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A new Tour "last open Road

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hi it'sme
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Re: A new Tour "last open Road

Post by hi it'sme »

Hi Andrey,
as you suggested I checked again and I think you are right: it would be a Maranello classic. What puzzles me is the logo on the black headstock. For me it starts with an H and an o and has an oldfashioned 'f' in the middle. So I read it as 'Hofner'. It is definitely not the known 'Italia' logo.Any idea about that?

My photos taken around 20:18 show the brown Fender, the guitar changes at 20:25 for the Italia Blue. As Chris played Where the Blues Come From first and then Josephine I am sure it was the order I wrote about yesterday.

For the rest of the guitars I am sure,too.
I have a 21:28 photo with Pinky (On the Beach) and a 21:30 photo and video with Bluey (Let's Dance).
Chis ended his performance aiming Bluey at Kirt Rust and 'firing' a last 'shot' at him like he always does doing Stainsby Girls. This was at 21:35.

Take care and best regards!
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Re: A new Tour "last open Road

Post by andrew fischer »

hi it'sme wrote: My photos taken around 20:18 show the brown Fender, the guitar changes at 20:25 for the Italia Blue. As Chris played Where the Blues Come From first and then Josephine I am sure it was the order I wrote about yesterday.
Thanks a lot for your comments!

Well, I assume the shot taken at 20:18 with the brown Fender is made during Josephine performance and shot from 20:25 with blue Italia is taken in the beginning of Easy Rider. Chris always played Where the Blues on Blue Sparkle and I can hardly imagine Josephine played with this guitar as it is always in straight E tuning, not open.

Thanks again and best regards
Andrey
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Re: A new Tour "last open Road

Post by hi it'sme »

Hi Andrey,
you are the expert.
I just have my memories and photos of a great (but too short) concert...

Thank you for your constant research and deep knowledge.

Best regards!
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Re: A new Tour "last open Road

Post by hi it'sme »

By the way, looking for UK reviews I have just found on setlist.fm that in Manchester and Edinburgh Looking for the Summer was not played. The list goes directly from Julia to Stony Road.
Has anybody been to one of the concerts and can verify?

Thanks.
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Re: A new Tour "last open Road

Post by andrew fischer »

hi it'sme wrote:By the way, looking for UK reviews I have just found on setlist.fm that in Manchester and Edinburgh Looking for the Summer was not played. The list goes directly from Julia to Stony Road.
Has anybody been to one of the concerts and can verify?

Thanks.
Hi again,

yes, it is true, I have received the following review yesterday (hope the author would not object sharing his report).
I went to see Chris last night at the Apollo - Manchester. 7 rows from the front with the 4 seats in front of us vacant (as were a few others) - which gave us a great view. At 5pm, received this email from Ticketmaster to confirm the details:

"Stage times have been confirmed – plan your night! The venue has been in touch to confirm the stage times for tonight's show:
Doors: 18:30
Island Sky: 19:30 - 19:50
Chris Rea: 20:15 - 21:45

Please keep in mind that these are just a rough guideline, so they’re not set in stone and they can change at the last minute."

Timings were exact.

Last time I saw Chris was 2 years ago at Harrogate. This time it was very clear that his band has settled down and is very much tighter now as it was with Ditcham and Ahwai. Chris showed no signs of having aged a further 2 years, he was energetic, interactive at more times through more numbers than before. The sound got progressively louder and was near to being too loud on the last 2-3 songs. Highlights were Anton and Sylvin several times looking across to each other sharing a grin with each other when Chris went off piste, and seeing the guys clearly having a great time as a band. The lighting also looked more impressive through the show and the rigging was styled as the body of a guitar.

I thought Chris had changed the set as the first intro started as the video from the road to hell was shown (taking me back to 1990 when Chris used a 10(?) minute intro to the road to hell. However, it morphed into Last Open Road. There was one set change in that 'Looking for the Summer' was dropped. I also noticed for the first time how little plays pinky through the whole performance, and even though he picks it up for Stainsby Girls, he actually played it very little prior to ad-lib at the end of the song - even choosing not to play the Stainsby riff between verses.

I felt that it was a stronger performance than 2 years ago although the set was the same. The concert ended with video tracks from the forthcoming La Passione re-make. A great night and my ears are still ringing. Hope you have a good time in Edinburgh tonight - quite a trek up for Chris and the crew.

Til the next time - some new material and a new set.

Ben Helm
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Re: A new Tour "last open Road

Post by ann268 »

Just curious if he did drop Looking for the summer, did he play anything else instead?
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Re: A new Tour "last open Road

Post by andrew fischer »

ann268 wrote:Just curious if he did drop Looking for the summer, did he play anything else instead?
Ann
Easy answer he did not, otherwise it would have been the chief issue to discuss! )))

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Re: A new Tour "last open Road

Post by ann268 »

Possibly, it is in the bleeckerstreet site not yet removed, still standing in the setlist...
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Re: A new Tour "last open Road

Post by ronald »

The recording of Manchester is indeed 14 songs, playing time around 1h 28m...
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Re: A new Tour "last open Road

Post by andrew fischer »

Hi everyone,

just a short notice, with the video from Zurich I could prove my assumptions that Chris changes Thinline (tuned in standard D) for brown-sunburst Strat in the middle of the song (before the final solo) in The Morning Sun, which is really amazing, Chris rarely changes guitar though a single song.

