Published Date: 13 January 2009 by kind permission of the Spaldingtoday www.spaldingtoday.co.uk

Born again rockers were sprinkled with Stardust when they put on their blue suede shoes at Springfield's on Saturday night(10th Jan) for the third reunion gig featuring Spalding group Sounds Force 5.

It was another roaring retro success in front of a packed house of 550 fans of the '60s sounds to follow September's triumph featuring Eddie Floyd.

This time there was good news tinged with disappointment and bad luck for the devotees of that era of musical magic.

The good news was that Alvin Stardust – known to me and many others who just missed out on rock 'n' roll as a '70s glam rocker – was just brilliant, performing his Coo Ca Choo and Jealous Mind hits but also the '60s favourites everyone wanted to hear and most of the audience remembered.

The bad luck was that Sounds Force 5 lead singer Mick Peacey was struck down with a sore throat. He struggled bravely on through several numbers but had to give way on others. It meant more lead vocals for backing singers Jason Lunn on guitar and Abbie Mathews who put up a good show, but Mick could not hide his disappointment.

It hardly mattered, though, for the focal point of the evening was when Abbie and the lads had to step up to the mark to provide the backing for Alvin Stardust.

They were simply magnificent. It helped that Alvin brought with him his own quite stunning guitarist, Glyn Davies, who has been performed on stage with him for more than 30 years – but there was a lot of jamming to be done by the Spalding group.

Rock 'n' roll classics seem to work as long as the three main pillars are in place – vocalist, guitarist and drummer – and SF5's Colin Ward was inspired in providing the beat.

The rest of the group – original bass player Bob Pate, guitarist Tony Jefferies and Len Doughty on keyboards added their enviable musicianship to run off a series of hits that had a packed dance floor jiving or simply bobbing up and down like a scene from Top of the Pops of long ago.

They were led by the enigmatic, leather-clad and always entertaining Stardust who even showed he still has what it takes for a younger audience with an impressive rendition of Duffy's Mercy.

The spirit of the '60s was evoked in the best possible way – through the music – and left an appreciative audience ready for the next.