The Zombies’ comeback showed that 77-year-olds can be musically timeless but mentally rusty. The five Zombies, including two original members, played accurately and stylishly, they were enthusiastic and conscientious. Keyboard player Rod Argent and frontman Colin Blunstone sang their whimsical parts with devotion. In the nearly two-hour performance in the Concertgebouw, they zigzagged through their careers, played old and recent work, and did their songs justice.
The English Zombies made only two albums in their first period (1961-1968). At the time, they developed from a beat group with a few hits (‘She’s Not There’, ‘Tell Her No’) to an experimental company, with meandering compositions and a chirping sound on a beautiful album. Odessey & Oracle. The five songs from this period, such as ‘A Rose For Emily’ and ‘Time Of The Season’, were the highlight of the performance. But it was precisely the alternation with older, rudimentary beat songs that was successful, and the new ‘Different Game’ also had that special Zombie quality: songwriters Argent and Chris White (the now absent bassist) managed to avoid clichés.
From the spacious stage, they delighted the 1500 attendees – including a striking number of young fans. The tall Blunstone as Don Quixote dressed in black with a sweet voice, Argent was the diligent pianist who sometimes soloed a little too long. There was no indication here that the group was ever undervalued, as biographies say. That’s why it was a shame that Rod Argent stopped performing several times to go through disappointing sales and moments of frustration from nearly sixty years of Zombie history. Fortunately, this was followed by an anecdote about the origin of Odessey & Oracle (1968), in Abbey Road, in the same studio where The Beatles just Sgt. pepper and their magic and mellotron still lying around. A classic was born there.