Gene's still going strong

2:01pm Monday 3rd April 2006

Gene Pitney likes coming to Bradford. The reception he got from more than 1,200 people at his last concert was demonstrable proof of his popularity - with women and with men.

They responded warmly to his courtesy, self-deprecating charm and attentiveness - he read out the greetings and messages left for him backstage. The distinctive Pitney voice still had the old power of his golden Sixties period when, between 1964 and 1966, he had seven consecutive UK Top Ten hits.

So what's new this time around?

"A puppy. Gracie. She's an Akita, a Japanese dog. She's been chewing up the house. In the summer she liked to swim in the pool here three or four times a day. We covered it over and she's been chewing through that, trying to get back to the water, " he said.

The time Stateside - he was speaking from his home in Hartford, Connecticut - was about 9.30am. That afternoon the 64-year-old singer was planning to go into his recording studio at home and rehearse all the musical numbers in the show he'll be touring with in the UK.

"I'll be doing that two or three times a week before I come over, making sure I am absolutely comfortable with the songs. A lot of the songs I did before I won't be doing in Bradford. The acoustic guitar set is coming out.

"There will be some songs that maybe people haven't heard before, things from different recording eras, that I think will work well in live performance and will change the complexion of the show."

Like last time, he will be reading out any messages that strike him as witty or touching. "It started out in the UK. The first time I did it, someone had sent me a funny letter that I thought the audience would like to hear, so I read it out. It snowballed ever since.

"People realised that if they asked a question it might get read out on stage. God knows what you're going to get in there. I find it somehow changes the complexion of the show and creates a better relationship with the audience."

Having had laser treatment for shortsightedness, he likes to move along the stage and make eye contact with the people in the auditorium, he's very particular about that.

The only thing about St George's Hall that he doesn't like is the upper balcony. He can't see who is there from the stage. Nothing to do with the lighting, he insists; it's the architecture.

A Pitney show is usually carefully planned in advance. If he's staying over at a hotel it must have a swimming pool and a gymnasium so that he can go through the exercise routine that keeps him in good performing shape.

Last time in Bradford, he walked offstage and into a vehicle which proceeded to take him to Glasgow for a show the next night.

"It's better to travel that way rather than travel through the day. If you do that and arrive tired it takes away your ability to do a good show, so I do everything I can to prepare and make sure that I am rested before I go out there."

In his opinion he is performing better than he did in the Sixties. The difference between then and now, of course, is that he has four decades of experience including thousands of performances. He commands the stage with an ease that only an assured performer can have, and that makes the audience relax.

The past year he has done quite a lot of work in the United States, including casino concerts - the sort of thing that Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr used to do in the 1950s.

"I did a week in the Orleans Casino, the biggest musical casino in Las Vegas. The last concert I did in 2005 was in Florida, West Palm Beach, a wonderful place to play, but it was two-and-a-half weeks after the big hurricanes.

"They didn't hurt the theatre but they hurt the people going in. We only had half a house, 1,000 instead of 2,000. They contacted me and asked me if I wanted to postpone the show, but I said 'no'."

Not much chance of a hurricane threatening his April date at St George's, though there is every possibility of Mr Pitney working up a storm of appreciation when he gets going, jogging to the rhythm of the song, like a boxer skipping rope.

This tour, two shows longer than in 2004, starts in Dartford, South London and ends on the Welsh coast at Llandudno. Fun to do, he says, but even nicer when he's finished the last number and walks off stage ready to return home to Connecticut, his family, and Gracie.

Gene Pitney sings at St George's Hall on Saturday, April 1. The booking office number is (01274) 432000.

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