Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Changed the Music

Replacing Britney after her two night stay for their own two nights were the Arctic Monkey supported by The Vaccines – and the contrast couldn’t have been greater – there was absolutely nothing synthetic about the sound filling the venue from start to finish…

From Arctic Monkeys 2011

The Vaccines brought their take on British guitar based rock to the O2, adding a little punk to the mix – very different to the sound I’d heard from Justin Young as Jay Jay Pistolet a few years ago in the same venue supporting Katie Melua. For a band only just about to celebrate the anniversary of their first single release the sound was mature and it can’t be long before they will be headlining similar venues in their own right… With their first four studio Albums all having reached No 1 in the UK, the Arctic Monkeys clearly have a large fan base in the UK and I suspect they could have easily filled the O2 for more nights… By the time they came on stage there was a buzz building up – and as soon as they engaged their guitars the crowd were fully with them – mush pits formed – the largest of which must have briefly cleared a quarter of the space in front of the sound desks – quite an achievement given the packed standing area… I don’t recall a single song from the 21 strong set list that seamed out of place – the strong start with “Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair” continued right through to 505 that closed the evening – all as rock and roll as Alex Turners Elvis quiff…

Both of the night’s acts proved beyond doubt that live rock music is alive and kicking in the UK and quite capable of filling the largest of venues for multiple nights – even in these tough economic times….

Britney’s Final Finale?

Britney spears returned to the O2 with another tour – Femme Fatale – this time for only two nights – rather than the 8 nights of her mini residence in 2009 with the Circus tour…

From Britney 2011 (Thursday)

Destinee & Paris provided the opening act and their upbeat pop soon warmed up the audience on both nights under the dome.

From Britney 2011 (Friday)

The main support act was one of the Jonas Brothers – who along with his brothers had caused so much disruption by attracting an enormous crowd of teenage girls round the hotel I’d chosen last year for my stay in Sao Paulo. Joe Jonas brought a rock element to the nights, complete with live drums and synths. I’m not entirely sure Joe on his own would have drawn the crowds he would along with his brothers – but together they’d probably have been the headliners rather then the support act…

Britney’s show started, right on queue from the 30 minute countdown that started as Joe left the stage – unlike Jay-Z’s countdown there wasn’t a deva like last minute jump back in time… Anyone who’d read the reviews or attended the Circus tour, who was still expecting a truly live show was in for a disappointment.. That isn’t Britney – her music is finely tuned in a studio – she didn’t learn her trade in the small venues many others do, leaping straight to the top, bypassing that experience…. What she does is produce a show to go with her albums and use her back catalogue to great effect. In comparison to the Circus tour, this time round there appeared to be a little less budget – not even enough for a runway, really required at the O2 to bring the entertainment to the middle of what is an enormous venue. There were also fewer costume changes, and the on stage vehicle was based on a mini rather than something more elaborate…

While Britney appeared to be enjoying herself, she appeared to be less energetic than I recall her being under her Circus top two years ago. On the couple of occasions she did appear to sing live, for some of the less produced ballads it was rather faltering and not entirely up to the level you’d expect of someone headlining the O2. There are many fresh acts capable of selling many more tickets to the O2 than Britney currently is, and I wonder if this might be her last major tour for some time… Having said that, at the end of the both nights the audience were still cheering for more - there may not have been too much, if any, live music in the traditional sense - but there had been two night of entertainment that Britney's London fans, and from further a field had totally enjoyed. The critics may not have thought much of it - but they aren't the primary audience - and by cutting back on the number of nights, there was plenty of demand from Britney's loyal fans to fill the venue with a audience willing to over look the lack of a real band or even backing singers…

