Celebrating the 40th anniversary of No Parlez, Paul Young has been touring his latest memoir Take A Piece Of Me With You (so it’s not meat like I thought as a kid) across the UK.

One stop was in Gloucestershire in our lovely town of Stroud. The Subscription Rooms in Stroud was full of some of the most excited fans I have ever seen as they all took to their seats with Paul Young merchandise eagerly awaiting for the Behind The Lens show to commence.

The Stage was set up beautifully with comfy chairs, a table, his jacket from his No Parlez album cover (and yes it still fits him) and two microphones, guitars set for some music.

No support, Paul Young and guitarist Jamie Moses took to the stage. As well as being his guitarist and a member of his Americana/Tex-Mex group Los Pacaminos, Jamie was the man interviewing Young and discussing lot of fun facts and funny experiences.

A memoir book out now titled Take A Piece Of Me With You it would definitely be worth a read to give yourself a good giggle here and there as well as trips down memory lane and behind the scenes facts you may not know.

What a career Paul Young has had though! So many hardcore fans in the audience, I felt like I was the only one who only knew bits here and there. However, that is what I was here for, to learn, to hear music and to have a good time regardless of my fan status.

The entire evening was thoroughly entertaining. Attendees were obviously aware beforehand that this wasn’t a concert but more of a talk so the fact he only played a few songs wasn’t an issue! What a great way to connect with one of your favourite artists though. That was the beauty of this event – you wouldn’t get this sort of intimacy at a concert. Paul and Jamie connected with the audience as if they were chatting amongst friends. There was no ego and Paul was relaxed and cheerful and really quite humble when he spoke of his past and all the experiences he had. These experiences were amazing too! Name dropping and not in an arrogant way, people such as Stevie Wonder were mentioned and he played us a recording that Stevie sent to him about playing on his song.

We heard stories of bis previous bands and about being on the Band Aid song and how that came to be. We heard about performing with Queen in tribute to Freddie Mercury and so many other big names he has worked with. Young spoke of all these moments as if he just “got lucky” rather than it being down to his undeniable talent.

One of the stand out moments of course was the story behind Toast and what a funny story it was! I don’t want to ruin it so will say to go to the tour or read the book!

The music was great too! We were treated with different versions of some of his songs and got a glimpse of Los Pacaminos at times. One song that was interesting to hear about is how Love of The Common People was originally (before Young cut it) a country song. The song was written as by John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins in the late 60’s and was first released in January 1967 by The Four Preps but gained more traction when it was recorded by Waylon Jennings.

It was warming to see Paul reflect on these memories with such joy and such enthusiasm. Some of them he cringed at but most of the stories told he was gleaming with excitement. As a country music fan, I loved the story about meeting Glen Campbell backstage at one of Campbell’s shows and both singing Rhinestone Cowboy in a Donald Duck voice that they could both do. He regrets that it was never recorded. Can you imagine how brilliant it would be to have a recording of that?

The audience got to ask questions at the end by putting their questions in a box and by the end of the show, Paul answered most of them. The majority of questions were hilarious which made the show end on a real high!

If you are a fan of Paul Young then the Behind The Lens tour is a really good night out! It’s a rare show full of fun stories and good times and a great way to get up close and personal with the man himself. He even does meet and greet packages on the tour.

The tour is still on so check out dates here

We also spoke to Paul last year about his band Los Pacaminos. Check it out here