On Sunday 30th October 2022, Scottish duo The Proclaimers literally took the 500-mile journey down south to perform live at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this band, given their age, and especially when they were playing in a theatre that usually hosts plays, ballets and musicals such as We Will Rock You and The Lion King.
Thankfully they exceeded all my expectations and put on a spectacular show with songs from the 80s, 90s, 00s, 2010s and even new material, making it fun for all generations.
My story of how I discovered The Proclaimers was not the conventional way. I think the first time I heard them was in the film Shrek, which played I’m On My Way as Shrek and Donkey were travelling to rescue Princess Fiona.
Then in 2007, I watched the iconic Peter Kay and Matt Lucas performance of I’m Gonna Be (500 miles) for Comic Relief, in which Peter Kay and Andy from Little Britain sit in wheelchairs singing “I will roll 500 miles”.
This is where I first knew the song and even until this day, every time I hear the original, I still sing in my head (and sometimes out loud) Peter and Matt’s comical bits.
Fast forward a few years, I saw the film Sunshine on Leith, a fictional musical drama set in Scotland about two friends returning from duty in Afghanistan and The Proclaimers’ songs are the soundtrack to the film.
I have since listened to their music via Amazon Music and grown to love their sound, words and melody and was keen to find out if they sounded just as good live – and they didn’t disappoint.
For two brothers in their 60s who have been doing this for almost 40 years, Craig and Charlie Reid have not lost their style or talent. Their vocals were still impeccable and the music played by themselves and their band sounded outstanding.
The band entered the stage to Gudbuy T’ Jane by Slade, which I thought was very cool then The Proclaimers opened with a new track Dentures Out. I thought it was brave of them to start with a new song but it sounded very good, still in their unique style and almost sounded like we had already known it for years.
They played a few more new songs throughout the show from their new album, also titled Dentures Out. Unfortunately, I’ve not been able to access the exact setlist for the Southampton gig, but generic setlists say other tracks performed off their new album included Draw Another Line and Drop Dead Destiny.
As for the rest of the gig, they played almost all their greatest hits including Over and Done With, Let’s Get Married, Cap in Hand, Letter From America, Life With You, Sunshine on Leith, I’m On My Way and many more.
Every song was performed remarkably with love, emotion and power. I’ve also never been to a gig where we clapped along to almost every song as much as this crowd did.
The surprise of the night was that The Proclaimers played I’m Gonna Be (500 miles) before the encore. I initially assumed they’d close with it but it made sense to do it then as they get to enjoy our enthusiastic cheers before coming back on for two final songs.
I think the pernotamet track – Make My Heart Fly – worked well as a metaphor to say “the gig is not over yet so please stay a bit longer”.
The Proclaimers closed with The Joyful Kilmarnock Blues. It was an epic ending and I was amazed the brothers could still hold those long backing vocal notes. Plus, the drummer did an exceptionally extended solo, which had to crowd clapping and headbanging profusely until the final chord.
A magnificent show performed by two of Scotland’s most talented and artistic musicians of the past four decades.
I also want to give a mention to The Proclaimers’ support act John Bramwell. He is a singer-songwriter whom I can describe as having vocals like Jake Bugg, humour like Bill Bailey and looks like Billy Connolly. Hw performed beautiful music and amusing jokes.
