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09/05/07 -
BIRMINGHAM NEC Review by Steven Stanley:
The show started as expected ('There Will Never Be Another Tonight' on the b-stage may now be routine for regular gig goers... but it's certainly never boring!) and Bryan kicked out the first 3 songs at the back of the arena. After all this time you'd expect people to know about the b-stage... but a few lines into the first song and loads of people near the front of the mainstage were wondering what the hell was happening and where infact Bryan was singing from! I got a high five off him as he walked through the audience while singing 'The Best Of Me' and the main show kicked in. The 'This Time'/'Open Road' switcharound took another turn tonight as BA opted for the latter track... sounded great as well although he's started skipping the second verse on that track as well like he does with so many of his others.
He briefly talked about the new album and said he's got one song to finish and it should be done in a month and out by the summer... I'd say thats optimistic! 'Kids', ''69' and 'The Only Thing' really rocked the main set and were absolutely fantastic.
Surprise of the evening was a performance of 'Gimme Some Lovin'' in the encores on the mainstage... this was originally done by 'The Spencer Davis Group' and was written by Steve Winwood who hailed from Birmingham. However BA introduced the song as "this is a tribute to Birmingham's finest.... STEVIE WONDER!"... no one cottoned on though!
As 'Run To You' started to come to a close I started to head for the seated area as I knew the band were coming on to the b-stage next... I pretended I was off to the toilet and quickly dived past security, down the aisles and to the stage just in time for Bryan to come on and start singing 'There's Gonna Be Some Rockin''. For the first time in 10 months (I believe Wurzburg last July was the last time) 'C'mon Everybody' was played and it was great to see. 'I Got A Woman' was dropped tonight... but it's great to see him mixing it up. Once again, he ended acoustically with 'Straight From The Heart' and 'All For Love' on the b-stage. We quickly saw Keith afterwards and he gave Chelsey his bottle of 'Corona Extra' lager... which I gladly took a drink from! After a nightmare journey getting there, the setlist really did treat us tonight... it just gets better. Who knows what a double-header at Wembley (including a 25th arena headline show) holds in store for us along with Sheffield. Highlight tonight was definately 'Gimme Some Lovin''.... Gary's organs to start the song along with Norm's thumping bass line, the guitar work from the boys and BA's quick raspy vocals make me wonder why they don't make this a b-stage regular. It suited him down to the ground. As the rain poured down and I was on my way home, I really was "so glad I made it!" Setlist: *********** Review by Maria and Moya: Maria: Moya met me at the airport and we drove the 40 minute drive to Rotherham where I was to stay with Moya and her family. It was around 11pm when we arrived so we had a drink and went straight to bed ready for our journey to Birmingham the next morning. We set off at about 8.30 am, after filling the car up with petrol ready for our drive. Last time we drove to Birmingham to the NEC, two years ago, it took us forever because we were held up in a traffic jam. Not this time however, we were there in record time, just one and a half hours. This time, because of the length of time it took us to get there and back, Moya had booked us in the Crown Plaza, just two minutes walk from the Arena. We walked into the hotel, hoping and praying that we would be allowed to check in. It was only around 10am and Moya had been told that we could not check in until 2 pm. We walked in as though we owned the place, and asked confidently if we could check in. The answer was a categoric “NO”, but after a few minutes the receptionist decided to check the computer, and hey presto! there was a room available for us. We were ecstatic and took our cases to the room and after a quick freshen up we walked through the bar area, out of the back door and headed to the arena. The receptionist had told us how to get there quickly after she was visibly shocked when we told her we were going straight to the arena to wait for the night’s concert. On the way to the arena we tried to guess how many
people would be waiting before us. We guessed at 50. To our surprise
and happiness, we saw there were less than this, and when our numbers
were given to us, we were 27 and 28. Although we are always sceptical
about the numbering system, we were pleased and thought maybe, this
