Review of Michael Jackson’s “This Is It”

First off, I would just like to state that I write this review as a ‘normal’ fan of music, and of many artists, including Michael Jackson.

I am not one of those people who gets hysterical at the mention of his name, and I am not one of those people who worships absolutely everything that MJ did; I am just your average Joe. I say this, as I am most likely about to rave over this movie, and although it’s a little sad that I feel the need to say this, I would like for people to see that I went to the movie with an open mind and am not just gushing for the sake of it! I genuinely enjoyed watching it.

So, now that’s said, let us begin

Myself, Tom and Carlos went to see ‘This Is It‘ on the first evening at Greenwich (UK) IMAX (and opted for Premium Seats) – in theory, giving us the best seats for this in the country! Oh, and yes, I did stay up until Midnight on the 27th September to book them!

All three of us thought that the movie was absolutely fantastic, and I think I can safely say that we all left the cinema thinking that the shows at the O2 would undoubtably have been the shows of his career (and the best we’d ever seen!). For me, saying that is quite something as, due to the nature of my job, I get to see a lot of concerts and shows, definitely more than your average person I reckon.

(I recommend watching the trailer in full screen HD – it’s awesome!)

What Sony/AEG have done is to stitch together an awful lot of rehearsal footage and essentially recreate the concert that never was. As you would expect, not all of the shots are of cinematographic quality and there is little in the way of narration, but then, we know this is not what the movie is about. In fact, the movie barely mentions Michael’s death, and they have seemingly resisted the urge to make it overly poignant and soppy. This film aims to try and showcase the potential that ‘This Is It’ had for you and me, as audience members at the O2 Arena, to see had we been sat there with 20,000 other people – it is not a documentary.

I have seen a lot of negative reviews in the British media, with many people saying that they hated it and that it was clearly rubbish as “MJ didn’t even look close to death” (erm, hello, drug overdose/heart attack!). They also do not seem to have grasped the concept of the movie, which is somewhat annoying. The media seem to be jaded against anything that is being released by The Michael Jackson Company at the moment -  I guess it is easier to be critical/cynical than supportive / open-minded at this time.

Anyway, I have rambled, sorry! I just don’t want people to be taken in by all of the 2 and 3 star reviews that are out there which are based on ‘This Is It’ as a documentary/bio-pic and not as it being clips of rehearsal footage of a concert. I disagree with the notion that “MJ’s vocals and dancing abilities had clearly deteriorated” – the guy was at a fairly relaxed rehearsal, and was also taking in all aspects of the show itself at the same time, so wouldn’t have given the singing/dancing 100%! He seems to have put an awful lot of effort in, especially considering these were just preliminary rehearsals, and I doubt you’d have gotten footage anywhere near this intense/professional had it been a rehearsal of any other artist.

What really comes across in this movie is the attention to detail that MJ had for his craft. Every minute detail seemed to be scrutinised by him, and it was clear that he was always very conscious of giving the audience a show and knew exactly what they wanted. He was the ultimate showman, and I would say that he was on par with the great Freddie Mercury. I think that he had put a lot of pressure on himself for this show, however I think that this would have been true of any tour that he was working on – he came across as being a bit of a perfectionist. To his credit he could have said ‘I’m Michael Jackson, they’ll love me anyway’ and put a whole less effort in. What I also came to respect was that MJ was really the one who put the tour together – Kenny Ortega came across as a bit of a ‘yes-man’ and I would go as far to say that MJ was definitely the person inputting all of the creativity into the partnership, and seemingly retained total control over proceedings.

A few people are saying that MJ came across a bit of a diva in his quest for perfection due to a few recorded moments shown in the movie. It’s sad that they can’t recognise these as also being endearingly funny moments. The best of which was when MJ had the ear feed blaring down his ear, and he stopped the performance and whined ‘It’s like it’s fisting my ear’ and then proceeded to do several fisting movements, at force! LOL! It was moments such as these, that made the audience chuckle and added some humanity to the rehearsal in my opinion. Yes, he’s having a bit of a strop, but in a lovable ‘oh Michael’ kind of way. You know that when he watched it back (if indeed he ever did – the rehearsals were originally recorded as footage for his personal archive) that he would have giggled a little too. Two other bits that will stick with me include when he was on the mechanical arm and Kenny has to shout ‘Michael, please, HOLD ON!’, and also when MJ’s eyes suddenly light up and he randomly shouts out ‘burn it!’ heh. The moment with the “Well… I’ll just feel it” and the subsequent (but petulant) compromise to have video screen off-stage instead on the cue to start singing on Smooth Criminal also made me chuckle.

