Today, Chris Weeks from the fantastic show ‘Rave on!’ joined us to talk about all things Rock ‘n’ Roll, the glory days of the 50s and 60s and his ‘terrible’ jokes.

TM – Can you tell us about your role in this show?

CW – I am the frontman for the show, so I do a good amount of the singing and also chat with the audience – guiding them through the show, sharing facts and also telling excellent (terrible) jokes!

TM – How long have you been part of the Rave On show?

CW – I joined Rave On in October 2023, exactly a week after finishing in the Buddy Holly Story. No rest for the wicked!

TM – What has your favourite venue been on the 2024 tour date and where are you looking forward to going next?

CW – I’ve had a couple of absolute favourites – I loved playing at the Concorde Club in Eastleigh as it felt like a proper old school rock and roll club, and I also loved playing Leeds City Varieties for the history and all the acts who’ve played there over the years.

TM – What’s the biggest highlight from being in this show so far?

CW – The biggest highlight of being in the show has been working with the other members of the band, who are wonderful. We all trust each other completely on stage and so are super tight as an outfit, which is a fantastic feeling!

“I’d love to go back to the super early days of rock and roll too and sing through the argument of what started it all off.”

TM – What have you learnt / how has your craft developed over the last 12months of performing in Rave On?

CW – The show has taught me a huge amount. Although I’d done a fair amount of work as a frontman before, I’d never done it as regularly as with Rave On, so I’ve been able to refine a lot of elements of my craft and my own style – pace, energy, tone, right down to what works in different parts of the country. Of course, we also move through a whole different host of bands and singers, so learning to quickly shift between vocal styles has been great!

TM – What’s your favourite song to sing in Rave On and why?

CW – I have a particular fondness for ‘Wondrous Place’, by Billy Fury. I was aware of the song before joining the show, but had never sung it before. It sits in a good place for me and I love the space of it. We also end it in a very daring way, which is always fun!

TM – What’s it like performing the same show multiple times for over a year?

CW – The wonderful thing about Rave On is that, even though we are following a script, every show has the space to be different, with fun moments between us onstage and also audience interaction. And, of course, we don’t use click tracks or anything like that – everything is created organically on stage every single night. So the framework is always the same, but every show is unique!

TM – Is there a song that isn’t currently part of the Rave On show that you’d love to sing?

CW – There are a few songs I’d love to have in the show – Lucille by Little Richard is an absolute powerhouse of a song; Big Hunk O’ Love by Elvis Presley again is fantastic. I’d love to go back to the super early days of rock and roll too and sing through the argument of what started it all off – ‘Rocket 88’ by Ike Turner, ‘The Fat Man’ by Fats Domino, ‘Rock Around The Clock’ by Bill Haley etc.

TM – If you could describe Rave On in three words, what would you say?

CW – Rave On in three words: authentic, delightful, uplifting

TM – Why should people come to see Rave On?

CW – People should come to see Rave On because it is as close as you can get to going to a rock and roll concert in the 50’s and 60’s. Top class musicians playing the music they love and pouring their heart and soul into every song. We always have a wonderful night and I think the audience leave feeling 20 years younger!

Rave on! continues to tour extensively throughout 2025, to see when it’s in your town visit the show’s website for tickets, news and more. Also stay locked for our full review of the show, coming soon

Back in 2016, multi platinum selling artist, Adele, handpicked Stacey Lee, now star of Cookie Jar’s incredible new show Adele-The Journey So Far, to star in The Graham Norton show’s special ‘Adele at The BBC. Darren Bazzoni catches up with Stacey in the studio to ask her about that amazing, if not surreal day. 

D – So how did they get in touch with you about Adele at the BBC?
S – Someone contacted me by phone and it was by a YouTube video that I had put on there to get some work with.

D – What was Adele like as a person?
S – Oh she was lovely, she was so down to earth. After the show she took all her makeup off and came down to see us. We had a chat and a cuddle. She was great.

D – At what point did you know it was Adele?
S – The day was all a bit fishy really, it was all a bit weird. I don’t quite know how to describe it. When we were all downstairs I kept looking at her and thinking something was weird because of all the prosthetics in her nose. I think she saw that I was fishing her out so that’s why I think they sent me on early, then when she went on last we didn’t want to say “Is it her” and it not be and we all look like idiots but I sort of knew it was her.

