2022
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2022 would turn into a quite incredible year for gigs as the world started emerging from the Covid crisis and a lot of shows postponed due to Covid started to take place. There were also plenty of performers who had been frustrated due to the lockdown and wanted to start gigging again. Hence there was no shortage of options, and some pretty good acts would be touring. My spreadsheet quickly filled as I juggled gigs and the odd sporting event to optimise time on a number of road trips. To start off with though, gigs started returning to Ireland, starting with Texas at the newly rebranded 3Olympia theatre in Dublin.
Index
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Texas
40th Anniversary of Southside
3Olympia, Dublin
11 February 2022
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I was well positioned at the end of the second row of seats. Well I thought it was a good position, but I was still playing about with exposure settings when I had a tap on the shoulder and was told cameras were not allowed. It seemed that phones were no issue, and I was a bit taken aback given my prior experience at the Midge Ure show. I took a few pictures with my phone and tried surreptitiously to get some pictures with the camera, but the steward was only a couple of metres away.
As we were getting to the encore I thought he was going to reprimand me again, but he actually indicated that I could take pictures at that time. Hence I took quite a few although had little opportunity to adjust any settings, and overall the pictures from that evening are not among my best.
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The Darkness
Motorheart
3Olympia, Dublin
27 February 2022
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Having emerged from the pandemic the World, and in particular Europe, was now having to deal with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These gigs were a bit of an opportunity to get away from all the doom and gloom if only for a short while.
The Darkness were one of the acts I had ducked out of in December as Omicron was starting to take hold. I had done that in the knowledge I had a ticket for this Dublin gig, but equally things were opening up a lot more slowly in Ireland than in Britain. Fortunately restrictions had eased off in Ireland by the time this gig was scheduled for the end of February.
This was my first standing gig at the Olympia, and I missed a trick as I did not know the standing area downstairs had a barrier with early arrivals allowed in front of the stage with the rest of us behind the barrier. Fortunately I managed to get pretty much in the middle immediately behind the barrier. The same steward who had been at the Texas gig was stood at pretty much the same position he had been for that gig. With everyone standing and being well away from the side I managed to evade detection and happily snapped away throughout.
Dea Matrona
3Olympia, Dublin
28 February 2022
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A three piece band supporting Status Quo. Well actually the band itself comprises 2 Irish women who would take turns on vocals, and would even swap guitars between songs, and onstage they also had a drummer. I had learnt from my experience the previous evening and made sure I was there reasonably early to get a coloured paper wrist band to get me in front of the barrier. Again I was fairly central and actually stayed near the back of this section, meaning I was only a few feet away from where I had been the previous night.
Status Quo
Out, Out Quoing
3Olympia, Dublin
28 February 2022
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The last time I had seen Status Quo had been at Knebworth in 1986, when Rick Parfitt was still at the centre of the band. Before that it was Live Aid, with Alan Lancaster on bass guitar. Alas both were no longer with us, although Lancaster’s replacement, Rhino Edwards, who had been at the Knebworth gig, was now an integral part of the band. As was Parfitt’s replacement, Irishman Richie Malone. Richie had plenty of supporters in the crowd and his family were well placed in one of the private boxes on the first floor.
Andy Bown had been a full member of the band since 1982, but although he appeared in all the shows from the 1980s when I had a camera he was very much in the background. On this occasion not only was he on the keyboards, but he would also play guitar.
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The Wild Things
The Teenage Cancer Trust
The Royal Albert Hall
25 March 2022
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The Who had cancelled all the gigs originally postponed due to lockdowns, 2 of which I had tickets for. They then announced a North American tour, but no European dates. Early in 2022 they announced a single date at the Royal Albert Hall in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust – a charity they had supported for many years.
I suspect all their gear was on it’s way to the US as this was going to be an acoustic gig – something they had done for a number of dates before lockdown.
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The Royal Albert Hall is an iconic venue – one that I had never attended before so this was going to be a new experience. Security again required completely empty pockets and metal detector wands, which meant both cameras had to be displayed, but security did not bat an eyelid and waved them through. Well actually they did wonder about having two cameras and I simply stated one was a spare!
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The Wild Things had, apparently, caught Pete Townsend's attention ad he had given them guidance. On this day they had been specially invited to open up for the Who.