The show would have been a technical triumph in my opinion. All of the pre-recorded CGI / 3D shots looked really good, and the new staged version of Thriller looked simply stunning. Surprisingly, it seemed to be Michael pushing the boundary, especially with things such as his choice of clothing for the show (they should have shown us!), and I think that it gives a small glimpse of just how well he was able to keep up with the times and breaking/emerging technology to ensure that he put on a truly sensational show.

I was very pleased to see all my favourite tracks on the set list (Beat It, Smooth Criminal, They Don’t Care About Us, Heal The World), though it was a pity my other favourite ‘Leave Me Alone’ wasn’t on the bill. It goes without saying that I enjoy Thriller, Man In The Mirror, Billie Jean, Earth Song et al very much too, just those mentioned are my absolute favourites!

The audience in the cinema were largely receptive, and often applauded. If you want to see every last second, there are a few more clips right at the very very end (but you have to look silly by sitting in the cinema on your own with the cleaners working around you, as everyone else WILL leave heh!).

I have been fairly close to the tour since MJ’s death due to my employment, and it was especially nice for me to get a glimpse of what is currently causing me a lot of stress and late nights. I mean that in a nice way though, seeing this footage definitely makes it all worthwhile, it genuinely does. We even get a thanks (by extension) in the credits, hurrah!

It will remain one of pop music’s biggest tragedies that this show was never seen in full by anyone, however I think that the decision to release this footage as a movie was a great one. Forget about it being released to make money (the world is largely a capitalist one; you can’t criticise Sony / AEG for doing this in my opinion), it was a release that I think that the fans needed, and fans of live entertainment would have been dismayed not to have seen. It was great to see Michael relaxed in rehearsals, and not acting for anyone or being a showman for the massive crowds, though his personal wardrobe was admittedly garish heh! A great 111 minutes, and I will definitely be purchasing the DVD of the movie, and watching it time and time again!

I’d like to close this post with the final paragraph of a review piece by Sitafa Harden and published on DigitalJournal.com (I’d recommend checking out the full review – I agree with this person’s sentiments exactly – especially regarding the ‘lack of interest’ that people seem to have over the release of ‘This Is It’):

This film left no doubt that if Jackson’s final show had gone on it would have been a glorious success. For his fans that realization was bittersweet. Some cried. For 111 minutes he was alive again. And when the movie ended, most of them remained in their seats watching all the credits until finally the screen went black, wishing and hoping there would be just one more clip or sound bite. But, sadly, regretfully, finally…that was it.

X-Factor Audition Process 2009

For my main posts on X-Factor 2009, please click HERE.

*******************************************************************

I’ve just come across this somewhat scathing article on the X-Factor audition process for 2009 and thought that I’d share.

I think that this is what we’ve all known for years, but even still, it does turn me off this new format quite a bit (and, as regular readers will know,  I was hardly encouraged by it to start with!).

*******************************************************************

What happens at an X Factor audition?

by Genevieve Hassan
Entertainment reporter, BBC News

It’s 6.30am and I’m standing outside London’s O2 Arena with a big crowd of people. No, I’m not queuing up to get concert tickets – I’m lining up to audition for the X Factor.

I’d received an audition letter, which sternly informed me that anyone who arrived after 9am would not be seen, so I thought getting there bright and early would see me done by 1pm at the latest.

How wrong was I? A theme park-style snaking queue had already formed and I was seemingly at the back of it.

But everyone kept shuffling forward in stops and starts, eager to get that little bit closer to the door, so while we were moving I took the opportunity to check out my competition.

