Concert Review: Halifax, Canada - May 26, 2003
Joe Robinson:
Please bear with me .. this could be a little long and confusing, but hopefully worth it. Sherry, Brad, Alberta, and I set off for Halifax to pick up Susan and her friend Shirley. We went to "Your Father's Mustache" where we met up with my friend Don. Next to arrive was Marc Primeau and we sat and talked fast and furiously about the concert-to-be. Donna (all the way from Los Angeles California!) and her friend Paula (I hope I got your name right) and Lance (again, all the way from Arizona!) arrived shortly after, followed by Jennifer and Steve. So we ended up with 12 very excited people! After eating and getting ourselves all revved up for the concert we headed over to the Cohn and some of us bought some of the souvenier items (I got the nice blue pullover with the CdeB logo on the front and the Canada flag on the arm, a program and the signed and numbered Beautiful Dreams poster!). Now, on with the show!!! (The narrative is sometimes first person, sometimes third person, but it mostly includes what was said. A special thank you to Sherry for taking the notes!) -------------------------------------------------------------------- The lights go down ... Standing ovation as Chris de burgh walks on stage! He is dressed in white shirt, black trousers, and black jacket. 1. Carry On 2. Here Is Your Paradise. - CdeB strips out of his jacket, and talks a little about returning to Halifax, and how cold it is and how he has been in Halifax in all types of weather. He just returned from Chicoutimi and how very cold it was there. "I want to do some of my favourite songs and yours with just my guitar and my piano and me. 3. Sailing Away I played many years ago at Rebecah Cohn, can't remember if with band or with myself (audience member screams that he was by himself). He has little chit chat with audience then... 4. Transmission Ends CdeB received a request by envelope, he looks at it, and smiles and says "I know who this is from". I woke up this morning ... had a rough night. I made it to 3:00 AM this morning ... went to Economy Shoe Shop ... looking for a pair of shoes. Eveytime I asked them for a pair of shoes they handed me a beer. I think every hotel I go in someone is following me with a jackhammer ... (holding his head saying Oh My God!). I want to sing a song from Timing Is Everything ... (talks about new technology, with mobile phones and how his daughter gets on the phone texting her friends very quickly Beep, Beep, Beep,...and he is rather slow ... and how it's not that his eyesight is getting worse to see the numbers on the keypad, but that his arm is too short to hold out the phone. 5. Save Me 6. Lonely Sky (Very moving .. sending chills down your whole body!) Standing Ovation!! CdeB: Thanks a lot! I took a long walk around this great city to the Maritime Centre of The Atlantic.It's great even after the third time around. Here's a song about the sea ... 7. Sailor (At the piano) This is about relationships. Any couple who have been together for 70 years and say they have never had a spat would be rubbish. Halifax is a very romantic city .. anyone here from the U.S.? You're lucky to be here as Halifax is a romantic city. This couple who is having troubled relationship, goes away to a city, not unlike Halifax, maybe to try to resolve their differences ... 8. Head And The Heart This is one of my new songs. It's kind of opposite to the last song .... (someone speaking in the audience on a cell phone) I'm sorry, am I interrupting you? (Chris continues) I can't help but to notice it's almost pandemic(?) the amount of breakups. Too bad people couldn't keep it amicable. 9. The Best That Love Can Be A few weeks ago I did this solo in Russia, where it was very very cold. Has anyone been to Russia? (No one answers) You go there and you don't come back ... you get sucked in. It is very beautiful in many places ... St. Petersburg ... I was there many times ... I wrote this song ... 10. Natasha Dance (at the end he has everyone clapping while he does little Russian dance at the end) If you lived a pure and sacred life like me when you go up to those pearly gates, if you ARE pure and sacred they just say "go through, go through" then Chris de Burgh goes through and they say sit over there with the politicians and lawyers ... Maybe on the right there are truly good hearted people and on the left the tyrants ... Stalin, Hitler, Saddam Hussein .... They all must go through St. Peter's Gate ... 