Concert Review: Bournemouth, UK - May 6, 2009
Mark:
We left for Bournemouth (that's me, my girlfriend and my father) at around 5 o'clock and arrived at the venue at about half-past six. Sadly it was a dull, cloudy drive across the heaths of Dorset and not a more cheery, sunny one but there we go. Anyway, we parked the car in the multi-storey, got all the way down to the BIC foyer, realized the tickets were still in the car, went back up to get them, went down again, bought a copy of the CD 'Footsteps' and a brochure, thought they'd be better off in the car (I'm thinking of the brochure really, didn't want it getting creased or trodden on), so one of us went back up and down again and then it was five to seven. Just enough time for a drink before the show. Here the farce continued as I, being a little nervous in crowds, rely on having just a little wine with me throughout the show, to sip on if I get panicky. It's a psychological crutch I suppose. We discovered at the bar that they have stopped doing those little plastic bottles of wine (like before), so I bought a bottle of water for £1.60, tipped it down a sink in the toilets, bought two glasses of red at the bar, tipped them into the empty bottle, and took that into the arena - the irony being that at half-time I was craving the bottle of water! An ice cold refreshing water would have been grand so I went back out and got a bottle. Anyway, enough of all that, here's what I thought of the show . . . In a nutshell, it was excellent. I feel extremely happy to have been there. I must say I preferred his last show in Bournemouth to this one, but nevertheless it was still superb. I look back at the pics I took and they really bring back the feelings of the night. It was a mgical night, and an emotional one, and I won't ever forget it. I won't relate what others have already said, I'll just give some highlights that haven't been covered, at least not much, and a few of my own thoughts. So, Chris came on stage shortly after 7.30. He proceeded with his solo set and then it was time for the band to join him towards the end of Borderline. The highlights for me of the first half of the concert are when they did 'Sailing Away', such a lovely song that one, meloncoly yet catchy with it. The blue lights were deeply soothing and I made a little movie of this one, incorporating the bit where Chris sings "Underneath the red lights I am watching where the shadows fall, looking at the girls" - and the electric guitar simulates that classic whistle sound people make when someone sexy walks past! Not many people brought him gifts, but at least I now know, thanks to reading on here, who was the giver of that gift of fudge! Vanilla fudge wasn't it? Or is that the stuff his mother makes that is "really good"? It was some sort of fudge anyway! Another highlight was 'Leather on my shoes' -I'm really glad he did this one, I've been hoping he'd do it ever since I saw a clip of him singing it live on youtube. Chris left the stage, followed by the band once the instrumental was done, and the break began. The second half was to come . . . Chris returned looking smart in a suit. The band were back too and now we had an orchestra as well. I thought "Wow, this is the works!" This is the first time I have seen Chris with an orchestra. I'm not really an orchestra person, preferring Chris with band or solo really, but they were good and it was a pleasant experience. Certainly some of his songs do benefit from that orchestral input and I was disappointed he didn't do 'Lenningrad' or 'The shadow of the mountain'. Delighted he did 'Spanish Train' though. 'Lady in Red' saw him walking round the audience with guitar and dancing with the various ladies in red who got up to meet him - or who were approached by him - as he wandered round. I am interested to learn from this site that his wife was in the audience too, I had no idea at the time, and that one of the women he went over to was in fact her! Probably just as well - I know if I was a singer doing that sort of thing and my girlfriend was in the arena there'd be hell to pay if I left her out! Well, after 'The Lady in Red' and a minor mobbing by some females all eager to meet their hero, it was time for 'The Revolution'. Like 'Leather on my shoes' it's a track I've seen on youtube performed with full band and orchestra and I just hoped I'd get to see it for myself one day. Well, the day was 6th May '09 and it didn't disappoint. Hope he does it again. This was one of my favourite moments in the whole concert. I and my g/f managed to get into the centre aisle and pretty close to the stage to become part of the many who had now stood up and were either clapping or dancing to this trilogy from 1982 - one of my favourite C de B songs ever. People remained upstanding and dancing for the remainder of the show, songs were the usual 'end of show' songs like Say Goodbye, Ferryman, HOE etc but with the added bonus of 'Footsteps' after SONY. The floating globe was let loose and it was good to see it again, like meeting up with a friend you haven't seen for some time! I nearly said "Hello my old mate" but then sanity kicked back in!! Chris, as I know people have said, touched the world' when it came down to the stage and I felt that this was particularly fitting - for Chris has indeed touched the world many times with his extraordinary musical ability. I only wish I too could have had 'the touch' from Chris. I've said before it would mean the absolute world for me just to shake his hand but I couldn't get close enough. I missed out by about half an inch in 2007 - the nearest I came on Wednesday was level with the 3rd row in the centre aisle, dancing at the end, and I was left wondering if I'll ever get to meet my hero. It's such a flat feeling when he's about to leave the stage, waving goodbye, and it's like so near and yet so far. It's upsetting to have to face the fact that the next chance could be some time off and I don't mind admitting that I had a litle cry about it the next day! Can anyone else relate to this? Anyway, I'm not letting that detract too much from what was a fantastic evening for many people including myself. At least I wasn't ill and unable to go, and I send my sympathies to anyone who actually might have been in that unfortunate position. Just some last thoughts - and I doubt if I'm alone with these - it would be good to see in future shows songs like 'Where we will be going', and songs from Power of Ten like 'By my side', 'Brother John' and 'Heart of Darkness' and perhaps bring back 'Mirror of the soul' for a good airing. Well, that's my take on the evening, hope you've enjoyed it, Mark