Birmingham, UK - May 2, 2009


Anna Dolgikh:

Dear all!

This is my review of the concert in Birmingham held on the 2nd of May'09. We went to 
both concerts in Birmingham and both of them were amazing. But being afraid that you 
might fall asleep reading two of my reviews I decided to write only one. 

Let me first begin with the fan meeting held the next day, on the 3rd of May. I want to 
say that it was fantastic to see all of you - Chris R, Alison, Dimitra, Wendy, Pauline, 
Andrew, Chris W, Claudia and everyone else (I am so sorry I don't know all the names but 
I remember your faces and shining eyes very well). I want to say that one of the most 
important things in this life is people, communication and love that we bring to each 
other. That is why it is always a miracle to meet with you, to talk to you, to see your 
smiles. I should say that the amazing concert and this meeting have inspired me to write 
this review, as they showed me once again how important it is to share the emotions. And
I want also to say big thank you to Chris and everyone from our Community and Mailing 
List as it is you who help me to write the reviews. Sometimes when I was writing the 
reviews I had these kind of thoughts - I won't manage to write a good review, I don't 
know how to put my emotions into the words and so on. But the thoughts about you always 
inspired me to write so I sat down at the computer and was learning how to write the 
reviews. Without you I would have never learnt to do this! Thank you very much for this!

Speaking about the concert I want to say that I don't know why but we had to overcome 
lots of obstacles in order to be able to visit the concerts in Birmingham finally. There 
were so many of them that sometimes I thought that may be I should drop the idea of 
going to these concerts as it simply seemed to be impossible. But together with that I 
continued doing everything in order to go there. And I was so happy when a week before 
the concerts it became clear that we would be able to visit the concerts! And looking 
forward to them I was really wondering what this trip would be like after all that I had 
had to get through, as I can hardly believe that obstacles appear in our life by chance. 
And it turned out to be one of the most amazing trips I have ever had. 

And let me switch to the concert itself now. I think I will never forget it, as I have 
never passed through such feelings and emotions that Chris made us pass through at this 
concert. 

All Chris's concerts are wonderful! And together with that each concert has its own 
miracle. And during this concert Chris was so emotional, each of Chris’s words, every 
gesture when he was singing the songs were filled with such strong feelings and so much 
affection that I felt myself like I never had.

The concert began with the song “Footsteps”, which was followed by “The Same Sun” and 
“A Spaceman Came Travelling”. And I was delighted that just at the very beginning of the 
concert when Chris was singing “A Spaceman Came Travelling” the whole hall was singing 
“La la la” with Chris. And Chris smiled at this and his eyes were shining.

The next songs were from “Footsteps” – “The Last Thing On My Mind” and “American Pie”. 
And I smiled listening to the words: “Long long time ago, I can still remember, How that 
music used to make me smile; And I knew if I had my chance, That I could make those 
people dance, And maybe they'd be happy for a while” because these words always seemed 
to me to be about Chris himself at the beginning of his career.

Then Chris moved to the piano and sang a song from the film “Through These Eyes”. I have 
never heard this song before and I should say that it impressed me greatly. As some of 
you may know this song is about an old lady who is dying and the song tells that she has
the story of her life. And while listening to it I was thinking about us in this world, 
about our ways. That everyone passing from the young ages till the old ones gets his own 
story, his own things that are precious to him. And that it is very important for us to 
share them with the other people (and not only at the end of life) and not to stay alone 
with them.

“Through These Eyes” was followed by “Shine On” and it was so amazing, as this song 
always reminds me of the time, that it passes away, and while we have it we should live 
and create and bring something to this world. And all this is making our story...

The next songs were “Borderline” and “Sailing Away” which was the first one from the
band part. As always Chris sang many times the word "Sailing" in the different ways and 
Al followed Chris on the guitar and the way how they are doing that always makes me smile.

Then Chris sang “Turn, Turn, Turn” and I was really happy to hear it as I like it so 
much! The next song was “Oh My Brave Hearts”. And I was absolutely fascinated by it as 
Chris was so concentrated while singing it and there were many lights shining from the 
stage to the hall. All this was so powerful! After this song I presented Chris with the 
flowers and was so amazed to hear from him the word “thank you” in Russian that I was 
smiling for a long time after that.

“Leather On My Shoes” was the last song of the part with the band and we had a break 
after it before the orchestra part.

The orchestra part began with “The Storyman Theme” and I liked how the orchestra played 
it so much as it was so powerful and so beautiful.

Then Chris appeared on the stage dressed in a suit. And that impressed me so much, 
really!

The first song of the orchestra part was “Missing You” followed by “Carry Me”. The next 
song was “In A Country Churchyard” and Chris sang the words "Let your love shine on for 
we are the stars in the sky" with so much love and emotion that I felt shivers on my 
skin. The lights shining high above our heads really looked like the stars and that was 
so amazing and exciting.

The next songs were “Spanish Train” and “The Long and Winding Road” and it was wonderful
 to see how Chris was smiling before singing it.

One of the songs that Chris sang in this part was “Discovery” and I was so pleased to 
hear from my husband after the concert that he was so much impressed by this song that 
it would be one of his favorites. 

But there was one thing that impressed me most of all on this concert. It is how Chris 
sang the songs “Without You” and “I Am Not Crying Over You”. I think I have never seen 
Chris being so emotional. And I really don’t know the words to express what I felt when 
Chris was singing these songs. I was so much impressed, I was so deeply touched and 
can’t even imagine that I can feel so deep like that. Looking forward to these concerts 
I was dreaming to hear “Without You” live as Chris sings this song in a such a way that 
every time I was listening to it I had a feeling that it was Chris who wrote this song.

“The Lady In Red” walk around the audience was amazing as always. And I laughed looking 
how Chris lay across the laps of the sitting people, that was really funny!

The dancing part began with “The Revolution”. And despite the fact that the first row 
was so close to the stage and there was almost no place for dancing lots of people came 
in front of the stage to dance! And that was fantastic!

“Say Goodbye To It All”, “Don't Pay The Ferryman”, “High On Emotion”, “The Snows Of 
New-York” were the songs that Chris sang during this part.

The last song was “Footsteps” and when Chris was singing it a big balloon of our planet 
earth was flying over our heads and that was gorgeous.

The concert was really amazing! And Chris was fantastic! And so many emotions were in 
the hall and so much love! Actually miracles are among us!

Dear Chris, thank you very much! This trip will be always in my heart!

Dear all, thank you very much for reading my review! I really hope that you liked it!


Kind regards,

Anna Dolgikh


Questions or comments?

File last modified on October 2rd, 2009