Now the fabulous tour is over, please post your reviews here. The more, the better! I will add my two, when I can find them ...

TheOctoberMan

Me and my wife came over from Holland the 21th of April to Basildon, close to London. After all those years (20) of being a fan, we finally got the chance to see Colin perform live.

The setting was perfect, a nice cosy old theatre, us sitting at the third row. Such a shame there were so little people. Why do people don't know what a huge artist mister Black is !!!

It was like a short dream; he arrived, did his thing (much to short) and went. It was over before we realised, but it was beautifull. The second part was the Christians-gig. That was also very nice, the most songs were the old-days songs.

Afterwards we stayed at the bar, to meet Colin. We did mail earlier to arrange that meet and greet, but he didn't show up. That was dissapointing, but Gary Christian did. He was very surprised we came over from Holland.

It was very much worth to come over from Holland, but it was much to short.

Although it wasn't allowed to do, I did take some pictures. Because I couldn't use the flashlight the quality is poor, be he, better than nothing.

We were lucky enough to be able to see Colin twice on the tour, in Tunbridge Wells and again in Horsham. I wasn't keen on the venue at T. Wells, but the Capitol at Horsham was great; even though it wasn't full, there was a good atmosphere. Colin was fabulous anyway (of course)! The concerts were quite different in style to previous ones, where we have seen him sitting down with his guitar and harmonica. Colin was on his feet, with an electric guitar most of the time, and giving it his all! Like other people whose reviews I have read, we would like to have seen a longer set and an encore or two! But at least we got to see him again after too long a gap since last time. His voice is just as amazing as ever, and all the songs in his set were excellent. My favourite is 'Her Coat and No Knickers' which, in spite of its weird title, is such a beautiful emotional song.
I just can't get my head round the fact that this exceptionally talented man has just toured as a support act. Let's all hope that this tour has created more interest, and that it won't be too long before Colin is headlining his next tour.

Black In Concert – 14th March 2007 at the Aberdeen Music Hall, Scotland.

The ticket said 7:30pm for the concert so I assumed the doors would be opening at that time. How wrong can you be? When I walked up to the hall, it was amazingly quiet. There was only the staff around, but I could hear music – where were all the Black fans? Then I realised that Black must have been on stage. As I frantically showed my ticket to the man on the door, he said “it has already started but it is only the support band - called Black or something like that!” What! That is why I am here!!! I was shown towards a side door, and as I got closer I could hear the beginnings of “Everything’s Coming Up Roses”. I was missing one of my Top 5 Black songs. I hurried in and took a seat near the front, on the right.

The concert was great. It was wonderful to see Colin with an electric guitar in his hand and a full band playing. There was a lead guitarist, bass guitarist and a good drummer (who wasn’t Rob Peters, Colin’s normal drummer). The drummer then appeared later, drumming for The Christians!

They played a 45 minutes set with many favourites but I now realise it was mainly the tracks on the new CV CD. What was best though was to hear the songs played as a band. Colin was in great voice and the band were very good indeed.

The crowd loved it and you can tell that many of them were there to see Black. The concert was not sold out, in fact I counted about 250 people. Still we all enjoyed the concert. Black finished off with a superb version of “Water On Snow” and then it was over.

I was not sure if I should stay for The Christians, who I always thought were okay but I was not really a fan. I stayed anyway and the concert was okay. They played for about one and a half hours and were well received. The crowd were on the feet towards the end and they all seemed to enjoy it. One funny thing that Garry Christian did say was “Hey, next time, bring your friends!” Yes, it was a bit poorly attended. Is that their fault? Difficult to say. Anyone who has been to Colin’s solo gigs will know that the venues chosen were small & intimate. Were the Christians expecting to pull a bigger crowd? Perhaps, but they had been out of the limelight for a few years. Still, it was nice that they played a gig as far north as Aberdeen, Not many bands do!

It was a brilliant evening and I want to thank Colin for doing this tour. I am sure that many of the Single Black Spot members will agree - we love seeing you live!

TheOctoberMan

Black In Concert – 17th April 2007 at the Jam House, Edinburgh, Scotland.

This gig was postponed from the 7th March 2007 for reasons that I still do not know, I have planned to go to the Edinburgh one only, but on being told (in plenty of time, which I appreciated) that it was postponed, I then hurriedly got tickets for the Aberdeen one as it was therefore to be earlier. My ticket for the original Edinburgh gig was still valid so I thought, why not go to both!

The Edinburgh gig was a lot better than the Aberdeen one. The sound was better, the crowd was bigger and better and there was such a better atmosphere. Hey, that is not to say the Aberdeen one was bad, but it did suffer a bit in the acoustics. Maybe a half-empty hall did not help!
I got there in plenty of time this time! Having done that, Colin & Co were late due to various road hold-ups. It was due to start at 8pm, but they were not on stage until 8:45pm. We did get an announcement to tell us this, but they then decided not to actually announce the band onto the stage. Black crept on stage and the first the crowd knew of it was Colin saying “Hello?”.
Then Black launched into their set –
“Everything’s Coming Up Roses”, a superb song and really gets a good stretch when played as a gig opener. “Come Out Of the Rain”, great band song.
“Quinn’s Old Flame”, slows it down a wee bit, going back into partial acoustic mode, but very much appreciated by the crowd.
“Sweetest Smile”, introduced as one of the two songs he wrote when homeless.
“Charlemagne” has become quite a favourite in tours as we know from Blackleg Volume 3.
“Her Coat and No Knickers” is still a strange title for any song but is really good and gets a good vibe when played live with a full band.
“Cold Chicken Skin” was first aired on the Black tour of May 2005. It gets better each time you hear it!
“Wonderful Life”, the other song written. You get the feeling that no Black concert is complete without this being played.
“Water On Snow” starts off quiet and builds into a stunning climax that leaves you drained of all emotions. It is a superb song, and leaves the crowd knowing they have just witnessed a superb event.

What was evident was that Colin really enjoyed that gig and so did I (funnily enough). Black are brilliant, as we all know, but even more so live. Colin chats to the crowd as if they are old mates and really puts on a great show. Long live Black!

TheOctoberMan