There were all the usual suspects – the flamboyant cross-dresser; the two women in their wedding dresses; and the man with a plastic chicken on his head.

I befriended the girl standing next to me, 23-year-old Kenny from London, who had brought her husband along for support.

She had never auditioned before, but her husband had filled out the application form, so thought she’d have a go.

Cunningly (or so I thought) I had brought a portable chair and Harry Potter book with me to pass the time. It drew some curious looks at first – but I was vindicated two hours later, when people’s feet began to ache and those looks of pity turned to envy.

Finally, 9am came and a warm-up man came out to greet the excited crowd.

We were told to shuffle forward again so that, instead of standing in the rather polite two-by-two line we had formed, we lost any semblance of personal space whatsoever.

The reason for this eventually became clear: We would be filmed by overhead cameras whilst we waved our hands, bounced up and down, screamed and raised our arms above our heads in a cross whilst shouting: “I have the X Factor!”

We did this for an hour until host Dermot O’Leary appeared and recorded some links to camera, followed by more cheering. This lasted another long, tiring sixty minutes and the gathered throng were now becoming bored and tetchy.

At 11am, we were finally allowed to enter the O2 Arena, but auditions were not to begin until everyone was seated. It sounded reasonable enough but, with 10,000 people to process, we weren’t all in place until 12.15pm. At which point Dermot filmed yet more links and the crowd were made to repeat everything that had just happened outside.

Unbelievably, production staff went around handing out hand-made posters for people to hold up saying things like “I have the X Factor”, “I love you Cheryl” and “Pick me Simon!”. I had always thought they were lovingly made at home…

Once again we were made to stand up, sit down, scream, wave our hands and dance. When the auditionees began to revolt (there was audible moaning and complaining) a member of the production team took out a loud hailer and told us off.

If we didn’t want to participate “then you shouldn’t be here”. One guy was singled out and made an example of. He got up and left.

Nearly seven hours after I arrived, the auditions finally began in little makeshift booths in the middle of the arena floor.

No TV judges here – we were told we’d be singing to a member of the production team. If successful, we’d receive a golden ticket, allowing us to return and sing to a more senior production member.

If that went well, we’d get to sing for Simon and, presuming we made a big enough impression (good or bad) the footage might eventually end up on TV.

Having the auditions in the open meant that everyone could see – and hear – everyone else’s performance.

There was a strange, hushed silence at first as people listened in, followed by gasps at certain show-stopping performances and cheers as people ran out waving their golden tickets.

The same songs could be heard over and over – And I’m Telling You from Dreamgirls, Bill Wither’s Lean on Me and various Alicia Keys tunes.

In the booth, someone sang a pretty off-key version of I Will Survive, yet unbelievably (or perhaps predictably) he was given a pass to the next round.

Undoubtedly he was entertaining and would make good TV, but I couldn’t help thinking that, if the TV judges told him the truth, he would be mystified as to why he had been through so many gruelling rounds of auditions.

Finally, it was my turn. I was greeted by a girl who looked like she was in her mid-20s and after a few pleasantries (no chance to give my life story or find out why I wanted to win) I sang a verse and chorus of Sam Brown’s 1989 hit Stop.

“Thank you, but I’m afraid this time it’s a ‘no,’” she said.

“Okay, can I ask why?” I replied.

“Sorry, we don’t give feedback.”

And that was it. After 11 hours wait, it was all over in a minute.

I’m no Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey, but I can hold a tune, so I thought I had a chance of passing the first round at least. I guess I should just be happy I wasn’t bad enough to be humiliated on national TV…

As I was leaving the O2, Kenny caught up with me to find out how I got on.

She hadn’t made it through either, but I was surprised when she told me: “Next year I’m coming back and I’m going to be better prepared.”

Given the day I’d just had, I’ll think I’ll pass.