So many suprises regarding guitars use for the certain songs in this tour...

best regards
Andrey
Last edited by andrew fischer on 05 Dec 2014, 11:59, edited 1 time in total.
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Amsterdam gig review

Post by Leo »

Hi guys,

Here's the translation of the nice Dutch review http://www.bluesmagazine.nl/concertvers ... mber-2014/.
For those of you who didn't know, the pictures in the Flickr album (URL in article) are really cool!

Concert Review: CHRIS REA – Koninklijk Theater Carré, Amsterdam, 24 November 2014

It had already been two and a half years since Chris Rea last performed in the Netherlands but instead of Paradiso, the pop temple of the capital, the Royal Theatre Carré was chosen as the venue. The fact that of all days the concert of The Last Open Road Tour would take place on a Monday evening did not refrain the fans from booking a ticket. For but a few remaining seats Carré was sold out.

Many visitors did not even find their seat yet when the first sounds of the supporting act stroke up. The band was called Island Sky and played a summery reggae tune of the same title. “Island Sky, This Is A Happy Song, Island Sky, This Is Where I Belong”, nice and light-heartedly, little depth. The people who did not make it in yet were not missing much. The two singers had a beautiful voice and were accompanied by a guitarist and a pianist. You did, however, wonder what someone like Chris Rea was doing with something like this as his supporting act. After a short set and a short break it all became clear. The sound editor was able to tune the sound of the musicians perfectly and we would shortly see them on stage together with Chris Rea. The two singers would support him with fine background vocals throughout the night.

When the first notes of ‘Last Open Road’ stroke up it quickly became clear that the 63-year-old British singer / guitarist was in excellent form. At any other performance this comment would probably have been less significant but a couple of years ago things were a lot less rosy because of a wasting disease. The Farewell Tour in 2006 was said to be his final masterpiece and the chance of ever seeing the successful musician in concert again appeared to have vanished into thin air.

Things went completely differently and that is why, 8 years later, the song ‘Josephine’ that he once wrote for his daughter now sounded perhaps even more aged than ever. This tremendous hit was preceded subtly by ‘Where The Blues Come From’, one of the 137 tracks that he wrote for the highly ambitious ‘Blue Guitars’ project from 2005, a project that came into being during his period of recovery. The song ‘Julia’, composed for his other daughter, is less interesting from a commercial point of view but because of its somewhat breezy character it now fitted perfectly with the heavier slide guitar of ‘Easy Rider’ and ‘Stony Road’.

The slide guitar on the intro of ‘Til The Morning Sun Shines On My Love And Me’ deserves special attention. Nobody in the audience would dare to be thinking of anything else. This ten-minute version still contained a deep emotional load that after all these years now actually seemed to be fully appreciated.

From his modest summer success ‘Looking For The Summer’ from 1991 a 10-year leap was made to the title track of the album ‘Stony Road’ and a smashing version of ‘Stainsby Girls’ took us back to ‘Shamrock Diaries’ again, one of the most successful albums from the nineteen eighties. It was a varying set even though the differences with the last performances were not very big. He has left writing hits far behind him, it is no longer a necessity, but the return to the blues seemed more important than ever. In both ‘Somewhere Between Highway 61 & 49’ and ‘The Road To Hell’ the intensity of his guitar solos was almost touchable. The beautiful raw soul in his voice also appeared to be more powerful than during his last performance here.

During the encore the summery ‘On The Beach’ took us on a reggae excursion. The modest dance steps of Rea gave away his enthusiasm; he was having a great time and even challenged the audience to start dancing during the concluding ‘Let’s Dance’ that was, once again, accompanied by attractive black and white visuals on the screen. For some the challenging rock ‘n’ roll put them on their feet, but otherwise the audience remained firmly in their seat. The biggest enthusiasm of the evening came from the stage. The very last Farewell Tour seems further away than ever.
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Re: A new Tour "last open Road

Post by andrew fischer »

Hi Leo,

thank you so much for your great and valuable work on this translation!

Of course, it is nice to read reviews like this, written professionally and with a right attitude.

After such reports and listening to several recordings from this tour, I start thinking that this tour could have been totally acclaimed, considering the playing and the sound quality the band yields, if only Chris added some 3-4 fresh songs to the setlist...

And sad again Looking for the Summer keeps being dropped from the recent sets so that the gigs become shorter...

best regards
Andrey
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Re: A new Tour "last open Road

Post by Bromo »

Hello,

I will taking a short holiday to London from New Jersey and luckily it matches up nicely with Chris Rea's show at the Hammersmith Apollo on the 20th. It'll be my first time seeing him in concert! Would someone be able to tell me what kind of merchandise is available at the gigs on this tour? I am particularly interested in if there is a concert poster available? I like to collect posters from gigs that I go to.

Thomas
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Re: A new Tour "last open Road

Post by MRB »

Call it as a Christmas miracle, Chris took us all by suprise and indeed played Driving Home For Christmas!
He must have read forums and fans talking about it :)
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Re: A new Tour "last open Road

Post by andrew fischer »

Hi MRB,

the same idea visited my head when I have come to know the news this morning ))

Thanks for posting this here.

best regards
Andrey
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