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Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 22:32:00 -0700
Well, I have to admit that I don't like London much. I spent quite some time there a few years ago, and I find it dirty, hyperactive and miserable and only tend to go there if I have to. But, when I heard that Del Amitri were supporting Bryan Adams at Wembley I had to!!! :P Especially as I haven't seen them in concert since they played Poole Arts Centre just over a year ago. And it also seemed a good opportunity to spread a bit of info about our DelZine, "Infidels & Popstars", and about Alison's Del Amitri Home Page. :) Kelli has designed some super handouts which give information about the DelZine and how to subscribe to it on one side, and on the other is the URL for the Dels page in big typescript. So I packed a few hundred to hand out at the same time... :) I couldn't get anyone from down here sufficiently motivated to go up there with me, or to spend the £23 for the Bryan Adams ticket, so I decided to stay overnight at the hotel next door to avoid having to travel the 100 miles or so home by myself after the concert. I arrived at the hotel just before lunch and had a snack at the bar and a chat to some of the Bryan Adams road crew, who were staying at the hotel too, before making my way to the Stadium to wait for the gates to open. As I had suspected, the crowd there consisted of 99% Bryan Adams fans, but I spotted the occasional Del Amitri t-shirt in the crowd and gave them handouts for the DelZine and Homepage. I also managed to persuade most of the official t-shirt stands to put some handouts out for me (by hook or by crook...). At long last the gates opened and the thousands of people poured in. I managed to grab some wine from a stall and then make my way right to the front of the stadium to sit down and enjoy it until the concert started. Ricky Ross was on first. He was good, and looked very confident; I suppose he is used to stadiums from his Deacon Blue days. I can't tell you what he played because I am not familiar with his songs - sorry!! Next on stage was Melissa Etheridge. She is so cool!! I really enjoyed listening to her songs. I hadn't heard much of her stuff before, but I am a fan now!!! On Saturday I am going out to get her CDs. :) I was standing with some Dutch fans, who as far as I could understand had come over here just to see her. And to think my friend couldn't be bothered to travel from Bournemouth for the Dels.... :( Before the Ricky Ross set the stage had been filled with bottles of Evian water, before the Melissa Etheridge set it had been filled with glasses of a mixture of Isostar and mineral water. Now, on came the wine and the beer, so it was obviously time for the Dels.... :P Andy came out to sort his keyboards himself. Doesn't he trust the roadies? :) By now the stadium was crammed at the front and quite a number of people had been pulled out by the paramedics already. Finally the Dels came on! Justin was wearing black leather trousers (cool!!) and a pink shirt, and his hair was back to its natural (?) brown. Iain wore a gold coloured shirt and pinstripe trousers. Jon wore a light shirt and black jeans. The other two were of course at the back and it was difficult to see exactly what they wore. Their set rocked!! They started with Ones That You Love... and then tore their way through Just Like A Man, Last To Know, When I Want You, Here & Now (yay!!!! :P !!!!), Hatful Of Rain, Driving, Roll To Me, Kiss This Thing, Medicine - with Justin on electric guitar, wow! - and Stone Cold Sober. I may not have them in the exact order - nothing to do with the wine of course, I was just so carried away by how good they were!! There was very little chat all this time, but many instrument changes as always. Justin never forgot his lyrics, he never even got the verses mixed up! :) They were just superb and the crowd loved them, even the ones around me that didn't know the songs were singing along!! Their final song was Being Somebody Else. That song is so brilliant, and the bass playing is so heavy and so cool. And it's even better live!! :) There were no encores, like when they play "their own" concerts, and none of the songs were their cool b-sides, but then I never expected that. When they finished, the Melissa Etheridge fans were asking me for some of my handouts. That's how good an impression they had made!! :) I would like to tell you how much Bryan Adams rocked, but I have to be honest and admit that after the Dels I couldn't handle any more, I was in a state of euphoria and I just wanted to get out and think about how good they were.... Besides, Bryan Adams would only have been a let-down after the brilliant Dels! :P So, I have come away with two new t-shirts, a reminder of just why I love the Dels so much, and lots of photos that I managed to take, so that when I get old, I can sit and look at them and remember just what a great time I had.... :) Del Amitri Rock!!!!
Written by Anna Barwick |