Trish and I went out to Cheltenham Town Hall last night and saw a living legend,
Paul Carrack was visiting Cheltenham as part of his UK Tour 2005-06. Our town hall is not renouned for its acoustic properties but we had a great night listening to Paul and his band and the sound was great too.
He started by singing "Eyes Of Blue" in a semi-acoustic set of songs alternating between playing piano and six string guitar supported by a couple band members on drums and bass. Just brilliant. Paul came over as an overall nice guy to know, the sort who could be your best mate and his playing and singing was outstanding
After the break he returned to the stage with his full five piece band and ran through new songs and all his classics from the Mike & The Mechanics days such as "Looking Back", "Another Cup Of Coffee" and a great rendition of "In The Living Years" The set was finished with of course "How Long" from his days with Ace. The place was rocking throught this final set.
Paul is a virtuoso swapping guitar for piano and Roland Keyboards as each number was played and his band were outstanding. They were Steve Beighton on sax, Dean Dukes on drums, John Robinson on lead guitar, Jeremy Meek on bass and finally Paul Copley on keyboards. I'm afraid I don't know their respective historys.
In all two hours of pure musical brilliance.
So thanks Paul, see you again next year hopefully.
Anyway all you GN'ers if Paul is in your neck of the woods don't miss him your in for a good night. Go to his website http://www.carrack-uk.com for tour dates.
Anyway thats my plug for the evening. All the best,
Chris
The guitar is all right John but you'll never make a living out of it! (John Lennon's Aunt Mimi)
