The Buddy Holly story rolls on as audiences at Theatre Royal Brighton revel in the hit musical Buddy.

The show rocks into its week-long run until Saturday and for Holly fans or anyone who likes a catchy pop song it is a must.

There is nothing much new about the show and there doesn’t need to be. Launched in the 1980s, it quickly earned a reputation as more of a great party night than a musical. It still is.

How can it fail when it is packed with some of the best early pop songs ever written?

Throw in a sensitively-handled tragedy as a bittersweet ingredient (Holly died in a plane crash aged only 22) and you have a hit that won’t fade away.

Holly’s tragically short career spanned only about 18 months but proved massively influential on later songwriters.

The show flies by, kickstarted and linked by a lively American radio DJ scene and never letting up with humour and hits such as Rave On, Maybe Baby and That’ll Be The Day.

Two non-Holly songs really get the crowd moving: La Bamba and Johnny B Goode. But the heart of Buddy is without a doubt Holly’s memorable songbook.