Extras (30 mins):
Documentary, Live In Amsterdam, Documentary extras, Photo Gallery
Mick Hucknall interviewed on GMTV
(24th October 2007)
Recorded before the birth of his first child and the announcement of the band’s demise in 2009,
Mick Hucknall reminds us of the quality music he’s written and performed for
22 years.
Due to impending fatherhood, Mick Hucknall chose to do an exclusive one-off
show at Manchester’s Life Cafe on Saturday 3 February, followed by a sold out
six night residency at the Albert Hall in May.
Lifting tracks from a range of albums, this is a walk in the park for the
blue-eyed soul boy from Manchester.
Kicking-off with Soul Theme, the band plays a souped-up jazzy intro without
Huckers – it’s the build-up of course. It’s impressive, especially Ian
Kirkham’s sax solo, and the crowd loved it. It’s the best opening of the 13
shows I’ve seen since 1987.
A couple of stick clinks and they’re into The World And You Tonight with
Mick casually making his entrance. Predictably, the crowd go nuts. It’s clear
the voice is still in great shape, and the band’s hot too. A relaxed Mick
delivers, "Thank you very much. Good evening. Welcome to the wonderful
Royal Albert Hall on a Saturday night. It’s quite posh isn’t it? Are you
feeling posh? A little bit posh, got your best clothes on? Your dapper
clothes. Hey, I’ve got another bit of news for y’all... this is being recorded,
so you can really show off."
A grinning Mick went on, "You can be celebrities. Isn’t that great? We’re
all celebrities these days. It’s wonderful. So hey celebrities come with me
on this journey..."
So Beautiful, a tribute to Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side brings
loud cheers. It’s followed by an poignant and emotional introduction to
For Your Babies". "And on the very subject of beautiful things, for
some reason this song has a particular relevance to me right now." - The
tender observational ballad (about all around having children except him in
the '90s) is sublime.
Mick Hucknall performs on GMTV
"The World And You Tonight"
Leaving the slush behind, they go up-tempo on They Don’t Know from new
album Stay. Simply Red always do great reggae. Night Nurse,
originally featuring Sly and Robbie, is cruise control, with Stay, his
best song in years, raising the roof, as the vocals hit a major high belting
out the chorus.
The only time Hucknall embraces a guitar is for signature tune Holding Back
The Years, so we know what’s coming, and it’s the best yet, with the fans
joining in, they raise the roof once again. They didn’t need much egging on
but he says .. "Come on", and they do. Unusually, he uses another one
for Ronnie Laine’s Debris from Stay.
Firing on all cyliders, Oh! What A Girl turns into a Latino romp magnifique:
they’re on their feet now. The party’s started and they’re gong for it, with
multi-camera angles catching it all. They storm through hits Thrill Me, Stars,
Sunrise, Money’s Too Tight and they’re off to a massive ovation. Back for
more, they launch into Fairground, their only chart topper. Penultimate
song Something Got Me Started is the best version to date.
"I’ll give it up for you..." is a kind of indicator of the looming end
of SR. He leaves them on a high: If You Don’t Know Me By Now rings around
the magnificent venue, helped by 4,000 fans.
Yet another glorious night for the greatest pop singer Britain has ever produced.
On the extras we get exclusive interview and rehearsal clips along with
three songs from Amsterdam.
1. The World & You Tonight
2. So Beautiful
3. For Your Babies
4. The Death Of The Cool
5. So Not Over You
6. They Don't Know
7. Night Nurse
8. Lady
9. Stay
10. Holding Back The Years
11. Debris
12. Good Times
13. Have Done Me Wrong
14. Oh! What A Girl!
15. Thrill Me
16. Stars
17. Sunrise
18. Money’s Too Tight (To Mention)
19. Fairground
20. Something Got Me Started
21. If You Don't Know Me By Now
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.
