This unofficial site features his current and recent events and tours
Review of Tony Hadley vs Martin Fry ABC: -
Oxford -
1st February 2005
The tour with Martin Fry had
finally arrived, and although Oxford was not one on my original list of
gigs to go to, I decided once I had booked the last gig on the tour that
to see the first would be a good comparison.
The show started more or less on time with Tony and Martin doing duets, Tony going off and Martin continuing, Tony coming back on etc. The second half followed the same format. Anyone who went on the tour with Peter Cox last year will be familiar with this format.
The brass section works really well and gives the songs a different dimension. When John Keeble and Richard Brooks were drumming together it was like they were two sides of a mirror, completely in time. It was great to hear the sax part played for 'True'.
The Oxford audience were a little reticent to join in. It wasn't helped by the fact that quite a few 'front rowers' were content to just sit there and clap and not get up and dance even though Martin Fry encouraged them to do so. Nearly all the stalls were sold, so a fairly large audience. My seat was middle of the second row, so there I was standing, right in front of Tony all by myself! (I wasn't the only person standing, but people just didn't seem to want to). I didn't mind, if they just wanted to sit there then that's ok with me.
Tony did his recent trick of throwing the lyrics to Delilah out into the audience, nobody (except me!) was interested in having them, unfortunately I wasn't quite close enough to catch them, so they fell on the floor on the front row (I retrieved them later!). Tony didn't even bother throwing the third page out, so these were discarded on the stage.
The highlight of the second half was Tony playing the guitar (I have never seen him do that, although he has said he can play in interviews), not sure how many chords he was playing, but he looked good with a guitar.
Tony looked really fit and healthy, he has said recently in an interview that junk food is banned on this tour, with such a long tour, I'm not sure how long his resolution will last.
Too soon it was all over and time to head for the stage door and meet Tony. Luckily it wasn't a very cold evening and Tony was out fairly quickly, of course Martin Fry was out before him, I didn't speak to him this time. Tony signed a copy of the photo that is on the homepage and he said it was quite a good one.
All in all, a good start to the tour (not helped by the audience though). I liked the brass section and the rapport between Tony and Martin is good.
These are the lyrics to Delilah that Tony threw.
Denise 2/2/05