Herman’s Hermits had twenty singles which reached the Top 40 in Britain and America between 1964 and 1970, many of them getting into the Top 10.  They were a feature on the big American chat shows.  They made three films.  They’ve sold 75 million records.

More than fifty years on, they are still rocking, though with only one original member, and at the Services Club they rocked an audience who clearly knew the songs almost as well as they did.  People jived in front of the stage, transported back to their youth in a miasma of nostalgia.

Star of the show was Barry Whitwam, the original drummer, now in his early 70s but still doing 200 one-night stands a year – perform, travel, perform is his life.

And so it is with this Australian tour which takes them on to Armidale,Sydney, Canberra, Albury, Bendigo, Melbourne and Perth.

You can’t keep an old rocker down – either on stage or in the audience.  At Glen Innes, fans from then and now were ecstatic. It brought back memories of listening to radios in the 60, and memories of being a teenager in Australia all those years ago.  

Herman’s Hermits didn’t get the critical acclaim back then which other bands got – even the Monkees – perhaps because their songs were  too catchy.  But they did get the popular acclaim – and that’s what they got again last night.

A full house for a fine night.

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