Ben E King and Gary U S Bonds Great American Soulbook

The Great American Soulbook

starring

BEN E KING

GARY U S BONDS

Assembly Hall Theatre

Royal Tunbridge Wells

9th March 2011

There was a good size audience in Royal Tunbridge Wells, but this wasn't a complete sellout. This is a shame because fans of soul missed a tremendous nights entertainment. A very good length show it is too, in excess of 2 hours and that excludes the interval.

I wonder if people thought this was a tribute to the artists rather than the genuine article?

Many people may not have heard of Gary U.S. Bonds who is probably best known for his hits New Orleans and Quarter To Three but whether you were familiar with him or not hardly mattered. Covering his own tracks and those of other well known artists (most of whom are now long gone) he was vocally enthralling throughout. Not only this the guy has a side talent as a very funny man. He knows how to get the best from an audience by way of  comedy, audience participation and generally doing the totally unpredictable.

His enthusiasm and energy makes it all the more amazing that he is 71 years of age.

Having to deal with whatever humorous additions Gary U S Bonds decides to make to the scheduled performance is the legendary star of soul Ben E. King. Yes it seemed somewhat humbling that such a respected gentleman of soul is performing in the UK here at Tunbridge Wells, Gravesend and loads of other places, including Butlins, when he is accustomed to huge international auditoriums.

But Ben is loving every minute if it and speaking to him after the show he is hoping to tour again next year.
From the massive total standing ovation both artists received at the end of this performance I hope that word of mouth recommendation and good reviews would ensure decent audiences should materialize another tour happen.

As with Gary, Ben covered his own hits including, naturally, Stand By Me but he also gave some beautiful renditions of other artists hits such as a lovely cover version of the late John Lennon's Imagine

72 year old King can still belt the soul out however for appreciating this we should thank a knowledgeable audience member behind me for interrupting the show early on. He politely pointed out to Ben (or rather "Mr King" as he was being diplomatic) that the gain on his microphone was not high enough for many of the audience to hear him. It did raise the question as to whether a decent sound check had been performed by the crew beforehand as the difference with a small change was phenomenal.

Fortunately this was only 2 tracks into the show and there was still loads more to come.

This is a 50/50 show too. Ben may be the better known name but he does not dominate the schedule. In the first half Ben performs, then Gary takes the stage. Interval over Ben returns for another stint ending with a massive, loud standing ovation. Gary returns until he takes his own ovation and eventually both stars take to the stage for an extremely entertaining (and with Gary around still very funny) finale with the audience on their feet until the curtain falls.

Gary signed his CDs and posed for pics both in the interval and after the show in the auditorium. Understandably, taking things a bit easier Ben left by the stage door, but not without taking all the time needed to meet those who had stayed to see him.

Having met so many artists now at the stage door there are so many different egos and attitudes demonstrated after performances. They fall into 4 main groups. Fortunately there have been very few blatantly rude people but even when you politely ask if they'll do a charity signing some performers still take you by surprise with their arrogance. Then there's the "reluctant signer". They'll stay with you only long enough to sign and perhaps pose for a quick picture, the greater priority being to get to the pub. The majority fall into the "happy signers". They'll have a nice little bit of banter with everybody and whilst they may wish to get away they'll make sure everybody has got their autographs first.

Finally you have your "super signers" who really know how important it is to come across to fans off stage as nice as they do on it. Ben E King and Gary U S Bonds are now permanently ingrained in my long term memory as two of the most charming performers I have ever met. In the picture below of a grinning Ben and Gary you can see how relaxed they still are. This is after a very long show and all the time Gary had taken signing indoors when the show ended. Ben even kindly did an unplanned signing for Great Ormond Street Childrens' Hospital for Starcards.org and I also have a flyer signed by both artists for Starcards to auction.

So Soulbook in my book goes down as a great, memorable experience which will be remembered for great music, a lot of laughter and two extremely friendy, warm and down to earth, American stars.

Should they do a future tour I'd gladly see it again and I'd recommend that if The Great Americal Soulbook is visiting yout town or city that you see it too.

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.