The Golden Years in Antwerp

The three giant video screens that form the backdrop to the Golden years stage

The penultimate gig on the Christie 2009 Tour took us to the huge Sports Stadium in Antwerp, where we performed the two biggest Christie hits “San Bernadino” and “Yellow River” to a packed house of 12,500 partying Belgians.  It’s the third time we’ve played this prestigious event, and it never loses its lustre. This year the bill featured Slade and 10cc, and it was particularly great to see 10cc, creators of such classic pop, fronted by Graham Gouldman, who is surely one of the UK’s leading songwriters, with a lineage you can trace back beyond 10cc to classic 60’s hits such as “For your Love”, “No Milk Today“, and “Bus Stop”.

The Rubettes play to the crowd

....and Alan, their lead singer, finishes with a flourish

With the bands all billeted in the Crowne Plaza hotel, and top class back stage catering in our own restaurant, there was plenty of time to chew the fat with fellow musicians. I reminded Paul Burgess, drummer with 10cc since the days of “The things we do for love”, that the last time I’d chatted backstage with them was a mind-blowing 29 years ago, when they were playing the cavernous Drammenshallen near Oslo, and we were also touring Norway.

I exchanged the usual banter with the guys from Sailor, who, as our drummer Simon pointed out, could all audition for the role of Doctor Who and be confident of getting the part!  (Incidentally, one of the highlights of the evening was taking the stage for the finale with all the other bands and being led in an impromptu tango across the stage by Sailor’s keyboardist, Henry!)

Graham Gouldman - Master Songsmith

A band's eye view of the Finale

All’n’all, a wonderful time was had, and as I wearily headed home, arriving in Turre just shy of midnight on the Sunday, I reflected on how crazy a business I’m in that caused me to take four flights in 24 hours to perform a total of 6 minutes on stage to 12,500 people. Statistics Schmatistics – it’s rock’n’roll!

With seemingly indecent haste, the huge arena empties, and the crew de-rig the stage

Kev Moore

Christie Renaissance

In 2008, almost imperceptibly, a groundswell of interest and activity in all things Christie has begun to gather momentum. Jeff himself has appeared on, or filmed for future broadcast, several TV shows in Europe. The artist-friendly record label AngelAir (who also released the Graham Oliver solo album I guested on) has released A double CD retrospective featuring tracks from Jeff’s first band, The Outer Limits on CD for the first time, plus his unreleased solo album from 1979. The project is entitled “Outer Limits & Floored Masters – Past Imperfect“. SEE REVIEWS

As we approach the 40th. anniversary of Christie’s multi-million selling hit “Yellow River” in 2010, it looks like we’ll be heading back out on the road for a series of dates across Europe next year. We’ve had the same line-up with Jeff for 20 years, and it’s the same line-up that will be out there in 2009.

I’m looking forward to it immensely, and, as and when dates get confirmed, you’ll hear it here. But for now, take a look at Me, Jeff, Fos and Simon when we appeared back in 1990 at the Golden Years Concert in the Sportstadion, Antwerp. Good times!

Kev Moore