An evening with Andy Abraham Congress Theatre Eastbourne Saturday 14th Feb 2009

An evening with Andy Abraham

..... and what a really great evening it was too.

But what a waste that only a couple of hundred or so audience members got to see such a great master of soul.

Ex dustman Andy was superb on the X-Factor when he was runner up to Shayne Ward (and where is Mr Ward now???) and he was also great when he represented the UK in the (now traditionally farcical) Eurovison song contest. But nothing could ever prepare you for the outstanding vocal ability this man has.

Reports in early August 2008 said that Andy, gutted by the Eurovision result, had decided to quit the music industry to concentrate on being a property developer. A few days after the newspaper stories he denied this was the case. Perhaps Andy did take a moment of reflection after Eurovision but thank goodness he then saw the so-called competition for what it actually is. A politically biased Eastern European neighbour voting contest. It has been that way for as long as I can remember and I even think Sir Andrew LLoyd Webber is brave to put his name to the the 2009 entry.

But enough of that. This is about Andy's touring show...... no that really should be Andy and his family's show.

How nice it is that his loving wife Denise (who was behind Andy's X-Factor entry) is the tour organizer and that his kids Tara and Jacob have their own input into the production.

The show has been arranged along the lines of the An Audience With...... TV shows. Andy performs a well balanced mix of well known hits along with a selection of his own works. Having released his 3rd Album now (4th if you count his Greatest Hits album) he has plenty to choose from. At well spaced intervals in both the first and second halves of the show Denise takes to the theatre aisles, microphone in hand, taking any questions whatsoever, that the audience fancy throwing at her husband.

It may have been a disappointingly small audience but there was no shortage of questions which Andy answered honestly, quickly and with confidence. Except that is the question as to how long he had been wth Denise. How embarrassing but amusing it was, this being Valentines Day too, that Andy couldn't remember. Denise bailed him out on this one reminding him that it was 16 years.

For a relative newcomer to the celebrity scene Andy Abraham shows no signs of stage nerves whatsoever but then again he seems to have a confident family too. Daughter Tara clearly pleaded with dad to stop his embarrassing dancing in one of the question sessions and Jacob showed no fear joining dad on stage, even singing himself, towards the show's finale.

There was no need for a standing ovation - the crowd were standing, singing and swaying, long before the end.

Many artists we have seen have have waited in the theatre foyer to sign autographs but I have never seen such a large percentage of an audience stay behind to meet the stars. The queue was far longer than we had recently seen for, the better known, Gary Wilmot and The Searchers and they both had larger audiences. That is all down to Andy's extraordinary talent.

Yes I did mean stars above because Andy, Denise, Tara and Jacob all greeted every single person in that queue taking all the time that was needed to ensure nobody was missed.

Young Jacob seemed surprised whan somebody even asked for mum's autograph saying this was the first time. But why not? She is very much Andy's rock and without that X-Factor entry she submitted he may still be lugging those bins around.

As with most artists Andy had his latest album Even if for sale at the venue - the difference in this case was that, unless I am mistaken, he seemed to shift quite a number of them, the audience clearly impressed with his live vocal performance.

We went to this show expecting a good performance, we came home having seen a GREAT performance. Andy Abraham is a brilliant soul singer, he displays great emotion and is a good entertainer. With a loving, supportive family behind him hopefully we'll see another tour soon.

Thanks Andy for remaining the down to earth, friendly, guy you are and for your time after the show. You must also have a lucky touch on my photography as well as I am delighted with the few shots I took.

To anybody ,anywhere in the country, who gets the opportunity to see Andy performing live why not go along? - you may just come away pleasantly surprised.


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