Original Idols

“Smells Like Teen Idol”

THE ORIGINAL IDOLS LIVE!

BAY CITY ROLLERS, LEIF GARRETT, THE COWSILLS, BO DONALDSON & THE HEYWOODS, BARRY WILLIAMS

New Year’s Eve at the Flamingo Hotel Showroom, Las Vegas

Heartthrobs still rocking after all these years


December 15, 2006

If you were a teen aged girl between the years 1968-78, chances are good you were a fan of one of the acts appearing with the latest retro concert package to hit the global trail. The Original Idols Live! featuring the Bay City Rollers, Leif Garrett, The Cowsills, Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods and emcee Barry Williams (aka Greg Brady).

The lineup will bring their 90-minute hit filled performance on New Year’s Eve to the Flamingo showroom in Las Vegas. It is a convergence that all involved say is intended to be fun and cathartic at the same time. “The one thing that has never gone away over the years is the love of the music,” says Ian Mitchell of the Rollers, “silly as it seems, sharing these songs with the world really does affect you in a positive way. How can you not feel better when you look out and see so many dancing and singing along?”

And there will be plenty to join in on. The set list features over 25 Top-40 hits including Top 10 smashes; "Saturday Night", "Money Honey" and "You Made Me Believe In Magic" from the Bay City Rollers, Garrett's "I Was Made For Dancing", The Cowsill's "The Rain The Park And Other Things (The Flower Girl)", "Indian Lake" and "Hair" and the 1974 chart topper, "Billy, Don't Be A Hero" from Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods. Audience members will even be taught to "dance like a real Brady" by Williams who will sing songs from the hit TV show, “The Brady Bunch.”

For Garrett, it will be a return to the music that put him on the teen idol map in the mid-70's. It will be the first time he's performed those songs in over a quarter century, “I’ve completely stayed clear of this material (his teen idol hits) for a reason. I always felt like

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it was a reminder of a person I used to be and not at all who I am today. Now, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking and I’ve realized that people know me because of that period and those songs and that those memories for them, are good ones. So, why not enjoy it with them? I just feel the time is right for this. So, instead of running away from it, I’m gonna give that music a big huge hug and have a laugh singing it all again. Why not? This will be fun for us all.”

As for The Cowsills, the singing Rhode Island family that made it's debut on The Ed Sullivan show in 1967 and was the real life inspiration for The Partridge Family, it will be a return to the stage together for the first time since the death of Barry and Bill Cowsill within a month of each other in early 2006. Brothers Bob and Paul and sister Susan are looking forward to seeing their fans on the road. "Losing those two was tough especially considering how Barry left us (Hurricane Katrina victim) says Bob Cowsill, but, this is profound to us and I'm just real grateful to this group of people (The Original Idols artists) they are all fantastic to work with. It will be great, on the 40th anniversary of our group forming, to see all the fans again. It really is like a return to our roots with us doing all our hits and in a way, it's even cooler cause now we can actually spend some time with the fans at the show. Hey, bring the family, because we are!"

The glue that binds the Original Idols Live! is the massive teen hysteria that was created by all of the acts on the bill at their peak. All, without exception, were featured prominently on the pages and covers of magazines like Tiger Beat and ’16. “This show is kinda like a teen idol history lesson in one night” laughs Mitchell, “those were crazy times and believe me, you haven’t heard anything like the sound of 50,000 teenaged girls screaming at once. To live through that for all of us was unbelievable.” Those girls are all grown up now, many with teenagers of their own and this tour promises to take them back to a seemingly simpler time with memories of kissable pin-up photos on bedroom walls, sleep-over parties and the songs they listened to and sang along with over and over again on the radio.

With a lineup that has sold over 200 million records worldwide, there will be plenty of opportunity to do it all over again with the Original Idols Live! (END)

The Original Idols Live!
9:00 pm
Flamingo Hotel & Casino Showroom
Las Vegas
Sunday December 31, 2006

www.showtickets.com
www.myspace.com/originalidols


CONTACT: originalidols@aol.com
- Las Vegas Review Journal

Original Idols impress fairgoers

By Jim Harrington, STAFF WRITER
06/23/2007

The bread and butter of just about any county fair's musical lineup is oldies music, performed by former chart-toppers who count on nostalgia to put people in the seats.

Well, Friday night at the 2007 Alameda County Fair was just like that — only on steroids.

On opening night at the fairgrounds in Pleasanton, locals were treated to a curiosity named "Original Idols Live!" This tour — named in a way that cleverly links it to the popular "American Idol" TV program — featured a plethora of formerly famous acts, including the Bay City Rollers.

And the most curious thing about the show, at least for this music critic, was how enjoyable it was.

The gig opened with a short performance by Barry Williams, who is better known as Greg Brady from the family TV program "The Brady Bunch." The former child star, now — amazingly — 52, surprised everyone when he sang a personalized version of Eminem's classic hip-hop number "The Real Slim Shady."

Greg Brady covers Marshall Mathers? OK, now we've seen everything.

After that hilarious bit, Williams served as the concert's emcee and introduced Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods. That band sounded fairly strong as it ran through a brief set that included the 1974 anti-war hit "Billy Don't Be a Hero."

Utilizing the same backing band, which remained a constant throughout the night, the Cowsills next took the stage and gave the crowd plenty of sugary bubblegum pop to chew on. The family band — reportedly the inspiration for TV's "Partridge Family" — did its finest work with the sweet mid-'60s anthem "The Rain, the Park and the Other Things."

Leif Garrett, 45, followed and it initially looked like we were in for a train wreck. That would've made sense, given that Garrett doesn't have much to offer in terms of original songs. His early hits were cover tunes and he was famous mostly for being famous. In other words, he was the Paris Hilton of his day.

Yet, Garrett would pull things together by the end of the set and invited crowd members onstage for a fun version of the disco number "I Was Made for Dancin."'

The Bay City Rollers. The Scottish pop band fronted by original member Ian Mitchell warranted the headlining spot due to its huge popularity in the '70s (which some likened to Beatlemania). and they delivered versions of great tunes like "Money Honey" and "I Only Want To Be With You".

The show ended strong with a rowdy group sing-along on the Rollers' number-one smash, "Saturday Night."

In all, these "Original Idols" surpassed anything you're likely to hear on "American Idol." Indeed, Simon Cowell would've approved.



- Tri Valley Times