Julie Felix Gemini Concert (with review)

[John Etherington]

Julie Felix will be playing a "Gemini Concert" on June 15th at the Leicester Square Theatre in London to celebrate her 75th birthday (the previous day).

She also played to a full house at the Cambridge Folk Club on Friday. Her set included a very moving version of "Hey That's No Way To Say Good Buy" and a singalong version of "Hallelujah". Another highlight was her powerful new political song "Tiger Eyes". Julie was on great form and kicked her leg high in the air three times during the concert!

[John Etherington]

Tickets now on sale for Julie's Gemini concert (£24.50 instead of £32.50, if you book before 20th March). Here's the link:

http://leicestersquaretheatre.ticketsol ... 923/events

Since it's only three days before Leonard's Paris concert, wouldn't it be nice if he turned-up to sing a song with Julie!

[yentek]

I loved Julie Felix way back when. But is it not amazing how Leonard's worldwide popularity now totally outstrips so many artists who were his early career contemporaries and who were much more popular than him at that time - I mean come on - #17 on Pollsters list of the top 50 grossing tours of 2012!

[John Etherington]

Still some good seats left for Julie's 75th birthday concert. This promises to be a memorable evening, with some special guests.

http://leicestersquaretheatre.ticketsol ... /126817797

[John Etherington]

Many Happy Solar Returns to Julie Felix (born 14th June)! Here she is talking about about Pluto in Capricorn, the Year of the Tiger, and singing a powerful new political song "Tiger Eyes". Don't miss her Gemini Concert at the Leicester Square Theatre on Saturday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziqgEwBs644

Meanwhile here's a Julie cover from 1968!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4SdYvDYsZo

[John Etherington]

John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin will now be joining Julie onstage for a few numbers (he will be playing mandolin). Madeleine Bell will also be appearing onstage with her. It appears that the remaining tickets are now selling fast.

[John Etherington]

Julie Felix's Gemini (75th birthday) concert turned out to be an absolutely extraordinary evening. Originally, it had been hoped that David Frost would be there to introduce the show, but since he couldn't make it in person, he instead made a recorded version. The compere of the show was very entertaining and really camped it up with his intros in a style more appropriate to Butlin's holiday camp, or a children's pantomime! Hence he made sure there was lots of oohing, and generally appreciative response from the audience. Julie looked fantastic and was in great voice. She got off to a strong start with Dylan's "Masters of War", her powerful new political song "Tiger Eyes", and "El Condor Pasa". Some tracks were included from my favourite Julie album "Fire - My Spirit", namely Doreen Katheryn Rodehaver and "Wings of Silver" (respectively about Julie's mother and father) plus Christy Moore's powerful composition "The Burning Times" which is about the Inquisition and the persecution of witches.

Julie periodically left the stage to change costumes and during her absence her guests made their initial appearances. The first guest was an attractive young folk singer Rosalie Deighton from the Deighton Family, who played guitar and sang two songs. The second guest was pianist John Cameron whose musical achievements include arranging and conducting the music for "Les Miserables". Next came Madeleine Bell who got the audience to sing along on the spiritual "He's Got the Whole World in his Hands" , and duetted with Julie on "Going Back" (played as a tribute to Dusty Springfield). The final individual guest was the multi-talented instrumentalist from Led Zeppelin - John Paul Jones who accompanied Julie on mandolin for three numbers. They played two Dylan songs - "A Hard Rains a Gonna Fall" and "Mr Tambourine", and I believe "Children of Abraham", another great Julie song on which she gets the audience to simultaneously sing the well-known chorus "I ain't gonna study war no more".

At a certain stage in the show, five of Julie's lady friends from The Glastonbury Goddess Temple were introduced. They wore long mauve sparkly dresses and garlands of flowers in their hair. One by one, starting with the youngest and prettiest, they took it in turn to bestow their personal praise and the blessings of various goddesses upon Julie, who was clearly appreciative and overwhelmed by such adoration. The concert climaxed with the back of the stage opening up and a full blown choir from the Goddess Temple dressed in crimson robes appearing with Julie onstage to sing a celestial hymn to the Goddess. Their ranks were primarily ladies but also included a few men (as it turned out, I knew two of their members from the astrology world). Anyone who was unfamiliar with such things and had come with the hope of hearing "Going To the Zoo", may have thought there was some pretty weird shit going down! However, I personally found the whole experience extremely uplifting and life-affirming.

A voice from the audience (possibly Sue Merlyn?) requested that Julie sing a Leonard song, and we got "Hey That's No Way to Say Goodbye". Other favourites included "Tabu" and "The Witches Song". Towards the end, bouquets of flowers were presented to Julie - first by a sweet group of young children; then by a beautiful and very attractive lady wearing orange who had been sitting in the front row (she looked about 38, but turned out to be one of Julie's school friends from California who was born two days earlier!). Since it was the Gemini Concert, Julie inevitably sang Dylan's "Forever Young" and with everyone onstage audience participation was requested for Julie's song "We wish you joy, we wish you love (we wish you peace on the wings of a snow white dove)". Julie finished the concert with an a cappella version of the tradition Gaelic blessing "May the road rise to meet you". A fitting end to an unforgettable concert - the like of which may never be repeated (at least, not until Julie's 100th birthday!).