MAVS: London, UK Royal Albert Music Hall Review

September 16, 1998

From: Jacky Malins
Date: Thu Sep 17 06:04:02 98


Well, here i am, still on cloud nine ! The day started with a frustrating
journey into London, round Regents Street, Piccadilly, Regents Street, etc !
Finally parking in the Hotel car park,where the guys were staying !
We met Rob & Paul outside the RAH, wished them well, and then waited 4 long
hours til the big event !Our seating gave us a good view, in Arena A, but boy
were the seats narrow !;-) .............'That's Amore' signalled the bands entrance,
and we were 'away' ! ........

    Tell Me Why
    I Should Know
    Someone Should Tell Her
    I Should Have Been True
    Blue Moon (Which Raul started on a bum note)
    I Got This Feeling
    The Bottle Let me Down
    I Hope You Want Me Too
    Dolores ( the lighting worked well with this one ! )
    Save A Prayer ( where Raul said something along the lines off.. ' This is a
        song about redemption, i'd like to dedicate to Our President..............He
        needs all the redemption he can get !'

At this point, the strangest thing ! There was an interval ! ( I think this
may be standard practice at the RAH, but for me, it fell foul. ) Up til this
point, i'm pretty sure i was the only person who had been moving, albeit
'nodding' my head ! Don't get me wrong, i wanted to get up and dance, but i
think i would have looked well out of place ! For some reason, no-one dared
move ! And now, with the interval, i thought 'well that's it then ! That's
gonna seal their fate !' But.....
Enter Raul solo, he said 'I've sent the rest of the band home,...............
this is the point in the show where they like me to sing alone, to display my
vocals......it's only so they can have a few beers......so they told me to do
2 or 3 ! ' (something like that) He then performed-

    Dream River
    Fool #1
    Moon River

Then the rest of the band came back on, and we were entertained with some Rob
/ Raul banter, with Rob saying he was nervous, and then asking Raul if he was,
to which Raul replied 'Heck no, i'm big time now !' . .......Then the familiar
chords start again-

    Hell to Paradise / Guantanamera ( at which point, the rest of the audience
        begins to loosen up )
    I Don't Care If You Love Me Anymore

Swingin' Safari ( conga line forms down centre aisle, which i could'nt join,
as i was stuck in my row between the remaining manequins ! But what the hell,
i was standing up and moving ! )
The band went straight into-

    The Lion Sleeps Tonight  ( and fed up, i s'pose, with me obscuring their view,
        the manequins rose to their feet, likewise did everyone else ! ) Then came-
    What A Crying Shame

( There were two encores as usual there somewhere ! But they did'nt 'hang
about' as much as they usually do before coming back on stage ! )
Then Raul introduced the song that had got them better known-
Dance The Night Away- ( which of course, hit the right 'spot' with the
audience !) followed by-

    The Things You Said to Me
    There Goes My Heart
    La Mucura
    It's Not Unusual
    Man Without Love

    All You Ever Do is Bring Me Down. ( ( midway, Raul takes the keyboard leaving JD to dance on his
        piano, the stage, and the seating barriers ! He then did his limbo routine
        under the neck of Robs guitar, ending with the psuedo kick up the backside
        from Rob !


All to soon the entertainment is over, and so begins the mass exodus to the Bar!
I was told by Scotty ( Havana Horns ) that the gig in Switzerland was worse than this
one ! Nobody moved throughout the entire show! But apparantly, the crowd loved the
show regardless, they just had a strange way of showing it !
So, with a brilliant evening now 'Just A Memory', my life returns to it's
normal routine !