The Zombies, Liverpool, 18th May 2011

This is The Zombies’ 50th Anniversary tour, and they are essentially touring a new album. But this doesn’t mean their amazing back catalogue was ignored in anyway.
In total they performed six tracks from the newly released Breathe Out Breathe In album, and they blended very well in the set list. Sometimes new material from older bands can seem to jar against the hits or drag a bit for the audience, but the strength of these new tracks was shown by the warm and appreciative reception they all received.
Beyond the new tracks the set was a pleasant mix of Zombies songs and “solo” projects. They performed six songs from the Odessey and Oracle album explaining all the artists influenced by the songs, including most recently Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters.
Colin Blunstone relished performing his hit version of What Becomes of The Brokenhearted as well as his solo songs and an Alan Parsons Project track.
As much as I adore The Zombies stuff the highlight for me was the Argent tracks. Hold Your Head Up featured a glorious keyboard solo that went on for quite some time, and God Gave Rock And Roll To You is a fabulous way to end a gig. (Although they did squeeze in a version of Summertime afterwards – a nice mellow track to send the audience on their way in the night.)
I left armed with signed posters, the new CD (also signed – everything was pre-done before the show) and T-Shirt.
I hope they are back round again soon as it is always a pleasure to
see this band.


More photos on flickr here.
Official Zombies Site