Sheffield, England
Concert.
The concert was held in the City Hall, a big quarried stone building with columns out front, and some great people milling around in the lobby.
The obligatory greetings, and introductions were done, each of us with our funny accents, and off we go to find our seats. As is the new custom in most venues I have noted recently, we were not allowed in to the theatre itself until 30 minutes before show time. I was never asked to show my ticket once we had entered the venue, and I went directly to my seat, no pesty security guard or ushers requesting me to show them proof that this was actually my seat. perhaps there was no one there to provoke such behavior?
I had a seat that could induce a case of the vapors in some fans, and has been known to cause others to go apoplectic.I did neither, I was loaded up with cough suppressants to prevent a certain someone from thinking I was contagious, but he coughed and sniffled throughout the concert, even dribbled water out his mouth, and was so close to the edge of the stage, that I probably caught his cold. Or some of the dribble.
The stage was low and the microphones were close to the edge. So low was the stage, that standing at it, it was below my bosoms, so that my eyes were looking slightly above knee cap level, if I looked straight on, so I looked up.Oh my, there was a set of sparking eyes looking back at me. oh my again. I got weepy as the concert started, having been so ill the last time I saw any of these people. I had truly thought I was dying, and as it turned out, I was in danger of death, that I had come to terms with never seeing them again. So, even though I now knew I am not in danger of impending death, and had spent the past 24 hours travelling to get to this place, I still got a tiny bit moist eyed. I hope they were glad to see me, too, if rock stars held any affection for a fan.
The set list was the usual, without any surprises.
Stand Out songs were
You and Me, with extra twiddly bits of guitar and a very pleased guitarist.
Say it With Love, no chest baring, but there was a brief attempt at collar adjustment.
Nervous, beautiful
NIWS he did himself proud
IJAS exciting.
They played a technically fabulous show, were very smiley and bouncy the entire time, didn't appear to tire or falter at all, well done.
Nottingham Saturday June 15, 2012
The City is a hilly lovely place. It was a wild Saturday in Nottingham, naughty weekends for a lot of folks. We had a stag party arrive, with the groom dressed as Sponge Bob Square Pants, and we also saw a clump of seamen.
We ate Indian food a few hours prior to the concert, and then hoped everyone else did, also so no one would notice.
Our hotel was a short distance away from the venue, and we braced ourselves against the ice cold chilly June wind and set off for tonights adventure in music. The venue had more than one event going on, and there were multiple announcements instructing everyone to go to what door for what event. The audience was the usual mix of males and females, mature and polite.
Inside, the venue was that continental seating without a center aisle that I dislike so much. Once seated, one must disrupt several dozen people if one needs to leave ones seat, and that is not fun, if it is your toes being stepped upon. My seat was in the third row. pesky microphone in the center again, spoiling a bit of my view. The Stage was again, low, 4 feet, small, so that there was not a lot of space between the players, and the microphones were right up front, less than 2 feet from the edge of the stage.
Nothing new in the set list department, but then, iwasnt expecting anything new, and I've become quite fond of several of the older songs. They came out, hit their marks, and started out well. Both lead singers sang the same verses at the same time to Gemini Dream, which was lovely, but I do like it when its out of sync. All of the people on stage were well lit, and looked beautiful, and the appeared to know some people in the audience base on their waving and smiling, winking and there was a blown kiss at one point, but I won't mention which bass player blew it to which continental fan. I could see the blueness in the guitar players eyes for most of the concert, they were open wide, and looking out at the audience, sometimes I even looked back. This concert was better than Sheffield, it had a bit more heart in it.
Stand out songs
You and Me
more guitar twiddly bits and someone was quite pleased when he was finished.
Nervous
Every note sung was heartwrenching and poignant, very emotional tonight
IKYOTS
The lost verse is still found, I do wish that they could put in both verses.
Driftwood
lovely
IJAS
Woo woo woo someone was making a lot of woo noises up on stage, while winking at the ladies, and playing a hot bass line, while the guitar player actually kicked his right leg during some of the woo's. wow. who knew they had it in them? I did, but I am not telling.
NIWS
Very personal tonight, eyes open when he sang at the audience, not at the ceiling.
Question
sounded louder and faster to me, or maybe my ears finally popped.
RMSS
Some older folks let go of their Zimmer Frames and really rocked out.
The audience was very appreciative. The usual suspects were up after every song to clap, and we were joined in by others as the concert rolled along, culmimating in a group stand for Question and RMSS. But I can name almost evryone who was up for IKYOTS and IJAS, and so can the Band.
The lead singer introduced the Backups, and told the audience that he refused to give the junior drummer back.
Great loud cheers for all 4, and they took their group bow at the end, followed by the Big 3. Very well done. I could do this almost every night.
