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Icons of 80s pop to brighten Christmas |
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Written by Staff Reporter
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Wednesday, 01 October 2008 |
EIGHTIES pop icons Midge Ure, Howard Jones and Bad Manners are set to bring a bit of nostalgia to the South Court Hotel’s Christmas Party Nights as they roll out their biggest hits for the festive season.Those of you old enough to remember the naffest decade in history can now start dusting off your legwarmers, parachute pants, headbands and jelly bracelets for what promises to be the ultimate Christmas party experience ever.Ska troubadours Bad Manners roll into the South Court on Thursday December 11 and you can expect a show filled with unbounded energy and vigour. A continual high level of performance over the last 25 years has rightly earned Bad Manners their reputation as a magnificent live band. From their beginnings as a school group in 1976, throughout their chart success of the eighties (11 Top 20 hits), and until the present day this ‘2 Tone’ outfit have maintained a punishing live schedule and deserve their billing as “the hardest working band on the planet”. They have been fronted from day one by Buster Bloodvessel, a man of gargantuan proportions, one of the biggest voices in show business with the ebullient personality to match.Bad Manners shows are about partying, having a good time and not taking yourself too seriously, these were the values that Buster founded the band on and still holds dear today. Bad Manners will always give full measure, and unbridled entertainment and fun are guaranteed.
On Friday December 12 former Ultravox frontman Midge Ure will keep the eighties nostalgia flowing as he revisits some of his biggest hits such as ‘Vienna’, ‘Dancing With Tears in My Eyes’, ‘Love’s Great Adventure’ and ‘Reap The Wild Wind’. Ultravox was a major influence on the new romantic and electro-pop movements of the early eighties and many an open-minded studio and bedroom experimentalist since. Their successful trademark was combining Midge’s powerful guitar riffs with sweeping synthesizer motifs, enigmatic imagery and state-of-the-art visuals. They charted with awesome regularity, not only on single, but with seven consecutive Top Ten albums in just six years. Later, Midge Ure went on to write the giant Band Aid hit ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’.Midge’s services to both music and charity were finally recognized in the Birthday Honours list in 2005, when he was awarded a long overdue OBE.Rounding off the entertainment for the eighties-themed Christmas parties at the South Court Hotel is Howard Jones on December 13 and 20. Howard was one of the biggest popstars of the decade and had a string of hits including ‘New Song’, “What is Love’, ‘Hide and Seek’, ‘Like To Get To Know You Well’, ‘Things Can Only Get Better’, ‘Life In One Day’, ‘Look Mama’, ‘Everlasting Love’ and ‘No One Is To Blame’. To date Howard has sold over eight million albums.There are few artists who came to prominence in the eighties who are as prolific and hard working as Howard Jones. He seems to be constantly out on tour or creating diverse and superbly crafted albums in his studio in Somerset, England. In 2007 alone he released three albums and played over 60 concerts around the world including UK, USA, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and Dubai.Recently most of Howard’s concerts are acoustic where he uses his superb ability as a songwriter combined with his well-honed skills as a piano player to great effect. This is interspersed with the occasional electric show, which sees him performing at the very cutting edge of technology. At the heart of all this are his lyrics which usually contain, somewhat unfashionably, a positive message, which many have found enlightening and indeed helpful.To book for any of the South Court Hotel Christmas Party Nights contact 061-487487.
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