Too Much, Too Little, Too Late

From Johnny Mathis 2011

When you pay £50+, the least you can expect is good sound – especially in a venue such as the O2, with a wealth of experience of setting up for a wide variety of acts… Hence my disappointment that Johnny Mathis’ performance was scared by an echo from the back of the half full O2… I’ve been to multiple event where the arena has been configured without the vertigo inducing 4th level – none of which have suffered in this way. A loud rock act might have over come it – but the subtly of Johnny’s music was lost when you got a second hearing reflecting off the back of the dome… Having said that my expectations had already been lowered by the fact that rather than a musical support act, there would be a comedian supporting Johnny between two short sets from him…  But Jeff Stevenson’s act was actual warming – totally un-offensive, but with good gags about the London tube and Little Chefs…

The night will lead to a slight adjunct to my “try any artist I’ve heard of” policy – don’t over invest in acts you’ve not heard before, that are on their way down rather than potentially up – the real shame is that I missed out on another gig which I’m sure would have been better, from an act looking to build a career rather than, by Johnny’s own admission, fund a golf trip to Europe! I wish he’d invested a little more in the sound engineer and system so those paying top dollar for the night could listen without the echo! I’m sure the O2 has enough equipment and technology to have been able to perfect the sound for the venue.

Motorbikes replace the musicians

From British Supercross 2010

After an incredible engineering effort, the O2 arena was transformed into a Super Cross track by adding hundreds of tons of earth where normally there would be a mush pit or rows of seated concert goers. The riders provided as big a spectacular as many of the other performers I’ve seen at the O2. The height of the jumps and the speed between the bumps was amazing. How the evening finished without at least one person in an ambulance I’m not sure. Every age group fearlessly charged round the track on ever large and more powerful bikes. The larger struggled in the confined space to over take each other – leading to a number of spectacular collisions! The only downside was the requirement for one end of the arena to be open to allow the exhaust fumes out and the bikes in and out resulted in the normally warm location to take on the near freezing outside temperatures!

ATP Tour Final comes to the O2

From ATP World Final 2009

Bringing together the 8 best singles players and 8 best doubles pairings under the roof of the O2 was bound to create a good atmosphere – and make one of them the British number one and you are on to a sure thing. That is the ATP Tour Final, that brings the tennis year to a close… Both the singles matches on the opening night turned out to be cracking matches – both going to three sets – with the underdogs, Juan Martin Del Potro and Fernando Verdasco pushing the favourites – Andy Murray and  Roger Federer for most of the first two sets. Unfortunately – or fortunately depending on your point of view, neither of them was able to put in the final killer shots and pull off shocks! The doubles matches on the other hand where fairly one sides events. The abuse of the sporting spectacle by reducing any game that reaches deuce to a single additional point and playing a “match tiebreaker” if the first two sets are shared seams to devalue doubles – which if anything has the potential to be more entertaining than singles – which can turn into a pure contest of the serve with rallies few and far between, not a problem doubles encounters – even in the artificially shortened matches there where many wonderful rallies that could have gone either way.

Leaving for Hawaii the next morning, I only attempted to get tickets for the first day. Having missed out on the pre-sales competition from the ATP, I managed to get a poor ticket for the afternoon session- up with the gods on the 4th level, and a reasonable ticket for the evening… Imagine my surprise (or lack of it) to receive an email from ticket master - “last minute seats court side available” – this is getting too frequent and very annoying – my guess is that these are tickets reserved to combine with corporate entertainment that isn’t happening at the moment. It is very poor that genuine fans are being sold seats miles from the action thinking they are the only ones left, only for better ones to be freed close to the event.

But at relative cheap prices I went for it and had two seats I could have used for both sessions – the ones I did use right behind the baseline – it felt like the serves where coming straight at me! I also took a chance, and for the first time had my DSLR with me in the O2 – despite the “you shouldn’t use that” from the bag inspector at the door… Once I was in there where DSLR everywhere, and a few video cameras. Events are just going to have to accept their patrons want pictures to remember the event by, and wouldn’t the participants prefer those where the best pictures possible rather than phone camera pictures? They are never going to be able to prevent phones with camera being used, so the cat is out of the bag…  I can understand why artists that are staging multiple concerts with the same content don’t what video of it being put on YouTube – but still pictures for personal use shouldn’t cause anyone to lose revenue – and for unique event such as sport they can only generate more business for the next event!

