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Review: The Osmonds
March 08, 2006
BBC
Mark Murphy

LISTEN: Osmonds backstage at the Ipswich Regent
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GALLERY: The Osmonds

We were all a little bit older, heavier and greyer but that didn't stop hundreds of us reliving our teenage years as The Osmonds tour rolled into Suffolk. There was no Donny or Marie, but that didn't deter nearly 2000 fans packing into the venue. It was with some trepidation that I approached the Regent Theatre through the rain sodden Ipswich streets. Would I be the only bloke?

I don't remember too many of my school chums having Donny Osmond posters on their bedroom walls!  I needn't have worried as I entered the foyer as I spied a few other men standing at the bar.  They looked as relieved to see me as I was to see them.  Mind you we were outnumbered by about 200 to 1!

As soon as the band took to the stage the audience, both male and female, were shouting and screaming their heads off.  It was as if the last thirty-odd years had been wiped away.  Mind you Little Jimmy, Merrill, Jay and Wayne also looked a bit older, but they instantly had the audience on their feet.

One thing that hadn't changed was the Osmonds' smiles.  It was as wide as the Regent stage and those teeth as bright as the spotlights!  The hits came thick and fast - Crazy Horses, Let Me in, The Proud One and many others equally familiar.  There was a massive reception for not-so-little Jimmy Osmond's version of Long Haired Lover From Liverpool and there's no doubting the brothers know their stuff.

Thoroughly professional from start to finish they gave the crowd exactly what they wanted - pure nostalgia. Jimmy summed it up nicely when he said "Who'd enjoying being a teenager again"? And the whole crowd (me included) shouted back "I am!"

The only down-side was the poor sound.  In the circle in particular you struggled at times to get the full Osmonds experience. Whether that was down to poor equipment or bad acoustics I don't know but it's not the first time I've heard that grumble.