Christie Hennessy 1994 Ireland Tour
including the Point Dublin & Opera House Cork
On Wednesday 25th May 1994 at 10.30am, I met Christie Hennessy for the very first time.
I had been sending my 4 track cassette around to various record companies. I had many rejection letters but I had one reply from Zomba Records from a Hermione Ross, who said she like 2 of the 4 tracks and “if only I could give her a little more”. On the cassette was 2 songs written by myself and 2 written by my dad. This proved that I needed to concentrate on my own works rather than my dads.
I met Hermione a couple of times at Zomba in Willesden, northwest London. She gave me a tour of Battery Studios and said that she wanted to record me and was lining up producer Steve Power. The recording session never happened but what did was an amazing experience.
Hermione asked me to do backing vocals for Christie's forthcoming Warner Brothers release. It was produced by Paul Samwell Smith (The Yardbirds bassist/Cat Stevens/Carly Simon) and had Russ Kunkel playing drums. Being a big James Taylor fan, this was a great honour for me to be on something with Russ. The engineer was Adrian Bushby.
So I went in to Maison Rouge Studios in Fulham on the 25th May to spend 2 full days in the studio with Christie.
I sang BVs in the live room on 7 of the album's tracks, singing with Paul ‘Tubbs’ Williams, Suzanne Rhatigan, Jay Ray, Hermione and Paul Samwell Smith.
My special moment was when Hermione wanted me to do a solo vocal on Love's Great Pretender where I sang an Everly Brothers harmony (me being Phil to Christie's Don). Paul couldn't believe my James Tayloresque voice and got very excited about it all.
Meeting Christie was an amazing experience as he was very open with his feelings - I remember him hugging me goodbye which was very unusual as I was used to a handshake!
The album was released and in November 1994 there was an Ireland Tour to complete. Hermione gave me the half hour support slot and asked me to play acoustic guitar and BVs in the Christie Hennessy Band. We did 16 shows at major venues all over Ireland, including The Point, Dublin & Opera House, Cork.
We had 4 days of rehearsing, first just Christie nd myself with Ritchie Staringer on keys and Ralf Denker on lead guitar, which took place at 26 Media headquarters in Putney. Then on Friday 11th November we switched to the Ritz Rehearsal Studios, Upper Richmond Road, where we had full band rehearsals for 6 days.
Thursday 17th November 1994
We flew out to Ireland from Heathrow on Thursday 17th November Aer Lingus to Shannon Airport. I didn't quite believe that Christie was famous in Ireland so it came as a bit of a shock when people at the airport recognised him and asked for autographs.
Friday 18th November 1994
I was sharing a room with the tour manager Sticky, a lovely bloke but I didn't like to ask how he got his nickname!
The first concert was at the University Concert Hall, Limerick.
Saturday 19th November
We travelled to Waterford and during the day I went out to the local record shop and bought some Christie albums. I actually bumped into Christie in the shop - he was probably buying Chris Shields albums!
The concert was in the The Forum. The size of the audiences were a bit of a shock. 2 tiers of seating.
Sunday 20th November 1994
We travelled to Cork for 2 nights at the Opera House.
Tuesday 22nd November 1994
We travelled to Galway to play at Leisureland.
Wednesday 23rd November 1994
We moved on to Tralee to play the Mount Brandon.
Thursday 24th Nov 1994
We had a day off in Tralee. I went to a restaurant for lunch with dummer Nic France. We travelled on to Castlebar.
Ralf, Enda, Christie, Scott, Padder, Nic, Ritchie
Friday 25th November 1994
We played the Traveller's Friend. This was probably the smallest venue on the tour and very much like ‘The Mean Fiddler’ in Harlesden. We stayed at a very posh hotel called the Breaffy House. My girlfriend at the time turned up unexpectedly.
Saturday 26th November 1994
I woke up late and missed the tour bus! I got driven to Dublin by my girlfriend.
L to R - Ritchie, Hermione, Chris, Christie, Ritchie Buckley - sax, Nic, Scott, Ralf, Amber.
With Hermione at the Point Dublin
Sunday 27th November 1994
We moved on to Belfast and played at the Whitla Hall.
Monday 28th November 1994
We drove in the engineer's car (Enda Walsh) to see his studio which he was building. He was the engineer for Van Morrison and was a lovely fella.
