EVERYTHING SEEMS TO BE RIGHT

Spencer Leigh at the Mathew Street Festival 2006 in Liverpool

This is a longer version of the review which appeared in Record Collector November 2006

For 20 years, I have been watching the Beatles Convention grow in Liverpool over the August bank holiday weekend. 350,000 attended this year's festivities which incorporated the full-blooded Mathew Street Festival with five open air stages including a large one at the Pier Head.

On Friday night I had to choose between The Bootleg Beatles at the Empire and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra at the Pier Head. Having seen the Boots many times, I picked the Phil with its new conductor, Vasily Petrenko from St Petersburg. Never in his wildest dreams could he have predicted that his first gig would be accompanying Pete Wylie. Wylie commented, "I didn't think there was a stage big enough for 75 musicians and my ego." He sang Heart As Big As Liverpool with more light and shade than usual, and Garry Christian of the Christians excelled with Father. The concert ended with a fabulous Pictures At An Exhibition complete with fireworks, but why do the locals bring their dogs to open air concerts? The poor mutts can't see anything and, of course, go berserk once the fireworks start.

Jennifer John and Thomas Lang sang You'll Never Walk Alone with the Phil but it was too intricate for the crowd to join in. The following morning Gerry and the Pacemakers did the same song, but Gerry performs the ballad like a pub singalong. Gerry knows how to work an audience and they loved everything he did, which included The Way You Look Tonight and Ferry Cross The Mersey, sung with the ferries in view.

The Proclaimers were too serious for me - bit like inviting Gordon Brown to your party - although they performed Letter From America and Cap In Hand very well. Everybody was waiting for Craig and Charlie to thump out the beat for 500 Miles, and that certainly didn't disappoint. I didn't expect much from Doctor and the Medics but they had a well-paced and entertaining act inviting us to do the Time Warp again and shout out Hi Ho Silver Lining. Their Liverpool-born lead singer, Clive Jackson, said that they would sing a medley of their hits and just performed Spirit In The Sky with one of the group disguised as the Grim Reaper. With equal zaniness, I enjoyed Lyons and Tigers on the new music stage. With their lead vocalist Curtis Tigers, they aped around on I'm A Monkey and OAP Love ("Honey you don't look your age, 76 and you look good in beige").

During the day, there was the Beatles auction at Paul McCartney's LIPA, which provides good entertainment even if you aren't buying anything. A bookcase Paul made when he was 14 fetched £1,900 and the fact that it is still standing after 50 years shows he could have sung If I Were A Carpenter with conviction. Silence greeted the bidding for a signed photograph of Heather Mills McCartney, but when the bids started, it fetched £13. George Harrison's memorabilia is now on a par with McCarney's if not Lennon's, but Ringo's is trailing behind.

Donovan starred in the evening concert at the Empire, telling whimsical stories of The Beatles. He is the Hurdy Greedy Man as he was charging £5 for autographs. Whenever I see Tony Sheridan, I can see why he should have made it and also why he didn't. All Right Now and Yesterday were excellent but his songs usually last too long and the compere Billy Butler had difficulty getting him off stage. John Lennon's original band, The Quarry Men, have a goodtime skiffle set and don't underestimate their lead vocalist Len Garry. If he'd not left the scene, he could have fronted a hit-making Mersey band.

On Sunday morning, I was at the Pier Head for the local blues band, Connie Lush and Blues Shouter. She is large, ballsy woman and her powerhouse, 10 minute version of Feeling Good incorporated snatches of Summertime and Hit The Road Jack. "Because you should all be in church", Connie sang some gospel music. Superb stuff.

No messing about with The Lightning Seeds, who completed 15 songs in an hour including You Showed Me, Pure and The Life Of Riley. The sound was exceptionally good and Three Lions (introduced as "a sad song") was superior to the single because Ian Broudie didn't have to share vocals with Baddiel and Skinner. The Argentinean Dios Salve A La Reina (God Save The Queen) were an exceptional tribute band with both Freddie Mercury and Brian May lookalikes and every detail cleverly worked out and recreated.

Of the new Liverpool bands, I loved seeing Santa Carla with influences including Brian Wilson and Sparks, and their lead singer, Nicky, in a black bodice looked stunning. Some hairstyles that hadn't been round since the 70s were out in force for Zombina and the Skeletones: the last of the Mohicans, you might say. I love their frivolity of their music but it has substance too.

