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THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL
A large amount of Gilbert's back catalogue is still available from the merchandise stand at each live show and on-line from www.bygumrecords.com
Fans came from far and wide for this show. It was great to once again meet Mahito, Chikako, Yasuhiko and Haruna who all travelled from Japan to see Gilbert. Joe Henson from Germany was there. Linda, Hans, Rob and Joke came from the Netherlands to see Gilbert. Jane Bozian came from France for the show. There were also fans who flew in from Los Angeles and Argentina just for the show. There were fans there from Norway, Sweden and Belgium and no doubt many more countries that I didn't get to meet. Not forgetting all the fans who travelled from all over the UK and Ireland who came to share in this special evening. They were not disappointed! After the show hundreds of fans queued out the door and around the side of the building in the rain for the opportunity to meet Gilbert. It took about an hour and a half but everybody got to meet him.
For the purpose of this report the personnel on stage were: String Quartet: Laura Stanford [violin], Eleanor Stanford [violin], Amy Stanford [viola] and Jessica Cox [cello]. Band: Martin Ditcham [drums + percussion], Bill Shanley [guitars] and Nick Scott [bass]. Backing Vocals: Charlotte James and Niamh McNally. Saxophone, Flute & Harmonica: Julian Webster Greaves. Keyboard and Accordion: Mick Parker.
SOUNDCHECK
Gilbert [Electric Piano] + Mick [Keyboard] + Julian [Saxophone] + String Quartet
Gilbert [Electric Piano] + String Quartet
Gilbert [Electric Piano] + String Quartet + Mick [Keyboard] + Julian [Flute]
Gilbert [Electric Piano] + String Quartet + Nick [Bass] + Julian [Flute] Gilbert moved from the piano to the keyboard and looked around to see Martin on drums. Only he wasn't there! The band don't play on every track in the first half so they come and go when required. Martin got delayed and recieved a big cheer when he appeared through the curtains. Gilbert commented " That's what I love about live."
Gilbert [Electric Piano] + Mick [Keyboard] + Martin [Drums] + Julian [Flute] + Charlotte & Niamh [Backing Vocals]Gilbert said "It's very interesting to be in this hall. Of course I've been to see a few bands here. Interstingly enough as a schoolboy, I was a schoolboy boxer for British Railways, Swindon."This brought a cheer from the audience. Gilbert asked "Are there people from Swindon here?.....Wow, I'm honoured. That's nice, I don't feel homesick now. So as a schoolboy I then moved on to junior, which is a little tougher. I got to the quarter-finals of the All England and then I got beaten. You only do three rounds. So I got stopped and didn't make the semi-finals. the semi-finals were going to be here at the Albert Hall. I just missed out on that although I did come to see the guys in the club that reached the semi-final. In recent years, over the years I've tended to spar with a few people, you know, kind of no-hopers......[At this point a large photograph of Gilbert sparring with Muhammad Ali was flashed on the big screen to cheers from the audience.] Nobody you'd know."
Gilbert [Keyboard] + Mick [Keyboard]
Gilbert [Vocal] + String Quartet + Bill [Acoustic Guitar] + Mick [Keyboard] + Julian [Flute]
Gilbert [Electric Piano] + String Quartet
Gilbert [Keyboard] + String Quartet + Mick [Keyboard] + Bill [Guitar] + Charlotte & Niamh [Backing Vocals] Bobby Davro [comedian/actor] joined Gilbert on stage to sing backing vocals with Charlotte and Niamh.
Now down among the Partridge trees Lives a "Don" who loves his knees So much so he's framed them in a jar
Gilbert [Keyboard] + Mick [Accordion] + Julian [Voices]
Gilbert [Vocal + Sound Effects] + Mick [Keyboard] + Charlotte & Niamh [Backing Vocals]
Gilbert [Electric Piano] + String Quartet Gilbert explained that the next song is about a worrying trend in modern life....bullying.
Gilbert [Electric Piano] As I said earlier, I have been working on a new album since the beginning of the year. We recorde d some songs in Nashville. The reason I tour is because I release albums. If I wasn't able to make a record I don't think I would tour. I love to write songs. I always have done. I've said to people in interviews that as a songwriter I'm still 21 years of age but as a person I'm 62. As A song writer I have the energy, enthusiasm and drive to compete with anyone. So as long as I have the facility to make a record and get the record released, however many I can sell. Of course I would like to sell as much as anyone. I'm quite happy just to get it out and those people who are interested in it can buy it. That's the main reason I tour. What I'm going to do now is to give you an example of one of the songs.
