The ups and
downs of touring, as outlined in the British papers.
Before the tours: New
Musical Express, September 12, 1970
A SERIES of overseas visits has been lined
up for Christie, including a tour of the Middle East and
South America. Release of the follow-up to Yellow
River has been postponed, as has the group's first
album.
Christie flies to Milan on September 21 for
two days of TV, then appears in Norway's Bergen festival
(23) before returning to Italy for TV in Rome (28-29).
The group then travels direct to Israel for
a five-day tour of that country, then on to Prague for a
concert which is being filmed by local TV.
This is followed by a six-day concert tour
of Sweden, after which the outfit moves to Belgium for five
days.
Christie returns to Italy for the third time
on October 23, when it commences a tour lasting until November
11. After that, it's on to South America.
The release of the San
Bernadino single, originally planned for today, has
been put back until next week.
The album, simply titled Christie,
is now expected to be out on September 25, three weeks later
than planned.
Latest British dates for the group include Scarborough Scene
Two (Sep 13), Cumnock Town Hall (18), Hawick Town Hall (19),
Barry Red Dragon Club (24) and Cheshire Kursaal Rugby Club
(26).
>> Not long after this appeared, Christie were
booked for the historic Sopot festival.
<<
After the tours: Melody
Maker, November 21, 1970
CHRISTIE have just returned from a hectic
South American tour to find their latest single, San
Bernadino, climbing up the charts, and their album
beginning to pick up sales.
Jeff Christie agreed that the album could have
been better. "To an extent I was disappointed with
it," he said. "But that's easy to say when you
have finished something.
"We should have had a lot more to do with
it, but we did not have the time.
"We had to leave the mix to our producer,
and he had his ideas, like we had ours."
South America, they said, is a great big untapped
well waiting for groups who are willing to go through all
the hassles involved.
"We expected to find the same sort of
organisation and continuity you find in Europe," said
drummer Paul Fenton.
"But it is completely different. Once
you were on stage it was great, but the waiting around and
the language barriers were terrible.
"Our PA was completely wrecked in South
America. People unloading planes didn't realise what it
was, they must have thought they were just bales of cloth.
You could see them literally chucking amplifers onto the
conveyor belt," said Jeff.
"After most performances there were press
conferences, and people just coming in to look at us.
"The reporters would ask us where the
hidden meanings were in Yellow River,
and whether I was stoned when I wrote it!"
The last time I saw Jeff, he was talking of
playing country pop and lighter sounds on stage.
Now he sees the group in a different light,
and says what they are playing is a lot harder and aggressive,
probably from the hassles and hang-ups they get on the road.
"You can't stay still and not progress
if you are going to get respect as a musician," Jeff
said.
"We started off as a country rock band
— some of our act is still country — but now we
have a different approach with far more attack and aggression.
You could say it is more positive now.
"I don't see us turning into a King Crimson-type
underground band. We just want to move forward and not stand
still in one type of music."