D – What did Adele say about your voice?
S – She took me to one side and said I was amazing and couldn’t believe how much I sounded like her.

D – So I’ve heard that the video you starred in with Adele has had quite a few views, have you any idea how many?
S – I did look a few years ago, not long after the show itself and I think it’d had something like 2 million, which is just mental isn’t it?

D – Well 2 million is a lot of views, but try 75 Million…
S – What? Really? 75 Million, are you sure? Thats just nuts [Laughs]

D – So it goes without saying really that the day really did change your life?
S – Well for a start, you probably wouldn’t be sitting here answering questions for Tribute Magazine, would you? [Laughs]
D – No, I suppose not.
S – Well from there I was asked to appear on The Voice and then asked to audition for the lead in the theatre show Adele-The Journey So Far, which I was just so over the moon to get.

“OMG, it’s seriously like a dream come true, all the most famous venues in the country with my face on the poster…”

D – What’s it like being in that show Stacey?
S – OMG, it’s seriously like a dream come true, all the most famous venues in the country with my face on the poster, the Backing Vocalists Annie and Nattali are two of my best friends ever and the band are just off the scale. We started touring in February 2020, just before the pandemic. I was so gutted because we’d only done a handful of shows of a massive tour, so they all had to be rescheduled. Then the producers scheduled some socially distanced shows when we came out of the first lockdown, so we were all excited again, then, due to the second wave of infections, everything got locked down again and the shows got cancelled. I think we’ll all definitely remember 2020, but not for the right reasons sadly.

D – No, I think you speak for everyone there Stacey – So are you back on tour this year (2020)?
S – Yes, thank God we are, picking up from where we left off, I seriously cannot wait, ‘nor can the rest of the cast, it’s going to be off the chart, seriously. All our dates are on the website. If your readers do come along, come and say hi after the show, we love to meet everyone in the foyer after the show, we love that part of it. Its lovely to hear what people think of it, it means so much to us all.

As stacey mentioned, Adele-The Journey So Far is pn tour in the UK from Spring 2021 (Government restrictions permitting) All tour dates can be found here>>
If you’ve seen the show, please feel free to share the article and rate the show below.

Darren Bazzoni.

In the Spring of 2018, leading theatre producers, Juanita Diaz & Darren Bazzoni were commissioned to produce a show celebrating the life and work of arguably the greatest guitarist of all time, Jimi Hendrix. Director and Co-Producer Juanita Diaz tells the story of this mammoth undertaking.

Mmm., Jimi Hendrix we thought as we both looked over the sunny but cold Essex farmland. “More to the point, who’s going to play the lead role, it’s Hendrix, the greatest guitar player in the history of rock music?” Darren, my co-producer, DID have a point, “Don’t worry, lets just get the script written and worry about that later.” We looked at each other and laughed. From what started out as the most impossible of tasks just seemed to fall into place like one big psychedelic jigsaw puzzle, that I’m sure Jimi himself would have approved of.

You see, we were both very good friends of British R&B legend Zoot Money, who Darren had played drums for and who just happened to be a great friend of Jimi’s and indeed the first person he visited on his way into London from Heathrow airport when he first came to England in 1967.

This opened the door to a whole host of other fabulous musicians, all very keen to speak about their own personal accounts and views on his playing. The next three months or so saw us researching and driving around the UK, from Devon to Inverness, we accumulated stories and video content, enough to fill around four hours. Everybody was a fan and they loved to speak about Jimi

“…what started out as the most impossible of tasks, just seemed to fall into place like one big psychedelic jigsaw puzzle”

Although the script was well under way, the casting job hadn’t even started its engine, we were nowhere with it and everybody in the industry knew it. However, once again the Gods were on our side – Our good friend and promotor Mark Lundquist just happened to mention to a mutual friend of ours, Suzanne Lee-Barnes (Wife of the late great guitarist Alvin Lee) about the show and it’s lack of Principal. Unbeknown to us all, Suzanne had booked an Amazing Jimi Hendrix tribute artist for Harley Davidson in the form of the incredible Mr. John Campbell and the rest as they say is history. We met with John at Suzanne’s Dean Street Studios in London’s Soho, who was instantly a joy to work with and instantly could see what we were trying to achieve.