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Oh Jane, you make me laugh, why would anyone want my autograph!!! LOL

I think we should all sign the group picture of us outside Shaftesbury Bar, it's a shame we didn't get everyone on it.

You're very welcome

Thanks Gavin,
For taking the time to inform us more of, what should have been, your best Yusuf, experience (so far)! Thankfully, Yusuf, has taken what happened at Dublin, as a learning curve and will now be leaving leaflets on the seats, so there will be no more confusion. That's as long as the members of the audience can read! (sorry couldn't resist that)

I am going to the Birmingham and London concerts, I can't wait either!!! ;D

Thanks, Catty, that was beautiful!

If we don't see you at the Malt house, I will find you at the interval, you are sitting in the row behind us

Hi Peritura,
We are meeting in The Malt House, before the concert, I hope to see you there, Bill and I, will be there from 3pm

What number seats will you be in row E?

I couldn't have put it better myself! Well, not in print anyway!!!

Bravo, Kat!!!
And a warm welcome to Majicat!
So happy you decided to post, Welcome to Yusuf's "Little" family

Sue

Telegraph.co.uk



Yusuf Islam: coming out of the Moonshadows

The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens is embarking on his first tour in 33 years. Bryony Gordon spoke to him about spiritual journeys, broken Britain and how Islam could have averted the financial crisis.

By Bryony Gordon
Published: 7:06PM GMT 16 Nov 2009

Where to find Yusuf Islam? As it turns out, just to the right of the Big Brother house and then through the doors of a vast, ugly building emblazoned with the words 'GEORGE LUCAS STAGE'. It is here, at a film studio lot in the depths of north London, that the director filmed Star Wars, and it is also here, in this most unlikely of settings, that I meet the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens.

He is a small, unassuming man, a serene man, and so at first it is difficult to pick him out amongst all the hubble-bubble going on. There are PRs, sound men, lighting people, roadies. But where is Yusuf (he has dropped the Islam, just as he dropped the Cat Stevens, just as before that, confusingly, he dropped the Steven Demetre Georgiou on his birth ceritifcate)? He is not in his VW Camper van, parked outside and scattered with all sorts of cushions and candles. He is certainly not in the Big Brother house next door. And then a guitar strums up, we hear the opening lines of 'Lilywhite', and suddenly Yusuf becomes clear.

His is a soft, thoughtful voice, far more affecting than any light sabre battle that may have been filmed here before (I think that even men of a certain age would agree on this point). It is a surprise, frankly, to be hearing it live and in person, because it is 33 years since he last performed. Yet here he is, at the grand old age of 61, rehearsing for a new tour.

In the late Seventies his albums, including Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat, sold millions and millions of copies. He had written songs that would resonate decades later - 'Father and Son', 'The First Cut is the Deepest', 'Peace Train'. He had taken acid with Jimi Hendrix's bass player, Noel Redding, and allegedly had a fling with Carly Simon. Then he nearly drowned, found God and converted to Islam.

Pop stardom not being compatible with his faith, Yusuf quit the music world and devoted himself to charitable causes in the Muslim world. He had an arranged marriage to Fauzia Mubarak Ali, who will later sit in on our interview, and with whom he has five children.

Over the years we did not really hear from Yusuf, unless in matters controversial. He was deported from Israel in 2000 and then, in 2004, from America after his name was found on a no-fly list. Yusuf has since been let in to America; it is thought that he was confused with someone else. You would imagine that all of that furore would have deterred him from returning to the musical fray, but he has since released two well-received folk albums, the latest being Roadsinger, and at the weekend he went back out on tour.

We sit in his dressing room. It is quite flashy and he is not, though his attire does show the coolness of his Seventies heyday - he wears a shawl around his beard, some smart trousers, a grey shirt over a T-shirt, and he has a habit of using the word 'innit?". When I mention this he laughs. "That's the Greek London boy in me coming out, innit?".

So what has changed? He says that he stopped making music "because I was questioning the validity of what I was doing. And then my son bought a guitar into the house in 2001 and suddenly I felt all the creative juices return. The reason I stopped was because I had become dislodged from reality and in a way I had to get back to the place I was when I first picked up the guitar."

