LIVE REVIEW : 10CC AT THE ORCHARD THEATRE DARTFORD 13/10/2012

Second step in my discovery of the most beautiful cities of the greater London (after Croydon) : Dartford. I went there a couple of weeks ago to see 10CC perform at the Orchard theatre. The touring version of 10CC nowadays contains only one original member : bass player Graham Gouldman. The only thing that justifies the 10CC moniker is the presence of longlasting 10CC sidemen Rick Fenn on guitar (since 1977) and Paul Burgess on drums (since 1973). In addition to these you get new recruits Mick Wilson (singing Lol Creme's vocal parts and playing guitars, keyboards and vibraphone) and Mike Stevens (keyboards and saxophone). This line-up has been touring as 10CC and Graham Gouldman and Friends over the past 13 years.

As an opening act for the tour you get a mini acoustic set featuring several hits written by Graham Gouldman for other bands. Unfortunately they started playing at 7.30 pm so I missed part of it and only got a couple of songs ("For your love", "Look through any window" and a song off Graham Gouldman's new album called "Memory Lane"). After a short break the band came back to play the 10CC set opening the gig with "Second sitting for the last supper" from the "Original Soundtrack album" then proceeding to play one good song after the other : "The wall street shuffle", "The things we do for love", "Good morning judge", "Life is a minestrone"...). The real treat was seeing 12 minute epic "Feel for the benefit" from 1977's "Deceptive Bends" played live. We got a couple of lesser know songs too ("Sand on my face" and "From Rochdale to Ocho Rios"). Donna from the 1st album was performed twice, first as played on the recorded version and then A capella that was truly excellent (introduced by a short speech by Graham Gouldman where his tongue slipped : "we're selling, err no celebrating 10CC's 40th anniversary). The gig ended with an extended version of "Rubber Bullets" that included a somewhat out of place sax solo from Mike Stevens. The show was really good overall but you get a feeling that by billing themselves as 10CC and playing Oldies act venues like the Orchard, they're diluting the legacy of the band. I would still recommend it though.