Archive for March 23, 2016

What can I say?

So…. Following on from This gal is off to a Gig, I am sure you have all been waiting with great antisipation to hear my update of The O2.  I honestly don’t know what I can say, I was absolutely blown away.

We weren’t in any ‘special’ seating, we were in ZZ and oh my, that may sound terrible, but it was actually brilliant.

We walked in to the arena and our seats were on that very level on the left, no stairs, no panic over how the hell I was going to walk down amongst crowds of people.  All we had to do was shuffle along in front of people who had already taken their seats and we were there.

I was far too nervous to need the loo!  Even with the Vente Starbucks and the best part of 2 bottles of rosé…. I just wanted to watch it.  (I know I mostly listened, but the term ‘watching’ is part of my vocabulary. Just like ‘I’ll see you later’ even though it will be a very long time if ever that I actually SEE them!)

….. I hate those people who go to a gig and then watch it through the tiny screen on their phones, but tonight that was me!  Not for the whole gig, but definitely for the beginning, for the ‘pre show’ sitting down bit.

I wasn’t recording it, I was able to take the odd snap and look at it, the set up was amazing though.

photograph showing the stage, which has a large image of closed eyes, surrounded by a large light framing it.
photograph showing the size of the arena, showing the central stage along with the different levels down from my seat
As my photos show, we were high up, but with the big screen (and the use of my iPhone) where we sat was irrelevant.

Going to the gig was more about the atmosphere, the unexpected and the ‘live-ness’ of it all.

Adele probably has one of the most powerful voices of this age, she knows how to sing… She also knows how to talk to the crowd, in a way that makes you feel that you are at an intimate location, not sat in the O2 with 20,000 plus other people.  I guess being from London herself, she felt more relaxed in her surroundings.  She didn’t just sing though, she performed to the crowd.  Those sat close enough got involved, including two little girls who were 7 and 8.

There were two parts to her ‘stage’   She initially came up out of a box on the centre of the arena before moving to the large stage.  She then moved back to be centre stage, to me a small dot of lights was all that enable me to see this, until she was encased in a curtain…. That was when I got to see her, properly see her.

Photograph of the central stage with Adepe stood in the middle, surrounded by a sheer curtain that is showing her projected onto each of its 4sides
As the photo shows, she is projected up onto each of the four sides, she joked that she shouldn’t spin around, before doing just that…. Because it would make the audience dizzy and feel sick!

The whole event was amazing, the atmosphere was brilliant and when I began to get nervous about leaving, the staff were quickly on hand to help (while also checking out that my cane wasn’t some sort of weapon!)

I am even more excited now about returning next month to see Muse!  This time with Mizz Fizz who will be escorted out of the arena after I have been seated to spend her evening with the management team….. In an ‘almost’ sound proof office!

This Gal is off to a Gig

Today is a day for firsts.

Today I am going to the O2 in London to watch Adele in concert.  I have never seen her before and I have never been to a gig at the O2 before either.  This is the first of two gigs that I am going to this year…. In April, I shall be returning to the O2 to see Muse, I’m well aware that they are polar opposites, but then my music tastes, like my film and theatre tastes are eclectic.

I am going with a great friend and her sister.  She is driving, so Mizz Fizz shall be staying home and I shall be taking my faithful cane.  My friend has been several times before and we are going early to have a leisurely meal before the gig starts.  So I am not concerned about the ‘getting there’ bit.

However, the closer it gets, the more anxious I feel myself getting….  It is a completely unreasonable emotion, I am with a friend who I can be myself with, who will happily help if I need her to, I am not having to tackle any form of public transport, I have a designated seat, unlike some of the gigs I went to while at Uni, seeing some amazing bands at Rock City and The Southampton Guildhall.  Yet, here I am feeling my stomach tense and twist.

I have been to the O2 before, I went for dinner several months ago after having a flight on The Emirates Cable Car from Royal Docks to North Greenwich.  I know the space and how vast it is.  I never visited when it was The millennium dome, something, now with all its restaurants, cafes I am sure would have be amazing.  I haven’t seen the arena, the bit where the gigs are, not that doesn’t matters.  Each is set up differently dependant on the entertainer.  So, I ask again; 

Why am I feeling like this?

