It will be the clash of the musical titans when Spandau Ballet frontman Tony Hadley and Go West's Peter Cox come face to face at Birmingham's Symphony Hall. We fired some pre-match questions at them. 1. What are your expectations for the Symphony Hall show? Tony Hadley: It will be a combination of Go West and Spandau Ballet songs, plus some personal favourites of mine and Pete's. The main thing is for everybody to have fun - and if the audience join in and have a giggle, so much the better. Peter Cox: This is the most intensive tour I've done so I'm glad Tony and I are on stage together because we can share the workload. I'm looking forward to having a great time and enjoying a glass of wine or two with Tony. 2. Which of the songs do you consider to be a knockout, and why? TH: There are a lot of really great songs in the show but I especially like our version of Robert Palmer's Simply Irresistible. It's a good rockin' song. PC: King of Wishful Thinking from the Pretty Woman film is Go West's best known song and we can rely on audiences to sing along with it. 3. Would you challenge each other to a celebrity boxing match? TH: Any day - and I'd win. PC: It would be altogether too easy for me - I'd knock him out with one punch. 4.After taking part in Reborn In The USA do you now consider yourself reborn? TH: It was a weird one because I thought I was just doing something for Saturday night TV, having a bit of a giggle and promoting my album and tour. It brought me a lot of attention and I'm lucky that I have kept my profile fairly high. In fact, I'm now turning stuff down because I'm so busy. PC: It's been great for me as an individual. People now know who I am independently of Go West. I'm happy to be touring with Tony, who is more high profile, so that's beneficial for me. 5. Mark Shaw of Then Jericho walked out at the beginning of Reborn, leading to Peter replacing him. Have you had any contact with Mark since? TH: I spoke to him at a kids' event, Shooting Stars at Planet Hollywood, and he joined me at my birthday party. My view is that he regretted what he did. PC: I saw him at Tony's party and I was a bit apprehensive about it. But he put his arm around me and all was well. I didn't see the walking out incident but I heard about it from the others. I think he just made an error of judgement. 6. Whose album would you rather hear - Dollar or Sonia? TH: I like Sonia but I'll go with Dollar because I love the stuff producer Trevor Horn did with them. PC: Thereze is an absolute sweetheart but Sonia has more appeal for me. She's a character and I can relate slightly more to her. 7. Who else from Reborn would you like to tour with? TH: Leee John - originally he was going to join us on this tour. PC: On Reborn Leee bridged the gap between the younger and older acts and he was a lot of fun. He made everything run smoothly. We were planning a Rat Pack-type tour with Leee, Tony and me but the agents couldn't agree. 8. Would you take part in another Fly on the Wall reality show? TH: I only agreed to Reborn because there were no hidden cameras and the show was music related. I wouldn't do I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here because it serves no purpose. At least on Reborn I was doing something rather than just being a celebrity. PC: Reborn was a great opportunity to sing live on TV and the price I paid was to be in a reality show. But we had the choice to close the hotel door on the cameras at the end of the day. I wouldn't be involved in anything with 24 hour cameras. 9. Any Birmingham memories? TH: Some of the best shows I've done were at Ronnie Scott's in Birmingham. It's an absolute crime what they've done to it. We had such a laugh there and you could get so close to the audience. We need more venues for live music. PC: Go West played the final live show at Birmingham Odeon. I have a photograph of the band and staff taken on that very emotional night. Birmingham is one of our favourite places to play and we're always confident of receiving a riotous welcome. Tony Hadley vs Peter Cox
Thursday 22 January 2004
Birmingham Symphony Hall
Tickets are priced from £17.50 from 0121 780 3333. | 
