It was a very tight, well rehearsed band as well. It's a pity that the anecdote from this tour is a bit of a downer and that was the night in Manchester when quite a few people joined us to watch the group for the first time. Now it must be said that everyone who was new went away glowing with pleasure and totally impressed, but the reality behind the show was not quite that and Frankie even said on stage that they were below par.
It doesn't take much in music for things to be not quite right and unfortunately several of the band members had oicked up a bug that week and had been quite unwell. They decided they were on the mend and did this show anyway, but it wasn't the best ever and they were a bit lethargic. Frankie too had suffered with his throat all week, but battled on regardless, but it was hard work. It was interesting to see how he managed by sheer effort to pull the band together so that by the end of the two hour stint he had roused them back to a semblance of performance. One way was through his falsetto, and basically he put in all sorts of extra powerful notes that were saying "I can do this guys, so you can too" to the band, even though really it was costing him a huge effort to do so. He did it though, and those who had not seen them before went away eyes glowing and hearts singing...
So in terms of what really happened for the initiated:
But in terms of e for effort:
And in terms of the tour overall, not just Manchester: