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 Say a PrayerWhat do you do when you hear Tony Hadley is coming to give a concert in a town near you?a) Nothing. Who cares about some old singer from Spandau Ballet. b) Decide to go because he might just sing Save a Prayer, which will probably be the closest you're going to get to a European Duran Duran performance between now and the next century. So off we headed to the Paradiso in Amsterdam, out for an evening of nostalgia and hoping to hear a few old Spandau hits and Save a Prayer. Exactly four years and one week earlier, Duran had given a semi-acoustic show in the same building. We had been annoyed by part of the audience then, who had just come out of nostalgia, hoping to hear a few old Duran hits... And that's where the similarity ended. Then, the place was sold out and people were up in the balcony area. Now, they'd closed that part off and the hall was still only half full. Then, the place "rocked", if that's the right word to use for an acoustic concert. Now, well, the music was rocky, but Spandau fans don't sing, dance, clap or scream. They don't move even. Gosh, were we glad we'd chosen the right band back in the eighties. Song one was Spandau's Pressure, then a Tony song, then the Chili Peppers' Under the Bridge (honestly!!). After the audience had finished clapping politely, Tony announced the next track: "There was a band in the '80s..." Four very loud screams erupted from round about where we were standing... The rest of the audience looked stunned and even we were a bit shocked by how loud it had sounded. (Really, at any other concert it would have gone unnoticed). Oh well, Mr. Hadley looked very amused and went on to explain how the Duran vs. Spandau rivalry had all been a media-hype. Yes, Tony, we've heard you say that before, but face it, you lost. He sang very well and it was a pleasure to be able to hear SAP without constant fear of Simon hitting a wrong note - did we say that?! It would have been great if Simon had turned up to do the backing vocals, but it was not to be. Instead, we gave the Spandau fans a lesson in singing along and in showing appreciation. Tony Hadley even thanked us, Duran fans, for singing along afterwards. What is the world coming to?! As it turned out, SAP was the most successful song of the evening, and judging from their reactions, even the non Duran fans in the audience would agree with us there. For us it was all a bit of surrogate entertainment; Tony isn't quite Simon, but he does do a good cover of SAP and it was nice to hear it live. The Waterbabies
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