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Here & Now Tour 2008
The Here & Now Tour 2008 - featuring Rick Astley, Bananarama, ABC, Paul Young, Curiosity Killed The Cat, Johnny Hates Jazz and Cutting Crew - swung into the M.E.N Arena on Tuesday 13 May 2008.
Check out the reviews of The Here & Now Tour 2008 with Your M.E.N's top posts:
Manchesteronline > Posted 14 May 2008
"TWENTY years on, and Rick Astley is still pop's most unlikely star. The delighted roar that greeted his entrance on stage stems from two reasons: firstly he said he'd never do this again, but we've heard that one before haven't we, George Michael, the Spice Girls? And secondly all those discussion shows on the 80s remind us that Never Gonna Give You Up was sung by a boy-man with the most incredible voice, a voice that music mogul Pete Waterman said he'd never heard surpassed in all his music mogulling.
The years have been kind to the Newton-le-Willows lad. Apart from a slightly thickened girth he doesn't look like the 42-year-old 'middle-aged' man he continually tells the audience he is.
An audience, who by this stage, were right into their ra ra skirts and leg warmers after being taken down memory lane by Bananarama, Paul Young, Curiosity Killed the Cat, ABC, Johnny Hates Jazz and Cutting Crew.
Rick remains steadfastly in 'can't dance won't dance' mode. And when he asks a crowd dominated by late 30 something and early 40 something girls, a few gay blokes and a lot of resolutely seated hubbies if they remember Mr Smith's nightclub in Warrington you just know that Rick would have been the bloke standing nervously behind the dance floor nursing a warm pint of lager.
But one thing that remains certain and sure is that amazing voice. For a white bloke who can't dance to do justice to Nat King Cole's version of classic ballot When I Fall in Love takes some doing, but his voice is as strong and treacly-true as ever . . . After resting himself between the up tempo poppy tracks that he could clearly live without, he indulged us all with Together Forever followed by the global number-one hit that became a pop standard - Never Gonna Give You Up.
The wedding reception floor filler has since become a You Tube phenomenon - another surprise for this self-deprecating unlikely lad. "You've made a middle-aged man very happy" he said as he took a bow and exited as shyly as he'd entered."
