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May 6, 2014 - 10:53AM

Review of Sherman Theatre concert May 2014 ( spoilers of course!)

Ladies, I have so much to say and so little time to put it in any kind of coherent order, so I will just type as I recall it and hope it will do.

If Lee was hoping for this tour to provide a ‘more intimate’ feel than previous locations then he struck gold with his first choice of venue. At the Sherman, with its extremely low stage, you couldn’t get much closer without being issued a restraining order. And I, being plum in the centre of row A approximately four small paces (or two large gallops) away from the man himself , was closer than most, and felt in need of some kind of restraining all evening.
Sheesh!
Lee himself pointed to the front row and said ‘Why are you so close... it's very intimidating!'

Everything about this concert was relaxed, chilled, cool. A lounge session for the faithful. Understated and yet never lacking in punches.
Lee strolled on, nonchalant, no big deal and immediately sent himself up with a mock swagger and facial expressions of the ‘you think I’m sexy but I know I’m not’ kind.
Wrong, Lee. Wrong, wrong, wrong. It exudes from every pore of your being .

So- he’s dressed in his blue suit with the red-orange lining that can just be spied edging the back spilt of the jacket when he moves. White shirt, with a pleat running down the back, and black-navy tie. Brown shoes. Worn in, comfy. I do have a thing for Lee’s shoes.(I have a 'thing' for all of Lee’s things!) Those shoes were in almost perpetual motion throughout the concert- tip-tapping away , sometimes to the beat of the music, sometimes to a rhythm only he can feel , no real pattern to it, just randomly up and down, sometimes fast, sometimes slow , but always fascinating.

His hair is longer than we currently see on Casualty-all bushy on top, and the curls are small and tight rather than long and loose. I was close enough to see a few wisps of stray hairs sticking waywardly up as he moved. And close enough to see, despite him being clean shaven, the shadow of his stubble when he tilted his head at an angle.I'm always fascinated by the contrast of his pale, pale skin and his dark, dark stubble.

Lee’s voice as ever defies quantifying with words. The set list , if I recall correctly was pretty much the same as his last tour but the majority of his songs were stripped back, gentle. There was little of the show stopping , gut wrenching power performances we have seen before, but the emotion behind the songs were all the more raw for that. 'Close every door' for example , was a quiet , controlled version, heavy with sorrow.

He kicked off with 'Pure Imagination', the ethereal quality of the tinkly opening notes setting the scene for the magic that was about to unfold. Lee’s voice was at one moment breathy, the next soaring clear and pure, yet only ever hinting at the full throttle power that he can unleash. I find it a bit of a tease that song. A bit of a conundrum,with its apparent frothiness and talk of paradise ,yet mixed with a slightly sinister overtone within the lyrics. I think this may be because as a child I found Willy Wonka disturbing in a childcatcher- from –chitty- chitty- bang- bang kind of way. To have Lee sing these lyrics, for me, is deliciously eerie. That first line ‘Come with me’, all deep and velvety -soft with that pause before the next line, must surely be the most enticing of invitations.It makes me shiver.

In one of his first chats of the evening Lee told us about his role in Casualty and asked if any of us had seen it. A resounding ‘yes’ from the audience was greeted by a delighted giggle from Lee. ‘Of course you have! –that’s why you’re here. What a great sales pitch…….’ And I think I heard him say ‘bums on seats’. He later went on to say how much he loves working on the show, how happy is and what a great cast they are. How fabulous to hear him say that when all we really care about is his happiness. And indeed his joy seemed to exude from him. I don’t think I have ever seen him quite so jovial, flying free.

There was however one moment when he hinted at times past with a solemnity that tugged at my heartstrings. Introducing ‘Fix you’ he said that it was especially sad given what has happened to the writer of the song recently, and then he added that he could identify with this himself. When he has performed this before the ‘Tears stream down your face’ section has built to a crescendo of pure raucous rocking- out. This time Lee’s rendition was softer, more reflective and deeply melancholy. Sublime.
Lee went on to tell us that in London he sometimes trains at the same gym as Chris Martin from Coldplay and was taken aback to be recognised by him one day. He berated himself for telling Chris that he had a band too ‘Not as big as yours though’. Lee wrinkled his nose , and bashed his head with his mic, thump-thump thump, saying ‘Well OBVIOUSLY.. they’re one of the biggest bands in the world’ and he shook his head incredulously at the memory!

Like 'Fix You', Hallelujah was similarly bewitching. Tenderness and power juxtaposed. Lee very, very still, nothing else needed but him and his voice. Tranquility and energy at one and the same time.

