A Night Of Memories: David Essex Returns To Liverpool With More Than Fifty Years Of Songs
On Saturday, September 19, 2026, the lights came up at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall for one of the most nostalgic evenings of David Essex’s Thanks for the Memories tour. The concert was part of his major September 2026 UK tour celebrating a career that has stretched across music, theatre, film and television for more than five decades. By the time David walked onto the Liverpool stage, this was no longer simply another concert date. It was another chapter in a remarkable journey that began when a young performer from London first found fame in Godspell, then exploded into popular music with “Rock On,” “Gonna Make You a Star,” “Hold Me Close,” “Oh What a Circus,” and “A Winter’s Tale.” The Liverpool Philharmonic itself listed the performance as part of his 2026 tour, with the concert scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on September 19.
There was something especially appropriate about bringing this particular tour to Liverpool. David Essex’s career has always been closely connected with songs that carry memories of people, places and different stages of life. “Rock On” had introduced him to the world in 1973, reaching No. 3 in Britain, while “Gonna Make You a Star” followed with a UK No. 1 later that year. Then came “Hold Me Close,” which spent three weeks at No. 1 in 1975, and “Oh What a Circus,” his No. 3 hit from Evita. By the time “A Winter’s Tale” reached No. 2 in 1982, Essex had already become far more than a pop singer. He was an actor, songwriter and stage performer whose career seemed to move naturally between the theatre, cinema and recording studio. Liverpool audiences in 2026 were therefore not simply hearing a collection of old hits. They were hearing the soundtrack of several different eras of British entertainment.
The Thanks for the Memories tour itself carried considerable significance. David had announced the September run as a celebration of his monumental career, following two previous UK tours that had sold more than 65,000 tickets across 39 dates. The 2026 itinerary took him through major venues including Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Newcastle City Hall, Blackpool Opera House, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Manchester Opera House and, later, the London Palladium. The official tour information describes a career encompassing 23 UK Top 30 singles, millions of albums sold worldwide, and major work in theatre and film. His acting credits include That’ll Be the Day, Stardust, Silver Dream Racer, Traveller, The Guvnors and EastEnders, while his stage career has included Evita, Footloose, Aspects of Love, Mutiny! and All the Fun of the Fair.
But perhaps the most moving part of the Liverpool date was not found in the official statistics at all. In David Essex’s own guest book, a Liverpool fan named Sarah Kathleen Holden wrote before the concert that she and her brother were coming to see him because their mother had loved his music. She explained that they had grown up listening to David’s songs, and that her mother had sadly passed away. One of her mother’s favourite songs, “It’s Gonna Be Alright,” had brought her great comfort and had even been requested for her funeral. Sarah hoped David might sing it that night, adding that she believed her mother would somehow be there with them.
That message captures something that numbers cannot. A song can begin as a record in a studio, become a hit on the radio, and eventually turn into something entirely different inside someone’s personal history. For one family, a David Essex song had become part of childhood, grief and remembrance. And that is precisely why a tour called Thanks for the Memories feels so fitting. David was not simply revisiting his own past. He was walking through the memories that his songs had created in other people’s lives.
Liverpool was also another reminder of how remarkably long Essex’s musical journey has been. The young man who once stood on television stages in the 1970s with his unmistakable hair, smile and restless energy could now look back at more than half a century of performances. His career survived changing musical fashions, the rise and fall of different record eras, major theatre productions, films, television roles and the transformation of the British entertainment industry itself. Yet the songs remained. “Rock On,” “Gonna Make You a Star,” “Hold Me Close,” “Oh What a Circus,” “Silver Dream Machine,” “A Winter’s Tale” and many others still gave audiences a way back into those earlier years.
And perhaps that is what made September 19, 2026 special in Liverpool. For David Essex, it was another night on a long tour. For the people sitting inside the Philharmonic Hall, it could be something much more personal: a first concert, a memory of someone they loved, a song from teenage years, or simply the pleasure of hearing a familiar voice again after decades. David had spent his career writing and singing about life as it moved forward. In Liverpool, surrounded by people carrying their own histories into the room, those songs became memories once more.