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The Who
The Teenage Cancer Trust
The Royal Albert Hall
25 March 2022
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A decent enough seat although nearer the middle would have been better. Having said that I had Roger Daltrey on “my” side and I got plenty of decent pictures of the two main men. Roger was, as always, very professional. Pete was perhaps starting to show his age. Yes there were a few occasions where they openly admitted to lack of rehearsals. Yes they got a bit stroppy with each other once or twice. All part of a Who gig experience. Equally they did not have the full “force” they would have behind a regular gig. And hearing some of their stuff in an acoustic format was not a bad thing. I guess though I am thinking back to how they were 40 years ago (although I still thought they were excellent the last time I had seen them (maybe 5 or 6 years previously)). And equally it’s probably unfair to expect guys of their ages to continue hitting peaks.
The Fratellis
Rock City, Nottingham
4 April 2022
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Another month and another road trip. It was supposed to start with Midge Ure in Birmingham but he postponed his tour to 2023 given ongoing uncertainties surrounding Covid. Hence it was a case of catching the ferry over on the Saturday for United v Leicester that evening, then to Leigh Sports Village for a noon kick-off on the Sunday with United Women playing Brighton women. That afternoon it was over to Leeds to catch a bit of cricket before heading down to Nottingham and the Fratellis on Monday evening.
I was right at the front for the Fratellis where I stayed throughout. There was no problem taking pictures and at the end of the gig, drummer Mince Fratelli came over dishing out his drumsticks, one of which I now have.
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Imelda May
Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham,
5 April 2022
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I had a front row soundcheck package for this event. We had been warned before entering the hall that due to concerns over Covid we would not be allowed to get photos with Imelda. I had with me a couple of photos from the Ronnie Wood gigs in 2019 I wanted to get her signature on. She was more than happy to sign them and I did have a spare copy for her which she was delighted with.
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Paul Weller
Bonus Arena, Hull
6 April 2022
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Another first—I had never spent any time in Hull before. Hull is a place there are few reasons to go to. I had on one occasion driven over the Humber Bridge, simply because it was there. There was no reason to head into Hull though and I bypassed the city.
This was a Wednesday evening. I needed to find somewhere to park and conveniently there was a car park right next to the arena. It was a standing gig, although there were some rows of seats around the perimeter of the arena. I did though manage to get myself very near the front. The support act was an Australian band called the Stroppies. The only thing I remember about them was the volume of the bass guitar which I thought detracted significantly from the performance. The main man though was excellent. An individual I had only previously seen perform at Live Aid. He had a setlist encompassing the Jam, the Style Council and his solo career. He said he had a lot of songs to get through, and looking at the setlist that was definitely the case, but he seemed top have the knack of keeping them relatively short and he crammed 29 songs into around 90 minutes.
I was heading up to Harrogate the following evening and my hotel was at Tadcaster, which was not too long a drive after the gig.
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The Manfreds
Royal Hall, Harrogate
7 April 2022
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Again, despite being in my home county of Yorkshire, and having been a regular attender at the nearby Royal Yorkshire Show, this was the first time I had actually been to Harrogate.
I had seen the Manfreds only a few months previously. Tom McGuinness had missed that gig due to illness, but was back for this evening. Unfortunately Georgie Fame had to miss this one due to illness, but a star from the 1960s, who I had never heard of until this date, Zoot Money, was a fine replacement.
As had happened in in December, Mike D’Abo sang the song he had written, only for Rod Stewart and the Stereophonics to turn it into hits, Handbags and Gladrags. And Tom McGuinness had a song from when he had been part of McGuinness Flint, When I'm Dead And Gone. But the Manfreds had loads of hits from their days as part of Manfred Mann and Manfred Mann‘s Earth Band. These guys were very much part of the sound of the sixties with hits like 5-4-3-2-1, Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn), Pretty Flamingo, Ha! Ha! said the Clown, Fox on the Run, Do Wha Diddy Diddy and many more.
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Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets
The National Convention Centre, Dublin
13 April 2022
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Another gig postponed from 2021 due to the pandemic. This was Nick Mason’s first post-pandemic gig, and I had also seen him at his last pre-pandemic one—the Music for the Marsden event at the O2 in London. I also had picked up a ticket for his gig in Birmingham but had managed to get a refund for that after the original postponement. There was another person on stage that I had seen before in a different setting. Gary Kemp was integral to Spandau Ballet who I had seen at Live Aid 37 years previously. This was not going to be anything like a New Romantics gig—it was more in tune with the flower power years of the late 60s and early 70s, as Mason brought us the Pink Floyd song “Echoes” played in its entirety in public for the first time—nearly 24 minutes—well that’s the length of the song on the Meddle album—I did not put a stopwatch on this performance. We had a full psychedelic light show to provide the ambience of an early 1970s hippy gig.
