Dust off your roller strollers, people – and get those tartan scarves out of mothballs! Here’s some exciting news: Rollermania is back!

Yes, seventies superstar, Les McKeown, is bringing the latest incarnation of those seventies scream inducers – The Bay City Rollers – back to our shores.

Whilst airport security will no doubt be tight for their arrival and catching a glimpse of your Scottish pop heroes may be tough along the crowded motorcade route, I am sure there will be good vantage spots available for all at The Gov, on Wednesday July 12, from where you can hurl your bescarved plush toys, your lingerie, or simply scream in ecstasy until you pass out because Les will be within an outstretched arm’s reach.

Take it from me, the Rollers are an excitement machine live. I caught them in the late eighties at a Canberra sports club and it was pandemonium…well, there certainly was pandemonium during the two bomb scare evacuations that punctuated that evening’s performance!

Joking aside, these boys shifted units in serious numbers during their heyday and their insistent pop confections still have that admirable ability of insinuating their way into your brain and staying there for hours.

Australia gave the Rollers a string of Top Forty hits – songs such as Shang-A-Lang; Bye, Bye Baby; Give A Little Love; Saturday Night; Money Honey; I Only Want To Be With You and Rock And Roll Love Letter dominated commercial radio and Countdown playlists for much of 1973, 1974 and 1975. They were the omnipresent soundtrack to teenage lives in that era.

They also covered John Paul Young’s Yesterday’s Hero, and were possibly the first band in the world to record a cover of David Bowie’s Rebel Rebel!

Whilst it is uncertain at this point how many other members, if any, of the 2017 line-up are from the ‘Classic Five’ of Les, Woody, Alan, Derek and Eric, there is no doubt that the crowd will just be happy to be singing along to every word of the band’s set as they relive those heady adolescent years when their bedroom walls were covered in Rollermania photos and clippings.

Make sure you buy your tickets early – because they are certain to sellout fast!

‘Well we sang shang-a-lang / As we ran with the gang / Doin’ doowop bedooby do-ay / We were all in the news / With our blue suede shoes / And our dancin’ the night away…’

(Now, try and get that tune out of your head if you can!)

 

The Bay City Rollers are at The Gov on Wednesday July 12. Tickets from the usual outlets.