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Tony Hadley reveals bizarre pre-show ritual to beat nerves before gigs
Tony Hadley has revealed the unusual pre-show ritual he uses to calm his nerves before taking to the stage, admitting he once felt so anxious before gigs that he would “almost be nearly sick”.
Tony Hadley has revealed the bizarre pre-show ritual that helps him conquer his nerves before stepping onto the stage.
The Spandau Ballet frontman has spent five decades performing in front of huge crowds, but admitted that he was once so nervous before shows that he would “almost be nearly sick”.
Now, the 66-year-old singer has learned to control his nerves, although he still gets “butterflies in the tummy” before every performance.
Speaking to BANG Showbiz, Tony said: "It's because you want to be the best you can be, and you just want it to go swimmingly well and everything to work."
He added: "The butterflies are there just before I go on, but as soon as I start to sing, as soon as I open my big mouth, I feel at ease. It's almost euphoric."
Tony believes experience has taught him how to manage the nerves rather than allowing them to overwhelm him.
He said: "But you do learn to control it over the years and enjoy it. The most important thing is to enjoy it. And if you're enjoying it, then the audience can see that. All you want the audience to do is walk out with a big smile on their face, and say, 'Oh, wow. That was great!'"
And the singer has developed a very particular way of taking the edge off before he and his Fabulous TH Band hit the stage.
Tony revealed: "We find the nearest pub, we have a couple of pints, and then before we go on, we have what is called a 99, which is basically a vodka shot."
He continued: "And then we drink it, we put the cup on our head, and someone says an anecdote, something stupid that happened during the day, and we all have a weird saying and shake hands, last-minute wee, and then we're on!"
Tony was keen to stress that the ritual is about easing nerves rather than getting drunk before performing.
He noted: "None of us go on drunk or anything. It just helps to kind of taper the nerves."
The close friendship between Tony and his touring musicians also plays a major part in creating a relaxed atmosphere before the shows.
He said: "We're all mates. I know all the brass boys, obviously all my band, and so there's a really great atmosphere amongst us before we go on."
Tony added: "We like hanging with each other. We're all sleeping on the sleeper bus together, so we have to like each other."
The camaraderie continues once they leave the stage, with the singer revealing the band rarely sits down to pick apart their performances.
He said: "We come off stage, we sit around, have a few drinks. We don't dissect the show. To be honest, normally we come off and go, 'Wow, that was brilliant. That was good.'"
He continued: "Very rarely do we ever come off and say, 'Well, that was a bit weird.' I can't remember the last time we did that because we all love playing together."
The Gold hitmaker is now preparing to celebrate 50 years in music with his 19-date The Christmas Big Band Tour, which combines Spandau Ballet classics with swing standards, Christmas favourites and songs by some of his musical heroes.
Tony said: "I'm always excited to do a big band tour. It's one of those things that’s very expensive; there’s a lot of people to take on the road, we’ve got trucks and sleeper buses and all sorts of stuff."
He added: "But it's one of the best tours you can do because you've got the core band, the electric band, you’ve then got the big brass section behind you, and you're singing all these wonderfully beautiful classic songs from Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Jack Jones, Dean Martin."
Tony's musical influences stretch far beyond the pop and new wave sounds of Spandau Ballet, and he is particularly excited to bring his love of Elvis Presley to the shows.
He said: "I grew up listening to that kind of stuff, as well as Sex Pistols and Queen and Roxy and Bowie, and I just love singing those kind of crooner kind of songs."
He explained: "We called it The Big Band Tour because it means we can incorporate - for instance, I'm a massive Elvis fan, so we're going to do a couple of great Elvis tunes."
Tony will also revisit the Spandau Ballet catalogue, including a new big band arrangement of Lifeline.
He said: "There's also some Spandau numbers in there as well. We've done an orchestration from Lifeline, which sounds amazing with the big brass section behind it."
He added: "And we've got some Christmas songs, too."
Tony concluded: "So it's a real musical journey, but primarily it's that wonderful swing, Rat Pack kind of stuff, which is fantastic."
Tony Hadley is celebrating 50 years in music with The Christmas Big Band Tour this winter, and tickets are on sale now here.
The Christmas Big Band Tour dates:
November
07 - Plymouth - Plymouth Arena
08 - Hastings - White Rock Theatre
09 - Southend-on-Sea - Cliffs Pavilion
12 - Oxford - New Theatre Oxford
13 - Cambridge - Cambridge Corn Exchange
15 - Ipswich - Ipswich Regent Theatre
16 - Bournemouth - Bournemouth Pavilion
17 - Truro - Hall for Cornwall
19 - Birmingham - Symphony Hall
20 - Manchester - O2 Apollo Manchester
21 - York - York Barbican
23 - Edinburgh - Usher Hall
25 - Hull - Connexin Live, Hull
26 - Blackpool - The Blackpool Opera House
27 - Gateshead - The Glasshouse
29 - Glasgow - The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
30 - Nottingham - Royal Concert Hall
December
03 - Bristol - Bristol Beacon
04 - London - London Coliseum
