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It’s great to see that after all the confusion created by the ‘OTHER’ band these last few years that everyone has now realised that the band they had been booking was the wrong one and not the band with Alan in it as they had expected. You may have wondered why Alan and the guys had not made any appearances in Germany and Holland these past few years well it seems certain booking Agents had not been informing their clients that in fact what they were booking was not the Rubettes with Alan’s familiar face in it but the other lot. A big change is coming and as you can see by the dates the guys have for this year they are back and promoters are making a point of asking for the band with Alan.

Once again the guys are appearing on a British Nation wide ‘GLITZ BLITZ AND 70’S HITZ’ tour with their familiar touring buddies ‘Sweet’ and Showaddywaddy’. Starting at Cheltenham’s’ Town Hall on Sunday 15th April and ending 30 shows later at the famous London Palladium on Sunday 25th. June. Anyone having seen this line up on previous tours, and there have been a few, will know what a fabulous show it will be. Don’t forget to book early for your ticket or risk being disappointed. For Ticket information go to www.flyingmusic.com and click on the Glitz Blitz and 70’s Hitz’ poster.

A new album will be released to coincide with the tour called ‘ON TOUR’ and will contain a welcome few surprises as well as all the ‘Hit’s’.  With 17 tracks it’s the best yet including new recordings ‘After the Goldrush’ and ‘Barbara Ann’ both popular live concert songs and a previously unheard song written by John called ’You are Amazing’ which is AMAZING and would make a great new single. Have a listen and tell everyone what you think.  Unfortunately at the moment ‘On Tour’ is only available as merchandise at shows but will soon be available from merchandising at www.rubettes.com or as download at www.itunes.com so keep a look out.

For those of you who have been to a recent Rubettes featuring Alan Williams concert will have noticed the new acapela Do Wopp feature that has been added to the live show. The guys are always looking for something different and fresh and this new medley of songs certainly achieves it once again and before you ask for those of you not familiar with the featured songs they are ‘Why do fools fall in love’ sung by John, ‘Why must I be a teenager in love’ sung by Alan, ‘For the longest time’ sung by Mark and ‘Happy days’ sung by everyone. Today’s concert performances with Taiko Drums, Acapela, Do Wopp, Soul, Rock n’ Roll and even a few ‘Hit’ records as well certainly makes for a night to remember.

A recent visit to Germany by the guys turned out for some of them to be a marathon.

On Saturday 1^st. March Alan flew his airplane to Erfurt in Germany with the band and their sound engineer Colin for two concerts, one in the afternoon in Jena and the other in the evening in Vacha. You may recall that the weather that weekend was quite stormy and very very windy.  During the flight which was uneventful until about when they were passing Frankfurt where they started to pick up quite a lot of ice on the wings of the airplane and being to heavy to climb above the weather Alan had no alternative but to come down quickly through the cloud making it very bumpy and apparently according to the guys extremely scary for everyone. Everyone but Alan that is who seemed to enjoy every minute.  After what seemed like ages being thrown around Alan landed the plane safely, as always, and thankfully everyone recovered soon enough to do the shows. The next day they returned to Erfurt Airport at 13:00 for the journey home but discovering that the weather was just as bad as it was the day before so Alan announced that they would not be flying in his airplane that day as it might be too dangerous but he would send them home on the next available flight the 20.30 Lufthansa flight to London Heathrow from Frankfurt which was two hours away by train. Everyone seemed relieved and happy about this although it meant Alan staying behind until the weather got better. After they had left Alan went back to the flight briefing office in Erfurt to ask once more about the weather being told that it would be very windy until you get on top of the cloud but O.K. after that so as the others weren’t with him he thought he would in his words ‘Take a look’ after all if it was too bad he could always come back and stay the night which was the original plan.  So off he went. Up through gaps in the cloud till he reached beautiful clear blue sky on top. It had been a little bumpy but nothing like he had been expecting. He had taken off at 15.30 and after three hours landed back at his local airport in the U.K. at 18.30 it had taken slightly longer that usual because of the strong headwinds but still two hours before John, Mick, Mark and Colin were due to take off from Frankfurt.

After landing Alan phoned Mark on his mobile to be told that their flight was delayed and that many flights had been cancelled because of the weather and at that moment had no idea what was happening or even if they would make it home that night. They eventually did make it home but not until the early hours of the following morning. Alan on the other hand, intrepid aviator that he is, spent a relaxed evening at home watching T.V. with his family next to a roaring log fire. The right decisions had been made on both occasions as all thankfully arrived home safe.

Site created: November 12, 2006 Last update: Juni 23, 2008

The Rubettes featuring Alan Williams by kind permission of A.W.E.L.