Hermans Hermits have been one of England's top pop groups for some time and showed why Thursday in the Corral — they are entertainers, not screamers and shouters.

The group delighted a quiet teeny-bopper crowd of 2,500 persons with their music and antics and when they finished, the Corral was still standing but only just.

The show was divided into two parts, the first consisted of the music of the 49th Parallel, a Calgary group. I wish they had been playing on the other side of the line.

The Parallel were so loud that the singer was unintelligible, which perhaps was a good thing. Their amplifiers were turned up so high that one woman in the third row swore that her seat was vibrating. She fled to the Corral lobby after the group's third number, as did many other persons wishing to retain their hearing.

The Hermits, though, were another story.

The leader of the group and singer, Peter Noone, is a pleasure to watch. He moves about well on the stage and has a lively personality. He can also sing, and although he wouldn't be mistaken for Robert Goulet, he does a more than creditable job.

The four boys backing him up are excellent musicians. They know there is a time for noise and a time when they should quiet it down. The result is a sound that doesn't grate the ear and keeps the toe tapping.

The combination is an hour of decent music and pleasure.

Their half of the show was also well-paced. They started with numbers that other people have recorded and gradually worked into their own hits. They also gradually worked the audience up as well.

When they started there were only a few polite screams. But as the group played numbers like Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter, Dandy and Henry the Eighth, the screaming became more intense and some girls dashed past policemen to throw things on the stage. One girl presented Noone with a flower. Many rushed forward to take pictures.

Near the end of their turn, the group had nearly everyone clapping along and singing, which is the mark of entertainers.

The show was a good one and the audience well-behaved.

The police had very little to do.

…you found yourself letting go

(Brenda McCarthy, a contributor to The Albertan's young living section Saturdays, attended the Hermits show to report the teen reaction.)

By BRENDA McCARTHY

Entering the Stampede Corral I found it to be a hive of activity. The air was electric with excitement while teenagers mainly in the 13-to-16 age bracket awaited the appearance of Hermans Hermits.

Calgary's 49th Parallel from every standpoint were very good, and showed a great deal of professional polish. They did a medley of current tunes, the best without a doubt Sock It To Me Baby made popular by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels.

If given the chance I believe they could very well make it big in the United States. The only drawback I found was the sound system turned up to the point of numbing your sense of hearing.

Herman (alias Peter Bernard Blair Noone) had to have about the most dazzling and eccentric outfit ever, a silver jacket, and would you believe blue flowered pants. Karl, Barry, Lek, and Keith, were garbed somewhat more conservatively. The audience behaved very well under the circumstances, which enabled everybody to take pictures.

The Hermits breezed through all their hits, Dandy, Kind of a Hush, and with each one I could sense girls and boys too, loving them more and more. The group, especially Herman, had tremendous rapport with the audience, waving, smiling, grinning, clapping and generally enjoying what they were doing.

During Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter (title of an old, old English Vaudeville tune) he had one side of the Corral sing it along with him, and then another. Soon, everybody — literally everybody — was singing away. Henry VIII was done in the same manner.

As mentioned earlier the stage was out of bounds for taking pictures. Being the silly teenager I am, I took a dare and ran, after sitting on my knees for five minutes right in front as close as one could get—with the firm conviction that laughing, sparkling Herman belonged in the shutterbox.

As I snapped the button he looked at me doing a hop, skip, and a dreadful face in the process.

When you view the Hermits you find yourself letting go.