Gerry Brooke looks back on performances by the Four Tops and Iron Maiden

Early March 1982 saw two great, but very different bands in town, the Four Tops and Iron Maiden.

First on at the Colston Hall were the Tamla Motown legends and there, in his favourite seat in the stalls, was the Post’s very own James Belsey.

“The Four Tops performance last night was simply an object lesson in great entertainment,” wrote the much impressed music critic the next day.

“They demonstrated the art of whipping up an audience participation without being smarmy, showed how to perform vocal harmony at its best and proved that hard work and talent have so substitutes.

“But above all it was a masterly exhibition in how to keep alive songs even if you’ve been singing them night after night for years.

“The Four Tops first got together 27 years ago but sound as fresh to day as then.

“There huge hits such as Reach Out I’ll be There and Standing in the Shadows of Love, didn’t need dusting off; they sounded newly minted.

“The four were incredibly tight both in voice and action, putting more effort into their act than a dozen of to-day’s bands could manage in twice the time of the Top’s appearance.

“The show ended, fittingly, with their recent hit “Don’t Walk Away” - a neat reminder that the Four Tops are just as much a part of today’s music scene as they were in the 1960s

Later in the week came Iron Maiden and there to be deafened was Post critic John FitzPatrick.

“An Iron Maiden, we are told, was a particularly nasty device used to torture young ladies in times gone by” he wrote the next day.

“ Iron Maiden 1982 is British metal sharpened to needlepoint and inserted into the brain with aggressive precision.

“All the ingredients, distinct sound, awesome lighting, dry ice and sweat, were stirred around the Colston cauldron until the steam shot from between the slates.

“After 100 minutes of music, three encores, an appearance by the two Red Devils and The Beast, resplendent in his uniform of faded denims, sweat shirt and black leather jacket, the metal maniacs went home delighted.

“Numbers included Wrath Child, Running Free, Children of the Damned and Run to the Hills.

“Iron Maiden, despite their lack of airplay, is possibly the country’s hottest Heavy Metal product.”

If that wasn’t your cup of tea then how about a St Patrick’s Irish Variety Concert at the Colston Hall featuring comedian Frank Carson?

“Carson is hardly the world’s most original comic” wrote the Post’s Chris Hewitt.

“In fact some of his jokes herald from the time of Max Miller and before.

“ But he has a talent for ad-libbing, a remarkable sense of timing and delivery and the sort of engaging personality which defies you not to like him.”

Alternatively you could catch another top comedian, Bernard Manning, at Snuffy’s Cabaret club at Frenchay.

And, back at W.H. Smith’s in Broadmead, there was a chance to meet the much travelled broadcaster Alan Whicker, in town for a whistle stop book signing