Adam KennyHow did I get here?
This review was not written by a Chris De Burgh fan. In fact, I’ve never listened to Chris De Burgh once in my entire life. Or so I thought until I heard Lady In Red for what I thought was the first time. I was on a trip with my partner in London to go see Hamilton. Couple months before the trip they had checked online and got Chris De Burgh tickets. They have always wanted to see him live, so I said “what the hell, why not!” So on Saturday night I saw Hamilton (which I know very well) and then I saw Chris De Burgh on Sunday night (who I didn’t know at all, really).
I came, I saw, Chris conquered. Here’s what I think of Chris De Burgh’s 5OLO concert to celebrate 50 years of his music I barely knew.
Chris De Burgh at 50 (and SOLO)
If you haven’t heard of Chris De Burgh then you and I are in the same boat. You may know him best from ‘Lady In Red’ which is a heartstopper of a song that has been featured in movies such as Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (yes the one with Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller). It’s a classic. An undeniable one that I know you’re looking up right now going “Oh my God, it’s that song?”, that slight surprise you felt right there is how I felt for the entire concert.
This was my first time at Cadogan Hall, and honestly I don’t know how else I’m ever going to be there again… So more than likely my only time too. We were sitting upstairs in the gallery, just to the right of the stage. It was great to good ole Chris. The seats were repurposed church pews which felt very fitting. The stage itself was very simple: Chris’s electric guitar, a microphone and a piano. Oh, and we cannot forget the RGB Lights. They spelt out 5 O L O and would change throughout the evening.
Chris De Burgh and his thoughts on the world
There is no opening act, no introduction or any time wasted. Chris came on stage and got straight into his first song after first being lauded with applause for simply being there. Chris at this point is 76, far from his prime. He was the only person on stage for the entire concert which was 2 hours and 35 minutes. For the first half of the concert he didn’t have any sort of backup. It was just him and his instruments. In the second half however he stopped using his guitar and piano altogether and instead had some backing tracks for a few of his songs. It was Chris De Burgh karaoke sung by Chris De Burgh.
Between songs Chris would talk with the audience about some old friends and what he thinks of the state of the world. I can’t say I learnt something new about the world from his chats but I did learn that he has an old friend whom designed many dolphin statues in London. Walking through the city the next day I kept an eye out for any dolphins wondering if Chris’s old friend had a hand in them, and also realising London really likes dolphins.
The Music: 50 years of Chris De Burgh
Chris played all his hits. Don’t Pay the Ferry Men, and Lady in Red to name a couple. He can’t hit the high notes like he used to, but he wasn’t choking either. He covered songs like ‘Africa’ by Toto and doing his own rendition of ‘Always On My Mind’, the original being sung by Elvis Presley, which I quite liked actually. For every hit sung, there were 3 deep cut songs I had absolutely no clue about. I cannot for the life of me remember any of them except for one called ‘Live Life, Live Well’ which felt like the music equivalent of Live Laugh Love. No matter what, the audience loved everything he sang. They adored the man. It was clear that Chris was the soundtrack to many peoples youth inside Cadogan Hall. Each and everytime, Chris was met with thunderous applause.
So Many Lights
Even if some of the songs were not to my taste, Chris made sure that the light show itself was enticing. There were circles of lights getting shot at every angle and corner of the room. The RGB board that spelt out 5OLO was used what I can only describe as expertly throughout the night. Chris loved his lights! He loved the dramatics of it all! It brought an epicness that Chris yearned for in each of his songs. Whenever on the piano, the entire room would go dark and there would only be one single spotlight being beamed onto Chris and his piano. He was the moment. The lights helped convey that and it’s clear that Chris loved it.
Lady Patricia and her Bras
He saved his for towards the end of the concert, the last song he finished with was ‘Patricia the Stripper’ which got the biggest cheer of the night. This was one of the songs where he had a backing track but nobody cared, including me. It was a hit! It was catchy, tongue in cheek and outrightly naughty. In fact towards the end of the song, people in the front row threw bras on stage! I have no clue if any of the throwers owned said bras or if Chris had them planted, but it doesn’t matter. I got to see bras thrown at Chris De Burgh which I loved.
Do I recommend you go see Chris De Burgh? If you have nothing better to do and don’t mind spending £65 on a ticket then sure why not. It’s not a waste of your time but I wouldn’t drop everything to go and see him unless you are a super fan. If you are, then you’ve already bought your front row tickets with bras in hand. Go see Chris De Burgh, toss a few bras and enjoy the light show. It’s really not that bad and I can honestly say I’ll never experience anything like that again.
You can find Chris De Burgh on Spotify.
