Review of Wayne Denton Concert

Royal Spa Centre, Leamington Spa, 30 April 2002

Click on the pictures to see a larger version...

What could be better than spending an evening with JD friends in the company of a rather attractive young man strutting his stuff in the style of a youthful John Denver from the 70s?

Wayne Denton

This was the scenario for myself and a group of around 12 FoJD'ers on Tuesday night (30.4.02) when we attended the Wayne Denton Country Roads concert at the Royal Spa Centre, Leamington Spa.

Wayne is a member of FoJD and is a professional musician. This was his second tour as JD. Anita and I were privileged to catch him last year - as were several other members - no doubt you will all remember reading the reviews in the newsletters. So we were really looking forward to the opportunity to see him again - especially as so many of us could get to the same venue - which made a really special occasion of it.

Wayne and his excellent band covered the John "must do's" such as Leaving on a Jet Plane, Annie's Song, Rocky Mountain High, and Grandma's Feather Bed and of course Country Roads. The audience of around 250 were soon singing and clapping along to these much-loved favourites.

Christine, Wayne and Anita

But he also did Today (which he dedicated to FoJD) and Lady, which he said, was his all time favourite JD song, and one of my favourites, Goodbye Again. These choices were a real hit for the FoJD'ers in the crowd, as were Calypso and his closing song This Old Guitar.

The surprise part of his show was the rock 'n' roll element he introduced with tracks such as Johnny B Goode. These particularly suited the strength of his voice and got the whole audience tapping their feet.

Wayne was kind enough to talk to the audience about our group and what we do. I want to thank both him and the theatre management for allowing us to put up a display board and provide information leaflets - we took 40 along and I was amazed and delighted that they all went. I was also thrilled to be approached by some long time members of FoJD who had never been to a Denver Day before - before long we were chatting like old friends and planning to see them later this month at Anita's party, to which you have all had an invite!

Wayne and the FoJD group

After the concert Wayne came into the lobby to sign photos and CDs, pose for pictures and generally chat - and a very personable guy he is too. He revealed that on his next tour he will be introducing some of the lesser known JD songs which will be a treat for all of us. He also said that when his schedule allows he will pop along to one of our Denver Days. I reminded him he needs to bring a quiche!

If you would like to sample the Wayne Denton style for yourself then you can still catch him on this tour - just click on the link. And if you happen to be a Patsy Cline fan then you will be very impressed by his support act - Amanda Normansell - a very pretty and talented Welsh lass who was an outright series winner of Stars in their Eyes with her Patsy tribute.

There will also be reviews by other members in our next newsletter due out in the summer.

Debbie Austin

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