Above photo by William Maura
A personal thank you goes out to my late friend Billy Maura for taking all of the photos of Julian that appear in this post and to his wife Faye Maura, who kindly gave me the permission to use the photos in the post!
A show I went to with a couple of co-workers and friends on July 29, 1999 at Toad’s Place in New Haven, Connecticut. Toad’s Place is a club where the Rolling Stones played a surprise gig. The club is a “stones throw” away (no pun intended) from Yale University!!!
Needless to say, the show was excellent. Julian’s band was tight, and Julian had an excellent stage presence interacting frequently with the audience and his singing pipes are golden. As time has gone by, I sincerely regret his personal decision to virtually give up doing live appearances!
The Band:
The band consisted of Gregory Darling on Piano, Manny Elias on Drums, Martin Swain on Bass, Matt Backer on Slide/Lead Guitar, & John McCurry on Lead Guitar
The Set List for the 1999 Tour
The set list on this 1999 tour designed to promote the Photograph Smile LP:
- Get a Life
- And She Cries
- Day After Day
- I Should Have Known
- Faithful
- Crucified
- No One But You–(as of 2025, this song remains unreleased which is truly a shame)
- Saltwater
- Cold
- Valotte
- Photograph Smile
- Make It Up To You
- I Don’t Wanna Know
- Too Late for Goodbyes
- Good To Be Lonely
- Stand By Me
The Highlights:
I personally love Julian’s Photograph Smile album and eagerly looked forward to seeing some of the great songs on the album played live. In addition to that, loved hearing the excellent songs Saltwater, Too Late for Goodbyes, and Valotte being performed live was also a great thrill. However my favorite moment of the concert was hearing a song entitled No One But You, an unreleased song having to so with the prospects of self-reliance. Someone has posted a performance of the song on YouTube and for the life of me I can not understand why Julian has not yet made the decision to issue it for public consumption. It is a beautiful song that deserves to be heard by many more people.
Photo by William Maura
Photo by William Maura
Photo by William Maura
Photo by William Maura
Photo by William Maura
Photo by William Maura
Photo by William Maura
Photo by William Maura
Photo by William Maura
Photo by William Maura
I believe Julian has given up or drastically reduced his cigarette smoking as health concerns become primary to all of us as we get older.
Many years later in 2021, a very interesting and entertaining book was issued about stories of the various artists that made guest or surprise appearances at the Toad’s Place venue including the Stones and Bruce Springsteen.
THE BOOK BY BRIAN PHELPS AND RANDALL BEACH
The Legendary Toad’s Place: Stories from New Haven’s Famed Music Venue Paperback – October 8, 2021
AMAZON US LINK TO THE BOOK:
AMAZON UK LINK TO THE BOOK:
THE AMAZON BOOK DESCRIPTION:
“Anyone who has lived near New Haven, Connecticut, in the past 40-plus years has surely heard of Toad’s Place. With a capacity of 750, Toad’s has served as the perfect spot for musicians who prefer smaller venues. U2 played one of their first US concerts there, on their Boy tour. In 1978, Bruce Springsteen was in New Haven and arrived at Toad’s unannounced, and got up and played. The surprises kept coming and the club was attracting big names, as well as up-and-comers. In 1989, the Rolling Stones played a surprise show on a Saturday night, giving 700 fans the night of their dreams. Nothing could have been better—the Rolling Stones in downtown New Haven was unimaginable! That is only a taste of the stories that are uncovered in this book. Randall Beach and Toad’s owner Brian Phelps recall the legendary shows and behind-the-scenes stories.”
The back cover of the book:
Hope you enjoyed the post and God Bless the memory of William Maura, a true and wonderful friend!
All of you, please be healthy and be happy!!!
Buzz
