Concert Review: Liverpool, UK - August 31, 1998
Andre Willey:
Chris sang There's A New Star in Heaven Tonight at last night's (31st August) concert in Liverpool, too. It's only the second time he's performed it live to a concert audience - and presumably the last too. He said he hopes the media will now leave the family alone to get on with their lives, a sentiment echoed by the audience given the strong reaction it received. He sung the song solo with just his guitar at the start of the second 'encore' (i.e. after High on Emotion, and just before Patricia the Stripper in the current concert playlist). There was a tear in his eye after he'd finished, but then he composed himself and said he'd like to finish off with a song he knew Diana would have liked, and went on to sing Patricia before closing with Peaceful Waters/Hey Jude.
The only sour note was that there were some rather undesirable elements in the audience last night. One particularly drunk yob (gentleman is not a suitable word to describe him) decided to yell or clap over the start of A New Star while the rest of the audience were silent - and a request for The Head and the Heart (which had already been played earlier in the concert) was shouted over the opening bars. This was quickly hushed down by everyone else, who were thoroughly fed up of these antics. We were close enough to see Chris's face quite clearly, and I don't think he was very amused.
In fact, there were several audience members without whom the concert would have been a whole lot more enjoyable. For example, when Chris did Danny Boy, he did it 'a capella' as expected - but since this was in an indoor concert venue, he projected it without the use of any amplification. This is obviously a somewhat challenging thing for any artist to attempt with several thousand people listening, and it was quite beautiful to hear - and as with New Star in Heaven you can have heard a pin drop in the auditorium. However the aforementioned individual decided to start singing along; again, he was very quickly sat upon by the people around him.
I'll post more about the concert shortly, when I get my thoughts together. It was a rather odd atmosphere after the big outdoor gigs, and the audience were very slow to get going. I've noticed this is a common problem with add-on dates to tours, as all the really big fans tend to book early and can't necessarily afford to go to an extra date - even if it was heavily promoted, which this one wasn't. So the audience mix is far more heavily in favour of slightly over-dressed people who have gone to see "that Mr Burgh chap who sings Lady in Red" and who are a bit perplexed by all the loud rock music. :-)
Oh, and speaking of which, has no-one mentioned the generator breakdown towards the end of the first half of the Harewood House concert which left the stage illuminated by two bright halogen worklamps rather than the normal concert lighting for a few numbers? I loved Chris's comments about it - he suggested that these particular generators worked best on rather specific types of fine wine, and reeled off a list of the vintages that would be preferable if people could just bring them up to the front to help get the generator working again... :-) The problem was fixed during the break, and everything continued as normal for the second half.