As concertgoers escape the chill on this cold November 17, 2016 evening and make their way inside the warm and inviting Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ, they express their excitement about the concert they are about to experience. Starring 60’s music icons The Buckinghams and Herman’s Hermits, fans from up and down the East Coast are thrilled to be at BergenPAC tonight to enjoy this sensational pairing of pop music legends.
Stephanie, for instance, has traveled all the way from Virginia “to see Peter Noone and Herman’s Hermits.” She describes herself as “a fan from the beginning” — since 1965, in fact — and is proud to be a member of a devoted group of Noone fans who call themselves The Noonatics. In total, Stephanie has seen Noone and Herman’s Hermits perform live 200 times! In fact, she reveals that after tonight’s performance, she’s headed to their next show in Massachusetts, then off to Alexandria, VA, followed by Atlantic City, NJ, and Annapolis, MD — not to mention two upcoming Christmas shows in Fort Pierce, FL and Jim Thorpe, PA!
Another member of the Noonatics is Joanne from Montvale, NJ who tells us, “Peter Noone is an awesome entertainer. People who have never seen him before always laugh hysterically saying, ‘I can’t believe how good this guy is!’”
A third member of the group, Barbara from Easton, PA, jokingly says she’s here tonight only “because my husband wanted to come.” Barbara’s been a fan of Noone and the Hermits since she was a kid, but never had an opportunity to see them perform live when she was young because, as she explains, “I didn’t have my parents’ permission.”
As the houselights dim inside the main auditorium at BergenPAC, The Buckinghams — Bruce Soboroff on keyboards, Dave Zane on guitar, Bruce (Rocky) Penn on drums, Carl Giammarese on lead vocals and guitar, and Nick Fortuna on bass — hit the stage running with a lively version of their 1967 Top Ten hit, “Don’t You Care.” As Carl’s smooth vocals take up the lead, the band — complete with a pumping three-piece horn section — mightily backs him up.
Moving on to some rockin’ soul, The Bucks perform a stirring version of their 1967 Top 5 hit, “Mercy Mercy Mercy” as members of the crowd tap their toes and groove to the beat in their seats.
The Buckingham’s co-founder Carl Giammarese welcomes the crowd saying, “This is a great theater! We are Herman’s Hermits! NO… we’re The Buckinghams. It’s great to be here in Englewood, NJ.”
Revealing to the audience that The Buckinghams just celebrated their 5oth anniversary as a band, Giammarese and the boys launch into a blue-eyed soul interpretation of the James Brown classic, “I’ll Go Crazy.” On this tune, the boys happily “live for themselves and nobody else” as guitarist Dave Zane rocks out with a wild ‘n crazy electric guitar solo.
Performing a dynamic cover version of the American Breed’s 1968 hit, “Bend Me, Shape Me,” The Buckinghams physically and emotionally move this Jersey crowd, which spontaneously reacts with enthusiastic cheers and applause.
After telling the audience about the time they appeared on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour TV show, Giammarese and The Buckinghams perform their 1967 hit, “Hey Baby (They’re Playing our Song),” as several concert-goers dance in the aisles.
“In January, 1967, we had a #1 song,” says Giammarese. “It was called ‘Kind of a Drag,’ but we’re not gonna do that for you now.”
As the crowd sighs, Giammarese adds, “Back in Chicago, when we started recording with this group, we didn’t realize we were creating a new direction for pop music featuring a pop/rock horn sound” — a sound which was admired and soon expanded on by another local group of musicians.
At this point, Giammarese and The Buckinghams perform a tribute medley of songs by the group whose sound they helped to shape — Chicago — including electrifying interpretations of “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” and “Make Me Smile.” After giving credit to the Jersey-based horn section backing them up tonight, the audience excitedly cheers.
“Do we have any Susans in the audience?” asks Giammarese, and dedicates The Buckinghams’ 1968 hit, “Susan,” to them, his white Telecaster gleaming in the spotlight.
Long-time Bucks member and bassist, Nick Fortuna, takes the microphone asking, “How you all doin’? Peter Noone told me backstage to ‘play something fast and danceable,’ so that’s what I’m gonna do.” With this, Fortuna launches into a knock-your-socks-off rendition of the 1967 Gamble and Huff-penned Survivors’ hit “Expressway to Your Heart.”
Following tremendous applause, Giammarese replies, “It’s so nice to be here in NJ,” adding, “We’re so blessed to have a great audience. Thank you all very much.”
At this point, Carl introduces the band’s final song for the evening explaining, “It knocked the Monkees’ ‘I’m A Believer’ off the #1 slot,” wryly adding, “the Rolling Stones later knocked us off, but we won’t talk about that.”
Launching into a riveting version of their 1966 #1 hit, “Kind of a Drag,” The Buckinghams leave this elated Jersey audience standing on its feet.
“Thank you very much, New Jersey! You’ve been a great audience,” exclaims Carl as the crowd stands and cheers.
During intermission, we have a moment to talk with several members of the audience including Nancy from Wycoff, who describes herself as “a teenager in Chicago in the mid-1960s, but now a Jersey girl.” About the performance she just experienced, Nancy proclaims, “The Buckinghams’ show was awesome,” to which her husband, Jim, emphatically adds, “They do Chicago as well as Chicago!”
Their friends, Jeff and Susan, a couple from Englewood, reportedly have been fans of Herman’s Hermits, “for 45 years!” They also love to listen to the Hermits’ frontman Peter Noone when he does his weekly Sirius FM Radio program, “Something Good With Peter Noone,” airing every Saturday evening on the East Coast from 5 to 8pm.