‘This Is It’ tour – the proposed setlist

The below is what the setlist was rumoured to have been for the Michael Jackson This Is It tour:

[NB - I think that Black or White should also have been in there and was added after the original document was leaked]

Billie Jean (Thriller, 1982)

Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ (Thriller 1982)

Rock With You (Off The Wall, 1979)

The Way You Make Me Feel (Bad, 1987)

Don’t Stop Til’ You Get Enough (Off The Wall, 1979)

I Just Can’t Stop Loving You (Bad, 1987)

Human Nature (Thriller, 1982)

Smooth Criminal (Bad, 1987)

Girlfriend (Off The Wall, 1979)

Man In The Mirror (Bad 1987)

Beat It (Thriller, 1982)

One Day In Your Life (Forever Michael, 1975)

Heal The World (Dangerous, 1991)

You Are Not Alone (HIStory, 1995)

Remember The Time (Dangerous, 1991)

Thriller (Thriller, 1982)

Looks like it would have been a cracking gig!

Michael Jackson – ‘This Is It’ tour – BBC interview with photographer

The BBC have posted an interview with Kevin Mazur; the person who took the photographs of Michael Jackson rehersing for the This Is It tour that I posted previously (click me).

If the show was pretty much ready to roll, I am surprised that they are not continuing at least some of the dates as a tribute to be honest… AEG have already spent a reported $30 million on it, so it certainly makes sense! Several papers are reporting such rumours (all predictable, and therefore I’m not giving much weight to them at the moment).

NB – If the refunds start today (1st July) then I doubt that this will happen, despite the rumours… I am sure there will be some kind of celebration at some point, however, and from a business point of view, they are unlikely to refund everyone with MJ tickets and then resell the same event in my opinion.

Photographer on Jackson rehearsals

Renowned rock photographer Kevin Mazur was at Michael Jackson’s final tour rehearsal in Los Angeles last week.

Several images from the practice runs have now been released, showing the star dancing and smiling against large neon letters reading “This Is It”.

Mazur, who first took pictures of Jackson during the 1984 Victory tour, told the BBC about the “magical” show that was being prepared before the entertainer’s untimely death on Friday.

The pictures were taken on 23 June, just two days before Jackson died

How much of the rehearsal did you see?

I was there for a couple of days. I was there on the first day when they built the stage, and I took photographs of the dancers and the back-up singers for the tour book. Then, the next day I was taking casual shots of the band and the dancers rehearsing when Michael arrived.

I was like an expectant father waiting for him to take to the stage, I was so excited. And when he came out, I was even more excited because Michael was back.

He was happy, he was energetic, he was full of life. I had such an adrenaline rush. It was like the first time I had photographed him, when he moonwalked.

People were saying he wasn’t ready, and the first shows had been pushed back because of his health. Did you see any evidence of that?

A photo tells a story. Michael was physically fit and performing the same way that I photographed him through the years. You can look at the photos. I documented it, I was there.

So how did you feel when, four days later, you were told he had died?

I was so shocked, because from what I saw on Tuesday night, he was full of energy and full of life. I couldn’t wait to see this show at the O2 arena with all the fans there.

How much of the production did you see? Were there any big surprises?

There were still certain elements that they had to put into place, but I saw them rehearse about a dozen songs. And Michael never stopped. He worked right through. He did 12 songs and he only paused a couple of times to tweak some stuff with the music and a little bit of the choreography.

They had a screen that ran the full length of the main stage and was maybe about 50 feet high. And, supposedly, I heard they were doing some 3D things. I’ve been shooting shows for 25 years and I’d never seen anything like that before. I was very curious to see how it would all come together.

So you could say the concert was really in the final stages of preparation – with all the individual songs coming together into a coherent show?

Yes, well… Everything was pretty much staged and built. There were certain things they were still waiting to get – they had chandeliers they were going to put into the set. But musically and dancing-wise, I got to see it all. But I didn’t get to see things like aerial lifts and a few other elements in the show.

And when Michael was done rehearsing, he and Kenny Ortega [choreographer and show producer] went off the stage and they were looking at a bunch of props they had for Thriller and they had a puppeteer using zombie-type creatures that were going to go through the audience. It looked really, really cool.

This was going to be like no show anyone had ever seen.

The picture that has gone around the world today is of Michael in a grey suit, pointing into the centre of the auditorium. What do you remember much about that shot?

