This unofficial site features his current and recent events and tours
Review of Tony Hadley and Jazz Siciliana - Teatro Golden, Palermo, Sicily - 24th January 2008
I'd found this show on one of my many internet searches and along with a couple of friends, we discussed the logistics of how to get to Sicily, where we would stay and where the theatre was located. We also weighed up the cost and whether it would be prohibitively expensive. We found that there were direct flights with Ryanair from Stansted to Palermo and at a reasonable cost - it actually cost me more to get the train to Stansted. At the last minute we decided to hire a car, it was the best thing to do as we were able to see more of the island, although the driving in Sicily is a bit of a free for all and everyone's car seemed to have a dent, a scratch or both, but my friends did the driving, think it would have scared me a bit as I have never driven on the continental side of the road, but it is something I will do one day, but somewhere quieter.
We arrived on the Wednesday evening after dark and settled into our hotel overlooking the bay. After breakfast on Thursday we went into Palermo to locate the theatre (and stage door - it didn't have one, but this didn't matter). We also went shopping and drove up the coast to Mondello. It was soon time to go back to the hotel to get ready for the evening ahead. We went to the theatre around 7 pm and were able to get a free parking space at the side of the theatre and then went to a restaurant around the corner for a lovely proper Italian Pizza, it was really nice and reasonably priced.
Time for the main event and back to the theatre. We had arranged to pick up our tickets at the box office and Rosanna from the Orchestra greeted us before returning backstage. I'm sure she told Tony that we were there. The concert started with the band doing one song and then Tony came on stage. He explained to the audience that his Italian isn't very good but that he hoped they would understand. The set was 18 songs without a break and in between songs Tony said 'Grazie', 'Grazie' - 'Thank you', 'Thank you' and tried to do some of his usual patter about the songs but unfortunately just putting an i or o on the end of an english word doesn't make it italian! He spotted us about three songs in and made eye contact and pointed a few times. I think he was pleased to see people he knew. He did an excellent show, especially as he had only had a couple of rehearsals with the local orchestra. They had tried to play 'Wives and Lovers' too fast but Tony managed to slow them down.
After the show we waited in the auditorium and we saw his manager Matt Glover come out on stage and asked if Tony would be coming out as there was no stage door. He said that we should just stay where we were and Tony would be out in 10 minutes and true to his word, he was. He had some photos taken with some Italian fans and then he spoke to us. It was lovely to see him there, even though he was running late for his restaurant booking, but his didn't seem to bother Tony. He kept talking to us as we all left the theatre and he got into his waiting car - a nice large black saloon with cream leather seats. It must have been the best car I saw whilst I was there, it didn't have any scratches or dents and wasn't a small hatchback.
We left the theatre with Tony's advice to be careful driving and crossing the road. We made our way back to the hotel very happy and glad to have had an excellent evening. I was also very happy to have seen Tony as this would be the last time I would be seeing Tony for a while as I have an operation scheduled for just over a week from this show and it has a long convalescing period.
The next day after breakfast we went shopping in Palermo again and took a trip up into the mountains. Just time for a meal and back to the airport for our late evening flight home. It had been beautiful weather - what we would expect in the UK around late April/early May although Sicilians were wearing coats, hats and scarves.
We arrived back at Stansted at 11.30 pm and went to an airport hotel. After breakfast it was time for my train journey back to Devon. I was sad to leave my friends as I didn't want our trip to finish. I had an excellent time and this will remain in my memory for some time to come.
Denise 31/1/08