Great review Pip!
Going to 6 shows in the space of 2 weeks....it still hasn't sunk in that I won't be seeing The Band again, at least for a very long time.
Just some little extra comments from me re: last night's show at Earl's Court.
- Christy, Neil and myself were standing right underneath LB's mic. as usual. As LB was playing the guitar intro. to The Chain and walking up to the mic., he looked at me and giggled like "you...again!!!", and then just before the first verse was about to start he shouted "YEAAAAAA" with his psycho look right at me...As usual I decided to return the compliment and pointed at him and shouted "YEAAAAAAAAA!!!!" right back at his face.lol!
- Before Peacekeeper LB said something like "We'd like to thank you all for coming to see us......and in some cases....thank you for coming to see us AGAIN...." and he laughed, whilst looking right at Pip.lol!! The whole of the front row was pretty much the same for all the England shows. Same lot standing underneath Stevie, and the same lot underneath Lindsey. They must have thought we were all insane.lol!
- During the first few songs Leelee was sitting on the side of the stage next to the steps which lead to the soundboard. Kristen was standing at the bottom of the steps. Will came along towards the end of the show. LB's kids are so cute...they both look like dolls, and seeing LB smiling and playing at them and his wife made me SO happy for him. It looked simply perfect.
- Out of the 15,000 people in Earls Court, the person dancing the hardest and really shakin' it during Rhiannon was.....Kristen! She was singing it word for word and really getting into it! It was so cool to watch! Leelee was watching her amazingly talented Auntie Stevie in awe!
- LB's and SN's voices were unbelievable during Say Goodbye and Never Going Back Again, and it had a lot to do with the brilliant support they were getting from the audience. Everybody was cheering and clapping during the more quiet parts. Near the end of NGBA LB held the note for EXTRA long while everyone was cheering and clapping and a smile came to his face at the support he was getting.
- Another great vocal moment: at the end of What's The World Coming To, LB sang a note which I'd never heard him do before, and he held it just as long and in the same way as the end of the Centerstage version of "You Do Or You Don't"....it was incredible.
- LB broke the high-e string of his guitar during the main ISA solo. It was the most impressive moment of the evening because he continued to play flawlessly using frets 20+ of the B string (which are REALLY hard to get to on a Model One) as a substitute. He did it so well that if you listen to a recording of it without watching it you won't even know when it broke.
- A real shame that Christine didn't join them on stage, but nice that she was named by Mick as a member of The Band. If I had screamed any louder when he mentioned her name, I would have probably caused permanent damage to my larynx. Same goes for the majority of the audience.
- Lastly, of all the shows I'd been to, last night was the most amazing. There wasn't a single song where LB didn't look at me and smile/say something/do something crazy: the best moments were the beginning of The Chain, singing a good chunk of Peacekeeper and Big Love whilst looking directly at me and Christy, doing his crazy staggered walking during Tusk whilst pointing at me, playing his guitar during GYOW (of course!
), and signing Buckingham Nicks at the end of the show which I'd promised a very good friend I'd try to get signed for him.
During the string breaking moment of I'm So Afraid, by some miracle I managed to capture the moment it happened on "burst mode" on my camera...it was a one in a million chance of happening because I just decided to get some shots moments before it happened.
Anyway, here are the 3 pics which constitute that specific moment...all taken within the same 1 second time frame....kinda cool. (The light on LB is extremely bright but there's nothing I can do about that.)
Here's the first one.