Date: 31 October 1982
Originally published in: Joepie (Belgium)
Written by:
One more quarter of an hour and the show will start. The audience is already getting ready and is counting the minutes. But behind the scenes the tension is mounting. Kim Wilde is pacing back and forth nervously. She screams at her father who has forgotten to bring a tape. Her nervousness is understandable. In a few moments she will celebrate her live debut at the Colston Hall in Bristol.
“When we are both nervous, we usually have words”, says Marty, while his famous daughter peeps through the stage curtains to watch the audience. “Her try-out performance in Denmark was a big success. But this is something very different. The English audiences are far more critical. There are only two possibilities: either you’re successful or you go down in flames. Simply being a wellknown singer doesn’t help here.”
Marty’s worriedness soon fades away, when Kim sings her first song ‘Chequered love’ and is treated to a deafening applause. And when the show ends 90 minutes later with an extended version of ‘Kids in America’, a happy Kim winks at her mother, who is joining the fans in the audience. Kim is tired, but very satisfied.
‘That was the best feeling I have ever had’, Kim says after the show. “I have discovered a new world today. I have proved that I’m here for a long time, I hope. The critics can write what they like, I have a feeling that the fans really had a good time. And that is all that matters to me.”
Will she come to Europe after October 27, when she finishes her tour in London?
“Absolutely”, Kim says resolutely. “I wouldn’t want to keep this from my fans on the continent. There are negotiations taking place. If it were me, I would come in November. But it has to be realistic. I hope to cross the Channel before the end of the year though.”
