Part 10 - Wembley the end!!

Hi Everyone!!  As my favourite site is having an upgrade at the moment and not accessible I thought I would finish off my story.  Plus I'm off out tomorrow - going to Trina's to stay and then I have Monday and Tuesday off work and determined to enjoy myself.  Just checked out the weather forecast and it's showing sun for tomorrow go yay everyone I shall explain more probably on Monday!!  Also I need to relax as I have an interview on Thursday aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh............. panic!!  LOL.................Everyone at work is being optimistic I'm gonna get it but I don't share their enthusiasm especially after the day I've had today!!  Still we'll see.......................Onwards and onto part 10!!

11/05/2005 - WEMBLEY PAVILLION - LONDON

Trina and I had a night at home away from each other (at long last - nah just kidding ;-) after Sheffield.  On the 11th we met up vaguely around 9ish and made our way to the train station.  We weren't panicking about this gig as it was an all seated venue.  No queueing - it felt well weird!!  Got onto our booked train later than expected coz it's been delayed.  Just outside Taunton the train manager tells us that the brakes are causing a safety mechanism to be activated every time and therefore the train could not continue so we had to get off in Taunton and wait for the next one.  I can't tell you how relieved we were that it happened that day and not for any of the other gigs.  To be honest I think that's probably the first time we've ever had that kind off thing happen to us.  On the platform we decided to get the next train, even though it was stopping EVERYWHERE!!  I also tried to ring mum but she wasn't answering...........grrrrrr.....lol.........

Finally get to London around 3ish, and make our way to Wembley by tube.  Neither of us had been there before and I had forgotten to bring my A-Z with me so I had a feeling it wasn't gonna be easy to find the hotel.  I had assumed it was like 5 seconds away from the stadium.  Anyway on the way to Wembley wemeet up with Alessia who happened to be catching the same tube.  It was great to see her again, as we hadn't since Newcastle!!  Once we got to Wembley we departed company from Alessia who was going straight to the pub to meet up with the guys.  Trina and I had to check into our hotel.  Problem was we'd gone to Wembley central or something like that and the hotel was quite a walk away from there.  After walking one way and then the other and finally asking a policeman (i think) we try to catch a bus.  LOL.........What a nightmare!!  Being from a town were busdrivers actually issue you with tickets we assumed bus drivers in London do this.  The first bus we tried to board wasn't very helpful and told us he didn't go where we wanted, even though the sign said he did.  We get a ticket from one of those help yourself machines and manage to board the next bus, missing the closest stop to our hotel completely!

Eventually we find the hotel and we're quite impressed!!  Dump our bags and get straight back out to find the pub.  The forum at Queenonline were all meeting up there.  So we get back onto a bus going back towards the way we'd just come.  We get further than we think and finally realise we've gone the wrong way!!  Get off this bus, cross the road and catch another (luckily we'd brought a day ticket!!) Finally make it to the pub - god knows what time!!  Everyone is there, Vern, Julie, Sarah, Gavin, (Cat didn't go she wasn't well), Jamie, Alessia, Andy, Pierre and his mum, Brigitte, Loretta, Michelle and loads more!!  It was certainly a Queen filled pub.  Jamie and Alessia put some music on the jukebox and suddenly there's a Queen singalong :-)  Sarah had been drinking vodka (i think) and was rather tipsy   It was a great opportunity for photos - which I'll show you in a different entry!!

At around 6 or was it half past (i really can't remember) the group made it's way down to the pavillion (or tent as it has been renamed!!) It was a shame at this gig because it was seating we weren't sitting together.  But it was such a laugh walking down to the venue, we were all being rather loud singing 'amarillo' shouting 'blond bloke' at the guy from Birmingham (i forgot to tell you about him - his real name was Paul but they didn't wanna call him that so he was known as blond bloke :-)  Seeing the Freddie type mosiac thing on the wall and cheering at it lol..........Got to the venue and we all split up and went our seperate ways.  Trina and I found our seats but weren't amused about them........we were to the left of the mixing desk and the stage was sooooooooo far away!!  But we made a promise to enjoy ourselves no matter what.......and we did!!

As soon as Eminems Lose Yourself came on we both stood up and remained that way for the rest of the gig, dancing, screaming as loud as possible so they will at least have heard us :-)  At one point I think it was during Brian's Love of My Life or just after I shouted 'Brian' really loudly and I got this look from some people who were sitting opposite us.  I just looked at them back and said 'What?? that's his name!!' Trina laughed at that one!!  Brian and Roger both moaned about the venue - well it was a pile of s***!!  To be honest with you.  We couldn't even have made a mad dash to the front coz the security people kept coming round to tell us to get out of the aisles.  grrrrrrrrrrrr.............Eventually these two kids who were in the row in front of us left their seats and when they came back they didn't return to their seats they stood in front of us, one of them must've been about 6ft, I mean for crying out loud........I couldn't see a thing and it was making me more peed off by the second.  It wasn't the fact that they were kids or that they were taller than me, but when someone blocks my view I would expect them to be getting into it and having a great time.  They didn't even move!!  There was a row of blokes behind us and they didn't clap, sing, dance or anything - just stood there with their arms folded!!  There was a couple opposite us who stood there kissing throughout the gig.  People were even still being shown to their seats long after the gig started - what's up with these people??   The only person to impress us was this elderly lady (must've been around 60ish) who was getting into the gig.  Bless her!!  Unfortunately I cannot provide you with highlights coz although the gig was good I don't have any!!  Apart from what I've already told you!!  Anyway here's a pic of what we saw.  I think Trina zoomed on this pic so it does look better than it actually was..............