We then travelled to Derry to play at the Rialto. The band came on for my last number ‘Gently Fade Away’.
Tuesday 29th November 1994
We travelled on to Letterkenny to play at the Mt Errigal.
Wednesday 30th November 1994
We travelled to Cavan to the Slieve Russell Hotel.
Thursday 1st December 1994
We had a day off at the Slieve Russell in Cavan with a free evening. In the afternoon there were lots of press in the foyer so I assumed Christie was doing an interview. When I made my way to see the commotion I realised that it was Gerry Adams giving an interview.
Friday 2nd Novemeber 1994
We travelled to Shinrone to the Community Centre for a concert.
Pictured with Ralf (lead guitar), Lorcan Ennis (sound) and Padder Gaffney (tour bus driver).
Saturday 3rd December 1994
We travelled to Killarney to play the Gleneagles Hotel.
L to R - Hermione, Padder, Amber, Scott, Christie, Nic, Sticky, Ralf, Chris
I'd play one of Christie's Lowden guitars for ‘The Pain’ as it needed the 1st and 6th strings dropped to a D.
Sunday 4th November 1994
Travelled to Athy to play the Pedigree Corner. I was driven ahead to the venue to do my opening act. I was tired, worn out and a bit lonely by this point. Not the best gig. I was introduced by Sticky as “All the way from London - Chris Shields” which didn't go down too well with the Irish audience and someone heckled “aaah”. After my 30 minutes there was nowhere for me to escape - no backstage, so I just went and stood with Enda at the sounddesk until I saw someone from the band.
Monday 5th December 1994
Travelled back to Limerick to play a 2nd gig at the University Concert Hall - our last concert. Enda the engineer said to me, “You had the audience completely, you could hear a pin drop”. The 16 concerts had done me some good!
L to R - Ritchie, John, Roy, Sticky, Chris, Ralf, Christie, Hermione, Padder, Amber & Enda.
Amber on violin
Ralf, Chris, Nic & Amber
Padder Gafney with Christie's Lowdens
After the tour, when we'd landed at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday 6th December, after the goodbyes it ended up just being me, Nic and Scott saying goodbye. As we did, we hugged each other, which was the ‘Christie effect’, as he'd hug you all the time. It was weird for 3 English genlemen, with our etiquette and manners, all standing there hugging.
The Ireland Tour was a magical experience for me. I'd met some great musicians and expeienced a lot.
I must admit, I was very nieve when I left for the tour and was an old pro by the time I returned.
I was a painfull shy person at the time which was the complete opposite of me when on stage performing. Looking back, I can see that sometimes my shyness would be misinterpreted as arrogance, and I may have possibly been misread a few times? I remember after one support set I said to Christie, “There you go Christie, I've warmed them up for you”, completely in jest, but I'm not sure he quite got that I was joking? I hope he did.
Hermione had made my recording and tour dreams come true, but in her presence my shyness and nervousness would just never go away, so I never really got to know her as well as I wanted to.
I named my daughter after Amber Ross, who I'd got on very well with on the tour.
I'm still in FB contact with Ritchie and Ralf from Germany.
I saw Christie when he played the Bloomsbury Theatre, London in March 1995, but he had a completely different band which seemed a shame as we were all so well rehearsed. When I bumped into Enda (sound engineer) before the show in the foyer, he said, “There's no support tonight - why don't you jump up and go on?”. I could have, but I felt that it was not my place to do this without being asked by Christie and Hermione.
I saw Christie again at the Jazz Cafe a few years later. He then came to visit me at my house in East Croydon. He said it was just around the corner from where he'd lived in the 1970s. We had cups of tea and sang songs.
The last contact I ever had was in 2000 when I was performing at the Croydon Clocktower with Nic France on drums and Scott Firth on bass (both from the Ireland tour). I spoke to Christie's wife Gill on the phone, and she said that Christie and Tim would try to come to watch. I bought 2 tickets (not comps but paid for) for Christie and Tim which I left at the foyer box office, but I don't know to this day if they ever came….
In 2007 I read online that Christie had passed, which was a great shock.
RIP Christie, my dear old friend. I still miss you and listen to your music. xxx
