The show at Thornbury Theatre on Saturday May 11, 2019 began with Chris Stockley & his band followed by Madder Lake, who are often in shows with Spectrum but have always played after Spectrum.

The Madders make performance seem so easy & did this again on Saturday. Mike sang with them at the end of their set before Michael, the Madders frontman acknowledged Mike’s achievements announcing Cheers to Mike before they left the stage for the main act for the night.

50 years is a significant milestone. Mike noted when he & Bill Putt (his long term-musical partner & original Spectrum bass-player who died a few years ago) got to band No.9 Spectrum was still never far away …

On Saturday night the band was strong, exuding lots of energy; the air of celebration apparent. They delivered a retrospective of Mike’s catalogue over the years. Brenden Mason (from Madder Lake & now also the newest member of Spectrum) brings out the best in Mike; at times his sense of fun counter Mike’s serious moments.

Daryl Roberts; Brenden Mason; Robbo Robertson; Mike Rudd; Broc O’Connor

Glyn Mason joined the band on stage to highlight the time he was with Mike in Ariel (Ariel MkIII). These two had first been in bands sharing a bill at a gig in the Hutt Valley (in NZ) circa mid-1966 when Mike was in the Chants R&B (in Wellington for a few days to do some recording) in the days Glyn was in the Roadrunners.

Glyn delivered several songs he had sung in this Ariel era like Not Fade Away & It’s Only Love before pausing to speak to the audience to acknowledge Mike’s impressive body of work through Spectrum, Indelible Murtceps & his other bands.

The show ended with I’ll Be Gone (with Chris Stockley also in the band playing mandolin at that point) then on into the song about that naughty Esmeralda.

There is a second celebration of Spectrum’s 50 years at Caravan on Sunday May 26. If you missed the Thornbury Theatre show there were still tickets available at Caravan for the show on the 26th.