Concert Review: The Hague, Netherlands - February 14, 2003
Chris Williams:
The show was due to start at 20:15 according to the tickets, but as with any CdeB concert, it didn't start on time !!! About 20:30 hrs a guy came on stage and talked a bit in Dutch, I assume, he was obviously introducing Chris as a few minutes later, Chris came on stage dressed in a black suit and a white shirt, with a single red rose in his hand. He went straight to the piano and started playing a tune which was unfamiliar for the first few bars and then it sounded like the intro to Missing You, and then again a little different....it was really strange. Suddenly he broke into the real tune of Missing You and I did not know what to do :-( I had my wine to give him, but he was playing the piano and it would be difficult to get to the stage to give it to him and there was a very stern looking security guard right near us. so I decided to wait and take it up later...hopefully if the security allowed it. Chris then sang Here Is Your paradise, and from then he moved between Piano and Guitar. One thing Stewart noticed early on in the show was that Chris only had one guitar with him, instead of the usual 2. After I think it was the second song Chris came to the front of the stage and asked if there was anyone in the hall who was celebrating a birthday that day, and one women said yes and he invited her down to the front of the stage and he came down the steps and gave the lady who I think was Cora, a lovely big kiss and cuddle and presented here with the rose. He also said that he was after Rotterdam he was not going to sing any songs like, Every Drop Of Rain, Waiting For The Hurricane, and several others that had wind, rain or storms in their titles !! After a while a lady went up to give Chris some flowers, so I thought that I would chance it as well, so I hurried down to the stage with my wine and the present from Sergio and Grace. It felt really strange not to give my wine at the correct time, but as he took it he said 'thanks darling' !! so I was quite happy. He bent down to kiss me, but at the same time I started to hand him the other present that Lore had asked me to give him, and at this time, with not much of a voice left I started stumbling on my words !! I said to him, 'this is a present from some fans in.....and then I could not think of the word Argentina for some reason, so I said 'the country where you were born in....then I suddenly managed to say Argentina !!!!! I'm not usually lost for words as many of you know now ;-)....but at that point I was !! Anyway he said thanks very much and I hurried back to my seat and forget to get my kiss....so Lore I blame you for that one !!!!!!!!!!!! The show carried on as usual with lots of fans giving Chris flowers throughout the evening. Obviously the songs were all the slower ones as Chris was solo. He sang a very good version of Lebanese Night, although at the start of it, he appeared to be struggling a little to get the guitar chords right, but once he had, it was another superb version of it. I cannot really remember all the songs he sang right now, but there was a good mixture which included Save Me, Another Rainbow, The Same Sun, and Sailor. At last he sang Revolution and a few of us could sit down no longer so stood up and danced infront of our seats. I noticed that on the far side of the hall from us, a group of fans had tried to get down the front of the stage but they were stopped. After this song we all sat back down and a few minutes later, Chris played, Don't Pay The Ferryman and said Goodnight !! :-(((((((((((( When the lights went down a few of us rushed down to the front of the stage ready for the 'faster section' which we were convinced would follow. But Chris came back for the one and only encore and sang just one song which was, The Snows Of New York, which he sang with guitar to start with and then finished on the piano. The crowd sang the song with him and it sounded just beautiful, with all the voices together. Then he was gone......just like that :-( No second encore at all, which I thought was rather strange. The show lasted about 2 hours which seemed to absolutely fly by, his voice was superb and we really enjoyed the whole show, but for me, something was 'missing' that night. I cannot explain it easily but maybe it was that I never felt the 'energy' or electricity that usually jumps between Chris and the audience. Maybe it was because I felt so ill though..who knows. But I would certainly make the journey again to see another solo concert. Stewart and I have been to 2 solo shows now and both were very good in different ways :-)) After the show, we all went back to the hotel bar where we all met up again and had a great time till the bar closed at 01:00 hrs, and then we went off to bed. Take care all, Chris (W)
Judith Sens:
Hi everyone, I wasn't planning to write a review about yesterdays concert, but there's something I'd really like to share with you. After the first or the second song Chris asked if there was anybody in the audience having a birthday that day. Well it was my birthday! Chris had a red rose, and if I wanted to have it, then I had to come down to the stage. I got very nervous by then and people around me said I had to go, so I did! Chris came down from the stage and gave me the rose, gave me 3 kisses and wished me a happy birthday! I still can't believe that this happened to me! This was definitely the best birthday gift ever!!!!!! Well about the rest of the concert, it was just great as ever! Judith BTW: did anyone maybe took a picture of Chris giving me the rose? I always take my camera with me, but for the first time I didn't