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Chris Williams:
Hi all,
Well here is my review from the Manchester concert last night.
We arrived at the venue around 19:00 and soon found ourselves talking to friends. It was
nice for me to meet with Wendy C. as previously we had communicated via email and
facebook
Soon it was time to enter the actual theatre, and we took our seats. The Bridgewater
Hall is much larger than the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, and seemed to be pretty well
sold out apart from a few empty seats. There were two empty ones in the second
row.........probably these were some that the ticket touts brought and could not sell at
the ridiculous prices they choose to sell them at. In this venue the stage is also a
nice low stage
The concert started at 19:40 with the Firststeps theme and then Chris entered the stage
to rapturious applause. This night he was dressed in a light gray shirt with a circle
pattern on it, and black trousers. Once the applause had died down Chris sang First
steps again and then went straight into Sailor, which he did not sing the previous night.
I think after this song, he said how he loved to be in Manchester and he said how all
the fans always sing so well there. There followed, The Same Sun, The Last thing On My
Mind which sounded even better than the previous night. After this song Chris told us
that there was a young girl of ten years old in the audience and that it was her first
concert and he asked her what song she would like to hear and it was American Pie, so he
sang that next, followed by two songs at the piano which were Shine On and Borderline.
Of course Al and Nigel antered the stage and joined in the last part of this song as
normal.
Then came the band songs, which were Sailing Away, Turn Turn Turn, Brave Hearts and
finally Leather On My Shoe. Whow the solo section was much shorter than in Liverpool the
first night. I think by about 3 or 4 songs. This first section was just 1 hour long and
it seemed to fly by.
At some point in this section Chris told how he sang You'll Never Walk Alone in Liverpool
the previous evening and then said that he had never seen a reaction like he had received
in his whole career. Storry I can't remember the exact words he said but it was something
similar to this anyway. For sure I had never witnessed anything like it in my life.
Then came the intermission and soon the orchestra was on stage and playing the Storyman
theme. Then the usual bars of Missing You and Chris arrived back on stage dressed in a
black suits again, this time with a plain light mauve shirt on. The orchestral section
was exactly the same as the previous evening at Liverpool, so I won't go into it too
much but it included some of my favourite songs like The Long And Winding Road, Always
On My Mind, I'm Not Crying Over You and one other of my all time favourites from years
and years ago.........Without You. Again I think this song sounded better than the first
night, as Chris's voice was soo soft in places but soo powereful in others. It's hard to
describe what I want to say actually, but if you are lucky enough to get to see him in
concert this tour, you will see what I mean I'm sure. During the LIR walkabout bit,
Chris went up the back of the stalls and literall lay down across some ladies laps and
all we could see were his feet sticking up in the air It was soo funny
I think it was just before the fast section started that he mentioned another little
girl who was up in the balcony and her name was Kirsty ? sorry I can't remember her
surname right now, but she is a very couragous little girl who Chris has met several
times now and he said that she has captured his heart for sure This girl has severe
cardiac problems and has to have constant oxygen wherever she goes. We have seen her on
TV several times over the last years, and she has raised loads of money for a childrens
hospice , I think in the Manchester area.
The fast section then followed with all the usual songs and lots of us down infront of
the stage, singing and dancing away. Of course this section was over far too quickly as
usual and soon it was the final song Foot steps and then it was all over and we said
our goodbyes to friends and then walked back to the hotel where we were staying, had a
quick drink in the bar and then an early night and a good sleep, which was well needed
Again please ignore any spelling mistages and typo's
Hope you enjoyed my review.
Take care all,
Chris(W)thebluehealer
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