Rockwell @ The O2

From Rockwell 2009

A fairly diverse group of artists came together for one evening of duets and hits to support the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy at the Rockwell concert Maybe it was the cause or the size of the venue, the atmosphere worked better than other multi artist events I’ve been too in the past. The very doggy comparing by various non-musical contributor added to the entertainment as they attempted to fill the time for the inevitable pauses as each band’s set was arranged on stage.

Team GB underdogs at O2

From Game On - O2 2009 (Sunday)

I’ve now added Basketball to the sports I’ve seen live, and not only on TV. Adding to my memories of trying to play at school, and never having much success! A sport for tall people – not the vertically challenged… A court side seat to one of the events organised as part of the warm up for 2012 meant I could witness Team GB, current effectively unranked in World – tied 75th in the world, pit themselves against Turkey, Israel and Poland – ranked 14th, 25th and 55th themselves. Given the lowly ranking, Team GB put up strong performances in both matches I watched – but did, in the end fall to the better opposition. In both the matches they put up a good fight – leading at times, before class told towards the end of the games. The game again Turkey was a perfect illustration of why it is rare for a basketball game to finish on a close score. The last few minutes of game time, which Team GB started only 6 or so points behind Turkey, became very disjointed as Team GB repeatedly fowled, to take Turkey to the free throw line for 2 one point shots with the clock stopped. The hope was ,that they’d be able to score two or three points on each of their possessions, with Turkey not always gaining both point from the free throw line – a tactic that got more and more futile as Turkey scored most of their points, and Team GB failed to score on many of their possessions… All in all, an entertaining way to spend two weekend afternoons/evenings – being their in person did bring more of sense of speed to the sport – the court is small, but the action furious – something that isn’t so clear on TV. Bring on the Olympics in 2012 – I hope tickets to events are equally easy to come by… The only down side was that the O2 was half empty, even in it’s reduced capacity format with the top tier unused, which meant despite the best efforts of the master of ceremonies there wasn’t much atmosphere.  It will be interesting to see how four low ranked European national sides compare to my next live basketball – MBA team Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz at the O2…

Revisiting the Candy Store

From Madonna O2 2009 Part I

Madonna returned to London for a second helping of her Sticky & Sweet tour that I first saw at Wembley as she started another European leg the tour. Yet again the frustration of late releases of the best tickets, and a why not attitude, meant I had tickets for a double bill of hard candy. The O2 showed again why it is possibly the country’s best large venue. Equivalent seat at Wembley had left me too far from the stage to really see the show. Able to enjoy the music, but left wishing I could have seen more of the show. At O2 in the best seats you are definitely close enough to see every move in the show, and the acrostics in the O2 are second to none for an indoor location from any where in the building. Madonna didn’t fail to disappoint – the act was subtlety refreshed, and included several a heart felt additional tributes to Michael Jackson. Two great nights of entertainment. Having said that, Kylie still holds the title of the princess of disco – but I’m sure Madge and Pink are the female royalty of rock. Amusingly, Madonna had managed to convince herself that the 5th of July was actually the 4th, and proceeded to rib the Americans in the audience when they failed to respond to her best wishes on the birthday of the USA – only after a break to admit she’d been reminded it was in fact the 5th… but she didn’t give a f*ck. Would have been good if she’d return to the O2 the next day for a repeat performance honoring the tickets for the 5th…

What’s up Britney……

From Britney 02 2009

The Britney Circus came to town – and I struggled to the O2 for the last two nights of her residence – a moment of curiosity meant I got the opportunity to get a great seat 4 rows from the front, next to the main stage for the Saturday night to compliment my seat 15 rows back from one of the satellite stages on Sunday night. It is a little frustrating that I couldn’t get the good seat when I first tried to get it! After all the poor reviews my expectations weren’t high, but Britney put on a good show – good enough for me to battle to and from the O2 without the Jubilee line twice – and the first time the DLR failed going – yet another occasion to call upon the services of a black cab… How will London cope with the Olympics! It was clear that Britney rarely switched on her microphone and being there two nights in a row, revealed when she did it was a fully scripted - “what’s up London”! Scripted to the extend, that in her next performance she forgot she’d moved up north and enquired as to the state of London in Manchester!

