Tickets provided for review.

That’ll Be The Day is a nostalgic trip down memory lane for those who remember the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s rock music and a learning opportunity for those who don’t.

Ultimately, this is a fun show to watch to learn or reminisce on the ‘days gone by’ bringing the history alive in a comedic and entertaining way.

The crowds gathered at De Montfort Hall as That’ll Be The Day has returned and it’s clear that the audiences love to catch this show that changes its content year in year out but keeps the same formula its fans love so much.

“I’ve been coming for 30 years” exclaimed one theatre goer. “How’s your daughter?” asks another. “You need to sing Pretty Woman soon Gary else you’ll never get the chance!”. It’s clear that audience absolutely adore this show and the cast members, particularly frontmen Gary Anderson and Trevor Payne.

With various skits, such as BBC Proms, and impressions of the likes of Bruce Forsyth and Mick Jagger, audiences were in fits of hysterics. Though, many of these jokes went over my head (blame youth!). The audience were howling with laughter at the Mick Jagger rendition of Sound of Musics’ ‘Favourite Things‘ which had nods to ageing gracefully and not taking yourself too seriously – even if ‘the bones creak and things sag!’. I found the Mick Jagger jokes went on for far too long though, and especially the parenting jabs. I was much more entertained by the musical numbers.

The show had brilliant learning opportunities, I was fascinated to learn about 2i’s coffee bar in Soho, known as the birthplace of British Rock’n’Roll and can’t help but think that business model would be fabulous today. It was great how they brought the coffee shop to life with the production playing a jukebox whilst the cast performed the hits.

I also enjoyed that costume changes and changes in eras were complemented with the visuals showing adverts, such as cleaning products (even back then they were finding ways to make the packaging more economical!) and the Ford Capri advert.

The 70s and 80s were the highlight for me personally. But the overall performances which I enjoyed most were ‘California Girls‘ (no, not the Katy Perry version!), ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)‘, ‘Running Bear‘, ‘Killin Me Softly‘, and ‘River Deep, Mountain High‘. Another massive highlight was the drum battle which was phenomenal.

After the production, leading men Trevor Payne and Gary Anderson meet their fans in the foyer ‘as we always do’ chatting with fans, collecting for charity, which they’ve stated they’ve raised over 1 million pounds so far and signing programmes and taking photos.

Singing and dancing along is encouraged throughout and plenty of people took that opportunity to do so. Although this one wasn’t my favourite, it very much was to its target audience and I can 100% appreciate that!

If you missed That’ll Be The Day this time, then That’ll Be The Day Christmas Show returns to De Montfort Hall on November 24th, 2023 with tickets starting at £20. Tickets and further information is available on De Montfort Hall.

---

De Montfort Hall 21 APR 2023
Running Time: 3 hours 20 minutes plus a 20 minute interval
Age Recommendation: 12+. Contains adult humour.