Results tagged “Chris Rea” from Birmingham Mail - Is It Just Me

I was reviewing a truly excellent Chris Rea concert at Symphony Hall over the Easter weekend and had to suffer a pet hate - those people who see any performance as some sort of background music to their own conversations, increasing the volume accordingly of course, so they can, sadly, still be heard.

The group behind me started for the last half hour or so when presumably a goldfish like attention span had waned and interval drinks had drowned their brain cell. They had also apparently confused the word concert with karaoke, an easy mistake as they have the same number of letters and probably both start with a k in their vocabulary, so we also had to suffer singalong with Chris with a few snatches of the mercifully small number of songs they actually knew.

I suppose it takes a certain type of skill to manage to sing in a totally different key and different rhythm to the artist on stage but I suspect it is a bit of a niche market when it comes to performing.

In addition the group were also under the mistaken impression that the row of seats in front of you at Symphony Hall also serve some sort of drum function. Oh for Seasick Steve. He is a brilliant blues singer who happily stops performances and offers to escort people out to refund their money if they don't shut up.

I am hoping to interview Chris Rea in the next few days prior to his concert in Birmingham next month so if anybody has any questions they would like to ask I will try to slip them in.

I only want sensible questions though, none of your green Biro stuff or stuff you can find with a five minute search on the internet.

His new release, The Return Of The Fabulous Hofner Bluenotes, is pretty good by the way. Three CDs made to look like old 78s or 45s in a substantial, well designed 50s style book. You get a CD of The Delmonts, a late 50s guitar band who evolve through the 60s into the Hofner Bluenotes on the next two CDs. All Chris Rea of course but great fun and with some quality tracks and not a filler in sight. All in all it is really classy package and provides some good listening.