Gerry Brooke looks back on performances by David Essex and Darts plus news about Shakatak

As the long hot summer of 1983 was bought to an abrupt end by thunderstorms, were there any stars – apart from at the seaside – worth going to see?

Well yes – David Essex was at the Hippodrome, and it was packed.

Despite this the Post's music editor, James Belsey, managed to find a seat.

"This touring road show was a slick, relaxed, well-presented package" he wrote the next day.

"It had a jolly good band, a stage crew who paid great attention to both lighting and sound, and, of course, David Essex himself.

The star was in a thoroughly jovial, bank holiday mood, enjoying tributes from his fans who trouped down the aisles to see him.

Essex put together a good mix of material – everything from a freshly minted Rock On to music from his proposed stage show based on the Bounty mutiny.

He also performed three songs from his new album – to be released next month – and they were excellent.

The theatre was jam packed, the show professional and the mood self congratulatory."

A few days later Yakety Yak, a tribute to the songwriting talents of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and starring the band Darts, was on at the same venue.

"Yakety Yak's strength is songs like Stand by Me, Hound Dog, Along Came Jones, Kansas City and another dozen or so" said James Belsey, back in the Hippodrome for the second time in a week.

"They're played with affection by Dart's nine-man line-up and the rest of the cast between a skimpy plot that just about manages to link one number with the rest.

Darts not only provide the music but some of the drama, for a good cast that makes the most of this weak story about 1950s teenagers.

The show is slow to start with, gathers momentum and then builds to a rocking climax.

It didn't take all that much encouragement to get people dancing in the aisles – and on the stage."

One star we wouldn't be seeing any longer was Bristol musician and producer Nigel Wright, keyboard player with the funk band Shakatak, who were due to appear at the Colston Hall later in the year.

According to the Post Nigel had decided to concentrate on production, especially his Channel 4 offering, Hot For Dogs.

Shakatak had a number of hits in the 1980s, including two Top Tenners, Night Birds (1982) and Down on the Street (1984).

Still popular in Japan and the Far East, the band still produces a new album every year.

If theatre was your thing then you could see Paul Eddington and Isla Blair at the Theatre Royal in Terence Rattigan's The Browning Version.

Out-of-town promoter Jon Pope was bewailing that fact that only 800 people had turned up for his Clevedon rock festival held at Kenn Pier Farm and featuring eight local bands.

Billed as a fundraiser for the town's cottage hospital Jon told the Post that he had expected double that number.

"It's typical of Clevedon," he said, " I don't think people realised what a professional event this was