The Benefit from the Deceptive Bends album. Wilson amazed with his multi-tasking on vocals, guitar, keyboards and percussion.

Rubber Bullets was saved for the encore, along with a fine rendition of the John Lennon penned Across The Universe. By now, we were on our feet and reluctant to go home.

"Without John Lennon there would have been no Beatles," declared Gouldman, "and without The Beatles there would have been no 10cc."

It shows how much we owe the Fab Four.