JETLINERS FAREWELL CONCERT: A memorable show

The much-hyped Original Jetliners Farewell Concert was held at the Musaeus College Auditorium recently amidst a packed audience of enthusiastic fans who came to listen, enjoy and relive the nostalgic era. The Jetliners opened the Concert with Indra Raj's reverberating guitar filling the hall with Quarter Master's Store, the legendary Apache and Wonderful land following up with a pulsating Rendition of ‘Shadoogie which set the pace for the superb music that was to follow.

David Roberts from UK took over with ‘Dynamite' amongst others, and an inviting “Do you wanna dance” and the audience loved it.

Conrad de Silva opened with a strong and punchy rendition of the Tom Jones favourite Help yourself, A man without Love, Release me and Quando Quando obvious favorites and the audience was fascinated.

The Jets ‘Cavatina' the beautiful theme from ‘The Deer Hunter' as arranged by Hank Marvin proved the versatility of this Guitar group and the lilting Lead Guitar of Indra Raj. Anton on Rhythm, Felix on Bass, and Harris on drums, with Guest Keyboardist Dushan Jayatilleke blended well.

Indra Raj then announced Mignonne to spontaneous applause and she came in with that smile that lights up any room! Dressed in black sequin splendour and ankle boots to match .Her song “Boots are made for Walking” created a good rapport with the audience, who were reliving the fun times of the Coconut Grove years,clapping and singing to the beat of her delightful “My Boy Lollipop”. A special dedication to her late Husband and Manager of The Jetliners Tony Fernando was her next Love and emotional “Hopelessly Devoted to you.” Getting back to the beat was easy with a soul version of ‘Spanish Harlem” Mignonne's vocals moved with the vocal harmonies from Amandi, Roshni and Donna of Soul Sounds taking this song to another level and kept the audience clapping to its rhythm.. ..

Conrad came back on stage with a great vocal “Thunder ball” from the James Bond Movie, .followed by “I'm coming home” where he shared his love for Sri Lanka with the audience. Mustang Sally rode everyone into the groove and David Roberts's ‘Move It” took the beat higher to complete the first half of the Concert.

The Original Jetliners opened the Second Half of the Concert with the Mark Knofler Piece “Going Home” and ‘Savage”. Conrad had the audience moving to the bright beat of “It's Not Unusual”, “Don't fight it” and the crowd loved his rendition of Delilah, where everyone joined in the chorus. A Soulful ‘Knock on Wood' kept them in the mood for “Summer Holiday” and the popular Cliff Richard hit “The Young Ones” sung by David.

The lights then turned a beautiful blue as Mignonne walked in dressed in an elegant Turquoise blue gown. There was a hush in the audience as the plaintive introduction of her song “Mangala Mohotha” began to enfold. She sang sweetly and innocently conveying the lyrics as they deserve to be sung with vocal harmonies. During the melody Mignonne said she wrote Mangala Mohotha in 1972 and asked the audience whether they still liked hearing it in 2013, and the crowd shouted ‘Yes' in enthusiastic response!.African beats and the Swahili song “Pata Pata” from her Coconut Grove rocked the audience and “The Locomotion” had the folks in the auditorium stomping and clapping.

The Guitars of The Jets took over and held sway for “Kontiki” and the melodious ‘Peace Pipe” .Conrad gave a memorable version of ‘The Green Green Grass of Home” and “My Girl 'Back on stage. Dave sang a selection of ‘60's favourites with Living Doll and the lilting Y'Arriva Aandalai captivated the audience. Felix's rocking version of “Hippy Hippy Shake” was followed by “We say Yeah” by Dave and The Jetliners to finish the evening's performance. It was long but well spent in that when the Jets bid ‘Adieu' to the audience with their ‘sign off 'Sequence,

the crowd shouted ‘More' repeat- edly. Vijaya Corea came in and asked them “Do you really want more?” and the rapturous shouts and applause that followed was all that was needed to bring the Jets back onstage this time with all the Artistes while Conrad sang the Beatles hit “I saw her standing there”.. More, More shouted the crowd and this time it was the lovely Mignonne who sang her exciting “Bombay Mere Hai” to an ecstatic crowd who clapped and sang bringing a night of nostalgia to a splendidly perfect finale. It was undoubt- edly an amazing and memorable farewell performance from The Original Jetliners with Special artistes Mignonne & Conrad & Guest Artiste David Roberts, Support Artiste Dushan Jayatilleke (Gypsies) on Keyboards.

Comments from the audience were excellent, amazing, stunning, fantastic, and many thanked Damayantha Kuruppu of DK Promotions for giving the fans an opportunity to see The Jetliners perform again after nine years. The wait was totally worth it. The excellent sound provided by Malinda Lowe and Lighting by Hussein enhanced the quality of the show.

In fact as the group took their bows, Vijaya Corea asked the audience “Would you like to see The Original Jetliners again onstage say in about 3 years?” The resounding “Yes!” from the audience was so loud that even The Jetliners themselves were amazed!

Now the question is “When will they be back?”