Now I’ve played some odd, strange and wonderful venues in my time. Wine bars, Cathedrals, Amphitheatres in German Forests, The London Palladium, The Maerdy Workman’s Hall. As I walked onto the articulated flatbed truck stage on Thursday afternoon I was suddenly reminded of a concert I once played in Germany in the 1980’s.
On tour in Germany with ‘Trade Secret’
That invitation had come via a German agent who was a friend of some of the other players in the band. He’s a good guy, knows what he’s doing, and he always pays. Now you might think that last characteristic was a given but let me tell you there have been numerous times I’ve come to the end of a concert and then had to find and chase the promoter around the building to try to get some money.
That concert, over 35 years ago, was part of an outdoor festival at a US Army base in West Germany. When we arrived at the airport we were met by a platoon of enormous American soldiers in a couple of Army trucks. My first thought at seeing just how big they were was I was glad they were on our side. The other good thing was the gear we had struggled to carry through customs was taken from us, loaded onto the trucks and we wouldn’t see it again until we reached the stage.
Singing Electricity on the back of a lorry!
Ah, the stage!! As this was an outdoor army music festival the stage was the back of a tank transporter. There was no cover, or back or sides. The sun was burning down on us, but we set up and played through the afternoon heat, they all danced, whooped and cheered and then we all went off to join the queue for the barbecue and beer.
Thursday’s gig at H2 Bay on Fabian Way was part of the Hyppo Hydrogen Solutions EXPO25
‘a platform designed to spotlight advancements in hydrogen technologies
and their role in driving a sustainable future.’
CHRIS FOXALL CEO OF HYPPO Hydrogen Solutions on a recent trade mission to Japan.
As you probably know there is a bit of a crisis when it comes to energy and energy supplies. The war in Ukraine led to massive rises in all sorts of commodities especially energy. The climate crisis has led many people to try to decarbonise our economy with a rise in green technologies like wind turbines and solar panels.
A Hydrogen powered bus at Swansea University.
Here in Swansea there is an industry developing around Hydrogen which is seen as a way of moving away from being so reliant on fossil fuels. Hydrogen can power cars, buses, taxis and impact our use of power for heating and powering homes and businesses.
This might all seem new and cutting edge but to be honest Swansea has a remarkable place in the history of hydrogen technology and batteries. Swansea born Judge and part time scientist Sir William Grove was pretty good at inventing. He developed his first electric cell in 1839, a year later he invented one of the first incandescent electric lights, an idea that would later be perfected by Thomas Edison making Edison a fortune.
Sir William Grove (1811-1896)
In 1842 Sir William developed the first fuel cell. His cell produced electric by combining hydrogen and oxygen. It would be nearly a century later that the technology would find a commercial use. Since then the fuel cell has been used by NASA in its space programme.
As I walked across the back of the lorry and up to the microphone I wanted to pay tribute to Sir William Grove. I asked the EXPO25 crowd to stop for a moment and learn the lessons of the past. The first lesson was that it was possible to come from Swansea and be world leading. I wanted us to be inspired By Sir William Grove, to be creative and push the barriers of science to change the world. The second lesson was that all of the scientists and inventors present should have an expert patent lawyer on speed dial because if they came up with a world beating idea it would be great if they controlled the intellectual property and kept the work and wealth here in Wales.
The world of energy production is changing. You only have to look around to see the growth in the number of wind turbines across the skyline. Obviously its great when the wind blows but sometimes it doesn’t. What you need is consistent and reliable wind and off our coast here in Wales I’m told the wind is both reliable and in abundance.
Welsh based Dolphyn Hydrogen aims to be a world-leading green hydrogen innovator.
Another problem with wind turbines comes once you have created the Electricity, if you don’t use it straight away, how do you store it. Sometimes that electricity goes to waste as we struggle to build more battery capacity. One of the advantages of using wind turbines to create Hydrogen is that you can use old pipeline technology to transport it back to land and then you can store the gas in big tanks as we have done in the past.
Of course it’s all very well in theory but how does it work in practice.
At EXPO25 everything was being powered by hydrogen, the cars, the bars and also the stage. I’ve performed at any number of outdoor events and somewhere in the background there is always the hum of the diesel generators. These hydrogen generators run so quietly you have to wonder if they are actually on and the only waste product generated is water.
The hydrogen cars look good as well.
I had agreed to perform at EXPO25 a number of months ago but there was one other moment of serendipity at the event. It was sometime ago that I started work on a musical about the Richard Burton – Elizabeth Taylor Love Affair, the Greatest Love Story of the 20th Century. Realising that 2025 was the Centenary of Richard Burton’s birth earlier this year I looked through some of the songs I had written and decided to finish them off with an orchestra.
The song ‘Electricity’ tells the story of how the lovers know they are hurting a lot of people and that they should stop their affair, but their chemistry is so strong it feel like Electricity coursing through their veins when they are together, when they touch.
The record has been picking up a lot of play on radio stations across the country and last Sunday it went to the Number One spot in The Mike Read Heritage Chart. On a day when we were celebrating Swansea and Hydrogen it felt right to stand there on the back of a lorry and sing Electricity as a tribute to Sir William, Richard Burton and those trying their best to change the world and bring jobs and prosperity to Wales.