Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band at Food Aid at The Florrie, Liverpool [Show Review]

The Florence Institute, (Florrie) in downtown Dingle, just on the edge of the City Centre is a majestic, Victorian edifice, that is fast becoming as iconic as the many other grand buildings of Liverpool. Unlike these other structures that serve mainly to preach or feed the tourist trade, this beautiful former Boy’s Institute exists to serve the community and support those who need help the most. The centre offers a safe place for people to explore culture through a constant programme of events, and has sports, I.T. and arts provisions for all. One of the centre’s main aims is to combat poverty, hunger, and unemployment and encourage training and education. In Liverpool, all of these projects are vital, particularly at the moment as we are once again challenged by the stone-cold 1980s model of a ruthless and hopeless government.

Food Aid set up this event today to raise both money (donate here) and support for those who are suffering the most from rising fuel costs that are leaving so many with cupboards bare. They are proactive in fighting these unmanageable price-hikes, as well as providing short-term food parcels for the community.

Over three stages today, a host of local talent and tribute bands (best name today – Crowded Scouse) have offered their talents to provide a day of quality entertainment, mixed with awareness-raising interludes. The interest in the event has been so successful that Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band have had to put on a matinee show alongside their evening slot to cater to the crowd. We opted for the earlier performance as we needed to be at another event later in the day, but still managed to soak up the atmosphere and see some of the other acts prior to Mick’s gig.

As we arrived, The Spice Girls Experience were setting up. Once they had begun to rattle through their hits, they set a positive tone for the day. The fun thing about tribute acts is seeing them in such strange surroundings, in this case, The Florrie Sports Hall. It was lovely to see little kids dancing around with their Mums who have clearly brought them up on the band. Memories of seeing Spiceworld at the cinema come flooding back.

The Grand Hall upstairs, once derelict and roofless, is now beautifully restored and is home to The Janice Long Stage, named after the wonderful Liverpool-born DJ who died tragically in 2021. It’s a fitting tribute to her as the huge windows gaze out across the hills of North Wales across the Mersey. I bet she loved this room.

The Cavern Beatles are rocking away as we enter and hand on heart sound exactly like the real Beatles, and in fairness, they look like them too. Dressed in black roll-neck tops and accurate guitars, they belt out early-era hits up to the “Help!” Era. They hit the right notes particularly on songs like “I Feel Fine,” “Twist and Shout” and the George Harrison-led “Everybody’s trying to be my Baby.” The whole room is loving it, of course. They even fill in the gaps with dialogue recognisable from The Hollywood Bowl gigs and other archive shows. They head off to prepare for a gig at The Cavern (where else), and the stage is set for the main event.

Back in 1992, Michael Head’s then band, Shack, which also featured his brother John Head, were struggling to release their newly recorded album, the now legendary Waterpistol, that had gone missing (Long and fascinating story – Google it). The album was finally recovered and released in 1995. In the meantime they found themselves on tour as the backing band for seminal Elektra artist Arthur Lee, basically re-creating his band, Love.  A dream project for the Head brothers who via their first incarnation, The Pale Fountains and then Shack, had channelled Love and proudly named them as their greatest influence. Michael Head’s current Red Elastic Band, who finally found much-deserved recognition with their Poll topping Dear Scott album last year, continue to use Love as a touchstone.

After being promised a spot at Food Aid with no middlemen grabbing the profits, the band devised the genius idea of once again becoming their heroes, just for one day, in the name of helping the community. What we witnessed was one of the finest hours of live music you could ever want.

Calling themselves A Scouse is not a Motel; we find Mick in the finest form he has ever been right now, with a voice so pure that it literally brings tears to your eyes. His delivery is completely heartfelt, even when singing someone else’s songs.

The posters and t-shirts would suggest that this would be a simple run of songs from Love’s classic Forever Changes from 1967, but what we experienced was a much more mixed bag. As Mick says, “We grew up on these albums,” so tracks from their lesser-known long players showed up in the mix, including “She comes in Colours” from 1966’s Da Capo.

Forever Changes is, without doubt, the moment that Love hit the mark creatively with a perfect collection of songs and of those performed today, “A House is not a Hotel” shines the brightest. The instrumentation is spot on, and Mick’s Liverpool accent just works, simple as, it just does. “Andmoreagain” from the same album is performed and “The Daily Planet,” both excellent.

Not content with just delivering the expected Love songs, Mick also gives some of his own work an outing, songs that have been inspired by Lee. “Meant to Be,” which is always a favourite in Mick’s shows, has never sounded better. Martin Smith’s trumpet gives The Red Elastic Band a signature sound and it’s never more obvious on this absolute Gem.

“Newby Street” is also given a much-welcome airing and provides an opportunity for the audience to really show their love; the place is bouncing.

Throughout the set, Mick is vocal about the reason they are playing the fundraiser and hammers home the fact that they are glad to be here, but they shouldn’t be here. “Streets of Kenny” from the 1999 album HMS Fable rings true as Mick goes back to days of trawling local streets for a fix but not having much luck. It is songs like this, along with “Lend some Dough” (not heard today), that make absolute sense of his presence here, real-life stories of desperate life on the streets with little or no hope of sunshine. Anyone who knows or has followed Mick throughout his career knows that he has not followed an easy path, so when he sings those words it’s not to sound cool, it’s all from the heart. That’s why we are all listening to every word today, every last one.

Mick ends the gig by giving a nod to The Beatles, who were onstage before them. “They’re going to the very top!”

At the sudden end of the set, a representative from Food Aid introduces a local man with his young daughter to the stage who tries to make sense of why he only has a bag of pasta and a tin of beans in his cupboard, yet he’s shelling out all his money on gas and electricity. It’s a heartbreaking moment, but hardly isolated.

In another room, we can hear the sound of a Queen tribute band, and as we leave, Crowded Scouse is setting up, the day is still young. Amidst the fun of the pretend pop stars, there is a real issue fighting to be heard, and the huge crowd that is gathered here today are testament to the comradeship of the city and the need to fight for a better existence.  The Red Elastic Band proved to be real heroes today, along with the event organisers and I heard that an equally wonderful set was performed in the evening. It’s days like this where music really does mean something, and we can believe change is possible.

Donations to The Florrie’s Food Aid campaign can be made here.