Vampires Rock: The Final Countdown Tour
Grand Opera House, October 23
Steve Steinman and cast surprised the audience this evening with an unexpected ending to their hit show. The majority of the audience had seen the show previously, although there were still some Vampires Rock virgins in the audience.
This was the fourth time I’d seen the show, and it was no less enjoyable. That said I still say my favourite performance was the year when Toyah was part of the cast and the band were local York lads.
The audience was on top form. You’d be forgiven for thinking you were at a pantomime the way some of them heckled the performers, but it was all taken in good spirits, Steve continually having witty comebacks for them.
As always the playlist was exceptional, and had some numbers I don’t recall hearing in previous shows. One of the highlights for me was the red haired dancer Anna Wilkinson who also did vocals; I was blown away by her voice, especially her version of China In His Hands.
Chloe Boss, one of the other dancers, opened the second half with a stunning aerial display on red cloth that was hanging from the ceiling.
How she does the splits mid air always amazes me, and leaves me feeling extremely old and past it! (Not that I ever could do the splits.)
Hayley Russell as Pandora tends to cover the Bonnie Tyler numbers and has a real chemistry on stage with Steve.
John Evans, as Bossley, never fails to bring humour to his performance, and this year seemed to have even more sexual innuendo than ever.
His drunken character uses a variety of accessories from bottles to a hammer to show the audience how he’s feeling.
Steve is the star of the show, the producer, director, writer etc. He manages to take everyone’s favourite rock anthems and weave them into a highly humorous story, even using song lyrics as conversation in some scenes, which I am pretty certain were written for the sole purpose of getting the audience to grown at the cheesiness of it all.
The whole cast look like they’re absolutely loving what they do.
We enjoyed everything from Queen to Meatloaf including; We Will Rock You, Bat Out of Hell, Highway to Hell, Since You’ve Been Gone, Sweet Child Of Mine, Total Eclipse of the Heart, Devil Gate Drive, I Love Rock n Roll, Poison and many more!
The show ended very differently to previous performances, and that’s because it’s the end of an era.
Next year Steve and cast will be back with a new story, although he promises it will be just as cheesy, and the latter part of the show introduced you to the new set and story, which continues from where the old one ended.
For pretty much the entire second half the majority of the packed theatre were on their feet, clapping away and moving to some great anthems.
Steve actively encouraged the audience to join in several songs, and it created a really buzzing atmosphere. I have to say the audiences at Steve’s shows are often the most enthusiastic of all the shows I have seen.
Whilst a lot of the show is adult material, it’s still a show that you can take your kids to if they enjoy great rock music.
It’s a feelgood experience that will have you singing along at the top of your voice when you’re not crying with laughter, and you’ll be buzzing when you leave the theatre and talking about the show all the way home.
Steve returns to York next year with both his Meatloaf story, and the new Ghost Train version of Vampires Rock. Needless to say I’ll be getting tickets for both.