That might have been Black Or White – but I don’t remember. It’s so hard for me to keep track of the songs while I’m shooting, because it’s such an adrenalin rush for me. I’m just too excited, and I’m juggling round numerous cameras. But I do know this, it was magical.

There are rumours today that the rehearsals had been filmed and that segments of the concert will be released as a tribute. Were you aware of that?

Not specifically – but everything was documented. That’s why I was there. I was there to keep a record photographically, and they also had videographers. He’s Michael Jackson and, as you know, he documents everything.

Kevin Mazur was speaking to BBC Entertainment News reporter Mark Savage.

Michael Jackson – ‘This Is It’ tour pictures

Pictures have been released by Kenny Ortega of the late Michael Jackson rehersing for the ‘This Is It’ tour…

Source: Kenny Ortega’s blog.

I think that he looks a little emaciated in the top left picture  (look at the hands), however it looks like it still would have been a fabulous production (if any of us were even daring to question how good it would be to start with!)

I have also posted a transcript of an interview that the BBC have done with the photographer, Kevin Mazur, who talks about the rehersals and how things were looking.

Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds, O2 Arena 2009

ULLA!

First off, I should declare my absolute adoration for Wells’ The War of The Worlds, along with Jeff Wayne’s phenomenal musical version too.

In my mind, the following is true:

• It is perhaps the best novel ever written!
• Jeff Wayne’s musical version is also one of, if not THE best, musical composition, ever!
• I have never been as excited about an album of music before in my life as I was when I first heard Jeff Waynes’ production.
• I class this as a piece of musical theatre, and I would say that this is without a shadow of a doubt my favourite!
• The story is the only one to have genuinely made me feel despair and like all is lost. It is such a foreign emotion for me that, in literature and in life, this book has been the only thing able to get it out of me.
• It, unquestionably, has the best opening lines of any book written thus far!

No one would have believed in the early years of the 21st century that our world was being watched by intelligences greater than our own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns, they observed and studied, the way a man with a microscope might scrutinize the creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency, men went to and fro about the globe, confident of our empire over this world. Yet across the gulf of space, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded our planet with envious eyes and slowly, and surely, drew their plans against us.

As you can probably guess by now, my review of the 30th Anniversary tour of Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds (WOTW) is going to be rave and probably littered with equally as bold statements as I opened with heh!

I first started getting excited about the 30th Anniversary Tour last year, and the excitement of going to see this live has been mounting ever since. I wasn’t even as excited about front row centre Kylie as I was about going to this!

From the opening bars of The Eve Of The War, right through to the closing note of  Finalé (NASA), I had goosebumps all over, hairs on end on my arms and neck, and a hand that seemed to think that it was Jeff Wayne’s own heh!

The production was absolutely phenomenal and the surround sound element that they were using in the Arena (for the first time) was definitely beneficial and REALLY made the experience special.

The show itself is an absolute treat for any geek (such as I heh!). The effects that are in use and the tech that go into the show really are to be marvelled at!

For any doubting Dericks, the fact that they have a full scale (and movable) martian tripod that gets lowered down onto the stage, and a fully animated Richard Burton head shows just how advanced this show is in my opinion! All of the CGI shots are also done very well.

As this was the 30th Anniversary tour, they beefed up a lot of the effects seen in the previous tours, however for those unable to make it this time, I really do recommend the DVD of the tour from 2006 (NB – go for the 2 disc version so that you get all the extras!!).

Concert Live have been brought in for the 30th Anniversary tour to make a recording of the show as it happens, and to give you a special 3 disc edition of the show you’ve just watched (or if there are multiple dates, the first date at the venue you’re at). At £20, it is perhaps the most expensive CD I’ve ever bought, however it is also the best in my opinion!! We were very lucky that nothing went wrong and we didn’t have a rowdy audience though heh. If you’re ordering from their website and want a technically ‘clean’ version, I would suggest you pick the London O2 20th June one (which I have).

I have already listened to my CD version twice, and it’s not even been 24 hours since I was sat there watching it! Fantastic quality recording, and the ‘live sound’ makes it completely different to the other recordings available.

