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03-04/12/00 - Apollo, Manchester As soon as the lights dimmed in the Apollo and the remix of "A Song For The Lovers" came through the speakers, it was obvious that the opening night of Richard's UK tour was going to be special. The roar as Ashcroft and band took the stage seemed to pump up an already adrenalin charged band, who tore into "Brave New World" with surprising ferocity, Ashcroft on fire as he spat out the chorus "wishing I was able, MOTHERFUCKING stable". Immediately it was clear that touring Europe and Japan had taken the band to a new level, locking into a solid groove that gave Richard the freedom to relax and give us the fire and passion that we want, no scratch that, need from him. With rants against his critics and heartfelt thanks for the people who were here with him that night, Ashcroft's performance was as emotionally charged as any we've seen from him in some time. There was a definite sense that the building was packed with Richard's real fans, and the partisan atmosphere spurred him and the band on from song to song. From Verve classics like "Sonnet", a transcendent "Space & Time" and the astonishing "Lucky Man", through to the now familiar "Alone With Everybody" tracks ; the bedlam-inspiring "C'mon People", "On A Beach" and a groove-ridden "New York". The highlight of day one however was without doubt "The Drugs Don't Work". Starting with just Richard and an acoustic guitar, the singing of the crowd almost drowned out Richard's voice, it was an incredible moment, even the bouncers in the pit sang the words as everyone just simply got caught up celebrating a classic song - magic. After the euphoria of the opening night, the second show of the tour was an interesting prospect. How do you follow that? Simple, start the gig with a sucker punch; The band walks on stage, Ashcroft salutes the audience and strums the chords of "Lucky Man" - cue mayhem. It's incredible. 2 minutes into the gig, the band are flying and the audience on a high. From that point on, it was a no-lose situation. One of the band had told www.richardashcroft.co.uk that Richard had been encouraging them to experiment with the songs and push themselves on stage and this started to really shine through on the second night. "Sonnet" seemed to find a new lease of life, and a warm, soulful "You On My Mind In My Sleep" had a totally new, natural feel, with beautiful gospel backing vocals and an easy passion. Just two nights into the tour and "C'mon People" is already established as a celebratory live favourite, whilst the rush of "A Song For The Lovers" already sounds like a song you've known all your life. The best moment of the night was saved for the encore. Both nights Richard returned to do a solo, acoustic version of "History" followed by "Bittersweet Symphony". Stripping "Bittersweet" to acoustic guitar inspires a rapturous singalong, the room roaring along with Ashcroft and half way through the song his guitar breaks, he walks away to change it and the crowd just carry the song on, "I'm a million different people from one day to the next" they scream and Ashcroft returns to the microphone and just picks it up - "Have you ever been down" - it's just a special moment, pushed even higher as the band and strings kick in, the song opening out into it's full technicolur glory and the audience just keep singing "I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down". The good news for those of you with tickets is that this is just the start, and it's going to get better, as for those of you in the US, just wait until January, now THAT is going to be something. SETLIST Manchester
Apollo 3rd December 2000 Lucky
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