20 June 2004 - In May of 2004 Bruce toured to the United Kingdom to perform several solo shows there. The following reports are from Julie and Rob on the Blackheath show and from Iain on the Wolverhampton show.
26 May 2004 - Blackheath Halls in South London.
Well I'm trying to get the "hotest off the press" review in here, sitting in my car outside the Blackheath Halls in South London,
England at 23:03!
The build up - a real treat for me, as the show came out of the
blue. Only 4-5 weeks to wait, and at a small venue only a short
drive from home. Also the first time I'va managed to catch a "new
songs" show.
Venue - red brick civic building housing a lovely hall with a
vaulted ceiling & rich red velvet curtains - rather like a school
hall in fact. There was also a pleasant bar area outside. The hall
was arranged in groups of 6 - 8 chairs around small tables, complete
with candles! Audience - about 200?
Stage - red/purple/blue lighting, 3 acoustic guitars (two 6
strings & 12 string). One small side table with a Sigg bottle...Some
loud cracks come from the PA, and when Bruce comes on his first
words are "if you're kicking the plug for the PA, please stop",
he's not joking either!
The man - Beige suit (!!), black teeshirt, very white goatee. Voice
in fine form, and cheerful like last autumn.
Bruce mentions some requests he received on bits of paper on the
stage "I'll see what I can do after the break - it depends how much
wine you buy me".
Set 1-
1. Lord of the Starfields - (10 year wait for this)
2. Lovers - (OK- it can't go wrong now...) "that was for my daughter, she just had a baby girl, which makes me a grandpa" - long anecdote about his first band The Children, and Bruce playing the organ with them.
3. Open - flubbs opening lyrics!
4. Closer To The Light - (very upbeat)
5. Wait No More
6. Down To The Delta
7. Indian Wars -"a lot of people requested this last fall, but Julie & I hadn't learned it, if you were one of them, this is your lucky day."
8. Tried & Tested
9. Trickle Down- (solo - very impressive)
Interval
Bruce comes on, picks up the 12 string. Someone takes him a glass of red wine!
10. All Our Dark Tomorrows
11. My Beat
12. Put It In Your Heart - (Long story about his reaction to seeing Pat Robertson on US TV after 9/11."Where's a plane when you need it" Bruce hums his way through the word 'alchemy' in each chorus.)
Back to 6 string, sips the wine and says "OK, lets see how this goes..."
13. All The Diamonds - (...!!)
14. Mango
15. Night Train - (excellent 'dooby-doo' solo!)
16. Last Night Of The World
17. World Of Wonders - (Very different tone. Stars appear on backcloth.)
Encore
18. New Song Mystery
19. Lions
2nd encore
Requests for Rocket Launcher, "no - I can't end a set like that".
Another request, "OK, I'll try to execute that one, I use the term advisedly" and he plays,
20. Rumours Of Glory
21. Tie Me At The Crossroads - and then the lights come up. ~Rob
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Julie added that, Bruce was certainly in fine form and his voice just gets better every time I see him live. The performance was intoxicating and you could have heard a pin drop. The audience was totally focused on Bruce for the entire evening.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
27 May 2004 - Robin 2 Wolverhampton,UK.
Another fine performance! I saw Bruce 3 times earlier in the tour, and the set
list was quite similar at all venues, but it was good to see him playing solo
rather than with Julie - I'm glad I've seen both.
Talking after, Bruce said his 'grandchild was born on 7th April,' I commented
about his age and he doesn't seem old enough to be a grandad (he looks it, but
something about his attitude makes me think of him as about 35 or so...) and
he said 'there were plenty people who were grandparents younger than him, but his
daughter had made some good choices for which he was glad!' ~ Iain
This is the set list :
1. Lord of the Starfields
2. Lovers
3. Open
4. Pacing The Cage
5. Wait No More
6. Down To The Delta
7. All The Ways I Want You
8. Tried & Tested
9. Trickle Down
Break
10. All Our Dark Tomorrows
11. My Beat - (Bruce talked about riding his bike in cities, 37 bike couriers killed in
Montreal last year has made him think! and be in the moment.)
12. Put It In Your Heart - (I think it was at this point he talked about the 'headline' of the day in the UK, a 3 year old girl died becasue of heart failure due to obesity, and how he couldn't believe the story, there must be more than this. For the actual song, he gave a shorter intro, said something like 9/11 happened to a country 'at least in part' becasue of the weight of its culture and how that is felt - what it does around the world.)
13. Mango
14. Night Train
15. Last Night Of The World
16. World Of Wonders - (beautiful - much better than on the album, the style fits the
song so much better.)
Encore
17. After The Rain
18. Tie Me At The Crossroads
Encore 2
19. Indian Wars
20. Wondering Where The Lions Are
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Other News20 June 2004:
~bobbi wisby