Taken from:
Daily Mail

Section:
Rock

“The organisers were relieved enough, for worse has happened. They still remember the year Italian singer Luigi Tenco shot himself dead at the side of the stage.”

Dead fish leave Chaka with a chip

Stars without the twinkle

The galaxy of stars planned for the final night of the San Remo Music Festival weren’t twinkling quite as they should have been.

Top-of-the-bill Phil Collins never made it – he was stuck in London by the snow – Duran Duran heart throb Simon Le Bon hobbled on stage after spraining an ankle and Chaka Khan, the queen of raunchy rock, hit by laryngitis, was moaning that the audience was as lively as ‘dead fish’.

The organisers were relieved enough, for worse has happened. They still remember the year Italian singer Luigi Tenco shot himself dead at the side of the stage.

The festival, watched by up to 30 million TV viewers in Italy alone is a showcase for the best new act and best new group. In a bizarre move, the latter is chosen by punters who vote on a form handed out with their betting slips.

The bleary ballads and crooning singers would do little to rock the British music scene ‘They are pasta their best,’ as someone put it. So to save the show, which is being shown in 22 other countries, mostly in Eastern Europe and South America, the biggest rock names have been drafted in as guest stars-among them Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, Jermaine Jackson and Pia Zadora and Sade.

The snobbery of Clacton

Sade, the stylish Anglo-Nigerian singer, landed in immigration trouble at Nice Airport where officials noticed she had not got the required visa. Eventually, a suffering Sade spent most of the festival in her hotel, stricken by gastric flu, only appearing for the televised evening show. One French journalist, though, reported that she kept her distance from the Press and fans ‘because she has been brought up in Clacton, a town renowned for its snobbery.’

Brickbats with the flowers

The Italian Riviera resort of San Remo is the flower capital of Italy, which means ‘we never run short of bouquets for the artists,’ says organiser Davide Pozzi. But the stars were hurling back brick-bats. Asked what he would like to see in San Remo, John Taylor of Duran Duran, said: ‘A bit more organisation.’

Dead fish and fur coats

Chaka Khan was quite clear what she thought of the audience. ‘They were like dead fish. It is always the same if you put people in plush seats, with a gold ceiling. The TV cameras make it a gala evening, all diamonds and fur coats, and they sit there as though they are stuffed.’ Husky-voiced Chaka was unwell with the laryngitis that has plagued her current world tour. She is to return next week to America for an operation on her throat.