Cruel Hearts Club
The London Palladium
19 April 2022
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A three piece all-woman band supporting Sting at the London Palladium. My first visit to this iconic theatre. And they were a pretty good support. The one thing that sticks in my mind is the shriek let out by drummer as she counted down into each song. This was the first of a 2 night trip to London, with a second visit to the Royal Albert Hall the next evening for Suzi Quatro’s only gig in Britain this year (although there would be one in Northern Ireland later in the year)
Sting
The London Palladium
19 April 2022
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This gig had been postponed from the previous June due to the pandemic, and I had originally picked up my ticket probably 18 months or so before it finally took place. Sting was actually accompanied by his son Joe for a couple of songs, although when I first saw him I assumed it was his younger brother. Sting was certainly not looking his 70 years. Joe had already played a small set of his own as second support. This was the fourth of a six night “residency” at this the most iconic West End theatre. These were his first post-lockdown gigs in the UK. This was the third time I had seen him, but the first time as the headline. Although the tour was entitled “My Songs” he did manage to throw in a handful of his most popular songs from the Police. He started off accompanied by a Ukrainian cellist, Yaroslavea Trofimchuk, on his first song, Russians, reminding us of the conflict taking place on the other side of the continent. I may have been upstairs in the Circle, but I still got some great photos.
Suzi Quatro
The Royal Albert Hall
20 April 2022
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I had seen Quatro once before in the 1980s at Manchester Apollo. I had seen this gig advertised on Ticketmaster, but the best tickets were in the upper tiers a long way away from the stage. So I resigned myself to not getting any decent photos. Then when scrutinising the venue’s website for other interesting gigs I saw they were selling tickets directly. And clicking on the tickets button provided me with the opportunity of picking up one only a few rows back from the stage. Of course I had to go for that option and tried re-selling my original ticket on Ticketmaster. Like Sting the previous night, Suzi had her son, Richard Tuckey, on stage for a couple of songs.
I don’t pay much attention to social media. If I did I may have realised she would be brining two more guests on stage. A few years ago she was part of a 3 piece “supergroup” (or maybe “Glamgroup”) including Andy Scott, guitarist with the Sweet, and Don Powell, original drummer with Slade. That evening Powell became the first artist I had pictures of more than 4 decades apart.
Johnny Marr
Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
24 April 2022
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The Smiths were probably in their heyday when I was living and working in and around Manchester, but they were never a band I got into. This was an opportunity to see one of the main men, supporting Blondie in Cardiff. And I wasn’t disappointed – he seemed to have a pretty decent catalogue to fall back on.
Blondie
Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
24 April 2022
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Debbie Harry was probably at her peak as I started going to gigs in the early 1980s, but this was the first time I would see her live. And she had a lot of hits to play. This was also the first time I would see a genuine Sex Pistol, with Glen Matlock filling in for her injured regular bass player Leigh Foxx. This was a flying visit—well more accurately a sailing one, having got the ferry over from Rosslare to Pembroke Dock on the morning, and heading back on the 2.45 ferry on the next morning. That meant I could not afford any hold ups on the way back, and as Blondie performed her encore I moved to the back of the arena with a view to getting out quickly and into the car for the journey back along the M4.
Europe
3Arena, Dublin
10 May 2022
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The first of a triple header in Dublin. I had seen none of these acts live before, but they do of course have some very well known songs Joey Tempest was all action and gave a rousing rendition of the Final Countdown – I actually videoed that with the camera, and it came out pretty well. It was to be one leg of my swansong (along with Another One Bites the Dust and Don’t let the Sun go down on Me) as I was winding down towards full retirement at the end of June.
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Foreigner
3Arena, Dublin
10 May 2022
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Again some very well known songs delivered with a lot of energy. For most of the show there were none of the original members of the band on stage, but I guess they felt they could retain the name as 77 year old Mick Jones took to the stage for the last few numbers.
