Kelly wows crowd at London gig
STEREOPHONICS’ Kelly Jones made a surprise appearance with Welsh rock band Fireroad at a gig at a tiny venue in London.
The superstar singer shocked members of the audience and the Aberdare band at The Borderline on Thursday night when he jumped on stage to perform with them.
Fireroad’s singer Richard Jones is a long time friend of the ‘Phonics singer and was in protoStereophonics’ outfit Tragic Love Company with Kelly, the late Stuart Cable and his bass-playing namesake in the early ’90s.
He has remained good mates with the Stereophonics’ frontman ever since, and invited him along to their London show on Thursday for a Christmas catch-up.
However, the rock star took everyone by surprise, not least Fireroad, when he jumped on stage to sing a cover of the Neil Young classic Rockin’ In The Free World.
“It was a bit of a mad one,” said Richard. “Kelly had said he’d try and get to The Borderline show with his wife to have a catch up over Christmas.
“I arranged to get him in through the ‘tradesman’s entrance’ at the back of the venue to save him having to wear a disguise!
“Kelly was watching from the bar with my wife. We started playing Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World and the next thing he jumped on stage. It was hilarious.”
He added: “We had discussed perhaps asking him if wanted to do a song at the end of the show but figured he’d fancy a quiet pint.
“My wife said as soon as we started playing the song he said ‘I love this!’ My wife said to him ‘go and join them’. There was a cheeky grin and he ran through the crowd and jumped on stage.
“We ended up playing [the Rolling Stones’] Gimme Shelter too and we took him off back stage afterwards.
“He’d managed to keep a fairly low profile until then but couldn’t exactly disappear back into the crowd after that!”