When the gig was finished we all decided to meet by the mixing desk.  Whilst we were standing there waiting for Sarah, I turned round and there next to me was Roger's ex Debbie with one of their kids in her arms, looking very tired.  Some woman with reddish curly hair walked up to her and said 'is she out?'  Debbie responded, but I was so shocked to be standing next to her I didn't hear what she said, not that that's important anyway!!  We went to the other side of the mixing desk and saw James bless him :-)  Eventually Sarah, Gavin and Matt joined the rest of us who were going to find an open pub.  Sarah was being VERY noisy and kept screaming.   It eventually translated that not only had Roger finally looked at her but he had also touched her hand :-)  She was extremely happy about this!!

The gang walked back to the pub where we had started from but unfortunately they were closing.  They told us about some pub down the road that would still be opened, so off we set looking for it.  We came across a sports pub, but they were closing too.  Found the pub this guy had been talking about but they too were closing (well it was Wednesday afterall..........)  The gang decided to get the tube back to the center of London and find a pub!  Trina and I didn't wanna risk the tube back to Wembley at that time of night and decided to bid everyone a fond farewell........it was horrible!!  To think that I was not gonna see some of these people again till Hyde Park in July and some of them not until I can afford to go to another convention.  *sob sob* 

Trina and I made our way back to the hotel and ordered room service.  A nice pizza arrived within half an hour and it went down very nicely!!  Next morning we went downstairs for some breakfast.  We had to have continental coz they didn't do a full english grrrrrrrr...........lol.........Then we left the hotel and decided to go and see Freddie's house.  We hadn't been there for years and I really wanted to see it again.  Whilst we were standing outside the occupant had their food shopping delievered, M&S it was lol!!  After a while we made our way back to Paddington and sat in a rather nice cafe and had some drinks and cake :-)  Got home around 5ish, Wayne gave me a lift home and that was it!!  No more tour till July............... 

Part 9 Sheffield

Hi j-land people :-)  Goodness me so many alerts I'm getting now coz everyone's pimping journals to read and they are all so good!!  Anyway just a quick question before part 9 - has any of you AOL people recently received an email with regards to billing information?  I'm not sure whether to open it or just delete it........be grateful if you could let me know - thanks peeps!!

PART NINE:  SHEFFIELD

Trina and I got up around 7ish (i think) and decided to stop downstairs for breakfast before we go to the venue.  Just when we were thinking we weren't gonna get charged for breakfast, we tell them what we want the waitress then mentions how much we have to pay.  This does not help my mood LOL........So we decide to stay, Trina ends up having toast and I had the full english only it was just stuff kept in metal trays that had probably been there all morning *eugh* and I ended up paying £9 for it!!  Still at least it set me up for the day even if I didn't want it.  We had asked the receptionist if they had a number of a 24hr cab company the night before so we called them and they turned up and took us to the venue.  The cab company was called 'mercury' LOL........the driver was nice he was telling us about the venue.  We got there about 9ish and there was already about 20 or so people there already.  The usual gang plus other people I did not know!  We joined them and there was a usual discussion with security staff about which door is closer to the stage.  Apparently they were gonna open every door at the same time (there were quite a few of them)  but somebody said the door on the other side of the venue was closest to the stage so the usual gang went round to wait there.  At least we wouldn't have people in front of us. 

The sun was out when we got there but it soon disappeared and started raining.  There was no shelter for us so we had to grin and bear it if we wanted to remain in the queue.  Sarah was still ill by this point and decided to go and sit in her car, Cat joined her.  Julie had her 'moon' chair and Vern had a chair too.  Jamie had pinched another blanket from her hotel room and was huddled underneath it.  I only had a jeans, t-shirt and my fleece on and the wind was howolling (not spelt right??!!) round with the rain coming down.  I went and stood under one of the trees that was nearby.  Trina went and joined Cat and Sarah in the car.  She kept urging me to do the same but I couldn't be bothered and was (although cold) quite happy were I was!  At one point to shelter from the rain I picked up Gavin's chair and put it on me head lol........What was also funny during this queue is we started talking about how cheesy Paul is!!

Everytime a new person joined the queue, they came round to our side of the building.  Monty (who had not been happy at Manchester) turned up, hoping he would get in ok this time.  Trina came round with food from Burger King a bit later, then much later the hotdog van opened and we all had hotdogs :-)  I ventured off for a walk at one point to use Burger King loos.  The venue was open for the blokes to use their loos but the ladies was inside and we weren't allowed in there.  Some of us managed to sneak in and see the stage being built, until some security person told us to get out.  LOL.......The Burger King loos were nasty and no toilet paper!!  But at least it got me in the warm for a couple of mins   Andy turned up later and had told Gavin not to laugh when he saw him.  All intrigued why, it was relieve to finally see what he meant.  He dyed his hair blond!-bless him!!

