Review: The Jacksons at Haydock Park

This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement.

When you think of The Jacksons you can't help but think of five energetic youngsters fronted by a beaming afro-sporting kid who went on to become the King of Pop.

But those images in your head are, astonishingly, 50 years old.

Which makes it even more amazing to think that those sprightly youths bouncing around next to young Michael, performing hits such as Rockin’ Robin and ABC, are still wowing audiences across the globe.

And though they may be a tad less agile these days, they can still put on a hell of a show.

Night falls but the band keep churning out the hits

The Jacksons at Haydock Park last weekend was quite simply amazing.

Formed in 1964 the original members of The Jackson 5 were elder brothers Jackie, Tito and Jermaine. Younger brothers Marlon and Michael joined soon after.

These days Randy makes up the five and Marlon does most of the lead vocals. Their concert at Haydock Park marked 50 years since they entered the professional music scene, becoming the first group to debut with four consecutive number one hits – I Want You Back, ABC, The Love You Save and I’ll Be There. True Motown timeless classics.

You can tell the brothers still love performing and the crowd at Haydock Park, despite being drenched by the rain, sang every word back to them as they belted out hit after hit.

Two huge screens at the back of the stage and another to the left showed the young Jacksons performing, with the biggest cheer of the night reserved for a giant image of young Michael.

The highlight of the concert for me was their performance of Wanna Be Startin’ Something, though I enjoyed hearing all their classic hits.

Young and old alike danced the night away and Haydock Park itself, my first visit other than to the races years ago, proved a great venue.

The atmosphere was relaxed and though there were thousands in attendance there was plenty of room for everyone.

The Racecourse puts on regular gigs like this – Kylie Minogue and Tom Jones have performed there in recent years and Culture Club (July 22) and Olly Murs (August 11) are next up.

A day at the races followed by a concert – what more could you want?

For tickets and more details click here