World's Biggest Selling Comedy Group Comes to The Kenton
World's Biggest Selling Comedy Group Comes to The KentonNo other group in the world has sold more comedy records than the now legendary Barron Knights - known simply to their peers as 'The Guv'nors.' Famed for their stunning harmonies and hilarious spoofs of the biggest names in rock, they take to the stage at The Kenton on Saturday 27th February with their 50th Anniversary Show.
Founder member, Pete Langford, describes the show as 'the soundtrack of our lives.' The band started out as a close harmonies group touring with the likes of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. But they hit the big time in 1964 when Langford's song Call Up the Groups - spoofing many of the biggest bands of the time and racking up 17 copyright infringements(!) - became an overnight hit selling a quarter of a million singles in two weeks. As the late and great Ian Dury once said, "No group has made it until the Barron Knights have spoofed them."
Over 30 world tours and 11 million record sales later, fans will find the Barron Knights' show as fresh as ever. "You have to keep standards high," says Langford, "And keep updating your show to give your audience a new experience each and every time."
The show pays homage to the band's early days with two medleys of hits - one from the '60s and one from the '70s - including a three part harmony of The Beatles' Blackbird and Frankie Valli's My Eyes Adored You - plus the prerequisite performances of the William Tell Overture and flamenco number, Malaguena which also feature on their 50th Anniversary CD.
The evening is sure to abound with lots of laughter too with comedy numbers like Long Ago Outside a Chip Shop in Walthamstow; There's a Dentist in Birmingham; Heaving on a Jet Plane; and Birth Control to Ginger Tom - with absolutely no apologies at all to Brotherhood of Man, Boney M, John Denver or David Bowie.
And a Barron Knights show wouldn't be complete without a large dose of showbiz anecdotes too as there's not many places they haven't played or stars they haven't met. After all, this is the group that inspired Bill Wyman to get a guitar - and introduced a young Elton John, then their session pianist and still called Reg Dwight, to Lennon and McCartney when they interrupted the Knights' recording session at Abbey Road to play them a new song they'd just written and ask for the Knights' opinion - a little number called 'Hey Jude.'
The band has compiled a celebratory 50th Anniversary CD comprising 24 tracks of both old and new songs and fans that buy a copy at one of their tour concerts will also get a free CD of 12 more musical tracks. More details of the CD and their tour can be found at www.barronknights.com
Tickets are just £17 for a rib-tickling blast of an evening at 7.30pm on Saturday 27th February.