This unofficial site features his current and recent events and tours
Review of Tony Hadley 'By Request' - Birkenhead - 28th April 2006 - by Kev
My 2nd gig of the tour and one I'd been looking forward to for a long time. The venue is about a 10 minute stroll from my front door! Night got off to a good start when I met my friends in my local pub (The Dispensary) and spotted Richie Barrett and Tony at the bar, I got some decent pics with Tony and he was very chatty and friendly, mentioned he was looking forward to playing somewhere he had never played before. Pacific Road is a brand new standing venue, which I believe, makes for a better atmosphere; it was perfectly suited to this sort of gig. I found out when we got in that it was sold out.
Set list for the 1st half was consistent with the other shows so far. Although Price of Love by Roxy Music has been added since the Rhyl gig. The bar was open throughout so there was not the usual rush at the interval, which made a nice change! Tony commented on how all Venue’s should have open bars throughout! A bit of credit should go to Tony for freshening up his stories connected to why he chose the songs in 1st half. I was expecting him to say exactly same as Rhyl but was pleasantly surprised to hear that the little anecdotes where not all the same. The 2nd half set was soon here.
Second half set list was:
Who are you?
Lifeline
Chant Number 1
Always on my Mind
Barricades
Delilah
Instinction
Rio
That’s Life
Memphis
I Predict a Riot
Encore:
True
Gold
Some really good choice there from my fellow Birkenheaders! I was really impressed with I Predict A Riot and Rio, two songs I had not heard Tony do before. He did really quite excellent covers of these songs.
All in a great gig and probably ranks as my favourite ever Tony gig.
Thanks Kev for this great review, if you have been to one of the gigs and would like to send me a review, I will happily put it on the site.