Concert Review: Liverpool, UK - October 10, 2011
Chris Raymond:
It's taken me a while but here's my review of concerts from the autumn Moonfleet tour. I was lucky to be able to go to three concerts - Bournemouth, Liverpool and Manchester. Most of the information relates to all three concerts and you will see where I have mentioned specific things which happened at individual shows... For the autumn leg of the Moonfleet tour the set list was much the same as on part one of the tour. As Footsteps 2 album was soon to be released two tracks from it were slotted in. First a cover from, “A promising young Swedish Band called Ab-ba…” S.O.S. was just wonderful! The song began just accompanied by Al on acoustic guitar, then with a change of guitar and the rest of the band joining in it became louder and more powerful. Morse Code for SOS was displayed across the screen each time the words were sung. Next Seven Bridges and C de B told how it was written by musicians from the old GDR. The authorities had passed it as suitable as they thought it was about one man having a bad day but in fact it was about the oppression of the whole of the population. He’d loved the track and had written the English lyric. It was likely that the twin screens which had looked like sails had been difficult to install at smaller venues in the Spring. For this leg of the tour videos were shown high up at the rear of the stage. Some videos had been altered. For Spanish Train (which I love!) the video was somewhat different with eyes in blue light for God and red for the Devil. The Devil’s eyes moved from side to side at the end which was pretty spooky! There was still some footage of the rail track and flames of fire featured strongly. Chris made much of the bit about smugglers as a preamble to My Heart's Surrender. For Treasure And Betrayal a large spinning diamond was displayed on the screen which shattered into pieces at the end. The Storm was very lively and everyone cheered when Chris did a bit of a knees up! The Leader trilogy completed the first part of the concert and was truly awesome. Steve Bennett's video appeared to be unaltered. Chris stood to the side of the stage sometimes watching the video as he sang. As always the boys were just amazing as they played it out. That ended the first part of the concert. In Liverpool Steve got a mention for his work on the videos! When Winter Comes was the prompt for part two and everyone took their seats again as it was playing. Chris started singing The Road To Freedom off stage. Borderline got long standing ovations at all the concerts. Chris told us that the secret of hitting those high notes is in the trousers! LOL There was a long dialogue about the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci to set the scene for Why Mona Lisa Smiled. The video clips showing Mona Lisa being sketched and moving images were shown as if in a splendid gilt frame. A sketch of Leonardo da Vinci morphed into Mona Lisa at the end. Al sat on a stool to play guitar and Chris was able to move around the stage whilst singing this song as he wasn’t playing an instrument. It was fabulous! Talk of Iran and the tragic death of Neda led to People Of The World. Not many fans seemed to stand in Bournemouth but we heard later that many people had been ordered to sit down by security. When the the boys left the stage Chris pretended to be surprised! Mostly he sang familiar solo slot tracks but it was a real treat to hear Spirit. It was just beautiful. “Any requests?” prompted many of us to yell for Patricia… Of course each time Chris told us that she was far too old to appear! In Liverpool we enjoyed a wonderful medley of Beatles’ tracks – In My Life, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields Forever, Let It Be (which is on Footsteps 2) Chris also responded to a request for Discovery and very lovely it was too. In Manchester Chris sang a short Makey-Uppey song about a forthcoming football match between Manchester United and Liverpool. Everyone roared! One solo song there was Those Were The Days which we absolutely loved. Everyone sang along with Chris going faster and faster towards the end. For the very last word he held the note for an eternity, pretending to check the time, scratching his head, checking his pockets etc. WOW! It was very special. At all concerts talk of Christmas set the scene for A Spaceman Came Travelling and lights flooded the audience for the last of the solo songs Where Peaceful Waters Flow. Plenty of fans sang along to these last two tracks in particular. For TLIR Chris had left the stage and appeared within the arena. At Liverpool he first went into a box near the stage really surprising the occupants! During these walkabouts many fans rushed to get near to him and in Manchester he picked out his family who were present having promised to really embarrass them! Africa set the scene for the dancing part and was just wonderful! For Everywhere I Go there was a new video presentation of many black and white stills of the girl referred to in the song. In each frame a red scarf materialised around her neck to pick her out from the crowd. It was a very nice touch and gave Merchandise another item for sale! At each venue the boys in the band were introduced with a great deal of flourish:- Dave – Baron of the base and international sex god! “Like me!” declared the Man. Nige – King of the keyboards who can tickle your ivories! Al - General of the guitar, Prince of the plectrum and the one who put the git into guitar! Tony – Duke of the drums – the Dick with the stick! No more to say!! LOL The last tracks were very fast and loud with plenty of dancing. Say Goodbye To It All was dropped but it was great having The Getaway again. For DPTF the words, “DON’T DO IT!” were flashed up on the screen each time. When it was announced that we’d have a song C de B’s grandmother sang to him we were ecstatic! Though we’d hoped for Patricia The Stripper it was such a huge surprise to actually get her for all three of these shows! A couple of us had been prepared with items of underwear to throw, which was a great deal of fun! TSONY was not played at Bournemouth but having had Patricia we didn't mind. At Liverpool and Manchester we were really spoilt as we enjoyed both Patricia and TSONY Of course the reprise of Go Where Your Heart Believes was the last track before Chris went along the stage touching hands, going down into the crowd and standing on a seat each time to wave before he returned to the stage to wave a final goodbye! The boys in the band played us out with much flourish. Sadly the Manchester concert was the last one of the tour Chris said he'd miss the boys and Al pretended to cry! At this concert Dave scooped up the knickers that Chris had hung on his guitar and mopped his brow with them as as he left the stage! If you read this far - well done you! Bye, Chris R