“Then when the flap went down the noise was just incredible”, Tony recalls the surreal moment after being pranked on Michael McIntyre’s Big Show…
By Ian Woolley
Off the back of that prime-time BBC show recently watched by millions of viewers, the tickets for his upcoming tour have been selling like hotcakes.
“It was a weird one”, Tony reveals to me.
“They wanted me to be an ambassador of this cutting-edge dental company and I was getting more and more suspicious but they kept hurrying me up and then I saw three of the most glamorous dental nurses I’ve ever seen in my entire life (Tony laughs). “Then when the flap went down the noise was just incredible and seeing my band there and everything. It’s funny but all of a sudden I felt incredibly thirsty and after I did “True” the keyboard player threw me a bottle of water and I just necked it. The ticket sales since then have been going really well and we are nearly sold out”.
See the clip below –
https://youtu.be/7KF0JgCTwME?si=nYzG1-hw8dqkoKtO
I asked him whose idea it was to do this particular tour in the first place. “I was asked to do something with their orchestra at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival last summer. And you know with jazz and swing, it’s a pretty prestigious affair and literary we didn’t even have a rehearsal. We did a soundtrack rehearsal which was the top and tail of the songs and I was so nervous as I hadn’t done swing for some time. Anyway, we did it and got a standing ovation and loved every bit of it and said that I really suited this stuff”.
“So the manager suggested to us to do a tour and as March was free before all the rock festivals start. Now we are already being asked to do swing festivals around Europe like Germany and Holland is coming in so it’s sort of snowballed”.
The Big Swing Tour 2024
And a new direction and genre I put to him.
“Yes predominantly I will always do my pop stuff but we have got a vinyl album coming out to accompany the tour which comes out mid-February but then I’ve got a new ‘new’ album which is a contemporary pop album coming out in 2025. So we’ve been really busy doing bits and bobs and it’s good to switch heads and when we perform it takes you into a different head space. And the swing stuff is so laid back and super cool with some great songs and great lyrics as well”.
And timeless classics always go down well with everyone who appreciates well-written and delivered songs.
“Rod (Stewart) has just come out with a new swing album and I think people do look at the past. So I do it and of course, Michael Bublé does it and there are other swing singers out there and because it just sounds so good with the brass section and a band that’s swinging”.
And now thanks to a certain stand-up comedian, most of the venues are virtually sold out.
“Thanks to Michael yes, it’s true. I know what it’s like with myself as it’s very difficult to communicate with people. There are so many artists I want to go to see but sometimes my wife says can you do that or the kids say can you do this. So it seems everybody was watching his show and then started booking tickets so it’s great”.
In our February issue of the Beat, we ask him about what his favourite swing classic is and he reveals the time that he met Tony Bennett backstage along with which crooner he took his mum to see. Order your copy today.
For remaining tickets to see Tony Hadley’s Big Swing Tour 2024, visit www.tonyhadley.com
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