So we thought the UK tour was over, but it just keeps on going: Patti will be playing the sold-out Isle of Wight Festival on Sunday, 15 June 2014.
If you’re going, make sure to check her out on the Strongbow Garden stage!
News
French music site Rock Meeting has posted a new interview with Patti, discussing her recent UK tour and her own music.
Interview PATTI RUSSO 18/05/2014
by Florence Bouvrot
While touring with Meat Loaf for nearly twenty years, Patti Russo’s voice and stage performance have already seduced dozens of millions of people in the whole world. Over the years, she has also worked with numerous famous artists including Cher, Queen, Bryan Ferry, The Trans-Siberian Orchestra… Not to forget the theatre stage as she played Esmeralda in Notre Dame de Paris and Killer Queen in Las Vegas production “We Will Rock You”.
Singer-songwriter, Patti is now launching her own solo career that began with a UK Tour in April and she has also released an EP of four songs: Xo!!.
A talk with the most European singer from the States…
1/ Hello Patti, you’ve just performed the first gig of your UK Solo Tour. I’d really like you to share with us your feelings during that show.
“It was a pretty amazing moment for me, I must say. Though I’ve been on that stage before as a guest singer, this time is was me fronting a band. I should’ve done this years ago ! Seeing all those familiar faces in the audience was equally amazing and made me feel very honored that they came out to support me.“
2/ You’re really loved by all your fanbase around the world. How would you describe your relationship with your fans?
“They’re great! I’ve known some of them for years and have seen their kids grow up. They’ve been extremely supportive and kind. And they will travel the globe to see you! Very grateful to all of them.“
3/ Everybody was so looking forward to seeing you on stage by your own. Which event finally gave you the impulse to work on this tour? And why did you decide to come first to the UK?
“Waking up to an email, telling you that you no longer had a job after 20 years will get your brain scrambling pretty fast, I’ll say. Performing is my life and who I am, so given what had happened and how it happened, it was an obvious decision to go out there and finally live my childhood dream. I mean, what else can you do really? You can sink or swim and I chose to swim. I chose the UK because it has always felt like home for me. I try to get to there whenever I can.”
It’s been almost a month since Patti kicked off her first solo tour of the UK with a gig at the Brook in Southampton. And now you can re-live the memories with this gorgeous photo set, courtesy of Jim Templeton-Cross / TX63 Music Photography.
We’ve got more photos from the tour on the photos page, and don’t forget to check out the tour round-up with the full setlist, videos, reviews and more.
In case anybody is still feeling the post-tour blues, here are some lovely new photos to cheer you up! From Patti’s gig at the O2 Academy Islington in London on 27 April, where she was joined by special guests John Partridge and Queen’s very own Spike Edney. Photos by Jim Templeton-Cross / TX63 Music Photography.
It’s been a busy week for Patti. After heading back to the US to appear at the Make-A-Wish foundation’s charity gala in New Jersey last weekend, she was back in London yesterday joining John Partridge at the Radio Academy Awards.
Patti appeared on BBC Radio 2 today sharing some of her memories related to songs from the 1970s. She picked Tom Jones’ She’s a Lady which, as she told host Johnnie Walker, takes her back to her childhood and singing the song using her mother’s candlesticks as a microphone, as well as Emma by Hot Chocolate, which she said has stayed with her until this day.
You can listen to the full interview here:
BBC Radio 2, Johnnie Walker’s Sounds of the 70s, 11 May 2014, part 1
Part 2
The tour may be over but the photos keep coming in. Here’s a beautiful set from the gig in Brighton on 21 April, by Jim Templeton-Cross / TX63 Music Photography.
Don’t miss this: Patti will appear on Johnnie Walker’s Sound of the 70s on BBC Radio 2 on Sunday, 11 May from 15:00.
From the programme description:
Johnnie Walker celebrates the decade of Rainbow, Roberta Flack and the Ramones, playing some of the finest songs the seventies had to offer.
This week he hears the seventies memories of vocalist Patti Russo. Best known for her work with Meat Loaf, performing with him for over twenty years, she has also worked with the likes of Queen, Jeff Beck and Cher. She also appeared in the West End production of Notre Dame De Paris and was asked by Brian May and Roger Taylor to perform in their Las Vegas production of We Will Rock You.
Tune in:
Sun 11 May 2014
15:00
BBC Radio 2
And another five-star review for Patti’s gig in London last week, from Jazz Tangcay on So So Gay.
Gig review: Patti Russo (O2 Academy, Islington)
It’s been a long time coming, but Patti Russo finally set out on her first solo tour across the UK. It’s named the ‘How Are Ya, 5-Oh!’ tour because the singer turns 50 next month. Prior to this venture, Russo has spent the majority of her career as a backing vocalist for the likes of Cher and is perhaps best known as Meat Loaf’s female vocalist. She’s also performed alongside Queen and starred in Notre Dame De Paris on the West End. We caught the last night of her tour at London’s O2 Academy in Islington.
The venue was intimate, the stage equally so, with Russo and her band and a few hundred people in the audience. She came on stage shortly before 9pm, and her opening number was a cover of Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, which couldn’t have been more fitting.
Tonight was the night she stepped out into the limelight to show off her vocal talents as a solo artist, and there was going to be no stopping her.
From the get go, Russo was on fire. Her next number was ‘I’d Lie For You and That’s the Truth’, a song she’s always sung as a duet with Meat Loaf, but tonight she sang both parts, something we’re sure the song’s writer, Diane Warren, would be proud of.
Rocktopia has posted a lovely review of Patti’s big tour finale gig in London last week.
Patti Russo – Islington 02 Academy, London, 27th April 2014
After spending decades duetting with rock heavyweight Meat Loaf in front of sold out arenas the world over, Patti Russo took the opportunity to step out on her own recently with her ‘How Are Ya 5-Oh’ UK tour. Inspired by her landmark birthday, the songstress elected to do something she has never done – put together her own band and play some of her own music, bolstering the set with some well chosen covers which paid tribute to both her influences and her impressive career to date.
Picking out seven dates across the UK and finishing up in the Islington 02 Academy in London, the venue was busy with fans, some familiar faces from TV and some well known rock musicians all in attendance. For me personally, I’ve always been impressed with Patti’s vocal ability, with her being the highlight of Meat Loaf concerts and albums. She impressed me even more when she sang with Queen in Amsterdam in 2002, so it was fitting she opened the show with Queen’s ‘It’s A Beautiful Day’, which merged flawlessly into a rollicking ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’. The sound was excellent, with Patti’s voice sounding strong and clear. Flanked by Jamie Moses on guitar and a band that featured veterans Toby Chapman, Steve Stroud and Johnny Marter, the scene was set for a superb evening of music.
Patti is a fantastic front woman – one of my colleagues likened the concert to a party, with Patti as the host. She told amusing anecdotes between songs and looked so at ease, it seemed like she’d be fronting her own shows her entire life. She delivered an impassioned rendition of Meat Loaf’s ‘I’d Lie For You (And That’s The Truth)’ which I thought was superior to the original, before airing some of her own material.