It was soon time for them to let us in.  Security told us where we had to go etc.......the queue was growing big style by this point and all the usual gang, well apart from Vern and Gavin were all starting to panic.  They gave the nod for us to go, so we ran up the steps and had to go through a turnstile type thing.  I was dead chuffed with myself coz I finally pushed my way through :-)  Then we had to go along to another door and the bloke let us in, down the walkway and some people were checking tix before they let us down the steps for us to get to the barrier.  Confusion reigned and they called Sarah and Jamie back.  It was a flippin' nightmare coz we could all see the barrier filling up.  Trina and I eventually got to the right hand side of the barrier by the platform.  All the gang were finally stood in a line altogether!!  It went Trina, me, cat, sarah, andy, gavin, jamie, vern, julie (I think!!)  Oh and Sarah's mates from Sheffield must've been there but I can't remember where *embarrassed look*

Not long before the band came on we were told that the gig was being filmed for video and TV.  We all knew it was being filmed but I had no idea it was for TV too.  Anyway I had a good gig, but I know a lot of the fans were disappointed, not just because the lights were on a lot of time over the audience but also because the audience didn't seem to be getting into it.  Sarah, Cat, Trina and myself certainly did and I only hope that people don't see that on the forthcoming DVD (possible release date of the 13th September) don't think we were just doing it for the cameras.  We weren't we had been to all the UK gigs and done the same.  Sorry I don't know why I'm trying to justify myself, I just wanted to voice that and here is where I do that a lot of the time :-)  Also before the band came on their head security came over to Gavin and Sarah and asked them not to throw the condoms.  They responded with 'have you told Roger?'  Basically if they hadn't he was bound to still ask if anyone had a condom.  Naturally he hadn't said a word to Roger so bargaining ensued.  Sarah said, 'give me roger and I won't throw them.'  I only asked for a drumstick I was obviously setting my sights far too low LOL.........In the end he gave up, coz he knew we'd throw them anyway ;-)

Ok so here's the highlights:  They were starting to play some good rockin' tunes before the gig such as Red Hot Chilli's etc....It was back to the full set list again.  Roger cut his drum solo short saying he didn't want to bore us.....I was not amused with this LOL.........There was a new running theme with him where he'd have a dig at Ginger Baker (Cream drummer), don't ask me what it was about.  Unless Roger tells us we can only speculate.  He messed up during the lyrics to These Are The Days, bless him.  Someone chucked a Tigger on stage and firstly Paul looked like he was gonna trip over it, then he saw it and picked it up and started singing whilst holding it to his mic.  It looked really funny like he needed his ickle teddy bear.........awwww......lol......he kept it by the way ;-) 

Whenever we are at these gigs Trina and I often have a conversation along the lines of: T-Oh my god did you see him look at you then? J-No darn it!!  (about Roger!!)  This time the conversation went:  T-Oh my god he looked at you then, J (grinning from ear to ear)-Yes I saw that!!  LOL........He finally looked at me during a gig, it only took him,...what, 5 gigs!!  LOL.........ah well he gets there in the end LOL........They played Under Pressure but said it was just for us there at Sheffield and wasn't gonna be on the DVD.  Condoms were thrown during Say It's Not True, then Brian came on to do his spot and sung Love of My Life and told us that Freddie's mum was there (sniff, sniff), :-(  Afterwards he mentioned about how there were a lot of condoms on the stage, picked one up and chucked it.................

  Guess who caught it LOL........I have Brian May's condom!!  I just put my hand up and caught it no problem.  I was really chuffed I'd caught it - don't ask me why, I guess I wanted to go home with a momento!!  I love telling people it's Brian's lol..............Anyway during We are the Champions Sarah, Cat, Trina and myself were filmed coz we'd all linked arms :-)  When the band came down to the platform at the very end all four of us did the 'we're not worthy' thing again.  Spike noticed and eventually Paul did and blew us a kiss :-)  Not a bad gig and can't wait to see the DVD ;-)

 

As we didn't take many pics at Sheffield - thought I'd share one of the lighting rig with you :-)

Not a great photo of it but I have chopped it a bit,it really was quite impressive!!

After the gig the gang dispearsed.  Trina and I decided to hang around and see if we could see anybody.  We did see Freddie's family leaving bless them!!  Eventually Michelle and the people she was with started running and a couple of them got into a car and drove off.  I said to Trina that it probably meant the band were leaving by the other exit.  I was right, so we'd missed them!!  We headed back to our hotel and got some sleep.........only Wembley left!!

I shall leave you there for now............Hope you all doin' ok!

Take care

Jen xx

Part 8 - Cardiff and the aftermath!!

Hi J-people!!  How are you all?  Today I'm not doing so good.  I don't know why I'm just on a downer and feeling quite lonely - yet when Trina rung I bit her head off.  (not literally LOL.......) *big sigh*  I don't know what's wrong!!  Coming down big time after the gigs I suppose.........So I thought I would write part 8 and cheer myself up reminiscing.  Before I do though I found this photo on the internet last night from Birmingham and you can see me in it

  On the left hand side you can see someone with an arm crossed and one hanging down - that's moi!!  Now you can see how close I was!! - Let me know if you can't see it very well and I shall attempt to mark myself out LOL...........Anyway........

PART 8 - CARDIFF AND MORE!!

So the band came on stage here's the highlights.  Feel Like Makin' Love and Show Must Go On were back in the setlist which was fantastic - I love that Feel Like Makin' Love song (but it does remind me of South Park - if anyone's heard the South Park album you'll know what I mean!!)  As you are all aware by now Roger comes to the front to sing 'Say it's not true' (that night we were standing right hand side of the platform).  Every night just before the band came on stage I would always say to Trina, 'Roger is gonna stand right there *points to platform* and sing facing this direction *points to myself*.  At Cardiff it felt as if this had finally come true!!  Seriously he stood in front of us and sang most of the song towards us, I know he wasn't really looking but it felt good at the time :-) When he turned round his hair looked quite funny coz it was sticking up on both sides LOL.........He did finally catch his drumstick *round of applause* and Brian looked at him afterwards.  At the end of the show when the band came down the platform, Funster, Fairy and I did the 'we're not worthy' thing.  Spike looked at us and smiled, not sure about the others.  The lovely steward bloke was tapping his foot and mouthing along during pretty much the whole show - bless him.  For the last two songs (we will rock you and we are the champions) he took his ear plugs out!  I really can't remember what else happened during this show of interest - for some reason I've written down 'funny dancing' but can't remember why - it may have been Jamie Moses but I don't know!!

 

Afterwards I asked the steward to pass me some of the condoms that had been thrown (where ever possible we reused them :-) He said 'I think I might keep these for myself, at least 10 minutes of fun there.'   I laughed and replied, '10 minutes is that all.' He did give them back!!  As we were chatting to all our mates he climbed over the barrier and Fairy took a photo of the group with him in it :-)  Nice man!!  A bloke called Pierre who had been standing near Trina and myself caught Roger's drumstick.  All us Roger fans wanted to touch it, he was very nice about that, if I had caught it there would've been no way I would've let anyone else touch it ha ha ha..........

(the rest of this tour diary will be written as new coz I hadn't got this bit done when the computer went wrong and I had to reload everything!!)

The gang made it's way outside and there followed a discussion about whether to 'hotel stalk'.  There was a rumour about which one they may be staying at.  In the end we just went round to the back to watch them leave.  Becky and (i think) Matt (who I forgot to mention earlier had turned up late to queue :-) had gone to get chips.  So we couldn't go anywhere without them, but Sarah and Funster went to get there cars, just in case!!  Unfortunately there was a lot of people leaving from the same car park so it took them quite a while to get round to the back of the venue.  I can't remember if Brian or Paul came out first.  I have a feeling it was Brian who probably waved again!!  When Paul came out he stopped the car and beckoned Gavin, Sarah etc over to his car :-)  Sarah told him that she loved his trousers and Cat fell in love with him coz he held her hand.  lol........I didn't go over, don't know why!!  I think partly coz I wanted to go hotel stalking and with Brian and Paul leaving the building I knew it wasn't gonna happen and that made me, not angry, but not happy either!!  I should've just got into a taxi and gone but Fairy and Funster were staying in the same hotel as us and they needed to know where it was - not that we knew but still!!  Roger's car eventually made it's way out of the gates.  I looked for Sarah but she'd disappeared.  Gavin and I shouted for her and as she was trying to cross the road she just missed his car and shouted at him and he waved at her.  Not long after Roger left I asked everyone if we could go so Trina, Fairy, Funster, Michelle and myself said goodbye to everyone and got into Funsters car.  What happened next was not a laugh.  (The rumour of the hotel was that it was down near St David's Bay, Brian confirmed this with a comment about how he had a lovely view of the bay from the hotel on his website grrrrrrr...........)

Saturday night in Cardiff it appears they shut off all the roads, especially the one we needed to drive down to get to the hotel.  Michelle was trying to read the instructions from multimap and Funster got angry.  Trina rung the hotel, the night blokie was foreign and didn't seem to understand that we didn't know Cardiff and the instructions he was giving were usless coz we couldn't go that particular way.  After about an hour or so the night blokie went to get someone who could talk english and he gave Trina some proper directions but the next problem was there was no parking near the hotel.  About a 10/15 mins later we parked up in some random car park and started to make our way round the hotel.  By this point we were all losing our tempers and Michelle walked away and got into some taxi.  We decided to carry on without her and if we lost her we didn't care!!  As it turned out she was in the bar at the hotel, so much for us sneaking her in!!  Fairy and Funster had another walk as they weren't in the same building - which annoyed them further.  Things for Trina and I didn't get any better either.  We get up to the room, only two beds, unlike the travel lodge in Birmingham which had three so that meant Michelle could have one!  This time though as we were paying for the room we didn't feel so nice and both took a bed each.  Unfortunately there was no spare blankets in the room, but we both gave her one of our pillows, and she curled up in the chair.  When I woke up a bit later she was perched on the end of my bed.  In fact she had woken me up, she'd got cramp in both of her legs.  Ouch!!

Next morning Trina and I were catching a bus home, and trying to work out what to do the next day for Sheffield.  We got to the bus station (still with Michelle in tow) and looked for a cafe to have breakfast in.  We found somewhere and had a lovely meal and a fab cup of tea.  Trina and I really enjoyed that relaxing.  Michelle left and went to a friends.  We went back to the bus station to wait for our bus.  We were both quite ill, but had decided that if we could get an extra night at the hotel in Sheffield we would travel up that night.  Whilst we were at the bus station we both started reading things, I glanced up once and this girl who had caught my glance called me a bitch.  I couldn't believe it I wasn't even really looking at her!!  This did not help my mood.  Eventually we got onto a bus that took us to Bristol, (there was a rather cute bloke on this bus who was wearing one of the let me live wristbands :-).  This was the first time we had travelled by bus, and I have to say I prefer the train.  It's so quiet on the bus!!  Once we got to Bristol we had to wait for the next bus to take us all the way home.  There was a queue, so we joined it in the end.  I noticed some people hadn't joined it and I was not going to let them get on before me so I literally pushed past them when the driver let us on.  I was quite impressed with myself!!

By 5pm we were home.  A quick trip to my flat, for Trina to meet up with Wayne and iron his shirts for work.  By 6pm we were off again and because of the trains back onto a bus, going back on ourselves to Taunton where the train was waiting to take us to Sheffield.  We got there at 11pm and checked into the hotel.  We both wished that the band were staying in the Hilton as we had a view of it from our hotel :-)

Tomorrow Part Nine - Sheffield.

Hope your all having a good weekend

Take care

Friday - something nice!!

Hi peeps - was sent this on an email and thought it was lovely so I thought I'd share it with you guys :-)  In case your wondering why I'm worried, it's because work received the applications for the post that's been advertised and mine should be there!!  I'm not feeling over confident about it - even when I posted the application but I guess we'll see............like Trina said if I don't get it, it wasn't meant to be - wise words huh?  Hope you all have a good weekend xx

Just a line to say I'm living,
That I'm not among the dead.
Though I'm getting more forgetful
And more mixed up in the head.

For sometimes I can't remember,
When I stand at foot of stairs,
If I must go up for something,
Or if I've just come down from there.

And before the fridge so often
My poor mind is filled with doubt
Have I just put food away?...or
Have I come to take some out?

And there's times when it is dark out,
With my night cap on my head
I don't know if I'm retiring
Or just getting out of bed.

So...if it's my turn to write you
There's no need of getting sore,
I may think that I have written
And don't want to be a bore!!

So, remember..I do love you
And I wish that you were here,
But now it's nearly mail time,
So I must say good-bye my dear.

There I stood beside the mail box
With a face so very red
Instead of mailing you my letter,
I had opened it instead!!

My bifocals fit - my dentures are fine
My hearing aid works...but ..I do miss my mind!!!

Part 7 - I want to go to bed!!

 Hi everyone!!  I shan't waffle on today - although Pete has now decided to turn the film into a musical LOL........and Jim got the job he applied for!  Anyway.............

PART 7 BIRMINGHAM CONT.......

Outside the venue there was literally 4 of us, Trina, Michelle, myself and some random bloke.  Jamie, Spike and Danny left the building and got on the bus.  Roger came out not long after them and I was so shocked and stunned that he that he was walking in front of me that I didn't say anything or ask him for anything.  By the time I realised it was actually him, he was already on the bus.  I was quite annoyed with myself by this point!!   Michelle had a word with Paul and his missus, then we decided to go and find a taxi.  Of course by this time most of the crowds had left and so had the taxi's.  I stupidly suggested which way we should go and we ended up walking for about 1/2 an hour round the whole of the NEC!!  Eventually we found a security point and asked the bloke there where we could find a taxi or if he had a number for a company.  (We didn't even have that at this point!!)  He said if we walk down a little bit that way we'd come across one coz he'd just let one or two in!!  Fair enough!!  Tempers were beginning to fray between myself and Trina but we followed his instructions.  That was until Michelle thought she knew better and decided we should go to the Hilton and call one from there, so we felt obligied to follow her, which we did and eventually manage to convince her that's a stupid idea and we should do what the bloke suggested.

We finally get to where that bloke said to go and there was NO taxis waiting.  Stressed, tired and utterly peed off, I get Trina to call enquiries for a 24 hour cab company.  This is fine, until they tell her they can only pick us up from security point 2!!  WTF is security point 2 is what we wondered next.  So off we go again, wandering round the NEC............Michelle disappears AGAIN, but this time towards another hotel.  I agree to go with her this time and tell Trina to get the cab to pick us up from there.  It just so happened to be the hotel where all our mates were staying.  We didn't wake them up though.........Our cab finally turns up and we get to the Travel Lodge.  We were only there for a few hours before the alarm went off again............arrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

07/05/05 - CARDIFF INTERNATIONAL ARENA

I think the alarm went off at 4.30am.  Our train was due to leave at around 6am, and we had a taxi booked which took us to Birmingham International station.  Walk into the station, look at the board, there is NO train leaving from that station at that time going to Cardiff!!  Trina didn't consider there is actually TWO train stations at Birmingham when she enquired about it!!  So we had to quickly call the cab company back and try and make it across Birmingham in time for the train.  Trina and I were both starting to suffer with colds by this point, our throats were sore and our noses were getting blocked.  But you have to feel sorry for the taxi driver who had to listen to Michelle and me singing Queen songs at 5am............LOL.........can life get any better!!    All through these gigs we weren't having breakfast or a cup of tea before we left and that is very unlike me!!  Have to have a cup of tea before I leave the house :-)

Anyway we make it to Birmingham New Street in time and there is hardly anyone on the train, which means we have enough space to sleep lol........The ticket bloke on the train made us laugh though, plus he was really sweet.  We asked him if there was a refreshment trolley on board, he said there wasn't but told us there was a stop which lasted about 15/20 minutes and that we would have enough time to get something, which we did!!  Later he spoke to us about what we were up to, once we told him we were Queen fans he wouldn't stop trying (badly) to sing Bohemian Rhapsody to us - bless him!!  He also let Michelle get out and have a fag at one stop.  We got to Cardiff about 2 hours later around 8ish.  Got into a taxi which took us toour hotel and checked in.  The lady who checked us in was nice, we found out she was going to the gig too.....When she found out we were queueing all day she asked 'what do you do when you want the toilet?' - what a stupid question LOL.........

We clambered back into the waiting taxi and he took us to the venue.  We had quite a shock when we got there as we were first!!  WOOHOO........  So far at every gig Jules and Vern had been first and everyone were always trying to beat them, but we had finally managed it.  I was very impressed, made getting up at 4 more worth it lol............Michelle abandoned us and stayed round the back to talk to the crew.  Trina and I settled in for a long day of queueing!!  Next to arrive was Vern and Julie with Jamie, eventually Jules would be sitting in her 'moon' chair and Jamie would be snuggled up under a blanket which she took from her hotel room.  Cat, Sarah, Gavin, Andy (who had fab trousers on that day), and Becky turned up next.  Becky had brought things to sit on, Cat got her sleeping bag out and was in that most of the day.  Sarah did not feel very well at all and couldn't stop shaking!!  Fairy and Funster turned up eventually.  Funster had twisted her ankle in Newcastle and apparently it was playing her up.  The whole gang ws together in their rightful place by the door

Madness really did strike during this wait!!  Everytime one of the trucks went past we all shouted and waved to the driver LOL.........don't ask me why - seemed like fun at the time!!  We were all coming down with colds but it didn't help that where we were waiting the sun was not shining, plus the wind was cold!!  The queue kept growing during the day.......

Security people came out and pushed the queue back down the steps.  Another venue with two sets of doors which they were gonna let people in.  I think we managed to get most people queuing behind us!!  I was having fun telling people to get to the back.  I had more reason to do this as I was one of the first to arrive :-)  At least at the bottom of the steps meant we were queued in the sunshine.  But just when we think we're sorted and settled the security bloke comes down the steps and tells us women have to go one way and blokes the other.  Chaos ensued!!  Trina and I were pushed back, but it was only our mates in front of us so I wasn't too bothered.  Well that's a bit of a lie, it was about that time I start to panic, will I make it to the barrier?  Will someone push me over?? etc....... Gigging does nothing for the nerves believe me LOL.......

Whilst we were waiting Jim Beach (manager) walked through the entrance bit so we all shouted to him and Gavin said something about his jumper lol....It was quite funny coz he rolled his eyes at us and smiled.  Eventually the bloke at the top of the stairs told us we could go in, mad rush!!  I suddenly was aware that Fairy was getting pushed back, so I grabbed hold of her hand and made a mad dash up the stairs and into the hall.  It's quite funny when you think about it, coz Trina wasn't feeling very well and Funster had a bad foot and they both managed to get in before Fairy and me!!  I held onto her until we got to the barrier just to make sure she got in ok. 

Between the stage and the barrier, the stewards (or security as I like to call them ;-) come and stand.  We had a woman opposite the four of us ie: funster, fairy me and trina.  Fairy asked her if she could put her bag on the ledge behind the barrier and the woman said 'No I don't wanna break my leg on your bag.'   At some point after this some comment was made about the woman coz not long afterwards I looked again and there was a bloke standing in front of us.  He was nice and we got to talking to him.  Apparently he had seen Queen at Knebworth in '86.  I asked him if he'd had a good view, he said that apart from the other 125,000 people there he would've done.  He also said something about how he was stood near the inflatable Brian.  Trina made a joke about how it wouldn't be much different that night then.  I also asked him if he was gonna enjoy the show.  Apparently when they are working they are not allowed to show that they are enjoying themselves.  Also during the wait I felt ill and felt like I was going to be sick, but as soon as the band came on I forgot all about that.

Find out whether I enjoyed the gig next episode :-)  I probably won't update again until Saturday now that's why I've given you a longer entry today!!

Take care peeps xx

  JEN

Part 6 Birmingham and Late Nights

Hi *waves* Well I've survived the last couple of days at work!!  Team leaders due back tomorrow *phew* lol........Jim and Pete have been keeping me amused!!  They were talking about making a film of the volleyball team they've got together.  If I hear the word montage once more LOL.........Never mind!!  Onwards with part 6

Birmingham cont........

We all had the usual conversation as to where we were all going to stand.  Sarah decided she wanted to try the front barrier right by the main stage.  I wanted to join her so we could have a good view of Roger :-) behind his drum kit all evening!!  Trina was fine with this (which did surprise me) and decided to join Cat in front of the platform.

Eventually the doors were opened.  There was the first set of doors, then another set, and then another set.  So the first set was opened, we all scrambled in and ran to the next set.  Yet again I'd lost 'em all!!  I could hear them but couldn't see them!!  I'd also seen Becky (Sarah's mate) fall down.  She was near Trina on my left hand side so I did manage to find out that she was ok!!  The venue people started to play the UK Hall of Fame thingy on screens behind us.  As I was surrounded by 6ft tall people I couldn't see a thing and I wanted to see Julie and Vern in the audience.  Instead I had this random woman talking to me about how she'd been to some F1 drivers house and Brian turned up with his son Cliff?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!    Any Queen fan knows his sons called Jimmy!  As soon as she said that I knew I had to get away from her but as I was squashed in there was nowhere to hide, someone must of heard my thoughts though coz they opened the this set of doors.  This time as we ran through there were two sets of doors to choose.  I went to the right as I saw everyone else head that way :-)

Vern, Gavin etc, tried bargaining with the security people to let those that were there early in first.  They always say that if you don't ask you don't get........guess what.........they got!!  They decided to allow one person in to say who had been there early and let them into the next holding part before everyone else.  So they pulled Julie through and she pointed out the ones who had been there early.  I pushed Fairy and funster forwards as they were there before me, but somehow Trina and I managed to get through too :-)  Nice one Jules is all I can say ;-)  Vern said afterwards that there was someone behind him saying 'tell them we were here earlier get us through as well.' Of course Vern didn't recognise them from the queue so didn't grant them their request.

So there was 10/15 of us in another holding area.  The security people said when they give the signal we had to go round to the right.  We just couldn't believe how nice these security people had been, definitely 10/10, even better than Newcastle, but believe it or not the amount of niceness didn't stop there!!  Whilst in this new holding area though all of us started assuming what nastiness was gonna be said about us on the forums later that day.  We all decided we were the new 'royal' family!!  Or even better the 'royal sheep' lol......(The royal family were nicknamed by Freddie coz they did so many shows and made the front row every night!!)  Roger's PA, Justine walked past, which gave me a great opportunity to give her a letter for Roger.  I walked up to her and said 'Justine can you pass this onto Roger please?' handed her the letter and she said 'sure' and put it in the pocket of her jeans.  I had managed to do it but I couldn't get over the fact she didn't ask me what was in it!!  I have no idea whether she did actually give it to him or not, (I have backed this up by sending a copy in the post ;-) but I shall keep you posted if I ever receive a reply. 

The signal was given for us to go round but, shock horror, there was another queue round there and they were letting them in first!!  Guess what they did??  They held back that queue, told them they had to wait and let us through :-)  Isn't that cool??  So everyone made the barrier and Sarah and I made it to wherewe wanted to be, between the main stage and the catwalk.  Trina and Cat were at the front of the platform and I could see Trina from where I was :-)  As the rest of the crowd was let in some girls I know stood behind Sarah and me!!  To be honest Trina and I were friends with them at one point but since then Trina and I feel let down by them and I didn't like the idea of standing in front of them!!  Trina spoke to me through Sarah's mobile and asked if I was alright, I said 'kinda' not wanting to give too much away!!  It's quite petty I know but I would've felt a lot happier if they had not been there!

SETLIST: Reaching Out, Tie Your Mother Down, I Want To Break Free, Fat Bottomed Girls, Another One Bites The Dust, Wishing Well, Crazy Little Thing, Say It's Not True, Year of '39, Love of My Life, Drum solo, I'm In Love With My Car, Guitar solo, Last Horizon, Hammer To Fall, These Are The Days, Radio Ga Ga, Can't Get Enough, A Kind of Magic, I Want It All, Bohemian Rhapsody, (encore) Under Pressure, All Right Now, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions.

It was quite amusing coz where we were standing it really did look like Roger was looking at you, but halfway through the gig (yes it did take me that long LOL) I realised he's reading the autocue which was in front of us damn it!!  Anyway here's the highlights...........During Tie Your Mother Down (i think) Paul started walking down the catwalk, scanning the crowds faces, when he spotted Sarah.  He backed up, and started singing to her -  Pictorial evidence :-) See how he's pointing LOL......Bless him!!  Unfortunately from where Sarah and I were we couldn't partake in the condom throwing but Roger was expecting it so when everyone threw them he laughed, bless him!!  When Brian went down to the platform for his solo spots, Love of my Life etc, apparently he kept looking in Trina's direction, (one night she wore a brian t-shirt, can't remember which one LOL).  They played Another One Bites The Dust for the first time, apparently they had been rehearsing it in Newcastle (I didn't hear it!!), Paul had to read the autocue all the way through it but it was really good and had some audience participation which I like :-)  Roger's girlfriend came out and danced near to where Sarah and I were, which surprised me coz she's usually on the other side!!  Halfway through drumming in one song, one of Roger's drumsticks left his hand and flew across the stage.  Whether that was meant to happen or not I have absolutely no idea!!  He soon had another one in his hand though, what a professional!!  During the gigs Paul has this thing about chucking his mic stand in the air and catching it usually to signal the end of a song, Roger had been trying to copy him chucking his drumstick in the air and pretending to try and catch but usually failing.  (He tried four times in one gig abroad!!) Well in Birmingham, he went one better and chucked 4 sticks in the air at the same time and then realised they were coming down on his head so he had to duck, it was quite comical!!  He also spat - now I know what your thinking 'that's disgusting why is she telling us.'  My web mates at roger-taylor.net will be interested to know lol.  Unfortuately though guys this is second hand information from Trina and there is no pictorial evidence.  At the end Roger usually chucks his drumsticks into the audience, if memory serves me correctly that night Paul grabbed one and chucked it towards Sarah and myself, intending for one of us to catch it, but we both missed it and one of those girls behind us caught it!!  I was not amused!!  Still a great gig

 

(you can all take part in the great roger photo debate between myself and Trina - that one above, I took it (yes finally I get a great pic, they are usually taken by Trina!!) anyway she swears he's looking at the camera and I say he's not!!  What do you guys think?? I'd love to know!!)

Anyway afterwards Gavin had a bit of an argument with one of the unofficial merchandise people outside.  It was so funny they told him that they could tell what type of person he was by what he was wearing.......LOL.......We all wandered round to the back and soon Sarah, Cat, Becky, Gavin and I think Andy went with them!!decided to leave.  Sarah had to drive home and Cardiff was the next day.  Trina and I stayed round the back and started talking to Michelle and asked if she wanted to stay with us.  She agreed and we all decided we would wait to see the band before we left.

Leaving it there for the evening.......tomorrow read all about how long it took us to get out of the NEC and get to bed!! 

Take care peeps

Part 5 - Comedians and Condoms

Hi everyone :-)  Glad your still enjoying this!!  FAO: Sandra - one of the ladies I queued with totaled up the amount of hours she had spent in queues.  Bearing in mind she did more gigs than I did, her grand total was 168 hours - so there you go!!  Today at work was a flippin' nightmare which means it can only be better tomorrow can't it??  Anyway to cheer myself up I shall write Part 5 of my contuining saga ;-)

PART 5 - COMEDIANS AND CONDOMS

When I was re-reading yesterdays entry I reminded myself that before I went down the steps in Manchester seperated from Trina I almost started crying.  I couldn't believe I had been up before 6am and was having to put up with this crap.  I had no idea how many rows back I would be and that wasn't why I had got up!!  I think that was just my tiredness creeping up on me!!  Anyway back to todays entry.......When I looked at the spot where we had been standing the night before Trina was there at the barrier spread out wide saving me a space.  I was so relieved to find her!!  I managed to crawl in but the silly place was making everyone sit down.  The bloke next to me gave me an evil glare  and Trina asked the woman next to her to move up a bit.  She explained that we'd been queueing all day, this woman however reckoned she had been too.  Right whatever love!!  Didn't recall her face from the queue - silly cow!!  Main thing was I'd got in and managed to find Trina and the barrier, which I desperately needed being so tired!!  I'm really glad I have a mate like Trina :-)

The gig was good but up until a point I don't think I was enjoying myself.  The tiredness wasn't helping but neither did some other factors which will be mentioned in a min!!  The set list was basically the same as Newcastle.  Here are the highlights:  At the end of Can't Get Enough, Roger and Brian just stopped and were waiting for the next chord, it looked hilarious as Roger was ready to crash the cymbals but just stood there like someone had taken a picture :-)  Eventually they gave up on the idea and carried on playing it so they could finish properly.  Paul did some weird dancing to the crowd in the seats and they repeated it back to him LOL.......When Roger came to the front for Say It's Not True he asked if anyone had any condoms and we chucked 'em all onto the stage.  His eyes nearly popped out of his head, we could tell he loved that.  They were flying at him from all different directions.  Jamie and Danny bent down and picked some up and pocketed them ha ha ha........Roger's girlfriend, his wife and eldest daughter came out in front of the barrier at one point, (they weren't on my side thank god but they were in my eyeline!!!  It was the first time I'd ever seen his wife in the flesh, I couldn't get over how small she is!!  The main thing for me though and to keep my jealousy below surface he didn't sing to them.  Apparently he had done at other gigs!!) During Crazy Little Thing Brian's guitar packed in, (i think!!) and it sounded quite strange listening to the track with no guitar, just accoustic played by Jamie.  During Bri's solo spot he kept getting interference, which apparently was the local cab's radios.  You could tell by his face he was not amused about this.  During the beginning part to Hammer to Fall it sounded like everything was ok and no more interference so he sang along to the tune 'so far so good.'  It was quite funny.

I was about to put this gig down as the worst I'd been to so far, (obviously couldn't stand the pace), when they went off.  After an encore two blokes were walking out singing accapella style.  I suddenly realised it was Peter Kay and Patrick McGuiness and they were singing 'Road to Nowhere'.  I went mad...........(regular journallers may remember I've mentioned them a couple of times when they mentioned Queen in the programme!)   I couldn't believe it!!  Also I find Patrick McGuiness rather cute :-)

  They made their way down the catwalk and sung a little bit of 'Amarillo' (this had quickly become the 'official' queue song) so we looked at Sarah who was also going mad for this!!  Peter Kay then introduced the band and said they were gonna do Under Pressure.  This was the first time it was played on the tour and the band came out and Brian said 'It's better to do Under Pressure badly than not at all so that's what we're gonna do now.'  Roger just told him to 'put your guitar on' LOL...........They did it rather well I thought and felt proud I'd witnessed it :-)

At the end of the show Peter and Patrick came out again and ran down the catwalk.  Peter also commented that in two weeks time they would've been at number one the same amount of time as Bohemian Rhapsody (ie: 9 weeks)!!  Roger put his finger up to them and said that there was no way that was gonna happen.  He also hugged Patrick (I liked that bit :-).  At the very end they walk down the catwalk, Roger kicks Spike to make him move.  He also counts when they bow before the encore.

After the gig we all met up and discussed the gig.  Sarah, Gavin and Cat had managed to blag their stay with James in his hotel, so they decided to head back and have a few drinks.  I was knackered, so I declined the offer to go with them but Trina and I waited for Roger and Brian to leave.  Brian was first and waved again.  Roger left not long afterwards and waved.  Trina and I said goodbye to Matt and Michelle.  (We'd met Matt years ago but had never kept in touch and it was lovely to see him again!!)  We made our way back to the hotel with me singing Road to Nowhere all the way and looked forward to some sleep and a day off :-)

 

Oh I forgot to mention my ticket!!  Trina went to get some back and I said I wasn't that bothered.  She got two and gave me one anyway - when I looked at the name I started going mad...........she'd given me Mr Taylor's ticket LOL.......................... see :-)!!

05/05/2005 - DAY OFF - travelled from Manchester to home

06/05/2005 - BIRMINGHAM NEC ARENA

 As we had, had the previous day off Trina and I didn't manage to get to Birmingham till about 10ish.  There was quite a few people in the queue by this point.  All the regulars, plus two people I know from QOL Pam & Susan otherwise known as funster and fairy.  They had been to Newcastle and Manchester.  In Manchester they had had seats so didn't bother to queue, but the bug had bit them for Birmingham and had joined us all :-)  Trina and I had debated whether to get up at 4am and get there earlier but decided against it as we would have to do that for Cardiff as it was being held on a Saturday.  We made ourselves comfortable for the long wait!!  Madness set in during this queue coz we started singing (rather badly and quite out of tune!)  I can't remember too much about this queue except Vern went all the way back to Peterborough and got back in time for doors opening.  Michelle who had been drinking JD nearly all day jumped on me and we both ended up on the floor.  I was just extremely grateful that nobody in the queue didn't laugh out loud when she did it coz it was quite embarrasing.  She also got everyone in the queue to sign her arm, and got more condoms.  This time they were flavoured etc.......LOL........

Not much of a cliff hanger but I don't wanna bore you too much ;-)  Look out for tomorrow's installment, who would turn up in Birmingham?  Would security be any better than Manchester?  Would I lose Trina AGAIN??  Stay tuned :-)

Best wishes

Jen xx