The queue to pick up the CDs was absolutely mammoth at the O2. I cannot in quantifiable measure convey how large it was via the medium of text, and unfortunately it was difficult to snap an image! The queue snaked around the main foyer 4 times, and then went all the way outside towards the tube station! I genuinely have never seen anything like it! I suppose that an event such as this lends itself nicely to this kind of merchandising… it was awesome to find that so many people had enjoyed the show so much and really had appreciated it!

You also get an exclusive picture CD with it which contains some pre-shot images from the tour. I have posted these at the base of this post for your enjoyment!

The tour program is a little steep at £15, however also very well worth it! It comes in a lovely vinyl sleeve and really is something that you’ll want to keep forever!

It was great to see that most of the cast were still with the production, and that the small changes to the line-up from the original tours were, in my opinion, for the better. It was amazing to see Jeff Wayne too! Somewhat unusual to find a conductor who is conducting his own work these days I tend to find.

The Jubilee tube line was off when we went to the O2, and so we had to catch the DLR and then a boat shuttle across from East India dock. Needless to say, I was singing ‘Thunderchild’ constantly, and waiting for the O2 Arena itself to turn into a tripod and fire it’s heatray at us! hehe!!

Greg was an absolute new-comer to the musical version (he’d read the novel), and I’m delighted to report that he absolutely loved it! Hurrah! I always worry when I get obsessed with something, such as this, whether I become too blinkered and that other people may not really rate it.

If you’ve still got chance to see the tour in the coming days, GO! It is a little pricey, however it is definitely more than worth the money for a ticket!

All in all, a simply amazing evening, and one that I am sure never to forget!

Britney Spears – Circus Tour 2009

I figured that I’d give reviewing by vlog a chance:

In summary, for those unable to listen in:

• Support acts are very good
• The tech kit on this show, is amazing… I really want the wrap around screen!
• All in all, a great concert
• Few niggles, mainly that there was virtually no audience interaction
• Unsure of whether she mimed or not… it did all sound very ‘clean’ though.
• All-in-all, highly recommended for folk to go see.

Few pics from the show (mainly of the tech, as Britney ones didn’t come out) are at the bottom of this post.

RUNTIME (for all dates at the O2, London):

WEDS/THURS SHOWS:

Doors: 18:30 / Ciara 20:00 – 20:40 / Interval 20:40 – 20:55 / NY Big Apple Circus 20:55 – 21:13 / Britney 21:15 – 22:45

SAT SHOWS (NB – no Jubilee tube line!):

Doors: 18:00 / Ciara 19:30 – 20:10 / Interval 20:10 – 20:25 / NY Big Apple Circus 20:25 – 20:43 / Britney 20:45 – 22:15

SUN SHOWS (NB – no Jubilee tube line!):

Doors: 18:00 / Ciara 19:00 – 19:40 / Interval 19:40 – 19:55 / NY Big Apple Circus 19:55 – 20:13 / Britney 20:15 – 21:45

SETLIST:

MY PICTURES:

P!nk at the O2 Arena, Sat 2nd May ‘09

Last night, I went to see P!nk at the O2 Arena, London.

WOW!

Mister Greg and I are big P!nk fans, and I’d always said that if she went on tour, I’d be first in the queue to purchase tickets. You can no doubt imagine my excitement when a tour was announced a few weeks later!

I grew up listening to P!nk, I was in college and doing the whole ‘teenage angst’ thing at the time that P!nk started releasing the ‘darker’ stuff (compared to the R&B stuff, which I wasn’t too fond of). It seems weird to think that I’ve kind of gone full circle… I’d like to think that I am so much more mature than I was when I used to throw myself wildly around the indie room at Poptastic Manchester to ‘Just Like A Pill’.

To say last night was an audio visual extravagance would be an understatement! The set was absolutely fab (a twisted funhouse, of course in keeping with the latest album), and the whole show was really well produced I thought.  Great costumes, frequent changes, and a great use of the dancers / musicians in the act.

I was stunned with the acrobatics of P!nk and her dancers, but at no time more so than during ‘Sober’ (which is my favourite P!nk track anyway).

Phenominal!

