And so the BJH 50th Anniversary year draws to a close with a fantastic
reception from the fans in a packed house at the beautiful Historische
Stadthalle in Wuppertal.
What a year of varying challenges it has been for Team JLBJH. It
started with the 50th Anniversary show in May with some musical
rarities performed for the first time, all the additional video
content and the exhibition ; it was a memorable event and we look
forward to the release of the DVD and CD package later this month and
hope you enjoy it.
Then came a number of summer shows with a more mainstream set list,
including the show at Ludwigshafen where a crowd of 9,000 turned up to
see us!
Next up, came the Athens shows in the wonderful, historic setting of
The Odeon of Herodes Atticus just below the Parthenon, where we
performed 2 nights with the 70 piece orchestra formed from members of
the Prague Philharmonic and Athens State Orchestras.It really was a
fantastic experience!
Meanwhile, we had agreed to perform Everyone Is Everybody Else in
entirety for National Album Day so no sooner had we got back from
Athens than we had to get those songs into shape and ready to perform.
It was quite a challenge, particularly for Craig to take on the
daunting task of singing "Negative Earth" and "Paper Wings" in the
original keys. The rest of the band reckon he has done a great job on
them too.
The UK dates saw us bring back the acoustic medley first performed at
the 50th Anniversary show plus we fed in some of the EIEE tracks to
"play them in". The Islington show where we did the whole album was
quite special for the band because of the reaction from the crowd.
It's the first time we've had a standing ovation at the end of the
first half of a show, so judging from that, we must have done justice
to the album!
Then finishing the year with a tour in Germany. We haven't played "The
Poet" and "After The Day" in the regular German set list for a good
few years, but in the 50th Anniversary year, we decided it was time
for it to return, along with playing the "acoustic medley". Both seem
to have gone down well with the German audiences, who seem to be
increasingly appreciative of the musically more challenging Prog
elements of the show.
So reflecting back on this 50th Anniversary year, there have been some
truly memorable concerts. We have performed 38 different songs in a
single calendar year, which is an achievement of which we are quite
proud. Added to that, we have already recorded some brand new tracks
which we hope to release next year with some more brand new material.
Then there is the added bonus of the profile for John's classic
composition "Hymn", which Sarah Brightman has recorded and named her
forthcoming album and tour.
This year also marks the 20th Anniversary of Craig and Kev joining
John's BJH variant, and the 10th Anniversary of Jez joining the band.
It doesn't seem like it (except perhaps for John having endured 20
years of Craig's rabbitting on!)
At the heart of all of this activity is a fantastic crew - the regular
core team of Pete, John and Dom have been supplemented at various
times by Jamie, Ian and John Turner. Huge thanks to all for their
efforts and their cameraderie. Likewise to Mark and Vicky and Keith
and Monika for all the help and support, and to our friends at DMC and
Kultopolis with whom we have enjoyed working in Germany.
But perhaps the biggest thanks should go to all the fans who continue
to come to the gigs and give us fantastic receptions everywhere we
play. It has been a big motivating factor in our delivering such a
comprehensive catalogue of BJH music across that 50 year span. Our
heartfelt thanks to all our the fans for coming to the concerts, for
the warmth of your continued support and for making it so rewarding
for us all.
We look forward to seeing you all again next year.
John, Craig, Jez and Kev
--
Progressive Rock & Progressive Metal - E-Zine
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