Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be. Over the years CCEntertainment has been holding concerts that paid homage to the great acts and albums that provided a soundtrack to our lives. The Fab Four. The Stones. Floyd. Zeppelin. Dylan. The Eagles… the list goes on. The concerts work because the organisers and the artists involved keep them at high quality because of their sheer love for the music.

The two “C’s” in CCEntertainment (CCE) stand for Contempree (Martin) and Calderazzo (Joseph). If you simplify our roles it is my job to get people into our shows and Joseph’s job to keep them there… this is a snapshot of our journey.

Ah the 70s… that era of big hair, supergroups and the years of excess.

And nothing was more excessive than The Car. Everyone was trying to outdo everyone else; keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman drove his Range Rover off the side of a French mountain, so Keith Moon of the Who decided he’d see if a Rolls Royce would jump over a swimming pool (a feat recently emulated by self-admitted 70s tragic, Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson - both failed spectacularly).

Unquestionably, Pink Floyd’s music sits high in any list of all-time greats. But, no matter how incredible your Denon amp or Technics CD player is, nothing will ever beat the live sound of Speak To Me, the mesmeric and epic epoch to Syd Barrett that opens the album Wish You Were Here, Shine on you Crazy Diamond, or that most powerful of rock anthems, Another Brick In The Wall.

I never got to see Pink Floyd play live. But then, I never saw Beethoven or Tchaikovsky either. Pink Floyd can justifiably be mentioned in that same paragraph. They are classics, and they need to be enjoyed live.

However, if you’re looking for a group of guys playing at being Rock Gods with lights and lasers, then go somewhere else, buy the T-shirt and take the photo.

With the CCE Concerts now in their 7th year, Musical director Joseph Calderazzo gives us some insights on the ingredients of performers that add to makings of a successful live concert series.

Can you explain your relationship as musical director (MD) with the singers and musicians?

Well I’m like the leader of the whole circus, I set the overall tone and feel of the show. I have a strong visual on how the whole thing will look and sound and then find the performers to suit. So as a leader my relationship is a combination of friend, nurturer, director and general organizer. I love the musical connection I have with most of my artists and that is something that develops as time goes on and will continue to do so.

“It was a very good period, 1968 – there was a good feeling in the air,” Mick Jagger recalled. “It was a very creative period for everyone.”

When the Rolling Stones got together at London’s Olympic Studios in March that year to start work on Beggars Banquet it marked the beginning of a five year purple patch unmatched by any other band before or after.

You have just heard the concert – and you have been blown away with the impact, the energy, the emotion and the sound, and now you just want to get home so that you can re-create the experience in your lounge room – right! The reality is more likely to be – wrong!

Neighbours aside, there are a few reasons why you will never recreate this experience in your living room, one of the more obvious is trying to cram a thousand people into the room so you can feed off the collective atmosphere created when that many like-minded people come together into an enclosed space. Secondly, forking out for a few kilowatts of amplification can be tough on the budget. Plus – did you see the size of those speakers at the venue – try fitting them into your lounge room?

The Gibson guitar is an icon of ‘70s rock, especially the shapes of the legendary Les Paul and SG. As a proud owner of a 25th Anniversary Les Paul, it was not only a dream for me to own one, over the years it has also become the best investment I have ever made.

Many of us fail to appreciate that the brand had its humble beginnings in 1894, when a restaurant clerk by the name of Orville Gibson carved guitars with arch top designs similar to that of the violin. The Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Company was formed on October 10, 1902.

Australian rock band, Ooh La La has shared the stage with Bon Jovi and Paul Weller. Frontman Simon Meli has been a regular featured vocalist in the CCE concerts that celebrate the music of the Eagles, the Beatles, Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones. Simon sat with us to share his life experience with his music thus far.