Concert Review: Adelaide, Australia - March 8, 1997
Mark Daly:
You know that feeling of unbridled joy? Pure bloody ecstasy? Well for two and a half hours this evening I sat in the centre seat of the front row of the Adelaide Festival Theatre and experienced it.
I arrived at the theatre over an hour before the show started in the hopes of picking up some T-shirts and a programme, alas there were none. The woman behind the counter told me that they didn't bring them. I got the distinct impression that Adelaide was on the verge of being cancelled, the theatre was only half full, they'd closed the dress circle and re-assigned those people's seats downstairs, I guess it wasn't financially viable to lug all of the merchandise with them. Joe, can you or somebody send me the info about ordering tour books please?
But I digress...
I found my seat with a minimum of fuss, a seat so impossibly close that I commented to the people behind me that when my ticket said front row, I didn't actually think it meant FRONT row!. The people next to me sat down shortly after and said that if he spits he'll hit us. And oh how true it was, I'm sure I got hit at least once. I could literally reach out and touch him, I didn't but.
The lights go out in the theatre and the show begins. Grinning from ear to ear Chris walks onto the stage, black pants, black boots and an odd looking shirt dipicting Florentine glassware, The Rosette and The Modern Drinking Glass included. He walked the width of the stage two or three times bowing, waving and thanking all the while. I've got to give it to the Adelaide audience, there aren't many of his fans over here, but we are dedicated, the place erupted.
Chris sat at the piano and began playing, CARRY ON was the chosen tune, followed by another piano song which escapes me for the moment. At this point I discovered that my seat did have it's draw backs, one was that the lighting was DIRECTLY in our faces and worse, that when Chris sat behind the piano, he sat BEHIND the piano. All I could see was his hair, and occasionally his eyes peeping out above his water glass which was directly in my line of vision, but it didn't matter at all. Once he'd finished the crowd broke it's silence and went spastic once again. He later apologised for the size of the piano, "I think they were expecting someone bigger"
Centre stage now, this is why I'm in the front row, the lights were blinding but I didn't blink, I'll be seeing spots in the shape of Chris De Burgh for weeks to come. He picks up his guitar (the most beutiful guitar sound I have ever heard I don't mind saying) and plays SAILING AWAY, followed by TRANSMISSION ENDS. Returning to the piano we get a spiel about how if he remembers the songs we ask for he'll play them. THE HEAD AND THE HEART was next then he explained to us about his religious change which forbade him >from playing PATRICIA THE STRIPPER before launching into MOONLIGHT AND VODKA.
Centre stage again I siezed my chance, "Do you reckon you could play AT THE WAR MEMORIAL?" I shout (actually I didn't have to shout). "What's that?" "Do you remember AT THE WAR MEMORIAL?" I ask again. With that he thought for a moment or two, formed a few chords and mouthed a few words before saying that he might play it later. I'll save you the suspense, he didn't. What he did say was, "Oooooh, you've got one of those internet shirts on" (the home page T-shirt) "I do" (obvious bloody answer, but I said it just the same) "Yes, there's a group of people who meet on the internet and talk about.. well.. talk about me." How's that for recognition? Ahh, my brush with fame.
The show continued for a while in this vein with songs such as, SPANISH TRAIN, THE SIMPLE TRUTH, BORDERLINE, LONELY SKY and the one that blew me away, THE RISEN LORD followed by I'M NOT SCARED ANYMORE, all the while poking fun at the paparazzi in South Africa and Boris Yeltsin and his two daughters. The Karaoke part was song by a girl from the audience who attempted A SPACEMAN CAME TRAVELLING, she was nervous as hell, but persevered, Chris whispered the words into her ear as she tried to remember them, her voice was quiet and shaking, but nobody cared. Things just couldn't get any better.
Then they did..
Actually I didn't enjoy this section as much as the first part, but from a writing perspective, let's just say I did. Out come the string quartet, "so called" says Chris, "Because there are four of them" And the piano player/musical director Robert Oxenly(?). They proceeded top perform MISSING YOU, IN DREAMS, I'M NOT CRYING OVER YOU, IN LOVE FOREVER, THE LADY IN RED, and believe it or not, DESPERADO and ELANOR RIGBY, among others. All interspersed with playful banter and Elvis Presley impersonations. In between songs in this section he left the stage to the string quartet who, for the record, played Brahm's HUNGARIAN DANCE NUMBER 5.
The show finished up with a few more solo guitar songs, TENDER HANDS, DON'T
PAY THE FERRY MAN and PATRICIA THE STRIPPER (he played it after all
Then he came back....
after WHERE PEACEFUL WATERS FLOW interspersed with lyrics from his other
songs and promises to come back to Adelaide the audience found themselves
involved in a mass singalong of HEY JUDE.
That was the end of it, forgive me if I've been ranting, but I'm still damn
excited, I've just gotten off of the phone to see if I can fly to Melbourne
after work tomorrow and fly back again before work on Tuesday to see him
again, $600 before looking at tickets or accommodation, oh well, it'll have
to wait until I'm in europe in September/October.
Ahhhh, what a night!