Herman’s Hermits Starring Peter Noone at Sycuan’s Live & Up Close
At the tender age of 15, when most young English lads were in school, Peter Noone achieved international fame as the lead singer and front man of the legendary 1960’s pop band “Herman’s Hermits.” In what proved to be an enjoyable exchange with the iconic singer, Noone echoed Frank Sinatra, who once said to his son, “Being an overnight sensation is the result of years of practice and hard work.” Echoes Noone: “We were not an overnight sensation, and spent untold hours driving our little van and our equipment all over the north of England playing to what was not a ‘following.’ When our first hit “I’m Into Something Good” (which was the very first record I ever bought, for 99 cents at Walker Scott’s Department Store,) began to get airplay,” Noone recalls, “we first heard the record in the kitchen, which was also the dressing room of the Beachcomber Club in Bolton, and after celebrating ‘making it’ we went back to the slog. In three weeks, the song was in the top ten, and then we WERE meeting our heroes on the TV. We did “Top of the Pops” with Roy Orbison, we met the Beatles and the Kinks and the Stones, the Everly Brothers, Johnny Cash and Elvis. I was only 16 so I had recently left school and was sort of overeducated for the music world, but I had a lot of respect for authority and talent. The ones who treated us with respect were the ones who endured, which is why we always treat newcomers with maximum respect. It seems that the ones who disrespected us are all out of show business now.”
That auspicious beginning led to what is fast approaching a 50-year milestone of performing and recording for Noone and Herman’s Hermits. Even as the band members have changed over the years, the music, and Noone, remain the same with ‘Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter;” I’m Henry the VIII I Am”, “Silhouettes;” and “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat’ among their most famous hits. A trip down memory lane can be in your near future with two shows of “Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone” at the Sycuan Casino’s “Live and Up Close” Series on August 6th. The early show is at 6:00 pm and the second at 8:30 pm. Tickets are $35 and $45, and can be reserved at the Casino’s website www.sycuan.com
Noone and his band have a history of 60 million records sold, fourteen singles and seven albums hitting gold. I asked Noone to what he attributed that ability to remain in the forefront of pop music: “I admired Danny Kaye and Tommy Steele, and the ones who made lifetime careers and admitted that they hadn’t always been talented, but had added stuff from every part of the their career to their show. I am persistent, which is perceived as resilient,” he said, adding quite wisely, “….and …. perception is 100 percent of show business and zero percentality of reality.”
Noone’s favorite Herman’s Hermits tune? “It has to be “I’m Into Something Good” because it got me started, and was a happy and great recording session made by some teenage friends of mine, aka ‘the Hermits.’” These days, the backing band is different but the zeitgeist is the same. Noone is in “constant contact” with former members, noting sadly “Lek (Derek Leckenby) passed away in the 90’s, and Karl (Green) retired. Keith (Hopwood) is busy with his musical and TV business, which means we only have ‘one night reunions’, usually at the London Palladium. We do reminisce about how much fun we had, and have almost forgotten anything bad that may have happened to us. In fact, I can’t remember one single bad thing. We came. We stayed.”
“Reminisce” is the appropriate word for the feeling that will come over you during Noone’s show. You will have forgotten some of their hits and will be saying to yourself, “Oh, I remember THAT song,” and then you’ll have a mental flash of where you were and what you were doing when you first heard it.
Sycuan’s “Live & Up Close” is a 450 seat venue with state of the art lighting and excellent acoustics. Each seat provides an intimate view of the show. Please note that this is a 21 and over venue. There are two large projection screens, two full bars inside the theatre and plenty of free parking. For tickets and information, see www.sycuan.com Don’t miss this show, as somethin’ tell me you’ll be into something good! Don’t wait on getting tickets, as this is very likely going to be two sold out shows.
Future calendar note: The Midtown Men, four stars from the original cast of “Jersey Boys” will also be appearing at the Sycuan Live & Up Close venue on September 3, again in two shows, 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm. This will be a jump to your feet show featuring top hits from a Who’s Who of the 60’s, including the Beatles, the Beach Boys, The Temptations, the Four Seasons and the Jackson 5. Tickets are $25 and $35 and are also available at the casino website.
Category: Entertainment