As flags and glow sticks wave throughout the theater, Peter Noone and the other members of Herman’s Hermits — Vance Brescia and Billy Sullivan on guitars, Rich Spina on keyboards/bass, and Dave Ferrara on drums — take the stage to wild applause singing their 1964 Gerry Goffin-Carole King-penned Top 20 hit, “Something Tells Me I’m Into Something Good.”
As the crowd joyfully claps along, Noone and the group segue into their 1965 #4 hit — a remake of Sam Cooke’s 1960 tune — “Wonderful World,” after which Peter Noone greets the audience with a cheerful, “Good evening, ladies and gents!”
Moving on to a rockin’ cover version of the Clovers’ 1959 Leiber/Stoller hit, “Love Potion №9,” the audience sings along. They follow that tune up with their own 1966 Top Ten hit, “A Must to Avoid,” Noone crooning, “When you stare into her pretty blue eyes/There’s no way to see through her disguise/But don’t try to love her ’cause you’ll quickly discover/You’re trapped in the web of her lies.”
“I love my songs!” exclaims Noone as he and the band bring broad smiles to the sea of faces in the crowd when they entertain them with a jaunty version of Herman’s Hermits’ 1966 Top 5 hit, “Dandy.”
“When we were lads,” explains Noone in his appealing British accent, “we dreamed of playing here in Englewood, NJ.” Going on to reveal, “We’ve done 138 concerts with The Buckinghams this year,” Noone jokingly adds, “and after the show, we’ll be selling 8-track tapes and cassettes out in the lobby.”
The audience sings along again as Noone performs a boot-scootin’ tongue-in-cheek version of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”
“Let’s do some Monkees now!” exclaims Noone, as he and the Hermits perform “Daydream Believer,” Peter running out into the audience to get closer to his fans much to the delight of Noonatics’ Stephanie, Joanne, and Barbara.
“Happy Birthday, Peter!” yells out another fan from the back of the auditorium, to which Noone quizzically replies, “What year?”
As the audience giggles, yet another fan shouts, “We love you!”
Telling a story about appearing on TV’s The Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960s and calling the host “Mr. Ed,” Noone explains that at the time, he had no idea there was another show on television featuring a horse with big teeth that happened to share that same name.
Following animated applause, Noone says, “Nick from The Buckinghams told me backstage that there are many performers from England named after Englewood, NJ… like Englewood Humperdinck.”
Quickly moving on to a rollicking version of Frankie Ford’s 1959 hit, “Sea Cruise,” the audience sings and dances in the aisles while Noone and the Hermits’ keyboardist Rich Spina have a blast onstage.
“Tonight I have a surprise!” exclaims Peter. “It’s a brand new song I wrote especially for the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ.”
Going on to reveal, “It’s so new I have the words written down,” Noone rips his set list off the floor and attaches it to his microphone stand. Then, grabbing his guitar, he launches into a updated version of the classic Herman’s Hermits’ tune, “Travelin’ Light,” crooning, “Travelin’ light, travelin’ light/I’m at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ tonight.”
With his guitar still in hand, Noone performs his 1967 hit, “No Milk Today,” and then talks about his “favorite Herman’s Hermits song” which, he says, “was #1 for 16 weeks… in the Philippines.” Dedicated to “all the fans who have followed us since the beginning — over 20 years,” he jokes, Noone thrills the crowd with a poignant version of 1965’s “End of the World.”
Next up is a boisterous rendition of Freddie and the Dreamers’ 1965 chart-topper, “I’m Telling You Now,” followed by their own rockin’ hit from the same year, “Just a Little Bit Better,” featuring high-kicks by fellow band members Vance Brescia and Billy Sullivan on guitars.
Glow sticks and arms swaying in the audience, Noone and the band perform their 1965 Top 5 remake of The Rays’ hit, “Silhouettes,” and follow that up with their 1966 #3 smash, “Listen People,” it’s “Everybody’s got to love somebody sometime,” message clearly resonating with both the Noonatics and the rest of the massive crowd.
“Let’s hear it for The Buckinghams!” exclaims Noone. “We never thought we’d all be here at BergenPAC…” to which an audience member happily shrieks, “But you are here!” At this point, Noone performs a unique cover version of Gerry & The Pacemakers’ 1964 hit, “Ferry Cross the Mercy,” in which he purposely changes the lyrics to “Ferry Cross New Jersey.”
After a rambunctious version of the Jeff Barry/Ellie Greenwich-penned “Do Wah Diddy Diddy,” Noone suggests that doing concerts on the road “used to be all about sex, drugs, and rock and roll, but now,” he jokes, “The Buckinghams are probably upstairs in their room crocheting.” Then, he moves on to an outrageous version of The Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” — strutting around the stage imitating the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger — and he follows that up with a bouncy rendition of the Hermits’ 1965 #2 hit, “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat?”
The entire audience sings along on the group’s 1965 #1 smash, “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter,” and then is up singing and dancing to another 1965 Herman’s Hermits’ #1 hit — at the time, the fastest-rising chart-topper in history — “I’m Henry VIII, I Am.”
With the crowd on its feet, Noone stops to take a selfie with the entire BergenPAC audience behind him, the Noonatics smiling their approval.
To conclude the evening’s festivities, Noone and the Hermits entertain the packed house with their final number, a nostalgic rendition of their 1967 #4 hit, “There’s a Kind of Hush.”
As audience members stand and sway, their arms and hands waving a happy goodnight, Peter Noone takes one last bow to end this magical evening of music featuring Herman’s Hermits and The Buckinghams LIVE at BergenPAC!
For more information on The Buckinghams, please go to www.thebuckinghams.com. To find out more about Peter Noone and Herman’s Hermits, please check out peternoone.com. For information on more great upcoming events at BergenPAC — including Donovan on November 30, 2016 and Darlene Love on February 11, 2017 — please go to www.bergenpac.org
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