Even with little live vocal contribution the circus theme was very entertaining – although currently P!nk still holds the title of best circus at the O2 this year so far. Seamed to have been cheating a little to be able to walk between the main stage and the two smaller ones after the acrobatics of Beyoncé, the flying platform for Girl’s Aloud and the swinging arms for Tina Turner!  The only Diva left to see at the O2 this year is Madonna – and again curiosity about a “new tickets released” means I’ll be doing a double header for that event… Before Britney, Ciara had done a great job of warming up the crowd – showing up the main act with great live vocals and interaction with the audience.

Put another dress on…

From Beyonce 02 2009

Bring on the next Female soloist to take to the stage at the O2 – Beyoncé certainly filled the O2 – multiple costume changes and great vocals. Lot of photo opportunities and the mirror effect stage surface added greatly… Beyoncé managed to top both Girl’s Aloud and Tina Turner for dramatic method of getting away from the main stage – short of the full acrobatics of P!nk but still an impressive flight to the “B stage” that gave those in the seats at the back a short period for being stage side, rather than straining for a view… Next up Britney has multiple great performances to follow – a high bar has been set for her Circus tour to reach.

First of the year’s circuses arrives at the 02

From Pink O2 2009

My third night at the O2 in a week was another guaranteed “good show”. P!nk didn’t disappoint, and the presentation supported the music, rather than the reverse for Girls Aloud last weekend.   P!nk might be regretting a circus theme for her Funhouse Tour, with a certain other artist using the same for her tour – but it will an achievement for Britney to top this – especially if the current reviews of “The Circus” are to be believed. I’ll compare the two personally later in the year – and then there is the circus that Michael Jackson tour is bound to be… Particularly impressive where the aerial elements – which weren't restricted to the supporting dancers. Carrying on after an adlib inducing unexpected drop of 3 or 4 feet during the ribbon suspended finally was particularly impressive.

The best set for me was when P!nk made a very strong audition for, in my opinion, the still open position to fill Freddie Mercury’s place in Queen. Freddie would have been proud of her rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody. P!nk’s stage personality is a close match for that of Freddie – something I don’t think Paul Rodgers does justice to, and her vocals would allow them to reprise great songs Paul Rodgers simply doesn’t have the voice for…

O2t of Control

From Girls Aloud 2009

Having struggled to get to the O2, and then been disappointed by the lack of any show from Bob Dylan the previous night – one thing that I was sure of - there would be was plenty of show from Girls Aloud on their Out of Control Tour! They certainly didn’t disappoint – it was all about the show, the music took a back seat in favour of costume changes, great lighting and pyrotechnics! There also appears to be a competition building on ways to get out into the audience without a runaway – tonight out did Tina’s  swing arm out above the crowd. I wonder what P!nk and Britney will do to top Girls Aloud’s flying platform. No wonder they where putting up the set almost before Bob Dylan had departed the stage the previous night.

A big bonus was, that without resorting to GetMeIn, I’d managed to get a great seat – looking straight over the stage, with empty seats to my side with the option to move to the back of the stage as the girls used the back of their set. The music might have been slightly vacuous, but the show was full on, bring on P!nk next Friday. Footnote : Normal service resumed on public transport – home in 20 minutes!

