Sixties rockers take up old Sai Gon Hotel residency

Nuts about their music: One of the most famous rock bands in the country in the late sixties and seventies, Peanut, return to the stage at the Palace Sai Gon Hotel's Calibre Charner restaurant, every night from 8.30- 11.30pm. — VNS Photo

HCM CITY — The Peanut is back. The band of four brothers that began rocking Sai Gon audiences more than four decades years ago has reached an agreement to perform every evening at the Palace Sai Gon Hotel under their first name.

Forty-four years ago, the four brothers created a psychedelic pop/rock band called Peanut. The band featured Bernard Tam (guitar/vocals), Francois Thien (drums), Michel Chi (bass/vocals) and Patrick Trung (keyboard, vocals).

Along with CBC, Crazy Dogs and Hammers, they were among the most famous rock bands nationwide during the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1975, the band changed its name to Sao Sang (Bright Star) and began performing for international hotels and diplomatic representative offices in the country. They continued to perform over the years in local clubs and bars.

The band, with members in their sixties now, will reassume its first name now and remain faithful to the classic pop/rock genre in its performances, said Phan Ngoc Thanh Tam, marketing executive for the Bong Sen Corporation, which manages the hotel.

She said the band will perform popular classics including: Don't Let Me Down (Beatles); I Started a Joke (Bee Gees); We Gotta Get out of This Place (The Animals); I Can't Get o Satisfaction (The Rolling Stones); and Hotel California (Eagles).

Peanut will perform every evening from 8:30-11:30pm at the hotel's Calibre Charner Restaurant. — VNS

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Backstreet Boys set to perform in Viet Nam

On tour: The American four-member band Backstreet Boys will perform in Viet Nam in March.

HCM CITY — The male pop group Backstreet Boys (BSB) will perform in Viet Nam in March, following their tour to Latin America.

The American band said on its website that it expected a total of 55,000 concert attendees in HCM City on March 24 and 26 in Ha Noi.

According to organisers, the show is the same as the one performed on other stops during the band's worldwide tour.

"BSB has a very strong and loyal fan base here in Viet Nam. You can sense the excitement about their impending arrival. Water Buffalo Productions (WBP) strives to produce the highest standards and know that the BSB shows will amazing and memorable," says Stephen Bures, the Deputy General Director of the WBP.

"We haven't had a band perform a show of such magnitude in Vietnam, and the WBP is making sure that this show will be on par with any international performance."

The four members of the group, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell and A. J. McLean, will perform at Military Zone 7's Stadium in HCM City and My Dinh National Stadium in Ha Noi.

They will sing their hits I Want It That Way, I'll Never Break Your Heart, Straight Through My Heart and others from their This Is Us album.

The performance is part of the tour This Is Us that began in fall 2009 and will continue to the end of this year. They have had 20 shows thus far.

This concert tour is the first to feature dancers since the band's 2001 Black and Blue world tour.

After the show in Viet Nam, the group will return to the US to begin a tour with the 1980s-leading band New Kids on the Block.

The vocal group Backstreet Boys was formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of five members, A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson.

They rose to fame with their debut international album, Backstreet Boys in 1996. In the following year, they released their second international album, Backstreet's Back.

The men rose to superstardom with their album Millennium in 1999, with more than nine million sales. The number rose to 13 million in March 2001.

Richardson left the group in 2006 to pursue other interests, leaving the band as a foursome, but the remaining members did not rule out a possible return of the singer.

The Backstreet Boys have sold over 130 million records worldwide, making them one of the biggest-selling artists of all time. — VNS

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UK rock band primed for tour

Goober Gun: After tonight's performance at the Factory Bar in Ha Noi, English band Goober Gun will rock HCM City fans on December 9 & 12. — File Photo

HA NOI — Ha Noi rock fans will have the opportunity to catch one of the United Kingdom's best underground rock bands as they stop in the capital for one night only tonight.

Southampton sensation Goober Gun will take to the stage at the Factory Bar, Bao Khanh Street at 9pm, and promise a night of stadium sized rock, unforgettable melodies and great harmonies with a full on, engaging and energetic live performance.

With influences such as Def Leppard, Cheap Trick, The Wildhearts and Jimmy Eat World, Goober Gun craft slabs of modern rock, combined with a lyrical and musical depth that has won over audiences around the UK and beyond.

Goober Gun vocalist and drummer Tim Hardwick promises a great night out: "We love playing our songs live, and I know the audience can see what a fun we're having. Night after night our aim is for them to enjoy it as much as we are."

It's this simple desire to entertain that has brought Goober Gun a superb fan base and critical acclaim, including a win at the BT Digital Music Search for Talent in 2008.

In the summer of 2009 Goober Gun recorded their new album 1979 which caught the attention of promoters the world over, and kick-started Goober Gun's tours of Taiwan and Thailand.

Goober Gun is a three-man band with Tim Hardwick on drum and vocals, Jon Reynolds on guitar and vocals and Ian Hardwick playing bass and vocals. Tickets cost VND100,000 which includes one free Coors beer.

In HCM City, the band will perform at the SuperSize Sai Gon at Vasco 74/7D Hai Ba Trung Street in District 1 at 9pm on December 9. Entrance will cost VND100,000, and at LoretoFest International Music Festival at RMIT, 702 Nguyen Van Linh Parkway in District 7 at 2pm on December 11 where tickets will cost VND500,000 to 650,000. — VNS

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