This unofficial site features his current and recent events and tours
Review of Tony Hadley at The Hague Jazz Festival
23rd May 2008 by Tina
Mandy found out that Tony was playing at the Hague Jazz Festival long before it was announced and a few of us decided to travel from the UK to join her. There were three hotels in the area - The Holiday Inn, The Tulip and the Novotel. We decided to stay in the Novotel and found that this hotel was attached to the World Forum Centre where the festival was being held and as we were checking in noticed that they were setting up a stage in the foyer of the hotel (although it wasn't the one the Tony would be performing on) and then they opened the doors between the hotel and the venue and we were able to take a sneaky peak at the workmen seting up the display stands. After unpacking we walked to the nearby Scheviningen and had a leisurely lunch on beach in a cafe bar in the sunshine. It was then time to go back to the hotel to get ready for the evening ahead.
Ready for the show, we made our way downstairs and decided to have a drink in the hotel bar. Whilst we were there Tony and Dave appeared and joined us for a while. They then left to do some interviews. Tony wasn't due on stage until midnight so we then sampled the rest of the atmosphere and acts at the festival. Between each act there was a 20-30 minute break and we made our way into the large auditiorium and towards our seats and listened to the orchestra tuning up and Tony doing his mic test.
It was then time for the show to start and Tony started his classic swing set and his first song was 'The Mood I'm in'. He was on top form, really enjoying the whole jazz festival experience and he commented that it was the first jazz festival that he had done and I'm sure that it won't be his last and he will be invited to more events like this all over the world. The set continued as the set list (thank you nice Dutch lady for letting me photograph it) and he was on stage for over 1 hour 20 minutes. The end of the main set was 'Gold' and he had a standing ovation from the mainly Dutch audience. He went off and then came back on for a rockier encore and with the song 'It's not unusual' it was fromaggio time again. He was told by the audience that the Dutch for cheese was kaas, they seemed to understand something being 'cheesy' better than the Italians.
We spoke to Tony after the show and then he said his goodbyes and went back to his hotel as he had an early flight the next day. We stayed in the Netherlands for another day and made our way home on the Sunday. It had been an excellent show and Tony just gets better and better.
Tina 25/5/08