I am sure if you go searching on the internet you will find much better photos and videos than what I am posting here. So, rather, this post is more about why the concert meant so much to me, and about the whole experience. Hopefully, not only you will enjoy reading this, but for those who also went, it will help you to hold on to some of the precious memories that were made during this tour.
Of all the bands that I listened to in the 1980s, there are only a handful which I never got to see do a full concert either in the 1980s or since. Duran Duran is one. Another is Berlin, who I have only ever seen support Frankie Goes To Hollywood (related to whom I am writing two books – see Frankie Fans Say: Welcome To Our World and Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Song by Song) – they were due to come to the UK a few years ago, but the concert was initially postponed (for reasons not made clear) and then was cancelled (due to the COVID pandemic). As Berlin still do concerts, I still hope to see them do a full concert – even if it means me going to America. There are also a few Japanese acts I wished I could have seen – most notably Rebecca, who, unbelievably I will be seeing in July 2024 (see Maybe Not Tomorrow, But Definitely in July).
Another act I wished I had seen in the 1980s was the Thompson Twins. I’m not sure now why it didn’t happen, but looking at their information on setlist.fm, it looks most probable that I wouldn’t have gone to their concerts in 1985 as I was only just starting to go to concerts around that time (my first was Frankie in Birmingham in 1985, and my second wasn’t until I saw Frankie supported by Berlin in Birmingham in January 1987), and that the tour in October 1985 would have been hard to get to due to the restrictions placed by my school (going to Berlin/Frankie in 1987 led to an interesting situation which I discuss in Frankie Fans Say: Welcome To Our World and may also do a blog post about one day). According to setlist.fm, the Thompson Twins only did two UK concerts in 1987 and I suspect the timing of those were at the height of me doing O-levels (equivalent of GCSEs) so it wouldn’t have been possible to go. So I never saw a full concert. But now I have… sort of – since it’s only Tom Bailey rather than with Alannah Currie and Joe Leeway.
A few years ago Tom Bailey of the Thompson Twins started to do live events again. Getting to see him became a priority for me – particularly after I got and heard the incredible album “Science Fiction”. In 2018, Tom “supported” Culture Club (with Belinda Carlisle also supporting) – but for me Tom was the main act when I saw the concert in Cardiff. It was great – but it was only about a 30 minute set. In 2021, Tom was back in Cardiff, this time supporting The Human League (with Altered Images also supporting) – I did a blog post about that concert – Music Review: Altered Images, Tom Bailey, and The Human League. As I noted in that post, Tom should be getting his own headline tour. Well, in 2024 that wish came true.
2024 is a key year – it’s 40 years on from 1984, probably one of the greatest years in pop music. In terms of the Thompson Twins, 1984 was the year that “Into The Gap” was released. As noted in my post Influential Albums, where I tried to limit myself to only choosing one album per act, I could have easily chosen “Into The Gap” over “Here’s To Future Days” for TT, but went with the latter, in part due to the additional remix album that came with it. “Into The Gap” is, without doubt, an amazing album and perhaps tells a more complete story in the same way “Welcome To The Pleasuredome” does over “Liverpool” for Frankie.
Tom’s 2024 tour was to be primarily a celebration of “Into The Gap” – every track would be included in the setlist, alongside some other TT tracks, and a couple from “Science Fiction”. Perfect – well almost perfect, as I would like to have seen “Don’t Mess With Doctor Dream” and “King For A Day” also included.
I chose to go to Bath, easily within reach of Cardiff, where I live and work, and a city which I am getting more of a connection with as I am a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Death and Society (CDAS) at the University of Bath, and, hopefully, my son will be going to university there from October. Having decided on Bath, once tickets became available I immediately jumped onto the website, where I discovered there was a VIP option, allowing you to not only get a signed photo, but also to meet and be photographed with Tom, and to also take part in a Q&A session. This was much better than the VIP option for Frankie’s Holly Johnson tour last year, and I didn’t think twice about going for it.
So, to the day of the concert itself. I decided to take a couple of days leave so that I could really relax and revel in the whole experience. I stopped off in Bristol to see my mum on the way to Bath. Once I got to Bath, I took some time to do a sketch (which got some appreciative nods from passing tourists), so I will include it here.
Here’s the sketch with the actual view…
This wasn’t actually the first sketch I’d done that day. I have a different sketchbook which is designed for you to do one sketch each day. Knowing that I would be busy later on in the day and not knowing if I would have time to do one in Bath in the afternoon, I had already done one in that book. But I will return to that shortly.
