Official July 5th 2013 - Hyde Park, London, UK thread

I had an absolutely fantastic time on Friday at Hyde Park. I went with my little brother and we were in GA quite a way back - mainly because I like spending the afternoon lazing around in the sun and can't be bothered to get there early and stay at the front - far too lazy!

I thought Bush were great and did a fantastic cover of Come Together. They are a band I'd heard of, but couldn't recall there stuff. I'll certainly check them out after seeing them. Great guitarist.

Kaiser Chiefs were lively and played lots of songs I knew. Not sure of the lead singer kept going out of mic range but the vocals seemed to disappear at times. A great warm up act and got everyone in the mood.

Then came Bon Jovi and after 27 years of them being my favourite band and this being the 20th anniversary of me seeing them live, I thought they were really great. Jon's voice did seem a little off at the start, but not for long. Yes I'd loved to have heard a few rarities, but I did get to hear the WAN songs live and LTOR, all new live songs to me. I'm one of those people that likes Captain Crash live - it always takes me back to Milton Keynes in 2001 which was a blistering good gig. A lot of what was played were my favourite BJ songs and many are my favourite songs of all time. Colour me boring but I could hear DC every single gig, and on Saturday it was fantastic, guitar solo and all. Likewise These Days and Always - two more highlights for me.

Speaking of guitar, I thought Phil X was really pretty damn good. Of course I'd rather have Richie there, but he's not, and I'm not going to get myself worked up about it. Unlike the guy about 30 feet from us who shouted 'Where the F is Richie' a few times, until he got bored that nobody gave him any attention and stopped.

I loved the encores. Yes I knew it was set up like this, but some around us didn't and it's all showmanship, something Jon still excels at more than most. In fact Jon seemed to be in the zone throughout the whole gig and worked his socks off to give everyone a great performance to go home happy with.

There wasn't one moment in the whole 3 hours where the people around me weren't really into it. We had a group of 3 'more mature' women in front of us and they were great - dancing and singing the whole way through and chatting to us. The group to one side were younger and more drunk, one girl in particular, but we were mixing with them too. It was a really great party atmosphere. Based on the reactions of those around us I'd say the set list was perfect for the occasion.

There's nothing quite like being around people all signing and enjoying my favourite band play my favourite songs. I just hope they keep touring long enough for me to take my little boy. he's 5 now, so another couple of years and he'll be signing too along - he already knows the words to some songs.

I tried to ignore it but I just couldn't. It just sounded too different and much much worse than having Richie there for me. Phil just cannot emulate Richie's sound. Of course I like Richie's stage presence and his interaction with Jon and the crowd etc. but I could've got over that if Phil's playing was up to it but it just wasn't. Ruined the night for me.

I've just joined this forum, which I've been reading for some time, to say how completely ridiculous your post is.

Fine if, as you say, "for you" it was worse than having Richie there, as that is simply an opinion, but to say Phil's playing wasn't up to it and that ruined the night is ridiculous.

Whilst I'm here, I'll just say that I was there on Friday, about the 8th time I've seen the band in the past 10 years, and I thought the gig was fantastic in all respects. It's a shame Richie isn't around, but Phil did very well and didn't detract from the gig at all. Jon's reaction to Phil skipping a song on the setlist was a little over the top in my opinion, but just one of those things all in all.

In other respects, that Barclaycard Backstage Bar was utterly rubbish. If anybody gets anywhere with complaining, then please let me know! (I did manage to get about £30 of drinks free due to their ineptitude though...).

Hi guys, any news about the broadcoasting of the show ?

Thanks

I'm happy my post has riled you to the extent you felt compelled to join the board, always happy to welcome new members!

Well for a start I said that it ruined my night, not the night for everyone, so as you so rightly said, that is simply an opinion. Phil detracted from the gig a huge amount, his playing is not up to it. Playing guitar is not simply about hitting the right notes at the right time, it's about style and expression, things Richie has absolute bags of. Phil can play guitar, no question about that, but he just does not play enough like Richie for the shows to go unaffected. It's painfully obvious when it comes to any part of a song which requires any kind of flair beyond basic ability. I'm not saying that Phil doesn't have any flair, it's just not the same as Richie. For that reason, I missed Richie dearly and it ruined the show for me.

At least some of it is being broadcast on AXS in the US this weekend, hopefully someone will capture and upload it

Hoping that someone will record it and share it somewhere.

My brother recorded it, but not sure if he will figure out how to rip and upload it. He sent me a pic of first crowd shot - will me clearly visible.

If you have DirecTV, it will be on 340 at noon Central time. Lasts 6 hours. I've got my DVR set to record it. It was on last night and I caught it after it had started. I tried watching it but was acts I didn't know or care about so I found it really boring. I gave up on it and decided to record it today and fast forward through the acts I don't care about.

I don't think I could stand going to a festival show like that. Definitely not my cup of tea, even in the comfort of my own house.

I have no way to upload it to the web so I won't be able to help the rest of you see it from my recording.

There were actually only 4 acts on main stage, the rest were on smaller stages at the back of Hyde Park.
At final count I was apparently shown about 15 times....