Concert Reports

My friend Anne drove us to Huddersfield and we stayed in a lovely hotel. We had a lovely relaxing lunch and then just sat chatting till it was time to go and get ready for the concert. We arrived at the Town Hall and went to the merchandise desk to ask about the new DVD. We were told it had to be televised on Swedish TV before it can go on sale. Have to wait a little bit longer. We went for a drink in the bar and then finally into the concert. The guys came out and sat on stools for the first half which was the softer, more acoustic half. They started with new arrangement of ‘I’ll Meet You at Midnight’ then ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams”. The next were 3 tracks from Wild Horses, The title track ‘She Rides Wild Horses’ ‘When the Walls Come Down’ and ‘Goodbye Yesterdays Heartache’. The guys then took us back in time for ‘Changing All the Time’. They followed then with the 3 new tracks from the new album ’From the Heart’, ‘Back to You’, ‘When the Night Falls’ and ‘Don’t Give Me That’ They ended the first half with ‘Home is Anywhere You Are’. The guys were all on good form and joked about being able to do what they wanted to do because they were the support band and it was cheaper.
We went to the bar for a drink and talked to Lesley our friend from Leeds then back into the concert. They started with ‘Something’s Been Making Me Blue’ and ‘Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone’. They then sang Tomorrow and joked about not drinking etc. Then a string of hits followed, ‘It’s Your Life’, ‘Take Good Care Of My Baby’,’ Mexican Girl’, ‘For a Few Dollars More’, ‘Wild Wild Angels’, ‘If You Think You Know How To Love Me’, ‘Baby It’s You’, ‘Rose-a-Lee’, ‘Don’t Play Your Rock and Roll To Me’, ‘Oh Carol’, and to the last song ‘Needles and Pins’. The guys left the stage for a short time while the audience cheered and clapped and shouted for them to come back, which they did to perform the fantastic encore of ‘Have You Ever Seen The Rain’ when Mike threw his water over the audience and of course the wonderful ‘Living Next Door To Alice’. All in all a brilliant concert and everyone seemed to have enjoyed it.
We waited down in the foyer for a little while and shortly the guys came down and spoke to everyone and posed for photo’s and gave autographs. They were great even though it was obvious they were very hot and tired, they remained as always friendly and charming and full of fun. A perfect end to the night.

My friend Anne drove herself, her son, my son Kieran and me to York to see the guys at the Opera House. We had a quick drink in the bar and went to the merchandise desk to ask if the new DVD was available yet. Camille told us it was not here yet so will have to wait a bit longer. A bit of a dissappointment but just one of those things. I heard a lot of other fans asking the same thing so it will be popular when it is available.
We went into the concert and took our seats.We were on the 4th row, not front I know but good seats all the same. The guys came out and were sat on their stools to sing the new version on 'I'll Meet You At Midnight' which I've grown to really love now.Then they did 'Boulevard Of Broken Dreams' then continued with 3 tracks from the 'Wild Horses' album, 'She Rides Wild Horses', 'When The Walls Come Down' and' Goodbye Yesterdays Heartache'. They then played the oldie 'Changing All The Time' and followed with the 3 new tracks from the new album 'From The Heart' which were 'Back To You', 'When The Night Falls' and 'Don't Give Me That'. They ended the first half with 'Home Is Anywhere You Are'. The guys were on the very best of forms joking about being the support band because it was cheaper and they could do what they liked, Mike said we could all go and get pi...er get a drink during the interval and they were going backstage for a cup of tea and some drugs, no, only joking, we haven't got a kettle.
Anne took the boys for a drink while I went to grab a quick word with John, the manager.He was really friendly and helpful and I told him about this site and my reasons for doing it. He seemed really pleased. We chatted for a few minutes then I had a quick couple of words with Lesley from Leeds and then joined Anne and the boys. It seemed I missed the guys running back from the pub across the road. Apparently Terry shouted to us all jokingly 'hurry up, we can't start without you'
We went back into the concert and there definitely seemed to be a party atmosphere. The crowd were great singing and clapping and the guys were at their very best.. They sang two of the oldies first, 'Somethings Been Making Me Blue' and 'Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone'. Then Mike said the next song was about their lifestyle, because they don't drink, don't smoke and don't have sex, no, tell a lie, a week last Wednesday, I was on my own. Then Terry said yeah the walls were a bit thin and he heard him saying Oh Mike, Oh Mike. The audience was in hysterics, it was so funny, anyway the song was 'Tomorrow' then they followed with a medley of 'It's Your Life', 'Take Good Care Of My Baby', Mexican Girl', 'For A Few Dollars More' and 'Wild Wild Angels'. Then Terry spoke about when they first started and they played the first hit 'If You Think You Know How To Love Me' and my son Kieran's favourite 'Baby It's You'. Then the place started rockin and they played 'Rose-a-Lee of which they got wrong and made a joke out of it by changing the lyrics, so funny ! ! followed by Mike doing his audience participation bit getting us all to sing which of course we did, very loudly, Mike said we were the noisest lot for a long time, we were a lot of nutters and he knew Yorkshire people wouldn't let him down. Then they played 'Don't Play Your Rock n Roll To Me', 'Oh Carol' and 'Needles And Pins' then they left the stage for a few minutes to tremendous applause and shouts for their return which they did to play the encore of 'Have You Ever Seen The Rain' and of course 'Living Next Door To Alice' and all too soon it was over.
We went back to the merchandise desk to wait for the guys to come out and very shortly they arrived to sign autographs chat and have photos taken. I managed to have a quick few words with all of the guys and my son got all their autographs and had his photo taken with them all. He was dead chuffed. Martin commented on the atmosphere and said "We were having a party up there, you all looked like you were having a party down there" which was very true. The whole night was brilliant and it really did feel like we had been to a party.