After the sketching I went and had some tea and cake (during which I booked tickets to see Cincinnati Bengals play in Cincinnati for the first time in the 40 years – there’s 1984 again! – that I have been supporting them). I also gabbed some more food before going to the concert venue. I’m pleased that I did, as there wouldn’t really have been time to do so otherwise – or at least, it was nicer to sit and chat with another fan rather than leave the venue after the VIP part to get food.
After entering the venue, I got my VIP pass and a bag that included a red vinyl 7″ of “Come So Far” (a single taken from “Science Fiction”) and a signed tour listing…
I also went and bought some T-shirts and a signed vinyl copy of “Science Fiction”. But all of these wouldn’t be the only souvenirs I would be leaving the venue with as you will discover.
After we were let into the main part of the venue and asked to sit in one of the front few rows, Tom was brought out for the Q&A. This started with some pre-prepared questions about “Into The Gap” and touring, before it was opened up to the VIPs to ask questions. I had no hesitation in putting my hand up – years of being an academic and asking questions at conferences and workshops means I’m well used to asking questions. And my question, the first to be asked, linked to my academic interests, as I asked about Tom’s and the Thompson Twins’ relationship with Japan, given they have toured there more than many British bands, and have the songs “Kamikaze” (which I’d used to go with an Instagram post that day in relation to one of the photos in my book Japan: The Basics, which will be published in the next week) and “Tokyo”, and Japan gets a mention in “Lies”. Tom gave a great answer – which I have made a note of as it may help with the section on Japan in Frankie Fans Say: Welcome To Our World (for those interested in the topic of “Western” pop music in Japan, see also my article “Japan Says ‘Western Pop’?: No Thanks, Don’t Do It“)
After the Q&A it was time for our individual photos with Tom. Although we had been told that only one photo would be taken on our phone, I found that several were taken. I hope that I have chosen the best one here…
While all this was going on, Tom remembered me from my question (which I was very surprised about) and we continued to talk about where I am a lecturer. But I also asked if Tom would sign something – which he was happy to do. What did he sign? My sketchbook with the other sketch that I had done that day. As you can see, his signature goes into the section for the following day’s sketch, but that’s no issue, as you will also see later on.
There was then about an hour before the support act, so I went and got a drink and chatted to another fan – who happens to be starting a PhD, so we had much to discuss in addition to music.
The support act was Martin McAloon of Prefab Sprout. I have to admit that I’m not too familiar with Prefab Sprout. I don’t own the album “Steve McQueen” – though I am aware of how highly regarded it is, and I enjoyed an episode of the podcast 80sOgraphy that included an interview with Martin as well as Thomas Dolby and Wendy Smith that covered the album. When Martin came on, I thought it was Billy Connolly… and at times he was funny as him… but… in the end… he turned out to be The King of Rock’n’Roll (if you didn’t see where that sentence was going, shame on you 😉😂). Anyway, it was a very enjoyable 30 minute set, even if I only recognised about three of the songs (one of which, “Cars And Girls”, I may not have heard since it was in the charts – but will listen to more from now on to help remind me of this amazing evening).
So now, finally, we move on to the main event – Tom Bailey live in Bath.
Just before he came on, we were told that we were allowed to stand and dance, but were asked to be mindful of those behind us, who were sitting, and to try not to block their view. Apparently at some other venues this had been an issue. In Bath, there was largely no problem. I was already in the front row anyway, but there was about 6 feet of space in front of me and soon got to my feet and went there for the length of the concert. As did many others.
The concert started off with an extended version of “In The Name of Love”.
Next up was “Science Fiction”, which is such a great track, followed by “Lies”. Do you remember how I mentioned that I had asked Tom about Japan in part due to it getting mentioned in this song? Well Tom didn’t forget about me asking this, as, when he got to that part of the song, he searched me out and pointed straight to me (with many others dancing in front of the stage following suit). What a truly unbelievable moment. I will treasure that memory forever and whenever I listen to the song and that part comes up I will be remembering the concert in Bath.
Next up was “Lay Your Hands On Me”, one of my favourite TT songs. I really love the electronic cello (apologies if that’s not what it’s called) playing on this one (I really enjoyed all of Charlotte Raven’s contributions during the concert) – together with how all the lights come on during certain points in the chorus (just as I had always imagined they should since I started listening to this song back in the 80s).
Then came “Runaway” and “If You Were Here”, two of the older TT songs and which worked so well in concert. Then was “Shooting Star”, perhaps my favourite track on “Science Fiction” – the lyrics fill me with so much happiness.
Now at this point, I should probably mention that for this night’s concert, the bass was played by Nick Beggs, who is apparently recognised as one of the best bass players in the country. Based on what I saw and heard, I certainly couldn’t argue with that view. I was in front of Nick for most of the concert and it was great watching him play.
