Monday 14 April 2008

Rockin' Out in London

Hey you :o)  How's you?  Did you have a good weekend?  Mine was alright, but I thought I would save that for another entry.............

Last time I promised you a travel diary entry and I've failed to deliver....well tonight I put that right...I don't like to think your missing out or something ;-)  So here it is.

Now to put you in the picture...your still in London watching the Foo Fighters at the O2 in London.  Dave and co are rocking out on the main stage...So let's carry on..........enjoy xx

After several rock out sessions, Dave began playing ‘Skin and Bones’ and made his way slowly down the catwalk. Trina started cheering and I couldn’t work out why. She pointed to the ceiling, coz there coming down from it was an acoustic stage all set up with instruments. Couldn’t get over how cool that was and the rest of the band followed Dave down the catwalk. Got excited now coz they were closer to us so the view was even better. The drunken guys in front of us didn’t like the slow songs and told us to be quiet and not to cheer during them but we weren’t going to stop coz it’s the Foo’s. Slow or fast neither of us was bothered!!

They performed several songs on this acoustic stage and during one Dave went to different microphones to sing it. First he was in the middle of the stage, then he was to the right and then to the left which I thought was pretty cool as everyone would get a chance to see him. At some point he introduced the band which was funny especially when he got to Drew the percussionist. He asked him to do a solo spot and picked the triangle for him to do this solo spot with. So Drew came to the middle of the stage and the crowd waited with anticipation. It was the best solo spot to come from any of the band members. One of the blokes in front of us turned round to us and said ‘he’s good.’ Then a couple of minutes later he said ‘he’s really good.’ That made us chuckle as he said it with so much honesty.

Whilst they were on the acoustic stage Dave said they wanted to do something different, something they have never done before,so they were gonna bring out some friends of theirs. Up until he had said they wanted to do something different Trina and I both thought it might be Roger and Brian, but considering they turn up at pretty much every Foo London show it wouldn’t be very different would it? I think we were both standing there holding our breath wondering what was in store, what treat was coming up. Neither of us could quite believe it when Dave screamed Brian May and Roger Taylor into his microphone. Trina and I literally started screaming, but then the whole place erupted into loud cheers, I had always dreamt of this moment and here it was happening right in front of me!! Everyone was turning round to look at us, but we didn’t care!! Roger and Brian made their way to the small acoustic stage and Roger sat behind Taylor’s small drumkit and Brian took an acoustic guitar and stood near the front.

Dave asked Taylor to introduce this part so Taylor went to one of the spare microphones on the right hand side and said that it was a song from A Night At The Opera and it was ’39. More screams from Trina and me. I ended up videoing it, Brian sang one verse, then Taylor did and you could hear Roger doing backing vocals for the chorus. I kept telling Trina to text Sarah our mad Queenie friend, which she did. I don’t remember anyone else around us singing along. Everyone seemed to enjoy it though and we went mad when they finished playing too. I really didn’t think I had any energy left in me to carry on, but luckily Dave hadn’t finished with the acoustics yet.

He played My Hero next and that was amazing. It seemed like the whole crowd were singing along and at one point it sounded like we were going to drown him out. After that they went back to playing the rock songs. If I remember rightly they played Monkey Wrench and All My Life, so Trina and I continued to rock out and our drunk little friends kept high-fiving us and they were now hugging us too!!

The band left the stage after those songs and we waited for the encore. During this time the bloke sitting next to me had lit a fag (so much for the non-smoking rule!!) It didn't take too long for the band to come back on stage. Dave said something and he promised us 5 songs. He asked what we would like to hear. One of the audience members asked for My Poor Brain (which is a brilliant song) and he said something about how he would have to practice it first coz he hadn't played it in such a long time, he promised he would play it the next night. (Gutted I missed that!!)

For the encore they played Wattershed, For All The Cows (which I knew Wayne would be happy about coz he loves that song), Weenie Beenie, But Honestly, and Best of You. It was such an awesome encore I was thinking this was the best gig I had EVER been too!!

During the encores my cute drunk bloke tried to put his body warmer back on and was failing miserably!! At one point he had put it on backwards, so I asked his friend what he was doing and he said he was a bit strange!! Trina was fed up with watching him struggle so helped him put it on the right way round. I am not quite sure why, but after about a minute he took it off again!! This time I couldn't watch him struggling, trying to get his arm through the arm hole, so I helped.........when he had it on, he insisted on giving me a hug (or was it a high-five!!)

The gig finished and we were on such a high!! I wanted to wait to let the crowds die down a bit, but a) we had to make our way back to Sheilas and we were dependant on the trains running and b) we had to meet up with Wayne. So we decided to leave, but first we had to say goodbye to our new friends. So we did, my little drunk bloke, had managed to find his seat by this point and leaned back in his chair with his lips puckered up for a kiss, so I obliged of course!! Just a quick peck, mind you, nothing else.....................

We made our way out of the seating area and back up the steps to make our way out to find Wayne, but when we got to the main corridor bit there were stewards blocking off the part between our door and Waynes so we couldn't get to him. We made our way back downstairs to the entrance of the dome and waited under some balloon thingys that were hanging from the ceiling. Unfortunately Wayne was making his way out of the door we had gone in originally, so Trina was trying to direct him to where we were and it was quite heated. As we waited (I was trying to stay out of this heated stuff) my ickledrunk bloke walked past but unfortunately either he didn't see me or he was ignoring me coz they walked passed!! Hey-ho there's always next time..............

About 15/20 minutes later, Wayne eventually found us, so we made our way to the tube station. There was tons and tons of people everywhere and they all seemed to be wanting to get the tube. There were stewards around though only letting a few in at a time!! We discussed the gig as we were waiting. Eventually we got into the station, brought ourselves some drinks and got the tube. I can't remember where we got the tube to but we had to change. Once we got to the right station (it was the last stop) so we all got off and went to find the tube to Liverpool Street Station. This confused us as the tube wasn't running to Liverpool St Station and we had to catch a main line train or something similiar. When we got to the right platform there was one waiting but decisions needed to be made and we didn't make it in time to get on it!! So we had to wait in the cold for another one and worry about our connection to Sheila's!! Again whilst waiting we discussed the show and browsed through our pics and vids!! Trina and I were still on a high about seeing Brian and Roger but the whole gig had been awesome!! At one point whilst waiting Trina and I spotted a bloke wearing a Queen t-shirt on the platform opposite. We tried to catch his attention but failed miserably, it was funny though.

Another train arrived about 20 minutes later and it was a good job we caught this one as there were only two more trains leaving Liverpool St Station that we needed. So it was either this one or one about an hour later. We figured we may as well rush and catch the one that was waiting and get food later. To rub in this decision there was a bloke on the train who was eating fast food. Trina and Wayne said they had seen him eat about 3/4 burgers, fries, onion rings and a whole lot more, what a pig!! This train seemed to take a while and Trina kept falling asleep, bless her!! Wayne and I sat there laughing at her as her head bopped up and down, how evil are we?

We finally pull into the stop we need and get off and meet Sheila in the car park - she's come to pick us up bless her!! We mention about food and Brian and Roger (which she is not amused about!) and agrees to look for a fast food place. Eventually she managed to find somewhere and Wayne gets out to get some chips. They were nice!! When he came back Sheila drove us back to her place. She is house sharing with some of Marc's friends and we met one (I think the other one had gone to bed!) We watched Spaced and Sheila made us some teas and coffees, we also got to see her bedroom and her pet rat!! Trina and Wayne slept in the bedroom, I had a sleeping bag or was it a duvet on one of the sofas. Before that though as we were watching Spaced, Trina feel asleep again, so we laughed about not being able to wake her up and Sheila wrote on her face............It was very funny, but aren't we evil?? Nah, probably best not to answer that!!

Next day we wake up (can't remember what time) and Sheila, who is hostess with the mostess, cooks us a fry up!! With our belly's full, she drives us to the station and we buy our tix and get on the train. She is spending the day looking round the shops and Wayne asks if he could tag along. He had a meeting in London the next day and I had suggested that as he was in London on the Sunday why did he not stay there instead of coming home. His boss had agreed that was a good idea and they had arranged for a hotel for him. Jammy beggar!! Anyway they came to Paddington with Trina and me.

We were catching a later train than the one we had booked on and Trina was freaking out about the ticket blokie asking for more money!! The whole train ride home was quite noisy as there was a group of people at the end of the carriage who had clearly been to see the Foo's too. One of the them didn't stop singing 'There goes my hero'!! At first it was quite funny, but after a while it got quite annoying as he didn't seem to know any of the other words!! As we were listening to my MP3 player I wanted to shout them at him or finish off the sentence. Trina thought the whole thing was funny!!

We pull into Exeter about 2/3 hours later. The ticket blokie had caught us but didn't charge anymore and told us that if we miss the booked train again we should go to the ticket office and explain the situation. Apparently that gets you off from paying the extra!! Good to know, especially when Queen tour, mind you I don't think we'll be taking the train as much as we did during the last tour.........anyway I'm straying off subject!! Trina wasn't sure how to get home, which would be the cheapest way. If she took a train back to Torquay she would have to get a taxi, but that would cost. So I suggested a bus and went with her to the bus station. She had to wait a while and I waited for a little bit with her (she brought me a pasty which was yummy) but I soon had to leave cos it was getting dark and I wanted to walk home. Luckily she didn't wait for much longer after I left her and we all got home safe and sound after another and dare I say it.............THE BEST gig any of us had ever encountered..................................

Foo Fighters ROCK!!

Sorry about the long entry again ;)

Well that's it for Foo London...............next diary entry will be Bill Bailey the comedian :o)  But I'll do a proper entry before that I promise.

Have a good week people xx

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You sure make a day of it don;tcha. Glad you all had a good time.

B. x

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you went to the best gig ever! I love seeing live concerts, it leaves you on a high for ages doesn't it?! Have a good week! Sorry I've not been around for a while, life has taken over! Jeannette xx  

Anonymous said...

Loved your story but I have to ask...what is a bloke? I mean, i know it's a person..but  does it refer to a dumb man/women or just any ol regular person who is not dumb?  Well, you know what i mean...don't you?   I feel dumb asking because I'm sure everyone knows that it is but me! lol

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful time you had ~ just wish I had been there with you ~ glad you got on the train OK and wern't charged any extra :o) ~ Ally x

Anonymous said...

Sounded so much fun. I made a wee mistake and mixed up Wayne and Dave! lol. Thought for a mo" said "Eh?" out loud, and re-read it again! lol. Wondered what wayne was doing parading down the catwalk! If I win really big serious money young lady, I will treat you, trina and wayne to something really special. You may have to shake hands with Brian or Roger tho! Would you manage that? lol. I have visions of you all with legs of jelly! lol. ;-) Love Pam xx