How on Earth she manages to keep singing and keep the emotion of the song going whilst throwing herself about 60 foot in the air, I have no idea!

If I had to sum up the staging, costumes and general all round experience, I’d say that it was like going to see Evil Kylie with an added twist of ‘anthemic’ attitude! Production wise, everything was on the same grand scale as you would get with an artist such as Kylie, but with that awesome and unique P!nk twist.

It was fun to see P!nk interacting with the audience and she really did seem to be enjoying herself. I can only imagine how tiring a show like that must be, but her energy on stage was electric.

A great selection of songs on this tour, though the time really did whizz by much too quickly.  I think that a really good balance was struck between old and new, ‘anthemic’ and delicate. I’d forgotten just how much emotion P!nk is able to convey through her performance.

As I say, “Sober” had to be my stand out moment of the show, but highlights would include “Just Like A Pill”; “U + Ur Hand”; “Ave Mary A”; “Glitter In The Air”; “So What” and, dare I say it, P!nk’s cover of “Bohemian Rhapsody”! These were songs that the crowd really got behind and the atmosphere in the arena literally just took off!

As a finale, “Glitter In The Air” was a great choice… I especially liked the staging (see pictures at the end, the ones with the red canopy) – t’was a nice choice to finish with such a lovely song rather than go for something  perhaps more obvious and air-punchy. Unfortunately my battery ran out right at the end, so the above YouTube clip shows the end of ‘Glitter’ that I didn’t manage to photograph.

The general atmosphere at the O2 was awesome… the combination of their fantastic audio set-up, the fantastically punchy music (the ambiance of Sober really is electrifying in a 20,000 seat arena!), and the crowd was one of those ‘wow’ moments! Oh, and of course, it’s always good to hear 20,000 people singing ‘fuck’  as loud as they can heh! Even I had a bit of a dance and did the air punching thing… and alcohol wasn’t even involved, cor! That said, if a P!nk record ever comes on, I’m always one of the first up!

I am seriously considering purchasing tickets to see P!nk again in December (there have been extra London dates announced). Although I normally watch shows at the O2 from our suite,  I’d considered the seating (in depth, naturally!) and reckoned that sitting in Block 112 would be best for this show, largely due to the projected stage. Glad to see my decision was a good one, and it was definitely the better option (standing looked very crushed!).

It would seem that P!nk is going to be spending pretty much this whole year touring, despite having done a lot of Europe already, Australia is next on the cards, before a return to Europe for an encore in the Autumn/Winter.

Even now, sat at work 24 hours later,  I am still buzzing from the gig, and very few shows that I have been at have managed to sustain that effect! (and believe me, I’ve seen a lot!)

If you’ve got the chance to see P!nk, take it! You definitely won’t regret it!

For anyone interested, P!nk is also now on twitter.

I managed to take 283 pictures of the show (erk!). I have included a highlighted selection of them below:

(click any picture to bring it to full size)

Unfortunately my camera let me down on some of the shots (it doesn’t handle spotlights very well)…. some look awesome, but only on a small screen such as my camera phone… gah!

SET LIST:

The O2 Arena, London (Saturday 2nd May 2009)

[NB, I've sourced this from Google, and whilst I disagree with the order slightly, my memory as to the correct order momentarily fails me, I can confirm that all the songs below are there!]

“Highway to Hell” (Intro)
“Bad Influence”
“Just Like A Pill”
“One Foot Wrong”
“Who Knew”
“Please Don’t Leave Me”
“It’s All Your Fault”
“I Touch Myself” (Divinyls Cover)
“U + Ur Hand”
“Ave Mary A”
“I Don’t Believe You”
“Crystal Ball”
“Trouble”
“So What”
“Leave Me Alone (I’m Lonely)”
“Family Portrait”
“Bohemian Rhapsody” (Queen Cover)
“Sober”
“Crazy” (Gnarls Barkley Cover)
“Funhouse”

Encore:

“Glitter In The Air”
“Get The Party Started”

The X-Factor Tour 2009

NB – This is the tour that had the 2008 finalists on it.

For my main posts on X-Factor 2009, please click HERE.

