Ronnie Charles
Celebrating the Songs of
The Loved Ones
The Gov, Friday 31^st January 2020

(Reviewed by John Glennie)

A well-organised evening with some Aussie music legends. Prior to the show commencement we were treated to memorable videos from the 60s which included theme songs from TV shows such as F-Troop, Get Smart and H R Pufnstuf.

Former DJ John ‘Pembo’ Pemberton introduced the support act Mike Rudd who did a solo acoustic set, kicking off with the first song he wrote for Spectrum in 1971 ‘I’ll Be Gone’ – we speculated that he played it first so everyone would remember who he was! Next was an Ariel track ‘Jamaican Farewell’ then Superbody from Spectrum’s Part Onealbum. I wasn’t familiar with some of the songs – unless it was the acoustic version that threw me – such as ‘San Andreas’ and ‘I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now’ before finishing the set with ‘It’s A Lottery’. Overall it was an amazing start to a great evening.

During the break Pembo interviewed original member of The Loved Ones, Treva Richards, the South Australian Music Hall Of Fame’s latest inductee. Pembo quizzed Treva about other members of the band with whom Treva had lost touch. The big surprises came when Pembo had Kim Lynch on air, followed be Gavin Anderson on Skype from New York, then Gerry Humphries on video from Melbourne. Each had some humorous stories about “T Richards”.

Pembo then introduced Ronnie Charles, the voice of chart-topping Melbourne 60’s band The Groop and personal friend of original Loved Ones’ singer Gerry Humphries. He started the set with the title song from The Loved Ones Magic Box album (their only one). Ronnie first burst onto the 60’s mod scene with hits such as ‘Woman You’re Breaking Me’, ‘Sorry’ and ‘Such a Lovely Way’ which he performed for the appreciative audience (the latter in the encore). After a great version of Bo Didley’s ‘Bring It On Home To Me’ the crowd went nuts to ‘The Loved One’.

The set included some excellent covers including ‘Blueberry Hill’ (which is on the Magic Box album), ‘Not Fade Away’ and Buddy Holly’s ‘Rave On’. The encore saw Treva Richards joining the band on keyboards which took us back to Magic Box classics ‘Everlovin’ Man’ and ‘Sad Dark Eyes’.

Overall an excellent concert with a very happy crowd providing only positive comments on the way out.