This unofficial site features his current and recent events and tours
Review of Tony Hadley 'By Request' - Rhyl -
2nd April 2006 -
by Kev
My first gig of the tour and it certainly will not be my
last. A friend accompanied me who had never seen Tony before; Rhyl was
enjoyable despite the venue, which was unfortunately poor.
Although as the crow flies Rhyl is not too far from my home in Liverpool its
not a very easy place to get to, especially on a Sunday. Three hours
in total by train for what I assumed would be a much more straightforward
journey. I usually annoy my companions by arriving at venues stupidly
early however the delay meant that we got there just on half seven.
Imagine my horror when I heard Tony already half way through Life on mars, I
got to my row C centre seats just as Tony was finishing the first number.
The opening half moved along at a good pace, I enjoyed
hearing some songs for the first time live especially 'For Your Blue Eyes
Only' one of my favourite Tony tracks. The set list for the first half
was as per Bolton with 'Into The Great Wide Open' continuing instead of
'Fever'. However the order the songs were played in was slightly
different. Funniest moment was probably Tony completing forgetting the
opening line for 'To Love Somebody' and having to be prompted by Phil W
I had fully intended to supply some pictures to go along with this review
however the camera police were out in force unfortunately and several people
were threatened with removal of their cameras if they took any pictures.
This added to general poor nature of the venue that also included a
ridiculous queuing system for drinks which meant once served you had approx
30 secs to drink it before the show restarted. Suffice to say I will not be
returning to the venue again.
I was eagerly awaiting the second half of the show and was pleased to hear
them open it with 'Who Are You?' I assume this wasn’t an audience pick, as
Tony did not dedicate it to anyone.
The set list for the second half audience choices was:
1) Who Are You?
2) Drive My Car
3) The Reason
4) Hammer To Fall
5) I’ll Fly For You
6) Round And Round
7) Lets Stick Together
8) Barricades
9) Gold
10) Addicted To Love
The encore (they didn’t go off stage) was True, Memphis and Suspicious Minds
The highlights of the 2nd half were Tony playing guitar on Lets stick
together (Ritchie is still helping him a bit on certain parts!) and some of
the stories that accompanied the requests for songs. There was one
(probably) innocent remark from a lady in the audience who asked for
Freefalling because “it reminded her of lying on her back in Greece” You can
imagine what Tony made of that one!
All too soon the show was drawing to a close and I was a bit disappointed
that my choice (Memphis) has not been chosen but thankfully Tony asked
people to shout what song they wanted him sing and he heard me and my friend
shout “Memphis” and commented on our good taste! (We were helped in being
heard by the 1st couple of rows being content to clap politely and not
really get involved)
Really good show overall I continue to be impressed with the power and vocal
range Tony has. If anything I think his voice has improved since the first
time I saw him in 2000. Looking forward to my next gig in Birkenhead
on the 28th April which I know is a much more suitable venue.
Kev 3/4/06
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.