Tiring of bands shouting out "Hello, Liverpool", I spent a couple of hours at the Beatles Convention at the Adelphi Hotel where Mark Lewisohn's guests including Donovan and Tony Sheridan were present but not always correct. The stalls were doing brisk business and how many people realised that the person selling tours of the Casbah Coffee Club was Pete Best's brother, Rory. On another stall, the promoter Sam Leach was signing his book of Beatle reminiscences. I was astonished by the stall for Azing Moltmaker's books. The man may have written 34 books about The Beatles but are they any good? "Of course they are," he retorted, "There is nothing to criticise in any of them." Would that I had his confidence. The amazing Azing has another 20 in the pipeline. The Beatles' music was played on a full-size harp by Daniel Jordan from Spain and on two accordions by the Russian band, Puttin' On The Beatles Style, but while I was at the Convention, I missed a Pier Head set from X Factor star, Tabby. I can't tell you how disappointed I am. I can't, so I won't.

In the evening, it was the "European premiere" of a new musical play, The Cavern Club, written by Mark D Yates. I am wary of criticising anything written by a bouncer, but this was more like a tribute to Pan's People than the Cavern, and certainly I never saw skimpily dressed females there. The music from Zero 8 was good and consisted of songs by anyone famous who happened to play in the Cavern in their formative years. They were introduced tortuously - "Wherever she is, I hope she's in the pink" - was a cue for Lily The Pink. An old lady dies while singing My Sweet Lord and when her grandson exclaims, "Hey Nan, I bet you looked good on the dancefloor", the band plays The Arctic Monkeys. As for treating Imagine as a comedy narration, words fail me. Perhaps I should have gone instead to the Beatle venue, the Grosvenor Ballroom, which was staging Tracing The Roots with Carl Chase, Tramp Attack and Hughie Jones from the Spinners, an ambitious production about the start of rock'n'roll.

On the Bank Holiday Monday, the stages were filled with tribute acts such as Robbing Williams, Definitely Mightbe, Perfectly Frank, the Bleached Boys, Squeezed and Nearly Dan. The new Liverpool bands included Amsterdam with their local classic, Does This Train Stop On Merseyside. I went to an exhibition of Beatles photography at the Iconography gallery and found Robert Whitaker signing prints. The Liverpool Echo proclaimed "Beatles Reunion Planned in 08", a definitely mightbe story that Paul and Ringo would perform together.

This Is Merseybeat at the Empire was precisely that. The compere Billy Butler asked the audience to switch off their mobile phones "as it is interfering with our pacemakers". The show opened with The Undertakers with three original members - Jackie Lomax, Brian Saxophone Jones and Geoff Nugent - recreating Just A Little Bit. Lomax, who has been living in California for over 30 years, sounded great. Kingsize Taylor, about to move to Hamburg, joined them for his raucous Stupidity. Beryl Marsden gave spirited performances of Everybody Loves A Lover, To Love Somebody and a boy's song, Hi-Heel Sneakers.

Ray Ennis of the Swinging Blue Jeans bubbled with Scouse humour. When someone shouted, "I'm from Venezuela", he looked at his watch and said, "You've missed your last bus." It was good to hear some misses (It's Too Late Now, Promise You'll Tell Her) amongst the hits (Hippy Hippy Shake, You're No Good) and I loved their versions of Shakin' All Over and Don't Make Me Over.

The Merseybeats with two originals, Tony Crane and Billy Kinsley did their hits, I Think Of You, Wishin' And Hopin' and Sorrow as well as Live And Let Die with laser lights and a stunning Let It Be Me. The Searchers (John McNally and a near original Frank Allen) were very good, but like the Blue Jeans, they take their hits a little too fast. The ballad, Somebody Told Me You Were Cryin', was a showstopper and the rockabilly Seven Nights To Rock wasn't far behind.

There were still events on the Tuesday but by then so many fans had been in The Cavern that it was unbearably hot. The Spencer Davis Group was excellent with the drummer taking a solo on I'm A Man whilst drinking a pint. Eddie Hardin on the Hammond was the equal of Steve Winwood on Gimme Some Lovin' and Spencer himself did a fine job on Keep On Runnin', although the higher notes eluded him. Miller Anderson shone on a killer House Of The Risin' Sun. The bill also featured Joey Molland from Badfinger but the humidity was so horrible that I had to leave. The next day I bumped into a very hoarse Molland in the street. "Did you enjoy the show?" he croaked. "Sorry, Joe, it was too hot for me." "That's your trouble, Spencer, no stamina."