Overtures, not beginners: Sixties specialists pump out the hits to back cinema revival bid

James Hannaway, the driving force behind the successful rebirth of the long-abandoned Rex cinema in Berkhamsted, is looking to perform the same feat in St Albans.

The city’s Odeon cinema gave up the ghost soon after the new multiplex at Hemel Hempstead’s Jarman Park opened its doors in the 1990s.

The London Road site has been standing empty ever since – but plans to restore it to its former glory and get back into business are well advanced.

And the Overtures are backing the ambitious bid with a concert on Friday, January 17, at 8pm.

It’s a chance to get up close and personal to the first choice party band of rock royalty.

They have performed for Elton John no fewer than five times – he calls them “ just the best band of their kind in the world.”

Their repertoire of more than 400 songs covering everything from early Merseybeat and the Fab Four through to the surf sound of The Beach Boys is backed up by the latest technology – when they tour as The Bootleg Sixties show they serve up a visual treat of still and moving images from the period on three screens.

The Sixties show is being readied for a Netherlands tour, but you can catch them before they set off abroard. Tickets are £18, visit www.alban-arena.co.uk or call 01727 844488 for more.

You can find out more the band at www.theovertures.com.

All profits raised will go towards the restoration of the former four-screen cinema into the luxurious 500-seater Odyssey.

For the latest news on the project and the final push for funding, visit odysseypictures.co.uk.