Tony Hadley " TRUE " to FORM as Festival Swings Into Action

The 11th San Javier Jazz Festival swung into action last Saturday night, as Tony Hadley headlined the opening of the festival and wowed the audience with a vocal master-class. The ex-Spandau Ballet front man crooned his way through jazz standards such as " The Good life" and "The lady is a Tramp". These songs, made famous by Sinatra, were delivered in a style that would have made "Ole Blue Eyes" himself applaud. The evening was billed as " Tony Hadley meets the Barcelona Jazz Orchestra" and, from the sweet music they made together, you could tell it wasn’t their first encounter, the old adage of "youth and experience" certainly worked, as the world renowned drummer, Jean Pierre Derouard, led his young and old charges through the intricacies of big band jazz. Hadley showed that he has actually become a better singer with age, the past courtroom wranglings of his post Spandau days are long behind him. The opening bars of "True" brought a flurry of ‘40 something’ ladies rushing to the front of the stage, no doubt reminding them of the years when they had strange hairdos and his picture on their bedroom wall. On tonight's showing Hadley still has a lot to offer and don't be surprised if he doesn’t end up on the Las Vegas Casino circuit just like the man whose songs he covered so well.