Beyond the Barricade (Concert Tour)

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Grand Theatre – Swansea

13 April 2017

So I made it to a new venue to me, well in the spirit of full disclosure I MAY have been here before but if I have I was 5 and it was a pantomime!

So I am here at what from the outside looks a really quite sad building, paint is faded and despite walking around the building twice I wasn’t completely sure which was the front door!

Luckily once I got inside the public areas: bar, café, toilets and auditorium were in good shape, the staff members I interacted with were friendly, professional and helpful. The seats were small and leg room restricted, but at my size that’s not something I can single this venue out with, most ‘older’ venues weren’t built for people my size.

So to the show –

Beyond the Barricade is a “songs from the shows” touring production, now in its 18th year. It stars: David Fawcett, Rebecca Vere, Andy Reis and Katie Leeming. With a live band consisting of two keyboards (one played by Mr. Reis), Russ Kennedy (Bass and Tuba) and I’m sure I saw him play a guitar to, Dave Williams (Drums and Percussion) and  David Lane (Keyboards) .

I’ve seen this show a few times before, my usual venue being the St. David’s Hall in Cardiff.

The performances were to a ‘man’ very good, with Andy Reis and Rebecca Vere taking the plaudits from me at this performance. David Fawcett is an easy going, humorous person with obviously a very good voice, he must have, he’s played Jean Valjean on numerous occasions in the West End and on tour, but for me this time Andy and Rebecca were the strongest performers on the night.

The show started well for me with a few songs from Miss Saigon, then throughout the show we were treated to: Blood Brothers, Carousel, Lion King, Evita, Spamalot, Little Shop of Horrors and of course ending with Les Miserables.

I enjoyed the show, thought, as I said the performers were very talented, but think now maybe I need to rest it for a few years before returning. I enjoy these type of shows, but it would be nice to see some new blood come into this field, and maybe increase the range of shows covered, I mean I saw a similar tour years ago, and was introduced to “I Never knew his name” from Civil War, so maybe have a “songs (you may not have heard) from shows” tour??

Next for me, unless something else takes my fancy first, is the Adams Family Musical at the Millennium Centre in August.

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