Dylan’s Studio Session at the O2

From Bob Dylan 2009

Having for the first time ever purchased tickets “second hand” via GetMeIn, I was hoping another of music’s legends could continue in the mode that Tina and Lionel had – rolling back the years. Unfortunately Bob Dylan failed to light up the O2. I can only agree with the comment about him: “lack of interest in bonding with his audience” on Wikipedia about his never ending tour – which should end… Dylan only acknowledged the audience’s existed by introducing his band prior to his last song. Maybe the O2 was just too large for him, his lack of involvement with his fans meant he might as well have been in a studio, and have played the more polished studio sound out of the wonderful sound system at the O2 – which was wasted on Dylan’s live droning…  All in all, a disappointing evening – made worse by the fact that the Jubilee line to Greenwich was closed – so I had an expensive taxi ride to get there, then a very late night while I waited for last boat up the Thames – I did manage to add another form of transport to my list – the Thames Clipper  - which had it been planned is a very pleasant way to depart from the O2.

Don’t stop the 80’s Music

From Lionel Richie 2009

As a last minute wish to extend a weekend of 80’s music, I checked for tickets to Lionel Richie’s second night at the 02, and managed to pick up a ticket in the front row of the prime seat just right of the stage – I couldn’t have been closer to the stage! It is hard to dance on the ceiling of the O2 – it is a long way up – but if we could we would have! Lionel knocked out hit after hit. It may be 1985 since he last topped the charts in the UK, but add songs from his time in the Commodore and the audience didn’t slow down for the entire evening.

Simplicity is painting the O2 Red

From Simply Red 2009

Rolling back the years, Mick Hucknall and Simply Red revived hits from the 80s and 90s on a farewell tour, before they end their partnership – at least until they re-unite again to boast their pensions pots because money has become too tight to mention… With a list of chart hits longer than Lily Allen’s entire track list on two albums, they managed an unusual two encores, before the house light came up – still clearly planned from the beginning. It would be nice, if for once a band did an impromptu encore, based on the prolonged applause from their fans, putting a little spontaneity back into gigging…

Septuagenarian rocks O2

From Tina Turner 2009

It is quite incredible that this was a the Golden Anniversary tour for Tina Turner. Maybe not that she’d been touring for 50 years, but that she could rock the O2 with the best of them, and keep up with her support dancers – at least 40+ years her junior! I’d been looking at the tape running across the stage wondering why it was needed – then all became apparent as a section of the stage allowed Tina to move out above the middle of a packed O2 – quite a piece of engineering. Especially to keep health and safety happy!

PCD at O2

From Pussy Cat Dolls 2009

Kicking of my year of events at the O2, the Pussycat Dolls. A very entertaining evening - even if I did feel a little old! I'm sure Cliff Richard and Tina Turner audiences will correct the balance. There was, however something a little disturbing about the number of young girls emulating the dress of their heroines on stage - possibly in a few cases a little inappropriately.

Madness pipe up a tune at O2

From Madness 02 December 2008

Rounding out an eventful year with a final visit to the O2 for another rousing evening of Madness - this time not financial - the musical type...

Katie and support cheer a Autumn evening

A trio of artists brought to an end my week of O2 music - Jay Jay Pistolet started an evening to contrast the rock of my last two visits to the O2. Andrea McEwan and band followed, upping the pace, "Candle in a chat room" is a great title and commentary on modern internet life....

From Katie Melua Novermber 2008

Katie Melua then completed a great week of music for me at the O2 with a refreshing set of bluesy jazz that brighten up a rain sweep autumn evening. I should act on impulse more often and enjoy the wonderful entertainment London has to offer. Even a a soaking in the heavy rain in the way home couldn't dampen my spirits...

We Will Rock the O2

From Queen + Paul Rogers 2008

Half of Queen + Paul Roger and assorted incidental musician brought Queen to the O2 and part II of my trip down memory lane, and half way mark of my residence at the Dome. Miraculously my "restricted view ticket" was replaced with a prime view - thanks to a set design that would have meant I could only see the back of a curtain!

Having never seen Queen with Freddie I had no reference point, but Paul Rogers was a great stand in. Brian May can certainly still rock the world - and Freddie also put in a virtual appearance.