Concert Review: Guilford, UK - August 23, 1997
Jay Shutt:
Our weekend began with Annie, my *very excited* 10 year old daughter and I setting off on the drive for London early on Saturday morning, meeting up with Steve just outside London late morning.(Ron: NO there were no bomb-scares on the motorway, so no relaxation methods were needed - Terri: We reached LONDON and *not* Liverpool - Willem: I *can* read a map, so please don't worry !!)
Driving to Kent mid-afternoon, we were welcomed into Melanie & Keith's home and met their three lovely children, Vicky, Richard and Andrew. And at this point, I have to say that the welcome we received was fantastic. We all tucked into Keith's *mega-gorgeous* bbq and chatted well into the late evening, listening to CdeB's Live in South Africa CD (Thanks Willem and Astrid !!).
Sunday, after a truly wonderful evening spent in a luxurious hotel in Kent, Steve and I met up again with Keith and Melanie and their children for coffee and arranged to meet later on close to the concert venue.
Driving to Guilford the inevitable happened and it began to rain !! Deciding to rise above it we figured we could always send Joe the *CdeB wet t-shirt* pics for the page !!
Having met up once again with the wonderful Kent couple, Amro, his two friends and Oliver (a CdeB newbie), we all set off for the concert grounds. Parking was easy, and we joined what we thought was a *long* queue into the grounds. Almost an hour later, we realised that we must have been almost at the head of the queue, as the end was now way out of sight *MILES* away !! 6pm and the organisers deigned to let us in through the gates. I expected one mad rush, but no, it was actually quite civilised !! Everyone found a space and settled down to picnic, and what sights there were to behold in this department. Long tables complete with centrepiece ... candles ... etc. Women, wearing long gowns - some going for the *lady in red* look ( /me grins at Melanie). As for our little group, well we had picnic rugs, cool boxes, plenty of fantastic food and wine, and most of all we were surrounded by wonderful friends.
Almost immediately after selecting our picnic spot, Melanie, Annie and I, (thanks to Dave's earlier posting) went up to the HMV tent to order our new signed CDs. No queues at all !! Then to the tent next door to buy concert t-shirts. No queues at all !! Fantastic !!
Chris was late starting the concert - driving up in his chauffered car with darkened windows a few minutes after 8pm. Dressed all in black he made an appearance five or ten minutes later, much to the approval of the little group sat in the middle of the *subdued* crowd. The concert did start with much sadness as Chris opened up with telling the crowd how the little boy of the owners of Loseley Hall had been killed on the very same grounds the day before. He thanked the owners for letting the show go on and went straight into *Carry On*.
Now I can never remember the order of the songs as many of you with better memories can, so I am relying on the others to give you that information. He did say he couldn't sing Patricia due to a change in his religion - much to the huge disappointment of my daughter. Of course, he did sing that later on, and was inundated with red bras and black panties !!!
We expected to see Ruth at the karaoke part, but instead we got five (?) girls who would definitely starve if they had to sing for their supper !! One of them insisted on congratulating a friend on her birthday half way through the song !!
Chris was full of jokes, as usual - asking for a guy wearing a tuxedo to join him at the front and he would receive a bottle of champagne. Later on in the show a guy went up there and Chris explained to the guy that he was wearing *jeans* and then proceeded to ask if he was from America. He got the champagne !!
Chris was in fine form, his performance outstanding, which is more than can be said for the wash-out of a crowd which was there, with the exception of the little gang of 8, who enjoyed themselves to the full, shouting and cheering the man on !
We had no new songs and no Satin Green Shutters, but that didn't deter from the evening at all. Chris sang from around 8.10pm to almost midnight, with just a very short break inbetween.
A firework finale ended the evening, and it was the perfect end to a perfect day. It was fantastic. We also managed to go backstage ... YEAH !!!! ... but .. alas Chris wasn't there !! But, we did have a chat with one of the props people .. *laugh*. Neither did we manage to give the roses, which Melanie had brought to Chris, as we couldn't negotiate our way down to the front in the pitch dark with a youngster, but on leaving the grounds, we laid them down there for the little boy who lost his life.
Both Annie and I had a fantastic weekend; many, many thanks to Steve, Melanie, Keith, Amro and his two friends, and Oliver for making it so wonderful. Thanks to Joe for making all these *Friends of CdeB* meetings possible in the first place via the list, and thanks Dave for all the information you give us in order for us to get the most out of each concert.
Annie and I only arrived back home at 5am this morning, so I do apologise for the sketchiness of this, disjointedness, inaccuracy, typos ... whatever !! The concert was GREAT, the friends were GREAT. Thank you all !!!