Live 8 London

[thedivinegoat_archive]

Yesterday was amazing.  Nothing I say is going to adquately convey just how completely fabulous yesterday was, but I'll do my best.

The journey up wasn't too bad, we parked in Feltham, in the RAC office block, and then caught the train in from there, got to Hyde Park about 1:20pm. And then stood in a que.  For the next hour.

Which wasn't quite as bad as I had been fearing, but I was amazed at the number of people who were doing their best to ensure they were drunk before they got in.  I'll never understand that mindset. I was also astounded at the number of people who, when we got to the entrance, turned out to have been queing without tickets.  Did they really think they were going to be able to blag their way in? (And they were in addition to the scores of people wandering around holding up signs begging for tickets.)

Sadly we missed U2 and Paul McCartney, finally getting in just before Coldplay started.

Um, it was big.  Very big.  And there were lots of people. Lots and lots of people. But so totally amazing.

Very quick run down

Coldplay - Wonderful, loved their segue into Rocking All Over the World, and Richard Ashcroft joining them for Bittersweet Symphony was brilliant.

Elton John - Whether you like his music or not, this man knows how to perform.  Amazing energy.  The less said about Pete Doherty the better. (Completely shit-faced)

Dido - She was slightly wobbly, especially on the high notes, but no one seemed to care. Her duet with Youssou N'Dour was fantastic, even though she is no replacement for Neneh Cherry.  (Two girls in front of me. "Oh, I've heard this song before.  He did it with this woman. Um.. Neneh Cherry?" "Who?" *cries* )

Stereophonics: Didn't do anything for me. Meh.

REM: Were amazing. (Count how many times I use this word in this post).  Everyone in our part of the crowd was singing along, and clapping.  Fabulous.

Miss Dynamite: I think I enjoyed her, but I can't actually remember it.  Which is strange as I do like her stuff.

Keane: I missed their set as I was getting food and getting grabbed by a drunk ape. But I don't think they were well known enough.

Travis: Another act who got the whole crowd dancing. Loved Fran Healey's attempt to do Staying Alive, including the tight underpants to aid with the high pitch.

Bob Geldof: The BBC site was a bit sniffy about this, but the crowd loved it. It was definitely one of the more atmospheric songs of the day, and Bob oozed charisma during it. (It was also during this song, I started to find him attractive.  Which was disturbing...)

Annie Lennox: As ever she was outstanding. Simply outstanding

UB40: Started off slowly, but once they got to Red Red Wine, it really picked up, and everybody, and I mean everybody, sang along to can't help falling in love with you.

Snoop Dogg: One of the funniest things about this set was watching the 50-something couple next to me trying to dance along. Was really good, but seemed to drag on a bit.

Razorlight: Not impressed with these guys.  Semed to see themselves as Rock Gods, andcompletely up themselves.  Their music was nothing special.

Madonna: She had the crowd eating out of her hands. Absolutely spectacular.

Snow Patrol: Another band who I think suffered from not being well know.  But the performance was incredible, and the crowd seemed to warm to them.

Sadly at this point we had to leave to catch trains, and I'm sad we missed the later acts, but the acts we got to see - mind-blowing.

Completely shattered today, but so worth it.

Comments

[scarletdemon.livejournal.com]

I saw some of it on TV. I though Madonna was great and I loved REM (I cried). Pazorlight looked like wankers to me but I thought that was just me being old or something. Green Day rocked Berlin BTW.