Top UK band slots Colombo gig in international tour

One of the world’s leading rock-and-roll bands, the UK-based Smokie, is coming to Colombo to give a show at Water’s Edge, on September 23 (Tuesday). The concert will be presented by Gold FM, the team that brought Cliff Richard down for the British pop idol’s first ever concert on Sri Lankan soil.

The five-man glam rock band, famed for such hits as “Living Next Door To Alice”, “Needles And Pins” and “Don’t Play Your Rock ’n’ Roll To Me”, has sold close to 30 million albums worldwide. Smokie’s Mike Craft, Mick McConnell, Terry Uttley, Steve Pinnell and Martin Bullard could claim to be some of the busiest musicians around, averaging over 200 sell-out concerts every year, across Britain, Europe, South Africa and Australia – no mean feat, considering the band first hit the charts over three decades ago, with “If You Think You Know How To Love Me”.

News of the upcoming Smokie concert will be music to the ears of local pop music fans, who do not often get a chance to hear and see their idols in real life action. And there is more good news: Gold FM is in the process of lining up more big names in entertainment for concerts here. Gold FM managing director Raynor Silva told The Sunday Times that he is in the final stages of negotiating for “a string of major acts”, and that he will be announcing names “in due course”.“We have been missing out on top-class entertainment for a long, long time,” Mr Silva said. “In fact, there has been a huge vacuum on that front, and I’m determined to do whatever it takes to rectify the situation. Now that we have found the right connections, my company is going flat out to bring down the kind of shows Sri Lankans love to attend – and can afford.”

Mr Silva’s “connection” is with international concert facilitator BM Entertainment, the people who made possible other hit shows in Sri Lanka featuring Sir Cliff, Lobo and the Vienna Boys Choir.