These couple of pictures are lifted from a documentary DVD and show Chris arriving in his long time Seven and the old Lotus Seven Club sticker on his guitar. When I was in the process of ordering my Seven late in 2001 I was invited along to the Club's trackday at Brands Hatch and was surprised to see Chris there in this car, though I don't think he's got it any more. I didn't go and speak to him, which I regret slightly now but he was rightly being left alone and treated just like anyone else on a trackday so it wouldn't have been right

The Seven was the first thing that I had really looked forward to after my Dad passed away earlier that year. My Dad was a huge Chris Rea fan and would have been very excited about seeing him, but bizarrely I wouldn't have bought the car and wouldn't have been there had he still been with us

 

I was lucky enough to get an invite to the free "Road to hell & Back" CD and DVD launch gig at Bush Hall in London in October 2006. Having got there in the nick of time thanks to getting the train into London that stops at every station, I grabbed a beer and made my way into the small hall. I'd seen Chris a couple of times before but to see him in such intimate surroundings was just incredible, made all the more memorable by the fact that it would be maybe the last time that he plays some of these songs live. Here are a few of the better pics taken on my mobile during the gig