REVIEW: FRANKIE VALLI AND THE FOUR SEASONS

 

BOURNEMOUTH INTERNATIONAL CENTRE

 

I first saw Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons playing a Birmingham venue in 1972.

 

Six of us friends had pooled our pocket-money to see our idols, yet the theatre was only half-full. But we’ve never forgotten those rich vocal harmonies and those great pop songs.

 

Now, more than 40 years later, legendary Frankie Valli is still touring the world after a wonderful career, his current six-date UK tour completely sold out.

 

Backed by a superb American eight-piece band and the (now much younger) Four Seasons, Valli features the classic Cole Porter Frank Sinatra song I’ve Got You Under My Skin, poppified for the Seasons, contrasted with the pretty ballad My Eyes Adored You.

 

So, at the age of 82, what now of the Valli voice and his distinctive soaring falsetto? The evidence is in the challenging, demanding songs – Silence Is Golden, Stay, Grease, and the hooky Oh What A Night – Late December ’63.

 

And not a mistake made, not a lyric forgotten, not a note dropped, not even a drink sipped.

 

Reflecting their modest beginnings as a street corner a cappella vocal harmony group, the concert’s sensational climax features the huge hits Sherry Baby, Walk Like A Man, Big Girls Don’t Cry, and the colossal Bye-Bye Baby.

 

The standing-ovation encore featured two of the very best pop songs ever – Rag Doll and (hopefully not for Frankie Valli’s last time) Let’s Hang On.

 

Brendan McCusker