After a nonstop professional touring career of 56 years, you might wonder how and why The Searchers have never slowed down or stopped. It is a back-breaking schedule of 150 to 200 shows a year that has constantly amazed their contemporaries in the heady world of pop music. Wonder no more because at last, the band has decided to end the touring and enjoy a well-deserved rest.
After this current run of two-hour solo concerts, which includes a final performance at the Pavilion Theatre, Worthing on Friday 31 August, the latter months of 2018 see them undertake yet another Sixties Gold package tour, headlining over a bunch of their fellow friends and musicians. In January 2019 they begin their farewell series of solo presentations around the U.K culminating in a final show on March 31st. It is surely a sad time for their loyal and devoted followers who thought they would go on forever.
Their impressive run of hits in those glory years from 1964 to 1966 stretched worldwide, enabling them to travel the globe. Sweets For My Sweet, Sugar & Spice, Needles & Pins, Don`t Throw Your Love Away, Someday We`re Gonna Love Again, When You Walk In The Room, Love Potion Number Nine, Goodbye My Love and Take It Or Leave is just a taste!
Their presentation has changed radically over the years. In the first flush of chart success, a top of the bill spot consisted of a mere twenty minutes giving them barely enough time for half a dozen songs. Nowadays, they occupy the stage for the entire evening presenting what is essentially a history of the band in music and anecdotes lasting for a full two hours.
Tales of their travels and amusing stories of happenings along the way occupy the spaces between the hits, the B sides, the album tracks and other selections that colour their career whether as tributes to fellow artistes or culled from their later recordings which, though maybe less well known are still in constant demand from their ardent followers.
It goes without saying that the final run of concerts and the evenings ahead will be a mixture of both happiness and sadness for many. This is a much-loved band. They appreciate everything they have been given and have always strived to give back in return.
The Searchers will make their final stop at the Pavillion Theatre in Worthing on Friday 31st August 2018. For more information on tickets, please see the Worthing Theatres website