REVIEW: Neil Sedaka, City Hall
THREE standing ovations and an almost packed house (stalls and circle) when you're 70 can't be bad. Mr Sedaka wowed them as teenagers and is still doing it for the silver surfers.
The old king of tra-la-la and dooby-doos gave a relaxed, premium performance of his greatest hits after a video reminder of stars who covered his songs, from Elvis to Elton.
It was an intimate evening as he accompanied himself on piano, with a spot of karaoke to backing tracks, and delighted his audience with hits like Oh Carol, Happy Birthday Sweet 16, Breaking Up is Hard to Do, Solitaire and so on.
As he pointed out, the Neil Sedaka Songbook is also the story of pop, at least in the first two decades: "Songs of the 50s and 60s were perhaps a little naive but you could understand all of the lyrics," he said wickedly.
The words are simple but knowing, joy mingled with wistfulness. He's not lost his touch, as three songs from his new CD, The Music of My Life revealed.
Calendar Girl was heard on video, showing a youthful Sedaka with slicked-back hair.. "Like Cary Grant," he joked. Actually, more like a young Bob Monkhouse.
Of course, he did Amarillo as an encore but one song was sadly missing. He didn't do Rubber Duckie.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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