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by Roger Moroney Chris set to rock the Bay All the way down on their flight to Napier from Auckland yesterday, sisters-in-law Lisa and Sandy O'Neill were nudging each other. "I wasn't sure if it was Chris de Burgh or not sitting in front of us," Lisa said. But Sandy was pretty sure it was the singer. So after their aircraft landed, and the passengers were wandering across the tarmac, Sandy approached the diminutive, cheerful-looking man in the black clothes and dark glasses, and asked if he was who she thought he was. "Yeah, I'm Chris, hello," he replied with a smile, before chatting with the girls and their partners and posing for photographs. The moment wasn't lost on a delighted Lisa. She was wearing a red dress. The arrival of the instantly likeable Irishman was in stark contrast to Rod Stewart, who hid from view behind the dark-tinted glass of a limousine after a private flight into Napier last year. No such glamour stuff for de Burgh. He entered the terminal, and despite running to a tight schedule, and eager to see as much as he could of Hawke's Bay, was happy to have a chat. And he confessed that while this was his first visit to New Zealand, the Mission Estate Winery Concert would not exactly be his first performance in the country. He spent Thursday relaxing on a privately owned island in The Hauraki Gulf where he enjoyed a few wines and had a swim - "which is not something you can do in the Irish Sea at the moment". "I suppose you could," he added in hindsight, with a growing smile, "but you'd have to be completely mad". While Chris was enjoying the Hauraki Gulf sun, someone brought out a couple of guitars and he quickly entered into the great Kiwi tradition of having a bit of a strum and sing-along. "I ended up playing for about 2 1/2 hours. I played some of my songs and other people's songs." "Your first concert on New Zealand soil?" I ventured. "In a way," he laughed. But the audience for tonight's concert will be a lot larger. A lot, lot larger. "I'm really looking forward to it. "When this (concert) came up I thought that with my interest in wine, not having been here before ... and that it's three degrees at home, it would be great to do." Oh yes, he knows a thing or three about New Zealand wines, having discovered "Cloudy Bay" about 20 years ago and developed a growing interest. "I know all about the wines from here," he said with a smile. "Hawke's Bay wine is very famous." And worthy of several places in what he described as "a big wine cellar" back at his home in Ireland. But it was with genuine surprise and delight that he came across a selection of Mission wines on display at Hawke's Bay Airport. "Look at this," he declared as his smile grew wider, like a kid discovering an unopened present on Boxing Day. The wines were the special Mission concert "drop" and featured his and Olivia Newton-John's names on the label. "I must have a case sent back home," he said. And so, I felt obliged to ask - because a lot of people would like to know - did he still enjoy performing Lady in Red - the song that edged his career into the entertainment stratosphere? "Oh yeah, because you know you're doing a song that a lot of people want to hear. If some people don't like it - hey, that's their problem." So what are people going to hear from Chris de Burgh tonight? "The first 40 minutes will be just me, solo. My favourite songs and some from other people which I wished I'd written," he said with a smile. Then, he said, the orchestra and band would pick up with the songs from the past and present rolled out. But he won't be doing anything from the current project, an album to be called Story Man. In the age of the internet, of recording cellular phones and other electronic eavesdropping trickery, he doesn't want to take the chance of playing something, as yet unrecorded, that could be picked up by someone else. And expect a well-honed show. This guy has just come off a 110-concert tour, and after doing the Mission thing will head for major concerts in Melbourne and Dubai. |
File last modified on August 26, 2006