11. St Peter's Gate You can just about see it in the light, it just falls sometimes. It is hard to think about what is going on on the other side of the earth. When I wake up here, my wife and kids's day is half over,but wherever you live you have the Same Sun and Moon .... 12. The Same Sun I read a book recently "The Burden Of Desire" by a Canadian Broadcaster, Robert McNeil. I was quite excited after reading it and walking around Halifax brought back lots of memories and I hope this music tonight is bringing lots of memories back to you ... 13. Where Peaceful Waters Flow 14. A Spaceman Came Traveling (crowd singing through it all) You are great!! (People shouting out requests ...one for Patricia the stripper) Oh I can't do that if I want to get into the Pearly Gates(pointing upward and adjusting his halo). Then looking at his set list ... this is like being in a restaurant ... you can't pick what you want. This is a song about a lot of drinking over in Europe ... Vodka ... 15. Moonlight And Vodka A few years ago I wrote a song ... It is antiwar ... I have a seven part DVD on war and some facinating facts ... like during the first few months in WWI the French lost a million people, No matter what your reason or how neccesary it seems, war is not a good thing. I Believe there is always room for antiwar songs ... 16. Borderline (Very emotional) Standing Ovation! 17. Say Goodbye To It All As I was Ironing my shirts this afternoon (audience laughing) I kid you not! I was thinking how wonderful women are. If you think you men understand them you are lying. Women can multitask ... men can only do one thing ...like fetching a bone ... they are straight line thinkers ... Women fuss with their hair and their makeup and their clothes, and the man is downstairs saying hurry up dear. Then when they are out, and she is over socializing, and you turn around and you see a beautiful woman across the room, and you realize how lucky you are because this beatiful woman across the room is your wife or girlfriend or both... 18. The Lady In Red This is the Spanish Train ...run quick 19. Spanish Train 20. The Tower Those two songs came from Spanish Train and Other Stories. Back then in the mid seventies Canada was one of the only countries listening to me then .. so I can't thank you enough.(big applause) 21. In A Country Churchyard Towards the end of last year I did a tour with my band, hope fully they are sleeping unless they are looking for shoes (ha ha). They came back with a terrible headache. Which reminds me of a little joke where a man who does performing has a 7 year old daughter, and she says to her dad to not take his suit because every time he does he comes home with a headache. 22. Revolution/Light A Fire (No liberty) 23. Ship To Shore Thank you. Great participation(by the audience). Next song is off my new record (and speaks a little in French). I did my last show in French ... stumbled on a few words but not that bad. We were at a restaurant in the mid east ... and I heard some singing ...or was it a stepped-on cat? I think it was singing. There were trees and waterfall and beautiful women ...not unlike here tonight... and beautiful boys ... but that's really not my style. I hope you men are taking care of your women. I hear that there's a predator here tonight (rubs his hands together and laughs). 24. Lebanese Night 25. Missing You 26. Don't Pay The Ferryman Thankyou so much .... goodnight folks. ---------------------------------------------------- 1st Encore A little song my Grandmother used to sing to me ... 1. Patricia The Stripper 2. High On Emotion 3. Snows Of New York ---------------------------------------------------- 2nd Encore Let's have fun ... 1. Hard Day's Night And one of my favourites ... 2. Pretty Woman 3. Hey Jude (audiences finishes off the Na ... Na ... Na ... Na Na Na ... Na's) Chris de Burgh bows and walks off the stage. The End. --------------------------------------------------------------------- After the most AMAZING show we (Sherry, Brad, Marc and Tina (Marc's wife), Susan, Donna, Paula, Lance and I) went to the Economy Shoe Shop in hopes that Chris de Burgh would return. Although he didn't make an appearance, we had a wonderful time talking about the concert, and just general chit-chat with each other. I also want to say that with this gathering of friends, it has greatly enhanced the concert experience for me! And for that I send my sincere Thanks. Well, if you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read it. Truly yours, Joe