My Birthday Present

For my birthday Jane and I attended a concert by Chris de Burgh in Birmingham, at Symphony Hall.
Actually, I paid for the tickets!

Now, C de B has been around for many years and he seems to be more warmly received in continental Europe than on British shores. Yeah, we’ve all heard ‘Lady in Red’; I always found that a little cheesy for my taste. Nevertheless, I think he has a great voice, and he writes from the heart.

The concert was entitled ‘Moonfleet and Other Stories’.
The idea was taken from the 1898 novel Moonfleet by J. Meade Falkner. Chris’s suite of songs and narration faithfully reflects that literature. I bought the CD and read the book in advance.
The book is a good read about smuggling, piracy, love and sorrow etc. The CD, at least the ‘moonfleet’ bit, has some magnificent and triumphant music. ‘Other stories’ seemed a bit superfluous.

At the concert I was disappointed to discover that the overture was a recording played from an empty stage. I was expecting a full orchestra.
After all, this was Symphony Hall!

Then we got into the concert. A lead-guitarist, a bass-player, keyboard-person and percussionist appeared on stage, along with Chris. I cannot remember their names, but those accompanying musicians were GOOD! The keyboards managed to emulate a plethora of orchestral sounds, the drummer was spot-on and the guitarists seemed to be having a good time.

After the ‘moonfleet’ part, Chris embarked on ‘other stories’. In fact, this was a re-run of much of his earlier material.

There were some highlights:
Spanish Train,
Borderline: there’s a line in that song, “… how men can see the wisdom in a war.” That prompted rapturous applause.
I wept!
Don’t Pay the Ferryman: weird, but exciting.
Lady in Red: I nearly vomited as Chris wandered around the stalls receiving kisses from all the ladies dressed in red. He almost made a mistake with the guy in a cerise tee-shirt!

Towards the end he performed People of the World. That is an anthem that Chris wrote in memory of an Iranian woman who was shot to death during a demonstration in Tehran in 2009.
As he sang “… stand up for freedom,” people stood.
We all sang.
I moistened my handerchief again!



"Oh, pull yourself together; get a grip!" said Jane.