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Whitesnake
3Arena, Dublin
10 May 2022
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Whitesnake were undertaking their final tour. David Coverdale put on a strong performance backed by an excellent band. Coverdale comes from Saltburn-by-the-Sea, in North Yorkshire, less than 20 miles from where I was born. He had quite a following at school from the early 1970’s as he made his name as lead singer with Deep Purple. He certainly shows his age but equally I have seen plenty of rock stars who continue to perform at the highest levels at even more advanced ages. I guess the question is whether he will be tempted into another “farewell” tour.
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Another Road Trip
In terms of quality and reputation of acts this was certainly the biggest road trip to date. It was to start with a more modest act from this day and age, but one of the biggest acts from the 60s, with 2 performers who had been on the road for every year over the past sixty years except for a hiatus caused by the pandemic. After the Hollies in Derby on the Thursday, I was heading over to Manchester for Alice Cooper on the Friday, down the M6 to Coventry for the Killers on the Saturday, back up to Sheffield for Jeff Beck on the Sunday, and then back to Manchester for Queen + Adam Lambert on the Monday. I had originally had Alice Cooper down for the Monday evening in Birmingham and Queen in Manchester on the Tuesday, but switched things round as my spreadsheet evolved and sold those tickets picking the new ones up.
The Hollies
Derby Arena
26 May 2022
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First of all I had to get to Derby, but unfortunately my ferry was delayed, stuck just outside Holyhead as another ferry struggled to dock in bad weather. Hence it was a bit of a rush over to Derby. I had a meet and greet package but that had finished by the time I got there. I did get my autographed poster though, and was in time for the show. The main reason for the meet and greet package was it came with a front row seat. Being in the front row, with no heads in the way, I could take photos very discretely with the camera on my lap.
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​The Cult
AO Arena, Manchester
27 May 2022
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According to Wikipedia, the Cult were formed in Southampton, so I’m not sure why they allow guitarist Billy Duffy to display a Manchester City scarf on stage. Another band I had never paid much attention to previously but they did put on a good performance supporting Alice Cooper.
​Alice Cooper
AO Arena, Manchester
27 May 2022
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As it turned out, this was largely a repeat of the 2019 show I had seen at the same venue. The props were very similar as was the storyline. And it was a good show, definitely worth the effort.
​Manic Street Preachers
Coventry Building Society Arena, Coventry
28 May 2022
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A drive down to Coventry – the only other time I had been in the city was for a match at Highfield Road, Coventry City’s prior stadium, in the early 1980s. It was an uncovered stand and there was heavy rain. Today Coventry was different again, with decent sunshine to bask in ahead of the gig. The CBS Arena hosted Wasps Rugby Union who look as if they are going out of business, as well as the local football club. Safely parked up in an official car park about a kilometre away, I had time to kill before they opened the gates. The queue in the adjacent Costa was remarkably short.
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The Killers
Coventry Building Society Arena, Coventry
28 May 2022
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I bought this ticket only a couple of weeks ahead of the event, when I was looking for a “filler” in my calendar. The Killers would not have been an act I would have gone out of my way to see, and I had little exposure to their music. Their performance today - well certainly the performance of lead singer Brandon Flowers, converted me and there is every chance I will see them again at some stage.
Sharon Corr
Sheffield City Hall
29 May 2022
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Part 4 of my 5 stop road trip involved driving to Sheffield. It’s a few decades since I’ve been in the city centre, but it was a Sunday and after a drive around I managed to find a parking space. The main act was Jeff Beck, but Sharon Corr was the support act. I was amazed to discover later on that she was in her 50s. I managed to get some decent photos, but was unaware they were going to be very strict when the main act was on later.
Jeff Beck
Sheffield City Hall
29 May 2022
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At 77 years and 347 days Jeff Beck certainly qualifies for the “Zimmer Frame Rock” section, but a couple of extra “events” warrant a bit more explanation here.
I was happily snapping away during Sharon Corr’s support set. There was no suggestion that cameras were frowned upon. However as soon as the headline act appeared, and before I had settled into a position to take photos, I had a tap on the shoulder by a steward who made it very clear that cameras were not permitted.
Having been duly instructed not to use the camera I had to be very careful. Indeed so careful I hardly got any pictures until a stranger arrived on the stage. I say a stranger, but he had been all over the press and TV news for weeks. Johnny Depp had been in a US court on the Friday with his defamation claim against Amber Heard. The jury did not deliver their verdict (mainly in favour of Depp) until 3 days after that Sheffield gig. But the man himself appeared on stage to play along with Beck.
