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Burnley Mechanics
12/10/23

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What is the true raison d’etre of a tribute band? Emulation? Recreation? Perpetuation? Well, whatever a tribute band should be, or do, the general sentiment I was feeling after watching Carpenters Gold last night was, ‘where is that ouevre, I’ll be needing to listen to that quite soon, please?‘

The Carpenters are one of the classic groups that kinda bypass’d my ears; well. until last night in the Burnley Mechanics that is, where a selection of their best & most-lov’d tunes were deliver’d with perfect alacrity by our pseudo-siblings, Greg Stevenson as Richard Carpenter, & Vikky Holland-Bowyer as Karen, who apparently, according to the guy sat on my left, pull’d off the original Karen’s sunrisey vocalism with proper on-point accuracy.

Shooting to superstardom in the 1970s, the original Carpenters gave the world songs which seem’d to me firmly nestl’d in the two extremes – either laden with amorous pathos or bubbling with chirpy ebullience. The musicianship seems simple, country pop kinda vibes, & was perform’d wonderfully by the honied-harmony dripping backing band – so much so that I often felt I was in some kind of sonic dream-state. Yeah, it was well good.

That time was better than the last time, & the last time was really good
Greg Stevenson (Richard Carpenter)

The show was intervalis’d – the first half pack’d with massive hits such as Yesterday Once More, A Kind of Hush and (They Long to Be) Close to You; & the second half a bit more relax’d, including tunes from the Beatles, stuff like that. Their slower ‘Ticket to Ride’ was actually quite stunning. Throughout both halves I enjoy’d sneakily looking around & watching the audience singing along & really getting into it. I was at a church meeting, really, & Vikky Holland-Bowyer was our slick, stylish, pastor. She also had some fabulous changes of outfits, & all in all the show is a visual treat. All the band wearing 70s wigs, for example, really helps the suspension of disbelief.

Like eating a cream pie with lots of filling, I had a thoroughly good time both learning, & enjoying, & realis’d I am something of a whoo-er. That is to say somebody who yelps out ‘whoo’ quite loudly when come the moments that the audience is invited to show their appreciation. The Burnley audience, btw, was well up for it, & on their feet in droves at the end as Carpenters Gold ran thro’ the hit-medley to conclude proceedings. Before then was perhaps the funniest fake finale I’ve ever seen – everyone knew they were coming back on, I mean the guitarist was tuning up for the next song for example – but it was all great fun, really, for we’d all fallen for the band along the way, so banterlike & beautiful were their inbetweeny bits.

Damo