The ‘little girl’ in me is irrationally concerned about silly things, like….. 

What if I need the toilet?  

I am able to go myself, I have no issues there…. Well, maybe just one; 

How do I find it?  Is the arena going to be like the auditorium in a theatre?  Will there be lights on?  Will I have to navigate stairs?

I shall go to the loo before it starts, I am sure I will be absolutely fine…. But this is how my blind mind thinks.  It’s how I find myself in the state I am in right now, it is how I find myself writing this.  Somehow, putting it down in print makes me realise just how silly I am being.

I was tempted to hit the delete button, to erase the whole thing, to hide from you all.  But, actually that wouldn’t achieve anything.  My blog is as much for me as it is for you the reader.  

Plus, this post is just crying out for a follow-up tomorrow!

I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is Touring …… Who’s coming?

Was the Facebook post of a friend in October.  Having only been talking with a friend about the very same show a few weeks back, there was only one answer;

Me, Me, Me !!!

So, never having seen the film, let alone the theatre production I set to work on my costume.  I grew up doing ‘The Timewarp’ I knew the background behind the story, so wasn’t going to be shocked by the performance.  But thanks to an ‘ex’ I had been put off watching it before!

He had never seen the show, just the movie….. Which he continually raved on about, being in Am-Dram himself, his not seeing the theatre show is what had stopped me watching even the film.

As you may have realised (if your a regular reader)   I am independant, some would even go as far to say stubborn.  I like to make up my own mind.  And I guess him insisting I must watch it had the opposite affect.

But now, many, many MANY years after our relationship ended I was ready to make up my own mind.

I wasn’t going to ‘spoil’ the show by watching the film first… I simply googled images from the show to see the charactors, then based upon the female cast (not the men dressing as women) I looked up quotes, from which I got;

I ask for nothing, Master.

Appealed to me, along with the maids outfit and crazy hair, there had to be hidden wonders to this gal…. And I wasn’t disappointed !!  So, Magenta was my character of choice.

I faught back the temptation to watch the film, to read the reviews, I was going to see this show ‘blind’ (Yes, pun intended!)

I hadn’t planned on the ‘blind panic’ I found myself in earlier in the day. All bought about by me going out with a ‘different’ group of friends, friends who I had enjoyed drinks with at the pub, friends I had been with at family fun days, but they weren’t friends that had ever had to support me with a long cane, in an unfamiliar environment.

This bought me to come incredibly close to cancelling the whole idea, I wasn’t strong enough to do this, I didn’t want to ruin their evening, I didn’t want to be in the way.

Then my babysitter arrived and verbal ‘kicked my ass!’

so, wig on, costume fitted I awaited my lift.  Thankfully no public transport needed, she picked me up before heading to pick up a few others.  My calmness washed over me as we sat in the car, the others who got in complimented me on my outfit.

I felt good!

Photograph taken in the mirror of me wearing a French maid outfit, red frizzy permed wig and smiling

I felt even better when my ‘disability’ was able to secure us a parking spot directly outside the theatre….. Given my lack of clothes, along with the lovely gentleman who was with us dressed in very little and the cold wind that was blowing… I was thankful to have my blue badges with me!

The closer we got to the theatre, the more people in costumes we saw (when I say we, not me but those I was with) it was a fabulous atmosphere from the second we pulled up.  Others in our party were already there, they too had made an effort and gone all glam!

Our seats were in the stalls, at the bottom of the staircase, without even having to ask, one friend linked arms with me and helped guide me without making anything of it or causing me to  feel as if I was any different to anyone else out for the night with their girlfriends.

The show amazed me, the lights, the sounds and the music…. But what made it for me more was the audience participation.  The narrator had some wonderful lines with just the right pauses and even he broke character and joined in with the banter, commenting on how we were the earlier show so ‘supposedly’ better behaved.

We joined in, we sang, we danced, we laughed so hard our ribs hurt.

The show was very unique to me, I mean in the way I saw it.  With the little sight I have left, anything further than my nose is a blur.  So the lights of the show and the colours of the stage were very unique to me.

If you haven’t seen either the show or the film, even if the theme may seem out of your comfort zone. I would suggest you go see it.  And for me, not having a good view or being able to see the actors didn’t detract from it, not at all.

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