Hicksy
25-03-2003, 09:49 PM
Well where to begin? It all happened last night - despite not being well in the morning, after resting out i pulled myself together and headed into London. After meeting up with my friend at Waterloo and then a slightly confused tube ride across to East London and a much needed Pizza since I had not eaten properly all day (MMMmmmmm Pizza), we finally arrived near the Royal Albert Hall. After walking along Hyde park (a beautiful place at night with the lit statues), we finally came up to the Hall, which if you know it at all is quite a building!
Since I had never been to the Royal Albert Hall before, lets just say my jaw dropped when we got inside - the place is HUGE, its like being in an indoor circular version of a football stadium, only in the form of a theatre with stalls and tiers. Our seats were in the Choir East section which means that we were just above and around the side of the bands. What I later found out was that not only did we have excellent views of the whole stage, but Chris' piano would actually be facing us and at the best points of the gig we essentially got to see what the band could see - no wonder they keep saying they have the best jobs in the world - looking out at the entire RAH sold out and dancing is breathtaking!!!
I won't go into details of the opening act but essentially it was lounge music for parents. Not all bad and a fairly good mood setter but the lead singers sheffield drawl kinda made it a bit dull. And so there was a 20 minute stage change and then all of a sudden off went the lights and on came the intro music. To say I was excited is like saying that kids dont like candy and from the opening sounds of Politik I was bouncing up and down like a rabbit on speed :D
While I can't remember the whole set the highlights were for me: Ladder to the Sun, a excellent performance of Poor Me (I mistook it for Animals in the first few chords but then quickly realised what it was - that song is REALLY growing on me), Yellow (with the entire venue on its feet dancing and singing), The Scientist (I had to lean forward so my m8 didn't see my watery eyes!) and In My Place (everybody dancing again). Perhaps the only thing lacking was Gravity, and its made me determined to make a nice big banner to try and get it played at Earls Court :)
Chris' energy during the night was unbelievable, he was dancing all over the stage, spinning and doing his best impression of the Status Quo rock-out guitar throws. At the first encore on his return he even vaulted the piano! It was great to see but it could go soooo wrong one day - Chris keep some control m8 - we dont want u being taken off in an ambulance! The other boys really seemed to enjoy it too and they got a total standing ovation which was completely deafening as a send off :D
I left the gig feeling on top of the world, and my m8 who is not the biggest fan absolutely loved it too. This was right up there with seeing Radiohead at South Park. My conclusions where that I had just seen the best single band performance at a gig in my expereince of some 20 odd gigs :)
2 words: ABSOLUTELY MAGNIFICENT
I can't wait for the next one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Since I had never been to the Royal Albert Hall before, lets just say my jaw dropped when we got inside - the place is HUGE, its like being in an indoor circular version of a football stadium, only in the form of a theatre with stalls and tiers. Our seats were in the Choir East section which means that we were just above and around the side of the bands. What I later found out was that not only did we have excellent views of the whole stage, but Chris' piano would actually be facing us and at the best points of the gig we essentially got to see what the band could see - no wonder they keep saying they have the best jobs in the world - looking out at the entire RAH sold out and dancing is breathtaking!!!
I won't go into details of the opening act but essentially it was lounge music for parents. Not all bad and a fairly good mood setter but the lead singers sheffield drawl kinda made it a bit dull. And so there was a 20 minute stage change and then all of a sudden off went the lights and on came the intro music. To say I was excited is like saying that kids dont like candy and from the opening sounds of Politik I was bouncing up and down like a rabbit on speed :D
While I can't remember the whole set the highlights were for me: Ladder to the Sun, a excellent performance of Poor Me (I mistook it for Animals in the first few chords but then quickly realised what it was - that song is REALLY growing on me), Yellow (with the entire venue on its feet dancing and singing), The Scientist (I had to lean forward so my m8 didn't see my watery eyes!) and In My Place (everybody dancing again). Perhaps the only thing lacking was Gravity, and its made me determined to make a nice big banner to try and get it played at Earls Court :)
Chris' energy during the night was unbelievable, he was dancing all over the stage, spinning and doing his best impression of the Status Quo rock-out guitar throws. At the first encore on his return he even vaulted the piano! It was great to see but it could go soooo wrong one day - Chris keep some control m8 - we dont want u being taken off in an ambulance! The other boys really seemed to enjoy it too and they got a total standing ovation which was completely deafening as a send off :D
I left the gig feeling on top of the world, and my m8 who is not the biggest fan absolutely loved it too. This was right up there with seeing Radiohead at South Park. My conclusions where that I had just seen the best single band performance at a gig in my expereince of some 20 odd gigs :)
2 words: ABSOLUTELY MAGNIFICENT
I can't wait for the next one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!