Smokie rocked the Palms Showroom at Melbourne's Crown Casino last night. The Showroom, with an elite nightclub feel to it, was a most comfortable setting and made an excellent venue. It had been too long since Smokie were in town, and the people loved them. With just the right mixture of old and new songs, it was a nostalgic evening. "Alice" was saved until the very last. Always save the best for last I say! The Band sounded as good as they ever did, better than ever, as was their sense of humour and fun, mingling out the front afterwards with members of the audience who had stayed back to purchase merchandise.
Martin Bullard's in-laws seemed to make up a fair amount of the crowd, all turning up happily to see him. As one smartly dressed man pointed out to me "I'm his father-in-law".
I was so happy to be able to say "hi" to them all, and especially to Terry and Martin whom I had met on previous tours of Australia. My son of nine scored the grand prizes of a guitar pick from Terry and a pair of well used drumsticks from Steve!
All in all, an excellent time was had by all and we can't wait to see them back here again in 2008!
April Claridge-Elstob
Melbourne, Australia

The Robin2, Bilston, Wolverhampton, 15.02.07

This venue is a small club and is a really good place for a venue. Although I thought it would be a bit on the small side for a Smokie gig, it went really well.
My friend Anne and I sat with some other fans we knew at the back and had a couple of drinks and a chat while the support band was on. I’m sorry but I did not catch their name, they were okay though. Then their was a short interval and then the intro was played and Smokie came out to ‘Something’s Been Making Me Blue’. They all looked extremely well and healthy and were on real good form. They then played ‘Lay Back In the Arms of Someone’ and other hits including ‘I’ll Meet You At Midnight’, ‘Take Good Care of My Baby’ and ‘Mexican Girl’ Then they played a medley of Rock n Roll which included ‘Wild Angels’, ‘Don’t Play Your Rock n Roll to Me’, ‘Oh Carol’ and finished the set with ‘Needles and Pins’ They went off to loud applause and shouts of "we want Alice". The guys came back and finished with their well known encore of ‘Have You Ever Seen The Rain’ during which Mike threw his water over the crowd and the long awaited ‘Living Next Door To Alice’ The concert was amazing and the guys sounded fantastic.
Mick and Terry came out afterwards and chatted to some of the audience.

Report from Varberg, Sweden, , July 6th, 2007

At the end of March my friend and I saw that SMOKIE should come to Varberg in Sweden, in July 6th. We bought our tickets to the concert there and booked a very nice hotel near the harbour. Two other bands were also going to play with the guys.

Then the day came when we should go to Varberg. We had decided to take the car. It was a long way for us to go, cause we are living in Stockholm and Varberg is at the south of Sweden, at the west coast and there are 530 kilometres for us to drive and it took us 6 ½ hours to travel. At 8.15 o´clock we were going. The weather was good but just before when we came to Varberg it began to rain and it was raining during the whole time in Varberg and it was still raining the next day when we went home. On our way to Varberg we stayed at a little place, Kinna where we had something to eat. We came to Varberg at 14.45 o´clock. We checked in at our hotel at 15 o´clock. We noticed that the other two bands which also were going to play there, were staying at our hotel too.

At 17 o´clock we went to the park, Societetsparken. There we had to wait 1 hour before they should let us in. Lucky for us that we had bought raincoats, it was raining so much meanwhile we were standing there. At 18 o´clock they opened and we got good places at the first row.

