It was July 6th 2003 and Tony Bennett was in town. I had seen Tony on two separate occasions before, but both those times, it was at the Royal Concert Hall. Mr Bennett was appearing live at the open-air stage on George Square, Glasgow, with his Quartet. This appearance was during the Glasgow International Jazz Festival, and boy, were we in for a master class, and it only cost £5.00 to get in!
There was an outstanding collection of songs sung by Mr Bennett and as the concert went on he mentioned that his best friend Frank Sinatra had also been in Glasgow and said how warm the Glasgow people had been to him. He had in his Quartet a young drummer called Clayton Cameron whose skills on the drums were truly extraordinary, and in fact, the Quartet was simply the best.
Because I am a performer myself and have performed on the same stage, I knew what the protocols and regimes would be at the end of the concert. With that in mind, I went to the back of the stage area which was fenced off! But I knew Mr Bennett would need to come through this area to get out, so I went to the end of the fenced area and just watched as Tony Bennett came down the stairs and put on his dark trench coat, pulled up his collar, and was just saying his goodbyes to the crew.
He then came out the gate and was walking towards me. As he passed only inches away we had eye contact for a brief moment and I just smiled and nodded my head as he passed ... he looked at me and nodded back as if to say ‘thank you’, because in that brief moment of meeting he knew that I was saying thank you for a wonderful show and he was saying thank you back – you’re welcome.
He then crossed the street ... no fuss ... no entourage ... just Tony Bennett and the people of Glasgow saying thank you. He walked up the stairs of the Millennium Hotel, turned around and waved.
My best ....
Frank Holden
