By some large margin, 2024 was a great year for Tony Moore. On 2 February 2024, Tony had marked it as “life changing,” and yet more was to follow. We sat with Tony in the Cart & Horses last week to see how his travels went. Before we get to that, there is the small matter of Belarus, prompted by a recent conversation I had with former MetalTalk Editor Steve Göldby over a Sambuca or two.
Tony Moore closed the 2019 European Games in Minsk, Belarus, with a performance of his song We Are The Light, which he had written especially for the event. These European Games were an entry into the Tokyo Olympics for many athletes.
“IÂ had a friend who was managing an artist over there,” Tony Moore told us. “She worked on the radio. She sent me a message asking, would I like to come over for the press launch of the European Games in 2019. So I duly went over there. When I arrived, I saw they had a catchphrase around this big event. It was Bright Year, Bright You.
“I didn’t understand at the time, but it came from the fact that Belarus has the international identifier BY. Like with GB here.
“So they turned it into Bright Year, Bright You, but it seemed to be about light. So, whilst I was there, I thought I was a songwriter, right? I should write a song. This was an Olympic thing. Together, we should make each other brighter and talk about that.
“So I wrote this song called We Are The Light. And I just made a voice memo when I was in the hotel for my friend. She sent it to a friend of hers who was the Minister Of Sport, and he said, would you like to sing it at the closing ceremony? Absolutely. So, I spent quite a few months producing the track. They sent over some orchestration that went with the track.
“I performed it at the closing ceremony. There were 60,000 people in the arena, all dancing, but it also went out live on TV to every country. Ultimately, I think there were 112 countries.”
“So it was like millions of people saw it. I had been quite ill with vertigo in the week leading up to it. I had all this gear made. I had the guitar, but I had it coloured white, the neck and everything. I had a white jacket and a white guitar strap with my name on it in case they missed my name.
“When I got to the airport trying to fly, I had to go via Russia on Aeroflot. They hadn’t got me a visa to transit Russia, so they wouldn’t let me fly. So, I had to reschedule a flight out of Barcelona direct to Minsk, which I didn’t require a visa for. By the time I got from Heathrow to Gatwick, the plane had not taken off, as it was delayed. So I only just got on the last plane to Minsk as they were closing the door.
“None of my gear made it. So, after all this time and effort I put into getting this clobber, it wasn’t there. So I had to go and buy some white jeans and borrow an acoustic guitar from someone. I arrived after the sound checks and the dress rehearsal.
“So basically, I came to the stadium, and they said, you’re gonna be on that stage later. I walked out, and we just started. Orchestra and everything. It was mad.”
The Tony Moore Awake Tour continues this weekend with shows in Wetherby and Louth. Tickets are available from bnds.us/m7uwuv. You can find out more about Tony and Awake here. Awake is available from BandCamp.
In Part Two of this interview, later this week, we look at Tony Moore touring the world with British Lion and much more.
