Tony Hadley
The Spandau Ballet frontman on singing at 43,000ft and avoiding a raging bull in Ibiza
I WAS STRANDED IN MIAMI AT THE START OF THE PANDEMIC. I’d been touring in Japan and Australia and was due to play in America when Covid struck. I couldn’t get back to England for a whole week, so I ended up spending it in Miami on my own. It sounds very glamorous, but when you’re there without your mates, just reading books in restaurants all day, it’s a bit boring.
ITALY IS ONE OF MY FAVOURITE COUNTRIES and I love everything about it: the food, the clothes, the wine. It’s beautiful. I managed to sneak in one socially distanced acoustic show there in between lockdowns last August, in Salsomaggiore; the only show I’ve done in 15 months, then straight back home before everything locked down again.
IF I HAD JUST 48 HOURS TO SPEND IN ITALY, I’d go to Rome. It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world, and it’s so easy to forget that a city from 2,000 years ago is just 30ft below where you are standing. It’s just fascinating. I wish I could go back to those times and see what it was really like.
I ONCE PERFORMED IN A BOEING 767, 43,000ft up in the sky, for Comic Relief. Kim Wilde, her brother Ricky and I were trying to break the Guinness World Record for the highest-altitude electric guitar show. I sang Gold and True, while Kim sang Kids in America, and the plane was filled with a bunch of people dressed as Cyndi Lauper and Robin Hood. There were loads of batteries plugged in along the aisles to generate the power and a small PA system, and the adjudicator finally judged that we’d broken the record. When we landed, Bananarama were playing in the aircraft hangar to greet us. It was quite a moment.
I ATE TERMITE POISON IN VENEZUELA ONCE. We travelled with the local indigenous people through the savanna, following the route from Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel The Lost World. One of the locals hacked open this massive termite mound with a machete and then squeezed the poison out of a termite and ate it. Then he looked at me as if to say “your turn”, so I had to follow suit or lose face. It didn’t taste too bad actually – a bit like rosemary oil.
BELGRADE IS THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE I’ve ever played. I did a gig for the Red Cross during the Balkans conflict, but we couldn’t land in the city as they were trying to shoot the planes down. We had to land in Budapest and make the seven-hour car journey on bumpy roads instead, and when we finally arrived, a riot almost broke out in the venue. This huge guy called Dragon said to me, “You. On stage. Now” and at that point I totally lost it. I told him – in very polite terms – “I’ll be ready when I’m ready, and I’m not going on stage until everyone else arrives.” In the end everybody calmed down and we did the gig – and Dragon actually turned out to be quite a nice guy.
I WAS ONCE GIVEN A GOLD JACUZZI IN A HOTEL SUITE in Antwerp. I arrived in the room and there was a proper, full-sized grand piano and this gold jacuzzi. It’s the only time I’ve had either of those in my room, so I got in and did an interview – surrounded by bubbles – with the local press, who thought it was hilarious that Tony Hadley was in a “gold” jacuzzi. I was sitting there with a glass of champagne, lording it up, looking ostentatious. I probably shouldn’t have done it, but it was a grand moment, so I thought why not?
THE MOST MEMORABLE NIGHT I’VE HAD ON MY TRAVELS was at the Ku Club in Ibiza. It had no roof and a massive swimming pool in the middle. I’d done TV performances there before, once with Freddie Mercury, but on this particular occasion some bright spark had decided to release an enormous bull with massive horns into this packed club. People were screaming and running, and the bull was terrified, so it panicked and was smashing tables and chairs. I stood there and tried to be as super-cool as possible, but I just felt sorry for the bull. It was madness.
I’VE ALWAYS HAD A FASCINATION WITH RUSSIA. I studied Russian history at school, and I absolutely loved St Petersburg. It was magnificent – the architecture is incredible and has quite a significant Dutch influence. I was there once to do an event with Natalie Imbruglia, Paula Abdul and Michael Bolton, and after the performance we were invited to a cruise party on the river, hosted by a great friend of Putin. I’ve never seen so much food or booze in my life – lobsters, crabs, scallops, oysters, you name it – and there were definitely some quite heavy-duty guys around. The sort of blokes you wouldn’t mess with.
Tony Hadley’s 40th Anniversary Tour begins on March 1 2022. Tickets are on sale now at myticket.co.uk