Live Show: Brighton the Musical

In 1998, twenty-six years after seeing my first ever gig at The Brighton Dome (it was Jethro Tull) I was booked to strut my stuff on that very same stage. This was it! This was as good as it gets. To celebrate I announced that my first Dome show was also to be my last. Brighton the Musical was to come to an end.

I had just started a new career in radio with my very own show, The Last Bus to Whitehawk, on Southern FM. I suppose that I wanted to move on. I certainly wasn’t bored with performing the show.

At the beginning of 2000 I moved out of Brighton for the first time in my life. I was newly wed and wanted to build a nest and start a family. But nesting costs money, so I dusted off my silky suits and booked 3 nights at The Hove Centre. Brighton the Musical in Hove just didn’t seem right somehow. But over 2,000 people came during those 3 nights (the Saturday night attendance is still a box office record for the venue) and, after almost two years hibernation, the show had found its second wind.

2001 saw a return to The Dome with a run of 3 sold out nights at The Corn Exchange. Yes, there was a hard core following, but there was also a good many first time punters who had only just heard about the show. After 5 years the people of Brighton were beginning to be aware that their city had its very own musical.

The next two years saw 5 further shows at The Corn Exchange before BTM returned to the concert hall in 2004, coinciding with the release of the 4th CD of music from the show.

There have been some extraordinary audiences over the years. In 1998 the audience included the chef who only a few days previously had been responsible for burning down a good part of The Old Ship Hotel. In recent memory there was the plumber who had just had his testicles removed. And perhaps most unlikely of all - the man who had been seriously ill, but recovered thanks to listening to the songs from his favourite musical (can you guess?) while he was in a coma.

After all these years BTM continues to be brilliantly supported. I thank you for coming and for laughing in all the right places. I’ll see you at the next one.