Sunday Songbook series returning to the Everyman Palace for its 20th season

The series has become a firm favourite with music fans down the years for their eclectic mix of music, story and memory – with audience participation a key ingredient of its enduring success.

The current Sunday Songbook team of Linda Kenny, Damian Smith, Alan Carney and Alf McCarthy, together with the band of Jimmy Hynes, John McGrath, and Brian Hyland have unveiled details the 2023 shows.

They will take a nostalgic trip back to the ‘Swinging Sixties’ on Sunday, April 16, a repeat of their first show the team put together after the venue reopened to restricted capacity audiences in October 2021.

“Think girls in miniskirts with long boots, boys in bell-bottoms with long hair, super-models & photographers, mods and rockers, Mary Quant and Twiggy, Carnaby Street and the Kings Road,” said MC and narrator Alf McCarthy.

“The show will feature hits by Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield, Mary Hopkin, Cliff Richard, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck and, of course, The Beatles,” he added.

The summer ‘Sunday Songbook’ show on July 9 will see the team take a step further back in time to the with their ‘Boppin’ at the Drive-In: The Fabulous 50s’ show on July 9.

This will be followed son October 8 by ‘Sweet Caroline – The Neil Diamond Story’ and their ever popular seasonal special ‘The Greatest Christmas Songs Ever’ on December 3.

Linda Kenny, who has been a key part of the team since its inception, said she never envisaged that the series would still be going strong two-decades later.

“We have made so many friends, been touched by the love and kindness and unstinting support not only of those who come to the shows but of the truly remarkable team at The Everyman, our spiritual home,” said Kenny.

She said one of the memorable aspects of the series over the years has been the feedback from many audience members.

“The biggest stand-out are those comments that we get from people who have stopped engaging with the world after the passing of a loved one, or after some trauma in their lives. They have found great solace and rejuvenation in the sense of engagement that is generated at our shows through singing, clapping, laughing together,” said Kenny.

“One woman described our shows as her ‘lifeline’ particularly after the isolation of Covid. Coming together with the performers and being an integral part of the show, as audience participation is the bedrock of our shows, keeps people feeling connected,” she added.

Tickets for ‘Sunday Songbook’ series from www.everymanpalace.com.