Mc Goozer & Tony Hadley, Szene Wien, 22.02.2018

When you go to a 80s/90s themed concert and you have no clue about the support act that is billed as "MC Goozer" you most probably would think that this is some kind of MC Hammer. The guy walking on stage then actually was the complete opposite: No Rap with Rick James-Samples just a singer/songwriter, his guitar, great catchy songs and a cover of A-ha's "Take On Me". McGoozer what is the actual alias of Paul McGee sure blew the mind of those who think Ed Sheeran as a great musician. As a side note, Paul has quite some talent in his family: His brother Brian was a member of the Simple Minds and his other brother Owen had a hitsingle back in 1986 with My Favourite Waste Of Time. While this song didn’t stand the test of time it or at least widely is forgotten it is completely different with „True“ or „Gold“ By Spandau Ballet.

As every 80s-party would be incomplete without those classics so it was inevitable that the band got together again in 2009 after they originally split in 1990 to benefit from that wave nostalgica. However since last year leadsinger Tony Hadley and the remaing members again go separate ways what Hadley enabled to relaunch his solo carreer which finally brought him to Vienna.

Tickets for his gig did not just appear for me as a perfect Valentine's gift and most likely each presentee might have reacted like my wife: “Thank you so much for the ticket! But.. ehm... who is this?” This is no big surprise as Tony Hadley isn't a really household name in this area but as soon as you mention he was the leadsinger of Spandau Ballet the joy was infinite.

But would it be the same if Hadley wouldn't be allowed to use the Spandau Ballet back catalogue out of legal reasons etc.? It sure might be bit disappointing not to hear “True” etc. but definately highly entertaining as he proved this evening. Backed by a great band his vocal talents worked perfectly on cover versions of David Bowie (“Life On Mars”), Queen (“Somebody To Love”) or the Stereophonics (“Dakota”). As there are luckily no restrictions to his repertoire the audience could enjoy SP-classics like “Only When You Leave”, “To Cut A Long Story Short”, “Round And Round”, “I'll Fly For You” or “Through The Barricades” where he duetted with percussionist Lili Gonzalez

Not surprisingly  “True” and “Gold” were served as encores but the best was yet to come: First at all I had to chance to talk to McGozzer and get his album signed. The cream of the crop  however was to get the cover of "True" getting autographed by Tony Hadley and even got a picture with him. Now that's what I call a great concert night!

setlist