Introducing the 

Individual Fund Raiser of the Year - Zac Vincent!

On the evening of Friday 28 October, I went to Fleet Sports & Leisure Club, Gravesend, to attend Zac Vincent’s second concert in aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust. There had been a promotional item on BBC SouthEast News on 17 October:

The item was introduced with a mention of his tribute gig next week in Gravesend in aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust. We were informed that Zac plays piano lead guitar and sings, even though he only started  learning music two years ago. There was a shot of him practising his  singing, accompanying himself on the piano. Zac himself was interviewed; he said he had chosen the AIDS charity because of Freddie Mercury, and that  he found it impossible to stop listening to Queen, saying that it was very easy to get into. He admitted that not many children of his age have heard  of Queen - his craze started when his father Steve played him 'We Will Rock  You' and 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. His reaction: "Wow, that's amazing!" 

The item went on to say that this is Zac's second gig - last year he raised  over £1,000 for the same charity. His mum Bernadette said that she never thought that a sing-along in a car would end up with a concert for 300  people, that Zac looks so tiny on stage; he'd also been known to fall asleep "practising till he drops", then to wake up and start again!  Although there'll be no guest appearances, Zac has received 'Good Luck'  messages from Brian May, Sir Bob Geldof and Elton John. 

 The ten-year-old Queen fan did his first concert last year, but has since had the benefit of picking up some ideas from the recent Queen and Paul Rodgers tour! I’d found out that he was in the row in front of me at the Wembley concert, but at the time I didn’t realise who he was.

  A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from Zac’s mum Bernadette, who had found this website and noticed that I’d already written a bit about Zac. I’d learned from her that he had the backing of a number of celebrities, and the support he received is shown by the list of items available at the auction, which took place in the first break:

 In addition to that, there was an MP and a Deputy Mayor supporting him, altogether making me feel that my presence at the gig might be superfluous (ha ha!) But one thing was for certain – it would be hard to beat the dedication and devotion of a couple who came all the way from Plymouth to support the event! This concert was also to include songs by other greats – The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and, of course, Free/Bad Company.

  When I arrived, the star of the show was on the doorstep, but I didn’t get to speak to him because he disappeared inside before I had the chance. But shortly before the show, I was able to speak briefly to Bernadette, and found a place near the front from where it would be easy to take some photos.

  After an introduction by the Deputy Mayor, Zac started his show, amidst smoke effects, recalling both the musical ‘We Will Rock You’ and the Queen + Paul Rodgers concerts: The first part of ‘Innuendo’ was played, followed by Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’, then the sound of Zac singing ‘Reaching Out’ could be heard from behind the curtain.

  There followed ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘I Can’t Get No Satisfaction’ and ‘The Last Time’.

  For ‘I Want to Break Free’, Zac was joined by three others, including family, in drag, as characters from the video!

Echoing the words of Brian on the Tribute Concert DVD: ‘I think we should do this every night, what do you think?’, Zac asked us ‘Who thinks I should do this every year?’ In addition to thanking his family, Zac dedicated the next song, ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, to his mum and his sister. Not playing his guitar for this one, Zac was able to give free rein to his singing performance, coming off the stage, as well as shuffling and throwing the mike stand in the air like Freddie!

  After this, Zac led the audience in another Freddie-type phenomenon: the ‘Ay-ohs’ – going higher and lower, until he held a really long ‘Ooh…’ during which the lights were put out! This led on to a gyrating performance of ‘Another One Bites the Dust’. Back with the guitar, Zac gave an excellent rendition of ‘We Will Rock You’ before the break for the auction.

  Around this point, Bernadette told me that Jacky had arrived, so, after re-assigning the task to which I had been appointed – the guardianship of the biscuit tin containing the door takings - I went to join her at the bar.

(For a picture, see the Fan Club page!)

 After the break, Zac returned with ‘Feel Like Making Love’, ‘Save Me’, ‘Get off of my Cloud’, and then performed an amazing guitar solo, finishing with ‘Last Horizon’, which was totally worthy of all the applause it received. The show continued with ‘Get Back’, ‘I’m a Believer’ and ‘Ruby Tuesday’, sung for his aunt!

The news that the auction had raised £947 was celebrated by ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ and a rousing rendition of ‘All Right Now’, followed by ‘I Want It All’ and ‘Hammer to Fall’, presented in the slow-fast version as on the concert tour.

After the raffle break, when, unfortunately, I didn’t win anything, Zac played keyboards to accompany himself for ‘The Show Must Go On’ and ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’.

  Bernadette then came on stage to announce that the evening had raised well over £2,000 – (in fact, she wrote to me afterwards that the figure by the end of the evening was £2,500!)

Zac played ‘Stairway to Heaven’ on his guitar, as an instrumental only, then with vocals he performed ‘Paint It Black’, followed by a brilliant encore of ‘We Will Rock You’, immediatelyfollowed by ‘We Are the Champions’, which set the place alight!  

  With his superb sense of showmanship, Zac then appeared on stage with a Union Flag wrapped around him, and led a spirited audience participation in ‘Is This the Way to Amarillo?’  

He was then joined on stage by his aunt, who took the part of the diva Montserrat Caballé for ‘Barcelona’. This was so successful that there was an immediate encore! At one climactic point in the song, Zac spontaneously jumped off the stage with a skill that would be the envy of many an athlete! I’d remarked earlier to Jacky that he had so much confidence, to which she replied that ‘confidence’ wasn’t the word for it. She’s right. Zac has a versatility that would elude a lot of musicians, and even some of the most talented miss out on that vital point of presentation. But Zac already has the stage presence to go with his talent; this is pint-sized panache with poise and passion, and the long list of songs forming his repertoire bears witness to all his hard work.

  At the end came a wonderful ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, after which I had to make tracks – Zac was doing an encore of ‘Last Horizon’ when I left. As I walked out into the night – it was already well after eleven, one thought returned to my head – it’s not lost on me that when I was ten, Queen hadn’t even released their first album! With all this, Zac is not the slightest bit pretentious or arrogant at all – he just loves Queen, and is totally focused on their music and on what he’s doing. So yes, I, for one, am hoping that he’ll do another gig next year, and even more that I’ll be able to make it then too!

For more about the Terrence Higgins Trust, click here.

05 Nov 05

© 2005 Now-im-here.com

The following pictures are all appearing courtesy of Bernadette Vincent:

Zac also played at a World Aids Day Service at Rochester Cathedral, December 2005: