Photos of the meeting of Beryl Longuet with Barbara and Barry Gibb after many years.
2013, copyright David Longuet.
London, October 3.
My visit to the 02
I finally had a chance to go and see a Gibb concert again. Since the early 70ties I do fan work for the Bee Gees and have seen many shows in the past and I’m a devoted BG fan since then but I got married and kids were born, they grew up, and had to study etc. etc. and it simply wasn’t possible for me for quite some years to travel a lot. Then there was the announcement of Barry who would perform in London, that was a perfect chance to go and visit a concert again after so many years. And indeed it was a very special day for me in many ways. It was great to be in London again, all those people at the 02 Arena coming to visit that same concert, wow… During the sound check I already felt that special feeling and the stage looked very impressive. Afterwards Barry, Linda and Dick came over to have a chat. It was so good to see them again after so many years, although we’d never lost contact. The concert at night was the high light of the day. I just loved it… I’m glad Barry finally decided (with the help of Linda) to return to the stage to honour the Bee Gees music in this very beautiful way. You felt the presence of his brothers on stage all night long. Barry really talked about his brothers and his family with the audience and walked through their lives and through the family photo album. The fans loved it and I hope he’ll continue to bring this tour all over the world. For me it was an evening with smiles and tears. Very special also that now Barry is on stage with Sam and Steve. I remember some of the Gibb kids holding in my arms when they were very little and now they’re all grown up, having kids of their own and even perform on stage with Barry, great….!! In the old days when I visited the Bee Gees concerts their kids were playing around in the venues and back stage, now the grand children were running around there!! I’m sure it must have been very difficult for Barry to go there again and perform on stage without his brothers next to him but like I said you felt their presence through out the show and the next generation did wonderful too!!
The voice of Steve I think was a wonderful surprise and gave the Gibb compositions a very special and new sound. Sam really is a wonderful new talent too with her lovely voice. I also really love her own material.
Let’s hope Mythology will be continued soon!
Thanks!! (Marion / GSI)
First Of May Lonely Days youtube.com
Set list:
| 1. Jive Talking´ 2. Lonely Days 3. You Should Be Dancing 4. First of May 5. To love Somebody 6. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (with Sam Gibb) 7. How Deep is your Love? 8. On Time (Steve Gibb) 9. I´ve Gotta Get a Message to You 10. Morning of my Life 11. New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Mr. Jones) 12. Run to Me 13. With the Sun In My Eyes 14. Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You (met SteveGibb) | 15. I Started a Joke (with Robin Gibb on screen) 16. Spicks and Specks 17. Samantha Gibb Solo, Chain Reaction 18. Island on the Stream 19. Guilty 20. Woman in Love (Beth Cohen) 21. Too Much Heaven 22. Fight, The Good Fight (Steve Gibb) 23. Stayin´ Alive 24. If I Can´t Have You (Samantha Gibb) 25. Night Fever 26. More Than a Woman 27. Immortality 28. Ordinary Lives 29. Words 30. Massachusetts |
Photos of the London concert: copyright Henk Goosens (with special thanks also to Therese Gibb).
Reviews Gig review: Barry Gibb – O2 Arena, London – © Independent.co.uk Barry Gibb, 02 Arena, review – © Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2013 Barry Gibb, at the O2 | Live review – © The Upcoming
Fan review
Robin Setty: robin.setty@gmail.com
I agree with much of what has been written. I went to the concert expecting a ‘bitter-sweet’ experience. I took my two daughters (ages 16 and 14) with, as well as my wife (aged xx)
Everyone enjoyed it immensely. My wife had tears in her eyes (and she’s a Bee Gees admirer, rather than a fan). The kids were overwhelmed. They now truly understand what I mean when I compare the Bee Gees’ talents to the artists they hear on the radio.
Turning to the individual songs and personnel. Beth Cohen…well this woman is fantastic. She carried Woman in Love. (I played a Youtube clip to a mad Stresiand fan and she was very impressed). On Guilty, I felt I was transported back to 1980! Islands in the Stream worked less well.
Samantha has a great, sweet and distinctive voice. It worked beautifully on How can you mend and Run to Me. I agree, however, that she needs to work on her stage presence, especially on the up-tempo songs. She cuts a very slight figure, so needs to compensate more. Not just smiling, but moving about a bit. But lets not forget, this is an emotional thing for her too.
Steve is a very good guitarist. But I could tell that many in the audience were a bit shocked at his voice. It kind of didn’t really fit and ‘Fight’ was probably the lowest point in the show. However, on the other hand, the rearrangement of Message (acoustic guitars with he and Barry) actually was very interesting and enjoyable for me. I think it worked very well – not just to play the part of Robin but to change it.
Now the main man himself. Barry was awesome. Honestly (and surprisingly) his singing was better than it was on ONO. He started on fire with Jive Talkin’. Then the first falsetto in ‘You Should be…’ was spot on. I think there was just one moment, where he couldn’t quite make it and that was the first high note on First of May (you could almost see it coming, because his voice was cracking a bit as he spoke before hand!). Like many have said, the highlight was probably With the sun in my Eyes. But there were so many others: Run to Me, the Fever numbers, Immortality, Ordinary Lives…. On the latter he really expressed the meaning of the song in his spoken introduction.
What surprised me the most was his audience interaction. I felt he was in my lounge. He seemed so relaxed. The mix of humour and sadness, especially when he talked about the good times in UNICEF. (Hmm and a little bit of politics when mentioning Sir David Frost) He was so natural. When things went a little too down…he would raise the mood with a joke.
Most importantly of all, I know that Barry had a great time. I hope this encourages him not to waste his talents. At the end of the night, when the audience wouldn’t let him finish Words, you could taste the emotion. It’s like he was thinking, “After all these years and after all this pain, I still mean something to these people”. Well he does to me.
Videos
Mythology concert: countdown and Jive Talkin’ youtube.com
Islands In The Stream youtube.com
Too Much Heaven youtube.com
Immortality youtube.com
Spicks and Specks youtube.com
Words youtube.com
Woman In Love youtube.com
With The Sun In My Eyes youtube.com
How Can You Mend A Broken Heart youtube.com
Marion / GSI
