REVIEWS
Bad Company, York Barbican Centre

LAST night I fell into Bad Company and along with a stomping, hand-clapping full audience I loved every minute of it. Middlesbrough-born lead singer and former Free frontman Paul Rodgers gave the fans everything they wanted.Old Hits such as Wishing Well, Feel Like Making Love, Fire And Water, Can't Get Enough,the house-shaking All Right Now and their new hit single Joe Fabulous. By the time 52-year-old Paul finished he had everyone standing, swaying, clapping and whistling to herald the last gig of Bad Company's English tour. In every department - drums, guitars,harmonies - the level of skill was breathtaking. It was wonderful to see so many happy, smiling faces basking in the reflected glow of undoubted talent on stage. Behind the drums, driving the evening with pulsating pounding was Simon Kirke, a Bad Company original, who looked as if he loved every minute of the show. Rodgers looks amazingly lithe and fit for a half-century-plus rocker as he twirled the mike stand and strutted the stage amid blue spotlights in his black jeans and white T-shirt. The Boro boy- of whom Prime Minister Tony Blair once said,"If I could sing like Paul Rodgers, I would have been a rocker, not a politician."-gave his all. Jill Marr, from Rillington, was standing and grooving next to me as I scribbled in the gloom. "Just tell your readers they were brilliant!" she instructed. So I shall...they were.

Tony McKinstry