A review by MARSHY / marshy111@hotmail.com

I must be mad I thought to myself. I got up on the morning of the concert at 4.30am and was in the queue at 5.45am (fan club entrance). The queuing though was all worth while when I found myself right at the front - the immortal barrier!!!! LOL.
Anyway a quick mention of the support. Delirious were alright but all their music seemed to roll into one. Matchbox 20 on the other hand were amazing - they definately have a new fan in me.
At 8.30pm the lights went down and the cheesy music at the beginning of One Wild night kicked in. When the band came on stage the place just took off. I looked at my friend - who was at her first concert. I knew she was enjoying herself when she turned to me and said " This band are Fucking amazing".
A quick word to Michael and his griping about Jons voice. I agree that at first he didn't sound to crash hot but it was also obvious to everyone near the front that he was having some sort of problem with his throat. He was continually going for a drink and rubbing his throat everytime his back was to the crowd. He went off stage and came back on with a change of top under his jacket. I don't know if he was just feeling the cold or had some sort of medication backstage, but he instantly seemed to feel alot better.
I was very impressed they played Raise your Hands and one of my all time faves Born to be my Baby. The balance between the old and new stuff did seem just right. Like a lot of fans I really wanted to hear Wild is the Wind and Blood on Blood (which I know they performed at Glasgow) but it wasn't to be. Instead we got next 100 Years which i must admit I wasn't too keen on originally but hearing it live, especially the instrumental at the end, has pushed it up on my list of favourites.
You could tell by the faces on the band that they were really enjoying the night. During the waving hands during Captain Crash and the raising hands during Twist and Shout Jon was always looking over to Richie with a great big grin on his face. I looked back and from what I could see it did look really good. Jon also broke into a hugh smile at the end of Keep the Faith. He didn't do his customary singalong with the fans (conserving his voice?) but the fans did it anyway - you could tell that he thought this was really cool!!
Anyway it was all over too soon and I eventually got into bed at 2.00am thursday morning. 21 hours we had been on the go but it was definately worth every second.
Hope you like the review - more a day in the life of me really and less to do with the concert but I just wanted to share!!

Caroline xx

P.S. The photos came out really well - especially the one where Jon posed for me during Wanted!

back to tour information page