Gilbert [Keyboard] + Bill [Acoustic Guitar] + Charlotte & Niamh [Backing Vocals]
Gilbert [Electric Piano] + Mick [Keyboard] + Julian [Flute] "That's my critics favourite song. [Audience laughter].
Gilbert [Electric Piano] + String Quartet + Bill [Acoustic Guitar] + Mick [Keyboard] + Julian [Harmonica]
Gilbert [Keyboard] + Band + Mick [Keyboard] + Julian [Saxophone] + Charlotte & Niamh [Backing Vocals]
Gilbert [Keyboard] + Band + Mick [Keyboard] + Julian [Saxophone] + Charlotte & Niamh [Backing Vocals]
Gilbert [Keyboard] + Band+ Mick [Keyboard] + Julian [Saxophone] + Charlotte & Niamh [Backing Vocals] After the song Gilbert told us "The song is called 'Make My Day' and we were recording it for Top Of The Pops 2 at the BBC Television Centre. At the same time in another studio Clint Eastwood was being interviewed by Michael Parkinson. Of course he's the one that came up with the phrase."
Gilbert [Keyboard] + Band+ Mick [Keyboard] "As a young songwriter when you are learning your craft in the way if you are an art student, you will go to art school and study art, study the classics. In many ways being a songwriter is very similar. When I started to write songs albeit I was only 14 or 15 years of age, Lennon and McCartney were the benchmark for most contemporary composers because before Lennon and McCartney you felt you needed a degree to write songs, but they broke that barrier down by being young and able to write brilliant songs having no musical education other than the fact that they loved music. Because of them lots of us went into bands. I went into a band as a drummer. You thought that if they could do it, maybe you could do it. The key to being a good songwriter is to learn your craft and one of the ways to do that is to listen to great songs. When I was young and in London trying to break into the business I had albums by Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. Sinatra was without doubt the best male interpreter of songs and Ella Fitzgerald along with Peggy Lee, for me, were the best female interpreters of songs. In 1992 I had this song called "Can't Think Straight" and I thought that it would be nice to do a duet. At the time Peggy Lee was 71, so we put the call in and she said that she would be interested in doing it. So we went to New York to record her voice on the track and while there we filmed it for a video. Of course Peggy died in 2002 at 82 years of age. So we have the song and we have the video. So what we are going to do is run the video, you will hear Peggy's voice on it, the band will play along and I will sing live.
Gilbert + String Quartet + Mick [Keyboard] + Charlotte & Niamh [Backing Vocals]
Gilbert [Vocal + Tambourine] + Band + String Quartet + Mick [Keyboard] + Charlotte & Niamh [Backing Vocals]
Gilbert [Keyboard] + Julian [Saxophone] + Band + Mick [Keyboard] + Charlotte & Niamh [Backing Vocals] This is a great song played live.
Gilbert [Keyboard] + Band + Mick [Keyboard] In York the other night I was doing a signing after the show and a man came up to me and said that this was his favourite song, "But not like that, I don't like reggae!" [Audience laughter]. "I promised that the next time I will try to do it in the way he wants to hear it."
Gilbert [Keyboard] + Band + Mick [Keyboard] + Backing Vocals [Bill, Nick & Mick] This is a very popular song live and Gilbert commented on the singing "Not bad".
Gilbert [Keyboard] + Band + Mick [Keyboard] + Julian [Flute] + Charlotte & Niamh [Backing Vocals]
Gilbert [Keyboard] + Band + String Quartet + Mick [Keyboard & Accordion] + Charlotte & Niamh [Backing Vocals]
Gilbert [Vocal] + Bill [Spanish Acoustic Guitar] + Julian [Flute] + Martin [Percussion]
Gilbert [Keyboard] + Band + Mick [Keyboard] + Julian [Flute] + Charlotte & Niamh [Backing Vocals] Each member of the band took it in turns to do a solo at the beginning of the song.
Gilbert [Keyboard] + Charlotte [Vocal] + Band + String Quartet + Mick [Keyboard] + Julian [Flute]
Gilbert [Keyboard] + Band + String Quartet + Mick [Keyboard]
Gilbert [Keyboard] + Band + String Quartet + Mick [Keyboard]
Gilbert [Keyboard] + Band + String Quartet + Mick [Keyboard] + Julian [Saxophone] + Charlotte & Niamh [Backing Vocals] Julian jumped from the stage into the audience during his solo.
Gilbert [Keyboard] + Band + String Quartet + Mick [Keyboard] + Charlotte & Niamh [Backing Vocals]
Gilbert played and sang 3 4 songs tonight representing material from 15 different albums. The breakdown was as follows:
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