This unofficial site features his current and recent events and tours
Review of Tony Hadley - The Essential 80s - Clumber Park, Worksop - 18th August 2006
I thought it was a mistake in the diary on Tony's site when I saw this gig announced as it was exactly a year from his last gig at Clumber Park, but this time Eraser, an Erasure Tribute Act, Bucks Fizz and Go West were on the bill along with Tony.
After July's lovely sunny weather, August had turned into a bit of a wash out and I'd been keeping my eyes on the weather forecast for about a fortnight. According to the forecast I had looked at it would be fairly dry in the afternoon, rain at 6 pm and drizzle by 9 pm, this wasn't far from the truth except that it didn't tell me that there would be torrential rain, thunder and lightening and hailstones at about 6.30 pm just as my friend was driving into the park, had my other friend not had trouble with her train journey we would have probably been out of the car and got soaked, as it was we waited in the car in the car park for the rain ease and we made our way to the stage area. We were told to stay a little way back and saw people with mops and buckets on the stage clearing up. A little later we were allowed to go forward to the barrier and managed to secure a place at the front, left of centre. The rain stopped whilst Eraser was on, which was a bonus and it stayed dry for the rest of the evening.
First up were Eraser, the Erasure tribute band, they had a fairly authentic sound and from what I can remember had the look too. Next up were Bucks Fizz, this was Bobby, one of the original members plus three others, they did a good set with two costume changes. Next up were Go West, I had wondered if this would be a joint set with Tony but it wasn't. The surprise of the Go West set was that Richie B was on guitar, apparently Deeral had arrived late and they made the decision to have Richie instead, he did an excellent job, possibly making it a bit rockier than it would have been. It was a good singalong set with all their standards.
Tony was top of the bill and on last. I was unable to get a set list due to the distance from the stage to the barrier but I decided to write it down. The set was Somebody Told Me, Only When You Leave, Lifeline, Walking In Memphis, Through The Barricades, True, Suspicious Minds, Gold. Tony was on top form and looked really well and in an excellent mood. Unfortunately as the whole show was running late there wasn't enough time for banter between the songs and Tony told us later that he had to drop four songs. Near the end a woman decided to jump the barrier and throw a bra at Tony, which he smiled and thanked her for, she was then led away by the security. The band was John Keeble, Phil Taylor, Phil Williams, Richie Barrett, Simon Wilescroft, Dave Williamson and Dan Carpenter. It was a shame that the set wasn't longer but it was excellent all the same.
I was told later that during the downpour there had been an announcement that the show was temporarily cancelled, luckily the weather cheered up and we were able to watch an excellent show. When the crowds had gone the standing area in front of the stage had a touch of Glastonbury about it and maybe wellies should have been the footwear for the day! The event was closed with a firework display, this was a low level display due to the hot weather and dry grass!
Denise 19/8/06