Next up was a cover of Talking Head’s “Psycho Killer” – which Tom had also performed in the 2021 concert I’d seen him at. As with that concert, I’d personally prefer to hear an additional track from “Here’s To Future Days” or “Science Fiction”, but it was enjoyable and certainly suits Tom’s voice.
We then had a string of songs from “Into The Gap”, starting with the title track itself. I really love the instrumentation on the live version and wish that a CD/DVD/vinyl recording of the tour be released for this song more than any other.
This was followed by “Day After Day” and “Sister of Mercy”. Now, this is where I have to tell you about another extraordinary thing that happened at the concert. Just as I was going to my seat before Tom came out for the concert, I thought that I spotted a friend and colleague from the Centre for Death and Society (CDAS) at the University of Bath (she’s actually currently the joint director of the centre), but by the time my brain realised who it probably was, she had disappeared into the crowd. So I sent er a DM on Twitter to see if it really was her. During “Day After Day” I got confirmation that it was. Not only that, she said that Tom’s her uncle! After telling her where I was, she and her husband came and joined me at the front, arriving during “Sister of Mercy”, for the rest of the concert.
After “No Place For The Wicked” was “You Take Me Up”, my favourite song from “Into The Gap”. I had already seen photos of other concerts on the tour so I was no surprised to see a huge red balloon being brought out and thrown into the crowd during this song.
Towards the end of the song, the balloon made its way over to the side of the stage that I was at and someone appeared from backstage with a large pin and popped the balloon – which was greeted with a few ironic boos. The balloon seemed to just vanish. But seconds later, I spotted a large part of it on the floor only a few feet away from me, so I picked it up and proceeded to wave it above my head at times and use it as a (very hot) scarf for the rest of the night.
“You Take Me Up” was followed by “Who Can Stop The Rain”, “Doctor Doctor”, and “Hold Me Now”.
“Hold Me Now” was significantly extended with many renditions of the chorus being done by the audience. I captured some of this on video (I mostly took photos during the concert as I’ve learnt that I rarely watch my own videos back) – apologies if you hear any very out of tune singing by me!
This was the end of the main part of the concert.
But of course there was an encore.
First up was “We Are Detective”. I’ve read before that Tom doesn’t do this in concert as, from what I remember, he thought that Alannah’s vocals were so central to the song. At the two previous concerts there had been a short instrumental nod to the song, but nothing more than that. I knew that the song was on the setlist this time, so who was covering Alannah’s parts? The answer (at least for Bath) was Nick Beggs. It was perfect – spot on for the spirit of the song.
After “We Are Detective” was a brilliant rendition of “Storm On The Sea” before the finale, “Love On Your Side”. Of course, this song includes a part of “In The Name Of Love” – the first song (other than some instrumental music before Tom came on stage) of the concert. I honestly wouldn’t have minded if we’d segued back into that song and gone through the whole playlist again, it was just so much fun. But all good things must come to an end, I suppose.
When people ask me what is the best concert I have been to, my heart tends to answer “Berlin and Frankie in 1987” – partly as Frankie was my main band, and also because it included such a great support act who I’ve gone on to be a fan of too. But, of course, I have been to many other amazing concerts. U2 in Japan was incredible (that one gets a passing mention in my first novel, Hijacking Japan). The Pet Shop Boys Dreamworld tour has been fabulous too – and I’m looking forward to seeing them do that at the Royal Opera House in July. And, seeing Holly Johnson be able to do full justice to the Frankie and his solo songs last October was brilliant. But, if I’m being totally honest, this concert by Tom Bailey was without doubt the best concert I have been to.
Now, do you remember the red balloon? Well, here’s me after the concert with it – it’s hard to get across just how huge it is. You can see how I’ve used it in a photo at the end of this post.
After the concert I went to stay with my uncle who lives close to Bath, so I didn’t need to worry about the drive back to Cardiff. The next morning, after a very large English breakfast at a restaurant in Bradford-upon-Avon, I returned to Cardiff, where it was time to do my next sketch. And the balloon also seemed the obvious thing to include in my next sketch…
The concert and whole experience was so amazing. One of the highlights of my whole life, let alone the best concert I have ever been to. A massive thank you to Tom and all the other people who made it so special.N
Now I hope we’ll see a 40th anniversary tour for “Here’s To Future Days”.
As for the balloon, that’s formed the background for a framed montage of various photos and items from the concert. I left some of the creases in to help me remember what it is in years to come and as I thought it looked more authentic than if I’d tried to smooth it out more.
Christopher P. Hood 
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