One of the very few ‘Meadisms’ of the night occurred here- when Lee liked one line of the song so much he sang it again . HA HA! Well covered Lee, don’t think many people will have noticed! Another issue was when Lee started out to sing ‘Dancing through life’ and was completely in the wrong key. Ooops. He had a quick banter with the pianist ( what a happy man , he chuckled all the way through the show!)and on he went, recovering immediately to take us back to Fiyero time.
Mason had issues of his own, with some furious gesticulating to someone up in the box, pointing to his guitar and telling them to turn something down. DOWN! He was not happy at all about something. There was also a distracting clicking sound at the start of Amanda's duet with Lee, again causing much consternation from Mason Someone was going to get a roasting I'm sure!

Lee told us that since his hurried move to Cardiff (‘I only had 2 weeks to move myself up here before I started filming’) he’s had to buy some new clothes, but that the suit he was wearing was old and it was the only suit he had to wear. He said it only just fitted him as he’s put on weight, blaming it on 12 hour days filming and not being able to get to the gym.(‘’it is TIGHT'' he said, emphasising the word with not a thought about what effect this may have on us) And he struck a pose or two to model it for us, pulling his jacket open and turning to the side ( I willed him to show us the back view but alas and alack he didn’t) He patted his stomach and said he’s 33 now and has got middle aged spread. Let me tell you –yes , he is chunkier –hunkier than he has been for a while, but there is not an ounce of fat on him. His thighs are just …juicy, and his rear in those trousers …well excuse me but I think it looks just dandy thankyou!
And when he had removed his jacket and tie mid way through I was grateful for the fact his clothes were a little snug, because that plain old white shirt whilst creased at the armpit and elbows, was tight, tight, tight across his chest and his pecs were fair bulging, taut and smooth and firm. Hallelujah!

Another little Casualty snippet – none of the cast talk to each other in make up. They just sit there at 7a.m –cue Lee’s grumpy face, eyebrow raised and a gruff ‘hello’ to an imaginary colleague. He gave a shout out to colleagues in the audience – he didn’t say who as he ‘didn’t want to embarrass them’, but most people had already spotted George Rainsford ( Ethan) and Richard Winsor ( Caleb) who had generously posed for pics in the bar. I wonder what they both thought of the ‘shaggy haired crooner’?( as Richard described him on Twitter)

It was a treat to hear 'Collide' again with it’s pretty melody so beautifully sung by Lee. I love the way he plays with the last few renditions of the word collide at the end, alwasy sa slightly different riff.For the first tie I heard him sing it as 'We collide...we collide',rather than just 'collide'.Maybe I've just not picked it up before?
He struggled to recall which album it was taken from , but the front row contingent put him straight and he giggled and talked about how for every concert , every show there will be the same faces in the front row. (‘They’re amazing’ he proclaimed)

'Father and Son' , the song I first heard in Bedworth and which made me cry was dedicated to his dad with whom he said he has a great relationship. He felt the song reflected the rocky times, that ‘pull’ that can sometimes be experienced when growing up. He perched on his stool, one foot up on the bar, one planted on the ground, with his fingers splayed wide on his thigh. And as he sang he worked and worked those fingers, tensing and releasing on the material of his trousers. The shift of key from ‘father’ to ‘son’ is magnificent, the higher tones of ‘How can I try to explain…’ripping into the stillness of the auditorium, like an anguished cry of frustration from the misunderstood. The line ‘I have to go’ is heartbreaking in its finality.

He sang as only he can sing, giving resonance to songs that are lost on me if sung by anyone else. ‘Here comes the sun’ is one such song. I can take it or leave it usually, but when it’s Lee’s version it has a character and depth, a meaning that touches me.
He sings it so effortlessly, the words tripping lightly from his tongue, and his laid- back air rubs off – the song has an almost hypnotic effect and leaves me feeling similarly chilled.
He once again dedicated this to Betsy, saying that she is his sunshine. He also talked about how he had taken her to Legoland for her birthday two days previously. Someone shouted out ‘I was there yesterday’ and Lee replied ‘Go on, upstage me why don’t you?’ He said he’d probably enjoyed it more than the children had!

Similarly ‘Moon river’ is not a song that has particularly appealed in the past, but with Lee’s interpretation and his touching dedication to his grandmother who ‘passed too soon’ in her 60s and who he ‘loved and misses very much’, it becomes a delicate tribute of affection ,his voice a ribbon of sound weaving it’s way around your heart. So gentle, so calm, a soporific lullaby to soothe the senses.
Each time I have seen him perform this, a poignant smile has fleetingly flickered across his lips at the words ‘Huckleberry friend’. What is he thinking I wonder? Which world is his in and who is he with? What personal memories is he re-living right there before us in that less than private space?