He talks about going on spiritual journeys a lot. In his new tour he previews a musical he has written, named after his hit, 'Moonshadow'. His new tour contains a preview of it which received a standing ovation when it premiered in Dublin on Sunday, and he hopes to take it to a West End audience soon (interestingly, he originally wanted to be a composer; he thinks that comes from having grown up on Shaftesbury Avenue, where his parents ran a restaurant).

Anyway, it is about a boy who lives in a world that is permanently dark; said boy goes out on to find a lost world where there is light. Yusuf says that "it is about reflecting as a metaphor my journey of finding myself, which we all have to do". He then launches into an odyssey which is less sprititual, more wearing of the spirit, involving as it does a lot of talk of mirrors, and covering mirrors, and enlightenment, and how knowledge is another form of light, and so on and so on.

All this talk of light leads onto talk of what a dark place the world has become. "Spiritually I would say it's incredibly dark, which is affected by the politics of the day and the economics of the day." He spends a lot of time in Dubai now, partly because it is where his grandchildren live but partly because he feels that Britain has become a negative place. "We call this a developed world. It's developed economically, materially, but there are other places that are far more morally developed, culturally developed..."

I ask him if he despairs of the way that his adopted religion is portrayed in the Western world; does he feel a small minority of extremists have misrepresented his religion? "Generalising is incredibly dangerous," he says, "especially when it comes down to religion and race. When I started studying Islam it was very clear that it's one God, one humanity, one world..."

When he discovered Islam he took its "pure message in the most beautiful kind of unifying way and saw that this was an incredible solution to many of our problems. If people were following an Islamic economic system, we would not be in this situation. Interest is forbidden." He goes on to quote George Bernard Shaw: "If any religion had the chance of ruling over England, nay Europe, within the next hundred years, it could be Islam."

"Now, I'm not saying we are going to Islamicise Britain but I am saying that Britain has a unique chance to adopt all sorts of cultures for the benefit of the islanders who live there."

What, like Sharia law?

"Sharia means road. It means a pathway to the water well..." He goes on to explain its tenets. I ask him if he thinks we could improve as a country through adopting such a system. "You'd have to make your own mind up about that," he says. "Everyone's got a choice to make every time they get up."

We talk a bit about 'broken Britain'. "You've got kids who haven't got parents, or parents who are not there, and so many kids are born out of wedlock, and there's no mother cooking for them because she is maybe at work." Whoa, I say, are women in the workplace not a good thing? "Businesswomen are fine. But they shouldn't be forced to pay for the raising of the family. It's the husband's job. That's the way I see it."

But what if a woman wants a career? "That's alright, yeah, that's fine. But if it starts to damage..." he trails off. "Now you're asking me what's wrong with Britain. I think it's that we lost the balance. Womanhood, manhood... Anyway, I'm here to make music, not to solve the problems of the world."

So we talk about music, and how it has changed since he was last on the scene. "It's much more corporate. They have the marketing plans six months beforehand." And yet he continues to attract new audiences - his singing voice, at least, crosses generations and he recently won new fans when a track of his was used in the television show Skins. "I think kids relate to me because I have some ability to remain a little bit naive. Even during interviews." He stops and lets out a little chuckle. "Mostly during interviews."

Regii, We can't check into our hotel until 3pm Maybe we could go to the Shaftesury, then back to KX to the hotel, then on to the RAH. It wouldn't leave us long at the Restaurant though

Maybe we could find somewhere near to Kings Cross?

There will be Sonia, Regii, Bill and Me.
I'm not sure what time Joanne, gets in yet?
Helen, Marie, Michele, are you working in the day?
Eduardo, what time do you get to London?
Anymore coming, that want to meet up?

My Night With Cat Stevens

The Word Magazine
Posted by Steven C on 16 November 2009 - 1:32am.

The return to the stage, after an absence of 33 years, of the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens was always going to be a memorable event. The reclusive singer songwriter emerging with a new album to promote - and quite fine it is too - and promising a preview of a musical drawing on his back catalogue.

