29/05/00 - TOTP's LIVE, SHEFFIELD ARENA

Review by Steven Stanley:
Not only was I very fortunate for BA to come to my hometown when he wasn't even in a tour schedule but I was also very lucky to get tickets. When myself and my friend Michael found out about the Top Of The Pops show we decided to go only because the tickets were dirt cheap at £10. We booked the tickets when they went onsale expecting to see a bunch of pop shite (S Club 7, Moloko etc) and also Travis (who ended up cancelling) and Andreas Johnson who was ok the time! Basically we needed a new BA tour and was trying to fill our time. We thought nothing of it when we had booked the tickets anyway and carried on with our lives as normal.

Then, a matter of days before the show (the tickets had all soldout way before then).....BA was added as a headliner to the show. I THANKED MY LUCKY STARS I DECIDED TO BOOK TICKETS!!! We went to the show anyway and sat through an hour of pop pap before BA made an appearence. He performed the #1 dance track with Chicane 'Don't Give Up' which was cool to see because he has only performed that 2 or 3 times at an actual BA gig. At the end...BA and Mel C closed the show with 'When You're Gone'...which was kinda cool to see as well. As soon as we realised the show was over we rushed outside to try and catch BA leaving but didn't catch him. After an hour and a half we realised he must have gone because he only did 2 songs...it's not like he worked up enough sweat to warrant having a shower and backstage meal etc!

One new interesting fact from this show that we all saw as soon as BA walked onstage was his new haircut...it was now very short like the 'Into The Fire' era. I was actually listening to 'Radio 1' before I went inside and they had all the backstage gossip on the air. The DJ Chris Moyles (and also Jamie Theakston during the show) said that Ronan Keating (who had just been working with Bryan on 'The Way You Make Me Feel') was platting Bryan's hair! Then later he announced that Bryan had got his haircut by a very famous female (probably Mel C...though you never know, looked pretty professional job to me!) We will find out one day anyway! Anyway now you know when and where BA ditched his long hair!

Setlist:
Don't Give Up (with Nick Bracegirdle aka Chicane)
When You're Gone (with Mel C)

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Mel and Bryan

BA and Mel C close the show

The Arena is set alive when BA takes to the stage