For more information, email
can be sent to Fran
Hart at: bpd@tiac.netWell, I've been a Bread fan since they started. I'm 45 now. I write songs for the love of it and have done so for 21 years. When I was learning my craft it was often that I listened to David Gates and James Griffin songs and they taught me two things - simplicity and honesty in the lyric, and a surprise in the melody and/or chord structure.
And so it was with almost unsuppressed excitement (actually it was unsuppressed quite a few times before we got there) that I headed into Brisbane city with my wife on Sunday night, December 8, ready to see the band we'd waited 20 something years for. (It was much the same for us in 1987 when the Moody Blues came but I was more nervous about this encounter.)
Brisbane audiences have been known to be a little reserved - not much reaction till a concert is well under way - but not tonight. The lights dimmed and the instant that the fleeting shadow of James Griffin hit the stage we went mad - wild applause and much of the loud cheering. And it was on for young and old.
The band was superb, the songs sounding so much like the records but with that little rawer edge that makes a live concert so exciting. David's distinctive voice still with that gentle character sang its way through the concert hall, his songs still fresh and exciting - people gasping as the familiar opening chords heralded "their favourite" song.
It was James who (I knew he would) stunned everyone as his voice soared out over the auditorium with an ease that must be the envy of most other singers. His songs are so brilliant. Larry played beautifully with the subtleness of a true musician and Mike's drumming always perfectly in tune with the song's needs.
They spoke to us, they joked with us, and they bragged about each others accomplishments, never their own. As my wife said on the way home in the car - not an ego in sight.
The backdrop drifted in and out of focus as the songs changed. The lights lifting the singer out of the darkness. The added musicians well in step with the songs and their roles in those songs. Even the errors of the mixing desk technician were ignored by the crowd and dismissed good-naturedly by David Gates. They were true professionals, these musicians, and they made us feel like we were their best friends.
The new songs were great - just loved Mike Botts' "Wait".
Now it's over and in a few days the members of Bread will be back home with their families for Christmas. Well they gave us a gift to remember - songs of beauty, songs of life, humour, gentleness, a touch of dignity, a taste of humility... and happiness!!!...can't ask for much more than that I reckon. I hope they come back one day.
Clyde Jones
Brisbane
Australia.
Most recent update: Thursday, March 11, 19996
For more information, email can be sent to Fran
Hart at: bpd@tiac.net