Perth Voice Interactive

UK 60s supergroup The Searchers are riding the nostalgia wagon back into town, for their Solid Gold Hits Tour.

They’ll roll out old favourites along with lesser known oldies such as What Have They Done to the Rain.

The 1962 anti-nuclear protest song is a timely choice with the Barnett government approving a uranium mine this week.

Hailing from Merseyside, The Searchers were at the epicentre of the 60s music and cultural revolution.

They had a string of hits including Love Potion Number 9, Sugar and Spice and Sweets for My Sweet, but despite being chart toppers were always in the shadow of the Beatles.

More than 50 years on the “boys” are still rocking, albeit with a couple of “newer” members, including the now chrome domed Spencer James who replaced founder Mike Penders in 1985: “Spencer was a chick magnet…a little lad with a mop of blond hair,” says Frank Allen, who joined the band in 1964, replacing Tony Jackson.

The Solid Gold Hits tour hits the Astor, in Mt Lawley, February 4.  Tix $79.90 at astortheatreperth.com/events

by JENNY D’ANGER