Concert Review: Manchester, UK - December 10, 1996

Steve Bourike:

Right, lets start at the Beginning.

I met up with Jay Tuesday afternoon at her house in Bolton, and we were soon joined by her friend Lynn. We had arranged to meet Dave Doohan and his wife in the bar (where else ?) of their hotel in the centre of Manchester, and my friend Dave at Manchester Station, so we headed in and collected Dave from the station and found the Hotel with little difficulty.

Finding Dave & Kaye Doohan was easy with the t-shirts (thanx Dean) and we soon settled down with a drink and some food to while away the hour or two before the show. Conversation was easy and relaxed and the time just flew by.

Finally we left for the theatre in a couple of Taxis, Dave and Kate ahead of us as they had to get to the admin office to collect their backstage passes. The Doohans had seats in the stalls near the front, the rest of us were in the front rows of the circle so we parted company and headed for the seats with an agreement to meet during the dancing near the end of the concert in an effort to get us all backstage when it was all over.

Chris arrived on stage, dressed casually to much applause, and sat down at his piano and opened with Carry On. As usual, he interspersed the music with light banter, jokes and generally made us all feel at home. I cant remember all the songs now, nor the exact running order, but certainly he played Sailing Away, Moonlight and Vodka, Transmission Ends, Head and the Heart, Spanish Train, Lonely Sky and In a Country Churchyard. A young lady joined him at the front and he sat on the edge of the stage with his guitar and she sang The Simple Truth.

With the arrival of the String Quartet, Chris sang some of the tracks from the Beautiful Dreams album, including Always on My Mind and Snows of New York. He also performed Eleanor Rigby, a surprise choice considering "Girl" is the Beatles cover on the album. He even performed Thats What Friends are For as a special request !

During the dance-along and the 2 encores, Chris really took it up a gear, starting with The Traveller and Dont Pay the Ferryman, Patricia, more Beatles in the form of Hey Jude, and culminating in High on Emotion which just about summed the whole evening up.

After the crowds had left, and security had slung us out because we didnt have passes, Dave and Kate disappeared backstage and we went like groupies to hang around the stage door and hope. Suddenly Dave appeared with a Gorilla in a shell suit and beckoned us in... and WOW !! we were backstage !!!!

In the depths of the Manchester Apollo we briefly met the man himself, got our t-shirts signed and photos taken. Dave managed to talk with him for a few moments too.

After it was all over, and several more drinks at the bar later, we wound our way back to jays, where my portable and IRC was waiting. Spent a couple of hours with some of the regulars before we all finally crashed and burned...

If I have one lasting impression from the night, it is Chris's sheer musical talent. Forget what the kretin reviewer wrote and remember that it was Chris and a guitar or Chris and a piano for most of the evening. And with nothing more than an instrument and his distinctive voice,. he performed songs that we are all so used to hearing backed with the band, and yet they didnt seem lacking, the rhythm, the melody was all there.... INCREDIBLE !!!

Well, I could drone on forever, but you've all waited long enough for this, so here it comes. The pics will be scanned this weekend and put up at the address www.surfshak.co.uk/manchester, so keep trying to hit it !

Dave Doohan:

OK now - I didn't know until the evening before the concert I was getting passes and I can't tell you how I did it either. As for the cameras, it's amazing what a baggy jumper, and asking for directions to pick up your official passes can do to get these things in. Once in, no-one tried to stop it - there were no official photographers there either so no competition. They have come out really well. I'll try and get some scans done for the page.

For the benefit of the list, I yelled out "or the King" at the appropriate point in ST and I was one of those shouting to get Friends sung, and even kept him going when he mumbled the words since I'm word perfect on it! He confessed later that his son loves it too....

In front of me and two seats to the right were a couple who stayed seated all night and only clapped for TLIR, then looked round quite cross when receiving a "whack" over the head during an enthusiastic bout of clapping and dancing from the person behind (who joined me in a mutual tongue sticking out exercise!!!!!)

As for his music, I have to re-iterate he was on top form, plenty of good banter with the fans and his voice sounded superb. And we musn't forget Peter either, he really enjoyed the concert from his position at the piano and as acting cheerleader (especially during Rainbow) but was perhaps a little embarassed when Chris got us singing Happy Birthday to him

And I also must say that Chris Andrews, Chris' PA is a really great guy too - it was he who I asked to let Steve, Jay, Dave and Lynne in and for whom it was no problem (I like the gorilla description for the bouncers Steve!) and for that I am really thankful because it was with a heavy heart that I left them outside when we first entered "the inner sanctum".

Steve's review has said it all really - I've not much more to add, except maybe as little anecdotes along the way.

I just want to finish (for now) by saying that the "Boyzone" number, described by Chris as being one he'd done "years earlier" was really ironic since of course he was doing it to earn a living in places like burger bars, and they are making a huge dollop of money from it!