Go West And Nik Kershaw, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2018).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

If you can remember the 80s with a glorious smile and the passion of a beating heart rampaging through single after single of dominating pop and the explosion of culture that surrounded it, then you are one of that rare breed that wasn’t hemmed in and surrounded completely by the post-war early boom of rock and roll and neither were you fooled by the arrival of the almost far too beautiful but in some eyes sulky, almost akin to drama filled, 90s that followed.

You were polished and presented to the world by the threat perhaps by the threat of daily annihilation from the powers that be as they fought their wars of ideology, of a more relaxed atmosphere socially but one that came with a new set of dangers, of the emerge of a different kind of counter culture, the arrival of the video pop stars and by heavens, if you were an 80’s music child you paid for that by everything since being judged by the standards met with bands such as Frankie Goes To Hollywood, A-Ha, Wham!, Bananarama, Madonna, and Belinda Carlisle as she moved effortlessly from punk rock sensibilities to out and out darling of the pop scene

The music remains a calling card for a period of time in which, aside from the much too short Summer of Love, has dominated the thoughts with great regularity for its changing attitudes. However great the generation coming through are and their ready appetite for change, sometimes they have to remember that it was those who have the mantle of Generation X bestowed upon that really started the process of acceptance and true fingers up to the past.

In bands such as Go West and the solo performer Nik Kershaw, it is the sense of 80s giant that comes to mind, great lyrics, utterly compelling mix of pop culture but with that Rock background, genuine classic of a debut single and iconic videos which sold Peter Cox, Richard Drummie and Nik Kershaw into the front rooms of television viewers, there was nothing that they couldn’t turn to gold in that golden age, and as they performed to a sold out Liverpool Philharmonic Hall audience, the night reaffirmed, as if it needed to, that they remain a magnetic sight on stage, confident, quickly adapting to change themselves, a scintillating presence on stage; they were the 80s returned to spread a smile and wallow for a while in pleasurable excess of proper pop idol.

It is a mix of persona that worked superbly the last time the pairing came to Liverpool and one this time round which captivated and had the heart pounding at the thought of the decade in which freedoms of expressions were won being relived in full colour and prose.

In songs such as Don’t Look Down, Faithful, Goodbye Girl, We Close Our Eyes, Wouldn’t It Be Good, I Won’t Let The Sun Go Down on Me, and in terrific arrangements of their chart sidekicks, such as Duran Duran’s Hungry Like The Wolf, Tears For Fears’ Everybody Wants To Rule the World and a storming version of the Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This). Go West and Nik Kershaw thrilled and made real the dreams of their own fans by performing the reasons that the 80s should be remembered and revered.

A great night, obstacles overcame, a sense of the real and profound being enjoyed, for in the potent mix of Go West and Nik Kershaw, the ecstatic exploded with sublime taste.

Ian D. Hall