*******************************************************************

I was very fortunate enough to be handed a pair of tickets to the X-Factor live tour at the O2 arena on Thursday 5th March 2009.

Unashamedly, I will admit to being VERY excited about this, I love X-Factor and the calibre of artists this year was SO high that I knew that we were in for a treat with the live tour.

I must say, the production values on the tour were rather minimal, which I do think cheapened it slightly. That said, with so many people promoting albums and singles, I am guessing that even the X-Factor finalists weren’t too bothered – they seemed to want to just get the whole X-Factor deal over and done with so that they could be released from their contracts and persue their music careers – which is fair enough I guess, and is realistically what we all want!

There were quite a few surprises on the night, and some artists such as Diana (who, on the TV shows, I didn’t much warm to) came out and were absolutely fierce! Diana’s versions of  ‘Call Me’ and ‘Patience’ were absoutely amazing and I thought that her performance absolutely filled the O2 Arena. She was one of my highlights if I’m truly honest! Other highlights were JLS, Ruth, Eoghan and Rachel. Some artists who I’d raved about whilst sat on the sofa just didn’t sound as original and as ‘good’ as I’d thought that they were, which was a big shame.

From audience reaction, JLS definitely should have won, they got the loudest screams of the night, and with Alexandra going on after them, the show felt almost anti-climatic towards the end. It was great to see that JLS had such support behind them… boyband hysteria that has not been seen in years, remarkable and I think that they’re going to do amazingly well without the shackles of the X-Factor following them around.I may have permitted myself a little ‘wooooo’ too heh!

The below clip that I recorded gives you an idea of how 20,000 people screaming for JLS sounds… honestly, they pretty much raised the roof! I’ve watched plenty of shows at the O2 arena and had never heard screaming like this…!

I was very pleased that JLS did ‘Umbrella’ as it was my favourite performance of the TV series – I managed to catch Aston doing the flip:

Alexandra did, however, stomp the arena with her version of ‘Please Don’t Stop The Music’ – I was chair dancing a-plenty hehe!

Shane Ward currently plays to half sized arenas at the moment… so only time will tell how well this year’s crop manage. I felt that some of the more popular acts wouldn’t be able to carry another full sized arena, whilst others (who I’d previously written off almost) would clearly be able to sustain shows and performances of that magnitude.

Here’s some photos that I managed to take, unfortunately they don’t look as sharp on the computer as they do on my camera (so I’ve reduced the size of the images on  here before I’ve re-posted):

Crowd Shot

Rachel

Diana

Ruth

The Finalists who didn't make it to the Top 3

Eoghan

Eoghan and Diana duet

Eoghan

JLS

JLS

Alexandra

Alexandra

The 'Hallelujah Moment'

Pretty much the only view of Austin (who didn't make the tour list) that I got all evening

In lieu of their being no Mr Drage for me to see in the flesh -  gah! – I thought that I’d post these hawt pictures that I just came across instead heh!

Il Divo – O2 Arena

I went to see Il Divo t’other night at the O2 Arena with Mister Greg.

A rather good night all in all, here’s a few photos that I managed to take:

I also managed to get a shot of the Great Unwashed before they all legged it for refreshments (both singular and plural versions of the word!)

As for Il Divo themselves, my favourite song is probably ‘Power Of Love’ (they also had a really good back-drop of a moving cityscape at night behind them, was really nice to watch.

All in all, both Mister Greg and I enjoyed this concert and had a fab time. I can’t say that I was overwhelmed by it, however I am a sucker for good orchestration, and to be fair, Il Divo usually have that going for them if nothing else!

Setlist

Overture (The Power of Love, Caruso, Heroe)
Somewhere
Regresa a Mi
La Promessa
Angelina
Isabel
Bridge Over Troubled Water
She
Passera
Senza Catene
Mama
Notte di Luce

INTERMISSION

Va Todo al Ganador
Without You
Pourque Tu M’aimes Encore
Every Time I Look at You
Hallelujah
Adagio
La Vida Sin Amor
Caruso
The Power of Love
My Way

[encore]

Amazing Grace
The Impossible Dream