Review of The Overtones at Cazfest

Jul 3, 2011 by Kay    No Comments    Posted under: News, Reviews

“I’ve had two marriage proposals and half a pint of warm lager thrown at me in the last half hour,” announced Lachie from the stage of Cazfest yesterday, which pretty much summed up the loving atmosphere and the weather at this fast-growing annual music festival in memory of 17 year old Caroline (Caz) Johnstone.

Caz, a Bishop’s Stortford A Level student, died three years ago after collapsing on a night out with friends. She had an undiagnosed heart condition and her family (dad Johnny, mum Lesley and brother Ross) established Cazfest to raise awareness of heart risk in the young and to finance heart screening of sixth form students, initially in Bishop’s Stortford and, in time, in other parts of Hertfordshire and Essex. This was the third, and biggest, Cazfest to date, featuring not only The Overtones, but also S Club and the Sugababes.

The Overtones came on stage at 9.15pm, to an audience warmed up by S Club (3) and Ed Devett, a Bishop’s Stortford born and bred singer/songwriter who writes for The Wanted, and does an excellent set (support act sometime for the ‘Tones?). The guys opened the set with Sh-Boom, followed swiftly by their version of The Beatles’ “We Can Work It Out”, both of which were met with wild applause and screams from the crowd.

Every ‘Tone looked snazzy as always: Lachie looking tweedy wearing what looked like the” Cosmo tie” [hang on, let me check], YES, “the Cosmo tie” [one more check in Cosmo...yes, definitely that HUGE tie from the naked Cosmo shoot....stop looking, stop looking]; Mark in smart grey suit; Timmy in blue suit with crisp white shirt and red tie; Mike in red trousers, open necked shirt and cravat; and Darren looking adorable in dark suit, white shirt and crisply tied bowtie. [no other Cosmo shoot accoutrements on show...I’ve checked carefully]

Feedback issues caused some problems, with the guys being told the microphones were too close… so Lachie and Darren marched to opposite sides of the stage, communicating only with smiles and waves as they went into the next song. Chatting later with Mike, he said they arrived to be told the sound system could not cope with the guys’ earpieces so they were back to using the wedge speakers at the front of the stage, which meant they couldn’t hear themselves sing and had to rely entirely on whether it ‘felt’ in tune!

The set list included Beggin’, and Only Girl in the World, the latter getting the audience making little hearts with their hands, which were copied and reciprocated by Lachie. There were a couple of acapella numbers too [oh, for a notebook and not having to lift Mini-Tones up to see the stage]. And, of course, the final song was Gambling Man, with a good plug for the single release next week and plenty of GMTs!

It was a mixed-age audience, from tiny babes in arms to teens and students to parents and grandparents, but everyone bopped and sang along and the final applause was deafening. The Mini-Toners I took had a great time, it was a fabulous and friendly atmosphere and a joy to see The Overtones wowing another crowd. A great show, despite the feedback problems, and for an exceptionally worthy cause.

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