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11/09/04 - WHITFIELD STREET
STUDIOS, LONDON Review
by Ruth Darby I got all excited and with nothing planned for that Saturday I asked Chris if she and Jess would mind if I also met up with them. It was a great chance to get to know both of them as I talk so frequently to them on chat but have never seen either of them. So early Saturday morning I hit the “Open Road” and travel the 137 miles to meet the girls. Never one to miss out on the golden opportunity of spending hubbies money I planned it so that I got into London early enough to take in a few hours shopping on Oxford Street too. A few successful hours later – I returned to my car to drop off the goodies and then got a taxi to Goodge Street Tube Station to meet Chris and Jess. Whitfield Street Studios were literally around the corner from our meeting place. We had agreed to meet at 12.30pm, but I was a little early due to being so keen to get there on time, so I texted Chris and said to her that I was early but that I’d wait at the station until they got there. A few moments later Chris appears from a different corner to meet me but no sign of Jess. They had already been outside the Studios for the last quarter of an hour and Jess was keeping guard just in case Bryan arrived while Chris came to meet me. Chris and I then went back to Jess and we stood at the Studio door patiently waiting and getting to know one another. (Thanks girls for a great afternoon). As we were stood there some of the competition winners were being brought to the studios by chauffeur driven cars. As they got out – they all asked us the same question:- Are you here for the Bryan Adams gig, what time do the doors open. Of course we hadn’t a clue as we had no information other than we knew that the gig was supposed to be at 4pm. Most of these winners then went off for a stroll around and came back later leaving Chris, Jess and I to wait it out until Bryan arrived. Don’t ask me how but Chris had managed to get her hands on 3 copies of “Open Road” before they went on sale on Monday. She said lets hope we can get Bryan to sign these for us. I already had my copy in my bag of the radio edit which I bought off E-bay a few weeks before. So now I had the dilemma – if Bryan did stop to say hi and to sign a few autographs which one do I choose for signing? We waited and waited but no sign of Bryan. While we were stood there waiting one of the sound technicians came out of the studios and asked if we had tickets to get in, to which we had to admit that we hadn’t, we were just waiting to see Bryan arrive. But then excitement turned to hysteria as he said that he would let us get in to see the gig. We couldn’t believe it – our waiting around had really paid off – big time. The line of people waiting started to get longer and longer and due to us being there all afternoon we were first in the line. Some people are just so ungrateful and don’t deserve to be winners you ask yourself why they even bothered entering the competition – at 3.45pm two women walked up the street towards us and asked the same question as the others … Is this the Bryan Adams gig – what time do the doors open. So we replied 4.00pm to which they replied we ain’t waiting that long lets go back to the pub, and off they marched. No sign of Bryan and it was now 4.00pm and the doors were being opened up. This was it we were really on our way inside. As we got up to the Reception desk they handed us a guest pass to hang around our necks, gave us some drinks tokens and then showed us the way to the Studio. I couldn’t believe it, we were standing right at the stage with no barriers. The stage had got to be 4ft 6 high (as if we needed to be looking up at Bryan in awe, I think we all already do!!) We were stood there for around 30 minutes while the studio filled up but I would say that there were no more than 150 – 180 people in there. There were other baddies there too; I also got the chance to meet Voddy and Mandy- nice to have met you both. Always good to put a face to the people you are chatting with. Suddenly the cheers went up and Bryan walked out onto the small stage. He sat down in the solitary seat that he been placed there for him with his lyric stand in front of him. You could tell he that he was a little nervous without the dudes there to back him up. He said his hello’s and then went straight into “Room Service”. I can’t say that it seemed strange to hear it as acoustic because I had never heard the song live before anyway. Chris, Jess and I were all in fine voice singing along, we got that carried away that at the third chorus we missed out the extra bit Bryan adds in, “It’s the closest thing I ever get to home” and we fled straight into “It’s only rooooom service”. Bryan looked down at us, smiled and then waggled his finger and laughed at us for getting it wrong. What did he expect, we’ve only known the song a few days and there he is with the lyric sheet in front of him (he only wrote it!!!!! Lol) Bryan
really picked up on the enthusiasm of the audience and there was loads of banter
and laughing going on.
Next came “Back to You”, always a favourite of mine and at least it was a song that most of the audience could sing along to. “Open Road” was next on the list which was greeted with cheers aplenty. First time, that I’ve ever seen Bryan play the harmonica live which was a real treat for me! Moving from guitar to harmonica and still finding the breath to sing with effortless ease. After this, Bryan asked the audience if they had heard any of the new tracks and when some of us shouted yes he as asked if we had downloaded them from the internet. My favourite track from Room Service was next on the agenda – Why do you have to be so hard to love, and after hearing it live it confirms that this is truly the best track on the album for me. Just watching Bryan’s face as he sang it – so full of meaning, I could even see the hairs standing up on his arms. Next was “Not Romeo, Not Juliet”, how good was this? We were still singing along to the bits that we knew giving Bryan our moral support. “This side of Paradise” was excellent, another true classic. Only trouble was half way through one of the guitar strings snapped, Bryan’s face was a picture. Now we know why he thought the guitar sounded out of tune. He was laughing and said that he had bought the guitar from a pawn shop. Lance came on stage and changed the guitar for him. Because it was near the end of the song when the string snapped he asked us if we wanted to hear the song again – to which of course the audience shouted a resounding “Yes!” We were so fortunate to hear this song twice. This lead to “Flying” – which is great on the album, but when you hear this song with just an acoustic guitar and Bryan’s voice, it just doesn’t get any better than this. After finishing this song, Bryan stated that this was the part of the show where he left the stage and then came back on to do an encore – but if we didn’t mind he wouldn’t bother leaving he would just stay there to do the encore, which was “Summer of 69”. We all went wild, what better way to end an acoustic session. When Bryan had finished saying his thanks to the shouting and applauding of the audience, we held up our Open Road CD’s, he came right over to me and signed it for me, then Chris and then Jess. He ran off with my pen to sign everyone else’s items. He truly was in the best of spirits and he signed as many autographs as he possibly could. Nothing was too much trouble. After he had finished he went off stage to more clapping and shouting. He put my pen down on the lyric stand so I begged the guy on the stage to hand it back to me for treasured keeping which is now safely tucked away with all my other treasured items. I can tell you that I came away from those studios as one ecstatic woman. Thank you Bryan for a wonderful afternoon and the biggest thanks to Chris and Jess for letting me join them for a great time to remember. I had set out for a day just to meet some baddies, maybe catching a glimpse of Bryan and ended up with and afternoon full of memories that will stay with me for a very long time. Setlist: | |||
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All pictures by Jess Cohen
Bryan sits down for a rare acoustic set
Bryan up close |