At 19.30 o´clock Sven-Erik Magnusson and his band came on stage. It´s a Swedsh singer. (He is playing before the English band Status Quo for some concerts in Sweden in July). Then at 20.30 o´clock another Swedish band, Boppers came. They were playing rockability. They were real good but it was difficult to hear them singing cause the guitars.

At 21.30 o´clock it was time for the real band SMOKIE. We were so excited cause it was nearly 1 year since we had seen them at their last gig in July 21st in Eskilstuna in Sweden.. Now we were standing there to see "THE BEST BAND" in the world. Then they began to play the intro and the guys came out on stage and they all were in a really good shape. It was fantastic to see them again. They began with "Something´s been making me blue ". It felt so good to hear Mike singing again. Then they sang "Lay back in the arms of someone", "Tomorrow", the new song "Back to you", "Boulevard of broken dreams", "Take good care of my baby", "Mexican girl" and there we all were singing, hasta la vista, "For a few dollars more", "Wild angles", "If you think you know how to love me", "Baby it´s you", "Don´t give me that" and one of my favourites "I´ll meet you at midnight", "Carol", "Needles and pins", "Have you ever seen the rain" and there it was fantastic to hear all fans singing with them and the last song "Living next door to Alice".

First I was thinking that it was not so good to take photos when it was pouring rain but then I changed my mind and I was thinking that I should try to get some and after the concert I saw that I was lucky to get very good ones. Mike was really in a very good mood there. He was jumping and running at the stage and all the guys seemed to be happy. When Mike did some "movements" all the fans were screaming. Have never seem him in so good mood at the stage when he was jumping and running over the whole stage. They were playing in 90 minutes and then Mike asked about a little help and then came "Have you ever seen the rain" and then Mike took his bottle and threw water at me and my friend and after that we were even more wet than we were before. So now Mike, look out the next time! Then the last song "Living next door to Alice"."Who is fucking Alice" all the fans were screaming and singing and when you have fun everything went so fast and then they began to play the outro and now we have to wait until October when they are coming back to Sweden. The guys were not staying in Varberg after the concert. They were going to Gothenburg, cause they had an early flight to Austria the day after. After the concert we met Jason in the crew and we had the chance to have a nice chat with him.

THANK YOU guys for a fantastic and wonderful concert in Varberg and I must say it is the best one with you ever and especially many THANKS to Mike. You were absolutely gorgeous there.

See ya guys in October

Anne
Sweden

My friend Anne and I set off and drove to Stansted for an overnight stay there. We arrived there about 9.30 checked in then after a couple of glasses of wine in the bar we went to bed. We had a very early start in the morning.
We arrived at the airport and after checking our bags in we wnt for something to eat. Our flight left at 08.30 and with a short delay of about 15 minutes we took off. We arrived at Skavsta Airport at 11.40, collected our bags and went to buy our bus ticketsand then boarded the bus to take us to Stockholm central. We took a taxi from there to the M.S. Cinderella. The cruiser is really lovely and much bigger than I expected. We met up with our Swedish friends Anne and Eva and boarded the cruiser. Our cabin was fantastic and very comfortable. We had a little look around then went for something to eat. After that we went back to our cabin to get a shower and changed. We had a few problems with the electrics in the cabin but other than that everything was fine. We went down to the 'Fun Club' just as they were opening the doors. We sat and had a drink and enjoyed the entertainment till the guys came on eventually at 11.50. They were worth waiting for even if the set was a short one. The fans were absolutely crazy andwe did get pushed and shoved a bit as we were down at the front, probably because everyone else wanted to be there too. The guys were fantastic and full of energy, we even sang a couple of lines of 'Sailing' to them as we were on the cruiser...LOL. They sang amongst others Something's Been Making Me Blue, Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone, Tomorrow, Mexican Girl, Don't Give Me That, Wild Angels, If You Think You Know How To Love Me and many more. We then reached the encore of Have You Ever Seen The Rain at which Mike threw his water at all of us and then of course Living Next Door To Alice and sadly it was all over. Anne and I went for a drink then something else to eat and then as we had had a long day we went to bed exhausted. The next day when we were leaving the cruiser Anne and Eva had told us they had spoken to Terry and he wanted to meet us but we were fast asleep, oh no, what a shame. We said our sad goodbyes at the Stockholm Terminal. They are two lovely ladies and we had a wonderful time with them. We will miss them so much. We left Skavsta Airport at 10.40 p.m. and started back on our journey home. I would like to say Sweden is a lovely place and we had a fabulous time on the cruiser with our Swedish friends. I hope we can do it again someday. They are in my hometown of Hull soon so that will be my next report.
Lynne