Blickling 11th Anniversary 80s Concert

There was 80s nostalgia in bucket loads both on stage and across an appreciative audience as 11 acts shared the stage to entertain a damp but excitable sell out crowd on Saturday night.

The audience and the performers rolled back the years across the best part of three hours of non-stop hits courtesy of familiar names including Howard Jones, Paul Young, China Crisis, Curiosity Killed the Cat, Nik Kershaw, Heaven 17 and Rick Astley.

Fourth on, Dr And The Medics got the warmed-up crowd going in earnest with their 1986 number one Spirit in the Sky.

And while the brollies went up and down intermittently throughout the night, penultimate act Kim Wilde probably came in as slight favourite with an audience which very rarely stopped dancing from back to front.

None of the 11 acts, or Katie Melua exactly a week before, had any trouble with the production systems – further evidence that last Sunday’s effort from Meat Loaf was well below par. So it was particularly nice to see normal service resumed on Saturday.

A 1980s gig was first held last July at Blickling to mark the 10th anniversary of staging gigs in its lakeside parkland.

One would imagine that the formula must continue in future years, such is its clear success.