Hello to you all,
I was at the gig in Warsaw. It was fantastic!, to put it mildly. I've purchased my earBook, for which I paid 200 zloty (that's over $80,00 or 50 Euro), but "it's all just bits of paper flying away from you...."
(The "book" is very nice and three black (!) CDs are made to look like mini-LPs! One has to use his fingernail to cut-open the cellophane covering the earBook, just like any LP in the good old days!)
The concert started at 8:00 P.M. sharp; the doors opened at 7:00 P.M. and there was an "official gadgets" ("Oficjalne Gadzety") stand with the earBook, CDs, DVDs, Chris Rea's mugs, pins, baseball caps, t-shirts (almost $40,00 a piece!.) etc. The "official HBN tour program" was selling at 20 zloty (that's over $8,00, or 5,50 Euro.) Some people after the concert were not sure what they were buying, a CD ("just get me one, or two...you know one of those...", said one woman to her husband or a boyfriend.)
The concert began, just like in other places, with "the Delmonts." Almost all guitar solos were played initially by Robert Ahwai. Chris was slowly "warming up" and played more on his own on the "BB Was A Comanche" and the "Russian Roulette."
All in all only six (6) "Delmonts'" song were played and it took the band only 23-25 minutes to perform them.
The titles were shown on the flat TV beamed on the red bacground from a computer.
After that Chris took off the "Delmonts'" t-shirt and started playing the HBN tunes. Colin Hodgkinson didn't have a chance to change his "Delmonts'" t-shirt, though...Other musicians just came onto the stage dressed in "civilian" clothes.
The sign "The Delmonts!" was splashed against a waves-like curtain which came down as the band switched to the FHB tunes. The setting was the same as in other venues. Only the light were monitored from a central stall box by the local crew. PA announcements warned the pubic not to take any pictures with flashes but the security didn't bother stopping anyone coming to the stage to photograph Chris, Robert, Martin, Neil or Colin. Most of the people in the audience used their cellular phones to make short videos or take a picture. At the doors nobody was searched or anything like that. I still hope there will be a legal CD from this tour, otherwise I would just rest my hopes with either Russian or the Ukrainian bootleggers.....
First part with The Delmonts:
1. Dirty new towm
2. 008 Jimmy Bond
3. India Arab
Pink guitar (was not played in Warsaw)
4. Russian roulette
Black wave heroes (was not played in Warsaw)
French football (was not played in Warsaw)
5. BB was a comanche
6. It's behind you
Second part with the HBN
I can't wait for love
Where the blues comes from
Josephine (with the words "but Josephine grew up and went away.....")
Easy rider
Julia
Stony road
Legacy blues (played in Warsaw in a somehow new quicker way)
Looking for the summer
The shadow of a fool
Stainsby girls
The road to hell
(end of the second part)
On the beach (played after the band returned to the stage as a reprise)
Let's dance (played as a second reprise)
Fool (if you think it's over) - was not not played in Warsaw
Chris was visibly enjoying himself and the audience took to its feet towards the end of the gig. The two encores were played to a standing ovation and Chris changed some lyrics in "Let's Dance" by joking that he migh be "too small (short?) but never too old to dance!" And he really performed fantastically this evening.
He moved a lot on the stage, danced and thanked the audience several times in Polish "dziekuje, dziekuje" (meaning: thank you, thank you.) To do that (in the second part of the concert) he came to the edge of the stage and he pointed his left or right hand towards audiences in the balconies.
When he played "On the Beach" he wanted the audience to sing along "yeah", "I say: yeah!" and to clap their hands. "You, me, the sea and the beach, forever, forever..."
The best songs from the Warsaw gig, in my opinion, were: "Looking for the Summer", "Legacy Blues", "Julia", "Josephine", "Stainsby Girls", "Let's Dance", "On the Beach"... Oh, well, the whole concert was great!
Chris played quite a few - great - solos on the blues songs with his special riffs... and he enjoyed the reaction of the audience.
People came to Warsaw from all corners of the country. There was an entire - three generations - family of six (6) sitting next to me - age 20 to 66 - from Krakow. Others covered several hundred miles from places like Poznan, Gdansk, industrial Katowice or Lublin. In the foyer I've overheard some English as well as Russian and Ukrainian spoken. The audience was mostly in their 40 to 50+, I would say, but I saw quite a few young people as well.
The concert lasted for about two hours non-stop and the house was packed. Some people sat on the steps and the clap-down seats. I don't know whether they were let in on the "standing only" tickets.
I will scan and post my ticket, if Bart wants me to do that. Buy the way, the tickets were not torn but just read electronically with hand held laser readers. It all was efficient and fast. No traffic jams at the doors or the coat room. The temperature outside was above zero (C), so people didn't have to wear heavy coats. Most of them came by car.
Speaking of the weather this reminds me of a nice joke.
A fellow in Warsaw called his friend in Omsk, Russia, and said: "I've seen on the TV that your temperature went down to -50C!"
"No, no, they got it all wrong", replied his friend in Omsk. "It's only -30C over here."
"How could they made such a big mistake?", wanted to know the fellow in Warsaw.
"Well, perhaps they meant the temperature outside....?", said the friend.
I didn't take any pictures; sorry about that.
Best regards to all Chris Rea's fans,
Chris