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So near...yet so far
Nov. 16th, 2006 10:50 pmWent to see David Essex at Portsmouth Guildhall. The crowd, unsurprisingly, was nearly all forty-something women, but I didn't feel out of place at all. I was there to see the man who gave the world my favourite Christmas record ever - I just hoped he'd deem it near enough to Christmas to sing it tonight.
In the bar I was charged £3 for a Magners - and it was only a 330 ml bottle! At Havant & Waterlooville you get a PINT of Magners for less than that. Swizz.
The support act was a singer who played an acoustic guitar, unaccompanied, called Streebeck. He wasn't bad, though I couldn't quite get into his stuff, and dropped three plugs for his CD into his 25-minute set.
There was a long interval, then the lights went down to an almighty cheer, and David appeared on stage. Immediately, 60 ladies shot up from their seats and ran down to the front! He opened with a couple of unfamiliar songs, then revealed they're on his new album. Next came If I Could - when David reached the line "If I give you my life will you be my wife?" loads of the ladies let up a massive roar! David quipped "I'll have to get a bigger house."
David performed superbly; he completely owned the stage and had a great rapport with his adoring crowd (though he told one lippy lass "Shut yer gob", to general approval). He mostly did new songs, from the current album and a forthcoming musical.
In the middle of the set, David introduced his band, then announced "Now, we can do Knees Up Mother Brown" - cue laughter - "we can do Me And My Girl Nightclubbing" - another big roar, but silence from me - "or we can do A Winter's Tale" - massive cheer, including a loud "Yes" from me. To decide the matter, David asked "Right, who wants to hear Knees Up Mother Brown?" Silence. "Who wants to hear A Winter's Tale?" Massive cheer, me loudest of all. "Who wants to hear Me And My Girl Nightclubbing?" The cheer sounded pretty loud and my heart sank. David gave me hope when he reckoned "Now that is close! We need a casting vote." So he picked a lady in the horde at the front and asked her to decide.
The bitch picked Me And My Girl Nightclubbing.
David started off by singing the words to A Winter's Tale to the Me And My Girl tune for a couple of bars for a joke, but that was that.
I have to admit he did a great rendition of Me And My Girl and the rest of the set was just as good, topped off with Hold Me Close then an encore consisting of Gonna Make You A Star and Missing You, but the absence of my yuletide favourite meant the night had something missing for me.
Walked back to the Hard just in time to see the ferry leaving. With a 15 minute wait for the next boat, I pottered over to the 24 hour snack window for one of their delicious bacon rolls.
In the bar I was charged £3 for a Magners - and it was only a 330 ml bottle! At Havant & Waterlooville you get a PINT of Magners for less than that. Swizz.
The support act was a singer who played an acoustic guitar, unaccompanied, called Streebeck. He wasn't bad, though I couldn't quite get into his stuff, and dropped three plugs for his CD into his 25-minute set.
There was a long interval, then the lights went down to an almighty cheer, and David appeared on stage. Immediately, 60 ladies shot up from their seats and ran down to the front! He opened with a couple of unfamiliar songs, then revealed they're on his new album. Next came If I Could - when David reached the line "If I give you my life will you be my wife?" loads of the ladies let up a massive roar! David quipped "I'll have to get a bigger house."
David performed superbly; he completely owned the stage and had a great rapport with his adoring crowd (though he told one lippy lass "Shut yer gob", to general approval). He mostly did new songs, from the current album and a forthcoming musical.
In the middle of the set, David introduced his band, then announced "Now, we can do Knees Up Mother Brown" - cue laughter - "we can do Me And My Girl Nightclubbing" - another big roar, but silence from me - "or we can do A Winter's Tale" - massive cheer, including a loud "Yes" from me. To decide the matter, David asked "Right, who wants to hear Knees Up Mother Brown?" Silence. "Who wants to hear A Winter's Tale?" Massive cheer, me loudest of all. "Who wants to hear Me And My Girl Nightclubbing?" The cheer sounded pretty loud and my heart sank. David gave me hope when he reckoned "Now that is close! We need a casting vote." So he picked a lady in the horde at the front and asked her to decide.
The bitch picked Me And My Girl Nightclubbing.
David started off by singing the words to A Winter's Tale to the Me And My Girl tune for a couple of bars for a joke, but that was that.
I have to admit he did a great rendition of Me And My Girl and the rest of the set was just as good, topped off with Hold Me Close then an encore consisting of Gonna Make You A Star and Missing You, but the absence of my yuletide favourite meant the night had something missing for me.
Walked back to the Hard just in time to see the ferry leaving. With a 15 minute wait for the next boat, I pottered over to the 24 hour snack window for one of their delicious bacon rolls.
