It’s been a very exciting year for me in the U.S. market. There have been so many dates in a row that it got confusing with air travel and coming and going! Some were a little strange, such as the outdoor afternoon show at Hershey Park in 100 degree temps. Not a bad one in the bunch though!

Las Vegas was excellent because the Orleans Casino is a super place to do a show. The theater is laid out the way I like to work, with a good size stage and visually great. The Bushnell in Hartford is another lovely theater which lends itself to a good show. Turning Stone has a stage you could play football on and I love the freedom of being to wander around during a show. This was the best week I have ever had at the Mohegan Sun Cabaret theater. Everything went right for all five shows and it turned out to be a real fun week.

Coming up is the Half Hollow Performing Arts show in Long Island New York, and the Kravis Center for Performing Arts in West Palm Beach Florida. Then it’s off to the islands for two weeks before Christmas takes over. We start off next year at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt. Pleasant Michigan. Then off to the UK for 23 concerts in Scotland, Wales, and England. That tour is already doing well and it’s a long ways off!

See you all soon somewhere

Gene

Gene will once again be touring the UK in 2004. The venues are now being booked and the tour should be announced very soon. Gene is hoping the weather stays in the autumnal mode until the tour finishes with two shows in Dublin.

Gene chronicles his 2003 journey in a fan club newsletter available to everyone right here on the official web site. Click to read!

The Bronze masters from the 70s with songs such as Blue Angel, Trans Canada Highway, Oceans Away, Hold On, Train of Thought, among others, are now out on Sanctuary Records in the UK. The masters are in a two CD set. One CD is all Bronze masters and the other is from the Pitfield Sessions from the early 90s. This contains many covers such as Killing Me Softly, She's a Rebel, It's a Heartache, You're the Reason, and more. The Bronze tracks have been sitting in a temperature controlled vault in London for over 25 years. All the tracks were digitally remastered at Pitfield Studios. The recordings highlight some great songwriters such as Elton John, Roger Cook, Albert Hammond, Paul Williams, Chris De Burgh, and Cynthia Weil.

The new Hall of Fame Program will be on sale at all concerts in the U.S. and later this year in the U.K. The Program has many new fotos and Gene's own story of the road traveled to get to the Hall of Fame. It is quite a milestone in any career and thought to be long overdue by many!

Gene performed nineteen fantastic shows in Australia. Update: Gene finished recording a new song with Rodney Vincent.  Rodney is the one that Gene wrote a song with in Australia and did harmony to his vocal. Well, they have done it again! The two wrote another song on the last tour and it was played during the October Oz tour. "I Won't Make That Same Mistake Again" is the title.

"Judging from the reaction of fans at his [Vegas] debut, this should not be his last hurrah on the Strip," writes Jerry Fink of the Las Vegas Sun. Read the full review: "A perfect Pitney leaves audience hungry."

Gene hosted twenty-one shows in the UK this past spring. Loved it? Sound off in the forum!

Feb 11, 2003 - Today with Des & Mel - ITV
Feb 12, 2003 - Breakfast - BBC TV
Feb 23, 2003 - Desert Island Discs - BBC Radio 4
Feb 29, 2003 - Desert Island Discs - BBC Radio 4 (repeat)

CD released in UK on Eagle Rock Records in November '02 which has GP track called "Myfanwy at Oxford". It is a very unique recording being lyrics by Welsh poet Sir Robert Betjman and music by UK music man and DJ Mike Read. It is a narrative set of poems by Betjman depicting life at Oxford University for his lady Myfanwy. It is in English with a distinct Welsh lilt to it which made it very difficult for Gene to sing.

The resdeigned Gene-Pitney.com is live! Three new pages complement reworked versions of familiars like music, biography, and fotos. The new pages are: Shop - Buy the Gene CDs you need. Links - Gene Pitney web destinations. News - Upcoming and recent Gene happenings.