I was unsure if it was some kind of gimmick initially, but the crowd all stood and cheered, giving me a lot more cover to take photos! Depp continued to guest for the rest of the Beck tour.
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Queen + Adam Lambert
AO Arena, Manchester
30 May 2022
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A standing ticket meant I needed to try and get close to the front of the queue. That meant getting there around an hour before the doors opened. And there were already plenty of people doing the same. Then the queue started moving as they compressed it and opened up lines for each door. The tactic here are simple. Head for the queue furthest away as people tend to go to the nearest one. That worked on two counts. The queue I was in was much shorter than the others when I joined it. In addition though there was a separate queue for premium tickets. That queue was next to the one I was in and the person in charge of my queue made the mistake of opening our queue before the others. Hence I was getting in with the priority ticket holders.
A quick visit to the merchandise stall and then to the arena floor. Except there was another queue. So it was again a case of going to the one with floor access furthest away from the main entrance. Another successful tactic. When the opened up my knee slowed me down and there were plenty rushing across the floor when I reached it. Next tactic—ignore the second stage along a gangway from the main one. People always congregate around that. I knew Brian May typically stood to the right of the stage, so I headed to that side and was basically one person away from the barrier. A very successful “pre-show”
I had seen this Queen line-up in Dublin 3 or 4 years previously and I knew Adam Lambert was good. This would be the 5th time I had seen Queen, and they never disappoint. The highest quality show, playing all their main hits. Some people had paid a lot more to be in relatively small “cubicles” at the back of the stage, but I reckon I had an as good, if not better view from my standing position. And yes, I got some great photos, not only of May, but also of Adam Lambert and indeed Roger Taylor as they moved along the gangway, or indeed made the most of the main stage.
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A quick exit to the car park and a drive back across North Wales ensued to catch the 2.15am ferry to Dublin with a 2 hour drive home after that to conclude this road trip.
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Next up it was supposed to be the Stones at Anfield with Kiss at Donington the following day, but alas I succumbed to Covid-19 earlier in that week and was unable to travel, with my “premium” tickets unfortunately going to waste. Another week though I was fine and heading up to Belfast for an outdoor event under the “Belsonic” umbrella.
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Airbourne
Belsonic, Belfast
13 June 2022
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It was a Heavy Metal based event with three acts supporting the Iron Maiden main event. Once I get to a location I’m generally happy to join any queue as there’s typically not much more to do.
A quick visit to the merchandise stall then I realised they were handing out wristbands for standing in a large section in front of the stage. Of course I quickly got myself into that queue and found myself about a metre from the front barrier, to the right of the stage.
First up, a New York band, Tempt, and then Aussie band Airbourne I’m guessing Airbourne had taken some inspiration from AC/DC. Their frontman, Joel O’Keefe, was topless throughout. His younger brother Ryan, on drums, with Justin Street on bass, and Jarrad Morrice on rhythm guitar. All 4 of them professional head bangers, with Joel coming over as the maddest of the four. At one stage he climbed on a roadies’ shoulder and headed into the crowd, who lapped it all up. On returning to the stage he then started throwing plastic glasses full of beer into the crowd. Fortunately I was far enough to one side to miss direct involvement in this particular piece of “action”.
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Shinedown
Belsonic, Belfast
13 June 2022
Iron Maiden
Belsonic, Belfast
13 June 2022
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It was getting increasingly intense as the arrival of the Beast was imminent. I was trying to get some movement into my leg without anything to hold onto. As I was trying to do that I had a voice in my ear telling me that if I moved any further this guy would be climbing on my shoulders. I took this as a threat and tried to move a little away from him I was then saved by an idiot in a wheelchair who insisted stewards had told her the best place for her wheelchair was directly in front of the barrier!. It was becoming increasingly chaotic and eventually she and her minder retreated to a more sensible position. She had though been ”driven” between me and the guy who had threatened me and by the time she had gone there were another couple of people between us allowing me to relax a little.
