Legendary 60s band
The Zombies started 2011 with a live-filmed concert at London’s Metropolis Studios – what a start to the New Year!
The TV-show called
ITV Legends will be broadcast around the UK in springtime and a DVD will be released to coincide with the show.
40 years after the release of The Zombies swansong album ‘Odyssey & Oracle’, the original members of the band reunited to perform three special live concerts at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire in March 2008.
Fast-forward, and judging from the applause and turn-up at Metropolis, the band hasn’t lost any of its popularity. In fact,
The Zombies must have gained a whole new fan base amongst the young generation, seeing how some of the audience guests looked young enough to be the band’s grandchildren!
Perhaps
The Zombies gathered their young fan base due to the fact that their song ‘Time Of The Season’ is annually featured in the ad campaign for
Magners Cider, as well as a major Japanese ad for
Nissan, while the band’s signature song ‘She’s Not There’ was included in a recent episode of US hit show
American Idol. Well…
Furthermore, Zombies songs are regularly being used in films and TV (
Kill Bill 2,
The Simpsons to name but a few), while other artists like Courtney Love, Paul Weller, Billy Joel or Arctic Monkeys cite the band as an influence.
The current Zombies outfit consists of original members Colin Blunstone (lead vox) and Rod Argent (keyboards and vox), plus Jim Rodford (bass), Tom Toomey (guitar) and Steve Rodford (drums).
During the live session, the band was in seemingly great spirits and proud to be filmed for ITV Legends. The band played a set that included all their best-known hits - from the aforementioned ‘She’s Not There’ to ‘Tell Her No’, from ‘I Love You’ to ‘Summertime’, ‘A Rose For Emily’ and ‘This Will Be Our Year’ and more. The set furthermore included some tracks that both Blunstone and Argent had released post-Zombies period (‘I Don’t Believe In Miracles’, ‘God Gave Rock N Roll To You’, ‘What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted’ etc.)
The atmosphere was exciting throughout, though with one-hour-30-min playtime, the session bordered on being slightly too long. Then again, perhaps it only seemed too long thanks to a generous free-drinks reception prior to the gig. Asked not to leave the TV-studio during the show, it wasn’t so much a case of ‘Holding Your Head Up’ for the guests as it was a case of holding your bladder…. However, more free drinks after the show amply compensated for any physical torture. There was also an opportunity to meet the band in person.
The Zombies take to the road again in May to mark the 50th Anniversary of first getting together in St. Albans. For dates, check www.myspace.com/thezombies
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