time, we would get a really good place!!!!! The afternoon didn’t drag really, Maria and I were fascinated by the amount of food consumed in one afternoon. All around us, people were eating constantly. One sandwich after another, one bag of crisps after another, one sausage after another. It was quite tiring really watching all the eating. It made me feel so hungry all the time. MARIA The rain started around 3pm. We decided to go back to the hotel to freshen up, comb our hair and get ready for the evening’s performance. This was all a waste of time, because after we left the hotel once again to join the queue, it p.............................oured down with rain. We began to feel like drowned rats. Our hair was stuck to our head, even though we were wearing waterproofs. Mine wasn’t too bad, but Moya was soaking. Her waterproofs “weren’t” so to speak. Around five we were put into our numbered places. Things were looking good. Would this be the day when we got a good place? At around 5.30 we were let inside, without showing tickets, or bags, or anything. Once inside, we were separated into two queues, and we made a decision to go on the left. Things still looked good. We recognised the steward from the last time at Birmingham, when things were not so good for us, but we blotted this out of our minds, because it would be different this time. Moya asked if we could take in our small bottles of water. They told us it would be fine so long as they were plastic bottles. This was good, because we know how thirsty and hot it gets when you are jumping around like we do. When the time came to go inside the arena “proper” we went forward towards the steward confident that we would be quick because we had no bags to be searched, just clutching our tickets and our plastic bottles. To our horror, the people in front of us must have had enormous cases, because it seemed like hours whilst their bags were searched. We were becoming more and more agitated by the minute. Things were taking a turn for the worst!!! Now it was my turn. I walked forward confidently, knowing that this would be quick. However, the steward, in her wisdom, took three attempts to put on a wrist band. A wrist band!!!! what was this for? This seemed to take ages. The right hand queue was now passing me by whilst I stood there helpless. Moya was getting more and more agitated behind me. I stepped forward, still clutching my ticket and bottle. Moya followed me after her ordeal with her wrist band and we ran to the right trying to find the way in. We were directed to the ticket steward, who once again, took forever to tear our tickets. Things were about to get worse. We rushed forward, directed by barriers to the bottle stewards, who asked for our bottles of water to be poured into a plastic glass. I looked ahead and saw “shed loads” of people stood at the front of the stage. I called out to Moya “Where have all these people come from”. Moya was in front of me at this point and when she was asked for her bottle to be poured into a plastic glass, she threw it, with force into the green bin, muttering that she hadn’t time to wait. I handed my bottle to the steward and ran after Moya. MOYA Once again, here I was at the right hand side of the stage next to people who had come after the numbering had stopped. I was really cross. Maria arrived next to me, also very cross. Next, came the bottle steward with a glass of water in his hand which he handed to Maria. I was shocked. He looked at me and asked me if I wanted my water, then I had to go back to him, where he would retrieve my bottle and pour it into a glass. My answer wasn’t repeatable. I told him I did not want my water, and that the whole scenario was a farce. How come, once again, Maria and I were behind everyone else. Is this a plan? Do people see us and think “How can we hold these two up”. I must have looked so angry, that the person next to Maria, told me that I didn’t look very excited. Well at that precise moment, I wasn’t!!! After a while and a glass of wine, I did calm down and decided that, it was better to be there, than at the back anyway. We could however, have arrived at 6.30 and stood more or less where we were. We did wonder whether or not to head for the B stage, but as we couldn’t see it, we thought it wasn’t happening this time. As it turned out, the stage must have been set between the seats at the back, which we missed, because of the bottle steward incident!!! The steward in front of us, just behind the barrier
told us that Bryan would be singing “The Best of Me”,
arriving from the back walking around the side and walking in front
of the barrier. Later he had the set list in his hand and hid it
from us, but after a while let us look at the set list. We felt
important, but he showed it to everyone else as well!!!! We just
needed to feel important at that moment. We were hoping that there
would be some surprises on the list, but there were none. Never
the less, we were excited to hear the songs, because Maria and I
hadn’t been to concert since last July in Norwich. (Where we
waited in the wrong line!!!!!!!)
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Pictures by Steven Stanley (more to come)
Bryan rockin' out during '69
More b-stage action!
'There Gonna Be Some Rockin''!
Bryan on acoustic
Birmingham has it's own water fountain like the 150 foot one we saw while on tour in Geneva... except this one is 2 foot tall and can be bought at B&Q for £17.99
Cool picture of Mickey I captured from one of the screens |