I queued to buy my 'Tea For The Tillerman' mug. And queued; and queued. In front the more than middle aged fans quizzed the vendor about the merchandise, the sizing of the T- shirts and the quality of the cotton. Some of them even asked if there was a changing room to try them on! I had the impression that most of these people were desperate to find anything in a medium that might fit.

The lights dimmed and Yusuf strolled on to the stage strumming an acoustic guitar. The house went crazy. The first half of the first half was an acoustic set; the band increasing with each song to two guitarists and a bass player. Close your eyes and it was 1972. That voice has not aged and the harmonies were superb. A full band fleshed out the sound and took us to the interval. Yusuf came across as funny, modest and having a ball.

After a short break Yusuf set the scene for the excerpt from musical. Opening with two small children, quickly moving to adulthood in search of a dream. 'Matthew & Son', 'If You Want To Sing Out', 'Wild World' and 'Father and Son' all made an appearance with impressive new arrangements for the band, but sung by the cast, not by Yusuf. That's when the trouble began.

At first a few whistles, a few jeers; then came the sustained booing and slow hand-clapping. People began to file out. I had never been in a crowd like this before - it was incredibly ugly and I have to say unnerving. I had no idea where this was going. The mood spread throughout large sections of the crowd and the catcalls threatened to drown out what was happening onstage. The entire episode lasted maybe thirty minutes while the cast - in their first public performance - soldiered on.

At the end the majority of the crowd responded by giving the players a standing ovation - more as an apology or gesture of solidarity I suspect. This part of the show had been explicitly billed so I am not clear why there was such an expression of outrage.

When Yusuf returned to the stage he was clearly shaken. He made a few self deprecating comments and continued for another 20 minutes or so before a pre-encore break. For the encore he announced that he was going to play a few more and that the first was a new song - unbelievably this was greeted with more jeering and whistles. "Now I know how Dylan must have felt!" was his response, although he smiled; I wouldn't have.

The final song, begun as most people were filing out was 'Father & Son'. Part way through, on strolled Ronan Keating - seemingly straight from the gym. Now, those feckers in the audience - and some of you know who you are, barrister boy - who took exception to having to listen to someone else sing Cat Stevens songs at a Cat Stevens gig clearly make an exception for good old Ronan, and the place went nuts.

All in all the entire evening left a sour taste. I have no real explanation for the behaviour of a significant section of the crowd. The excerpt from the musical was pre-advertised for Christ's sake.If I don't like show, I leave. End of story. I can't think of any circumstances where I would feel the need to stand and jeer performers for half an hour. Get a drink, go home, kick the cat (sorry Fraser!). I feel I should offer an apology on behalf of the audience to Yusuf/Cat Stevens, and hope that he doesn't judge us all by the actions of an ignorant - if vocal - minority.

From Myspace

Monday, November 16, 2009
Yusuf in Dublin
Last night at the o2 arena in Dublin, Yusuf gave his first ever performance in Ireland. The show marked the start of the Guess I'll Take My Time tour, his first series of shows in over three decades.

Beginning the concert alone on acoustic guitar, Yusuf was joined over the course of the first act by his band, before breaking for the pre-advertised musical preview of Moonshadow. Following the preview, Yusuf returned to the stage to perform more of his songs both old and new. An incredible finale saw Ronan Keating surprise the crowd with a guest appearance, joining Yusuf for Father and Son - his first live performance since the death of his friend and fellow Boyzone member, Stephen Gately.

The show has received positive reviews from critics and concert goers, both for Yusuf's own performance and the musical preview of Moonshadow.

Click here to read the Daily Telegraph's review of the gig.

The set list was as follows:

Lilywhite
The Wind
Thinking 'Bout You
Where Do The Children Play
Boots & Sand
Fill My Eyes
Roadsinger
Midday (Avoid City After Dark)
Sitting
I Think I See The Light

[Interval]

"Moonshadow" the Musical - Exclusive Preview

Miles from Nowhere
Don't Be Shy
Glass World
Bad Brakes
Moonshadow
Peace Train

All Kinds of Roses
Lilywhite (2009)
Tuesday's Dead
Father and Son (with Ronan Keating)

From some of these comments, you would think that no one had seen this