Louis recently played a series of live gigs in the far east with stops in Hong Kong and Singapore. The photos shown below were taken by Hong Kong fan Vicky at the gig at the Hard Rock Cafe. Thanks to Vicky for sharing these photos, and the final photo shows Vicky along with Louis. Thanks! Accompanying Louis on keyboards is Rialto colleague Julian Taylor. All photos reproduced with permission. Click on the thumbnail for a larger version.

All photographs © 2004 Vicky from Hong Kong

I saw Rialto live twice in 1997 at Manchester University. As I mentioned in the introduction page, I did not take particularly good photographs as I was rather too close to the stage, and due to the smallness of the audience I figured I'd be too conspicuous and put them off if I wandered around in front of them looking for a better angle! Click on the thumbnail on the film strip for a full size photo.

All photographs © 1997 Caroline Griffith

After I'd seen them the first time, by coincidence the day after the gig I heard "When We're Together" on the radio and remembered how cool I thought they were. I bought the single that weekend, then I bought Untouchable and 5:19 when they came out. I was then lucky enough to find a 5 track sampler of the album.

After the second time I saw them I wanted to meet them to tell them how great I thought the gig was (and practically apologise for the tiny audience!). I followed them offstage at the Hop and Grape and Manchester University, and to my amazement no-one challenged me. I spoke to Louis and said something like "I hope you don't think I'm being cheeky, but I wanted to say how great the set was and ask if you'd please sign this album promo" - or words to that effect. The band couldn't have been more pleasant, and willingly passed around my promo for each to sign. Louis, with a sly grin, signed it "Caroline don't be cheeky"! At least the moment was personalised. :-)

Here's a scan of the promo:

In the unlikely event that Louis or the other band members ever see this, I'd just like to say thank you to them for being so considerate to me when they were clearly tired and dispirited after the poor audience showing. Their performance was stellar, and they sound just as great live as they do on CD. **

** Update: I wrote this article back in 2002, but I've since received email from Louis confirming that he has actually read the site, he likes it very much and he appreciates the effort I put in to creating it. I can't think of a nicer compliment, and my viewpoint that Louis and the band are the nicest guys has only been reinforced. All I can say is that my creativity is only inspired by his!