Elvis Costello and the Imposters
New Theatre, Oxford
16 June 2022
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I had originally planned to see Elvis in Swansea a few days later. However the re-arrangement of a Stereophonics (plus Tom Jones) gig at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff provided the opportunity to see these two events back to back. So it was an early ferry from Rosslare to South Wales then a drive along the M4 checking into a hotel just off the motorway near the turn for Oxford. My first time in this particular university city. I got parked in a meter zone just at the end of the paying period then a 10 minute walk to the theatre, when I realised I had left my ticket in the car, so another trip back to the car before returning as they were letting people in. As I entered the theatre there was a woman with a sign indicating no cameras and no phones. It was clearly a policy of the theatre. I found my place and had to be discrete with the camera while this woman went around telling people to put their phones away. Fortunately I managed to evade her gaze.
Tom Jones & The Stereophonics
Principality Stadium Cardiff
17 June 2022
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I had been at the then Millennium Stadium a couple of times previously, for the 2004 FA Cup Final and a Speedway Grand Prix. I knew the stadium was in the city centre and finding somewhere to park was not difficult. We were in the middle of the 2022 heatwave.
It was going to be a long day in the stadium with 4 acts and no prospect of shelter if I managed to get a prime standing position. When they opened the gates though things looked up, well I did anyway to see the roof was closed. Stewards were stopping anyone running across the pitch, but they took one look at me with my dodgy knee and knew I was not going to be a problem on that front.
There was a second stage with a long “pier” joining it to the main one. My experience of this sort of set up was people congregated around that second stage, and it was usually less congested on either side of the main stage. I headed to the left side and got an excellent position with only one person between me and the barrier.
It was a long lead in with 2 support acts before Tom Jones arrived on stage – a particularly impressive performance for an 82 year old, starting his set with “I’m Growing Old”. Then the Stereophonics arrived to complete this festival of Welsh music. There was no sunlight to illuminate the photos, but I was close enough to get some great pictures regardless.
Then back to the car for a 2 hour drive to the ferry. Only afterwards did I discover the Costello gig on the Monday had to be postponed due to illness, meaning I can still either attend (assuming it does get re-arranged) or get a refund, so that was a win-win.
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Little Big Town
Aviva Stadium Dublin
26 June 2022
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Next up a 350km or so round trip to Dublin for the Eagles at the Aviva stadium. A seat in the front section on the pitch meant there was no waiting for hours protecting a prime position. All in all a quite relaxed experience. The support act was Little Big Town – an American Country band of 4 members, two men and two women who would take turns on the vocals. And quite surprisingly for an act that had been around for nearly a quarter of a century – all the original members remained.
The Eagles
Aviva Stadium Dublin
26 June 2022
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In this case, only Don Henley remained of the founders, but the Eagles had two other very long standing members in Joe Walsh and Timothy B Schmit. This was billed as their 50th Anniversary tour although I think it was actually 51 years since their original formation. Having said that a lot of events originally scheduled for 2021 were pushed back into 2022 due to the pandemic and this was probably as close as they could get to half a century.
Walsh commented that he recalled having a better time in the seventies when he was in his twenties than now in the twenties when he was in his seventies. I suspect though that any memories he did have of the nineteen seventies suffered from a certain lack of clarity.
Again there was Vince Gill and Stueart Smith at either end of the stage, although unlike the previous gig in 2019 Deacon Frey only took part for a relatively short time. Of course they played all their classics and were as smooth an act as you could ever imagine.
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Elton John
Farewell Yellow Brick Road
Swansea.com Stadium
29 June 2022
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Officially drawing my professional career to a close on 30 June, I was actually in Swansea for Elton John on the 29th, picking up 2 of the kids from the ferry on the 30th, and then heading over to Silverstone with them for the British Grand Prix weekend.
I originally had a ticket for Elton relatively close to the stage, but to one side. Then a couple of weeks before the gig 2 tickets appeared for resale on Ticketmaster. The advantage with these resales is I only had to buy the one, at a price of £150. Most importantly it was almost centre stage, 4 rows back. When I found my entrance I got through security. Then I saw a stall where they were handing out bags with various bits of memorabilia in them. I looked again at my ticket and saw it was a “Rocket Man” package and only then noticed the £399 price tag. I went to collect my bag of goodies—they did not have my name down but after explaining that I had only picked the ticket up a couple of weeks previously they gave me the bag. Everyone in that section was entitled to those “treats”.
Taking up my seat, a woman sat next to me and we chatted about having each picked up our tickets for £150, raising some comment from those around us who had paid the full £399. As the gig was drawing to a close, before the encore, they put some barriers up in the aisles and then invited the first 4 rows to stand in front of the stage, which we duly did, getting the opportunity for even better pictures.
