After a break of thirty years The Action reformed – with
all five original members – in 1998 to play two shows at the Ryde Theatre in the
Isle of Wight for the New Untouchables August Bank Holiday Mod Rally.
“We weren’t quite sure what to expect and the place was
jam-packed! The queues were going both ways from the box office around the
whole building.” – Reggie King from In
The Lap Of The Mods by Ian Hebditch and Jane Shepherd.
This set list from the afternoon show, when they added "Cool Jerk", is a nice piece of memorabilia obtained by DJ Lee Miller (before winding its to me) and was written out by Reggie King and signed by the entire band: Reggie, Alan King, Mike Evans, Roger Powell and Pete Watson. It's interesting to note how they focused on the songs they performed in their original club days rather than those recorded for Parlophone; only six out of the eighteen appeared on the seminal collection, The Ultimate Action, and the young Mod crowd had to wait until song nine to hear one. A bold move. What I'd give for George Martin produced recordings of The Impressions' "Meeting Over Yonder" and "People Get Ready" to turn up one day. I can hear them in my head already.
