Rea Loaded - Saturday 17 January 2026 at Wolverley Club, Kidderminster

Rea Loaded
Tribute to Chris Rea

Neil Gordon on vocals and guitar
Ed Taylor on drums and backing vocals
Mick Lown on guitar
Dave Williams on keys
Pez Connor (Txi 4 Jesus) on bass

For four months now I have been part of a project called Rea Loaded which is a bunch of guys enjoying playing the music of Chris Rea and hopefully playing it well enough for others to enjoy it as well. Today we were in Stage Studios in Halesowen working through the songs in our set. We were playing one of the songs, Josephine, a lovely song which he wrote for his daughter. A sound engineer mate of ours was sitting by me listening to what we were doing and when we finished the song, he was looking at his phone. He looked up and said, "Chris Rea has died." It didn’t seem real but a few moments later the studio owner, Alan, put his head round the door and said, "Have you heard the news?" I know it’s crazy but it was like losing someone you know and hits you hard. Our drummer Ed met him many times on the F1 circuits but I never have….and sadly now never will. I would have liked to have known that he had heard us and hopefully approved of what we’re trying to do. All I can say is What a superbly talented songwriter and musician he was and I, for one get a great deal of pleasure playing his songs which are so well crafted

Wolverley Club