'Singing in the rain' saw Lee really go to town on his dancing, producing a fairly well executed bit of tap, with some sideways step ball changes thrown in for good measure! Has he had some kind of lessons I wonder, because I’m sure he was never quite so light on his feet!?
His customary little routine after 'Dancing through life' was similarly confident, if tongue -in-cheek.

Lee introduced Keith as ‘the person who almost beat me in the final’. This was greeted with some gentle calls of ‘Nooooo’ from the audience, and Lee responded by jumping back and pretending to back away saying ‘alright, steady!’ The pair of them had great rapport, their camaraderie shone forth, but they were unable to hold eye contact without dissolving into giggles.
‘I can’t look at his face!’ declared Keith!
Sporting a beard he told us that back on ADWD he 'wasn’t old enough to shave' but now he’s not allowed to shave due to his role in HMS pinafore. He said how nervous he’d been in the final of ADWD and joked that he’d put £100 on Lee to win!
They sang ‘Luck be a lady’ together, jovial and mischievous throughout. Both dancing and jiggling, having a rare old time.

More giggling was evident when Amanda Henderson came in to duet with Lee on ‘As Long as your mine’. Considering they could hardly look one another in the eye for fear of cracking up, they gave a great rendition. Lee had said how nervous Amanda was, and you could see her hand shaking and that she was swallowing rapidly, yet her singing was faultless. She too said ‘ I can’t look at him’ and when Lee commented ,pretending to be hurt she said ‘ Well I see you every day ,don’t I?’ and put her arm round him, laying her head on his chest. Lucky, lucky girl!

During his chat Keith declared he had never seen Lee dance like he just had, shaking his head in amusement. He went on to tell us about how his grandfather had inspired him to sing, having started at a young age singing ‘Donald where’s your troosers?’ and announcing he looked good in a kilt when he was young ( to which someone shouted ‘You still do’). When he tried to pull up the mic stand it wouldn’t move. Instinctively he said ‘I can’t get it up’, then realised what he’d said, much to the merriment of the audience. He then tried the second mic stand which seemed to have the opposite problem and Keith moved it up and down rapidly, quipping ‘It’s a good job my mum’s not here’. Lee, standing in the wings, stepped on stage and did a cutting action across his neck shaking his head. As he did, poor Keith yanked the mic stand so hard it came flying out and knocked him in the face. We all laughed including him, but he did have tears in his eyes, poor lad.
He somehow went on to give an emotional performance of ‘You raise me up’ dedicated to his grandfather's memory.

I adore 'Being Alive'. So much soul searching. So much longing and despair. Lee fairly begs for the love he craves. Oh I ache for him. In the past I thought this song was a celebration of life , but a closer listen to the lyrics and what they convey suggests it is a song of the lonely. It’s heavy in it’s sadness that song.

Lee declared 'Phantom of the Opera' as his favourite musical ( and proceeded to cover his face with his hand and mumble 'Christine' before chuckliing at his joke) ‘Music of the night’ has such beautiful lyrics, with words that sound so divine falling from Lee’s mouth. There is barely time to register the exquisite wonder of hearing him say one phrase , before the next hits you. And all the while his magnetic voice is casting its spell, drawing you in until you are drowning in the sight and sound of Lee, Lee, Lee... you are totally and utterly lost... and your senses have indeed 'abandoned their defenses'.

'Some Enchanted evening' – ‘you can’t beat a bit of swing’ Lee says. Immaculate performance. His voice seems to SWELL, fill up the room, fill up your entire soul.

'Bring him home'- always guaranteed to silence an entire room, the audience collectively holding it’s breath as Lee tells his heart rending story, the final note always sounding like the most plaintive of cries. Truly , truly haunting.It crushes me.

In contrast ‘Kiss’ and ‘Crazy little thing called love’ bring a different kind of energy, with a party -vibe of unadulterated joy. Lee danced, we whooped and he twice ventured so close to the front of the stage that I was on the point of collapse, quite literally UNDERNEATH him. Luckily the material of the seats didn’t allow for much sliding, else I would have been a melted puddle right there at his feet.

In an ironic twist at the finale, with Lee beginning ‘Any Dream will do’ and Keith sauntering on stage to join in , Keith’s mic didn’t work and he was momentarily left just mouthing the words as Lee belted out the tune for all his worth. It seemed fitting somehow and made me smile. That’s Lee’s song.
( as he said himself, ‘I'll be singing this til the day I die…even Betsy sings it now, but she hasn’t a clue what she’s singing about!’)

As always a most wonderful, wonderful evening, all finished in the blink of an eye. My final image was of Lee, skittering quickly back on stage for a final wave, before disappearing into the darkness.
See you again soon Mr Mead.