|
22/10/04 - MANCHESTER EVENING
NEWS ARENA Review
by Steven Stanley
I
got to the venue fairly late as I didn't fancy queuing for this one to get to
the front because of the venue's bad reputation and because I felt bad. Anyway
I guess we just made it ontime because the moment our feet hit the floor area
Bryan came onstage. First off he belted out 'Room Service' which sounded fantastic
in a big arena... really really good. Although at the start of the song the mike
wasn't working so the guys had to improvise the guitarwork until the mike worked
again! 
Open
Road also sounded fantastic and it was nice for a change to be at the back of
the arena and see the new lights and stage setup for the tour... looks very cool
actually. 'Kids Wanna Rock' was another highlight like in Hull and Stoke... also
Bryan once again made a big deal about the song 'Summer Of '69' not being about
the year 1969 before he sang it! 
A
fairly standard setlist followed as expected and it was nice to hear a couple
more new songs for the first time. I feel he should add more to the setlists in
the next few shows because I feel he needs to play more new material. 'All
For Love' was cool to hear at the end acoustic as well. After the show I met Bryan
and got a quick autograph with him. Also met Keith and got a quick picture...
it was pouring it down! Setlist:
Room Service
Open
Road
18 Til I Die
Let's Make A Night To Remember
Can't Stop This Thing
We Started
Kids Wanna Rock
Back To You
Summer Of '69
Everything I
Do
Cuts Like A Knife
When You're Gone (with Lois from Alderly Edge)
Not
Romeo Not Juliet
Heaven
It's Only Love
The Only Thing That Looks Good
On Me Is You
Cloud #9
Run To You
The Best Of Me
Flying
All For
Love
Straight From The Heart Review by Maria Heutz:
Straight
after the Hull gig Moya and I decided what we were going to do next. We had a
look at all the new tour dates for October and decided to go to the Manchester
and Sheffield ones. This wouldn’t mean too many days off work.
Back home
again I booked the first low cost airline flight in my life. I was so proud, the
flight only costs 18 € and some other fees. So this was less than a ticket
for the show!
Then two weeks before the concert this airline stopped all the
flights. Bankruptcy was the reason. Fortunately I could book a flight through
Lufthansa, much more expensive than it would have been in July because of the
higher petrol prices we now have.
Two days before the gig I received an e-mail
from Moya’s son telling me that Moya was ill in bed and had been for some
days. I found out where the MEN was and how to get there from the airport.
In
Düsseldorf I arrived a bit late at the airport. The quick check in machine
told me that I was too late and couldn’t get on the plane. A nice young woman
instructed me what to do. So I managed it. This was the third thing that had happened
to me and made me think. In the plane I had such mixed feelings. Why did all this
happen? Was it a bad sign for the upcoming concert? Did I make the right decision
with the concert in Manchester?
Fortunately Moya recovered very quickly and
felt well on Friday. She and her husband picked me up and we drove to Sheffield.
Moya didn’t feel well enough to queue the whole day with the weather as it
was, windy and raining!
After a good rest and meal at her home we drove to
Manchester. Soon we were caught up in a traffic jam and needed more than 3 hours
to reach the venue. What a surprise it was, we could wait indoors. So we did.
There were ten doors and we had to decide in front of which one we should queue.
Later only two of them were opened and the confusion started. We passed the first
door after they had checked our tickets with a barcode machine and were told to
wait inside again. After some minutes we were instructed to go to another entrance.
We only could get to the end of this queue so we lost our good places we had before.
When they opened that door and it was our turn the steward told us we were wrong
there because this door was only to go to seated area. So we turned around and
went to the right door, not to mention now how far away in the queue we now were!
Inside we had to go down the stairs and we had a good look to the stage. What
a pity that there were already many people in the concert area who were behind
us in the queue. The worst thing was what happened next. At the bottom of the
steps there were two stewards again who took away our tickets, gave us wrist-bands
and examined our bags. Even though it was mentioned outside that you were not
allowed to take bottles into the concert area, there were some people who did.
So we waited ages until they let us through. Moya was extremely annoyed and mentioned
how she felt to the steward. We saw so many people arriving at the stage. This
was so unfair. Why bother queuing if you can get to the front of the stage whenever
you arrive!!
We got our places second row on the very right side of the stage.
Not that bad but we could have done so much better without these stupid security
services. So we were a bit disappointed.
Mostly people sat down on the floor
and there were some free places. Soon a woman pushed in and wouldn’t move.
She was obviously very drunk and staggered more and more. People felt uneasy standing
next to her and a young couple got angry. The woman continually annoyed this young
man. The girl friend of this drunken woman stood around without any reaction.
People tried to change places to come away from these women. Security noticed
and removed both women. This drunken woman wouldn’t leave and told them she
would watch the concert. So the steward got her a chair and asked her to sit down
at the side of the area. She would not sit down and continued to stand and became
violent, so she was led away. A good start to the evening!
The supporting act
was Speedway. Their music was too loud. The singer Jill has such a nice voice
but you couldn’t listen to it. The instruments drowned her voice out.
Bryan
came on stage and started with ROOM SERVICE followed by OPEN ROAD. Both these
songs sound so fantastic, much better than on the album. When Room Service came
to the line with it’s a Gibson or a Fender Bryan held his guitar up high.
During Open Road he played the harmonica which was good. He went on with 18 TIL
I DIE and LET’S MAKE A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, followed by CAN’T STOP THIS
THING WE STARTED. The next highlight was KIDS WANNA ROCK. This song rocked the
arena. Bryan then announced some songs off the MTV unplugged album and began with
BACK TO YOU which is such a great song live. About SUMMER OF ’69 he told
us that someone had asked him before the show if he will play this song. We can
be sure he will always play it and the song isn’t about the year 69!!!
I
don’t exactly remember when he introduced his band but he let us know that
it was Norman’s birthday. He made a “come on...” gesture so the
audience sang the Happy Birthday song for Norman.
(EVERYTHING I DO) I DO IT
FOR YOU was written in 45 minutes as Bryan mentioned. Rumours started through
the audience and he said that this song maybe needed 46 minutes to write it. Big
laugh!
In CUTS LIKE A KNIFE as usual Bryan encouraged the audience to sing
loudly and there began a competition to see who could sing the “na, na, na,
nas” the loudest. First Bryan wasn’t satisfied with our efforts. He
hung over his microphone and only looked to us several times for a short moment.
He then did his usual thing encouraging us to sing louder and louder with his
thumbs down sign becoming higher as we sang louder. The WHEN YOU’RE GONE
– girl was Lois, a young woman who worked as a chemist. After the song Bryan
asked her if he could buy some drugs in her shop because it was Norman’s
birthday. Then it was time for the next song from the new album: NOT ROMEO NOT
JULIET. Wow! What a great track live too. HEAVEN was performed in the quick version.
Bryan remembered that the last time the band played Manchester as a three piece
and that it was in 1985 when he supported Tina Turner in Sheffield. Tina Turner
was the cue for IT’S ONLY LOVE which always brings Keith and his guitar playing
more into the spotlight than in other songs. The last song was THE ONLY THING
THAT LOOKS GOOD ON ME IS YOU and once again it is Bryan telling us we are the
ones and we tell him that he is. He introduced his band members again. Everyone
Keith, Mickey and Gary came to the front in turn and said goodbye in a different
way. Norman was asked to do something special too. So he spread out his arms as
though he was flying.
Soon they came back for the encores CLOUD # 9, RUN TO
YOU and THE BEST OF ME. Bryan again came into the gap as close as he could to
his fans. Everyone can touch him or his hand and he also takes some photos of
him with his fans. Unfortunately he didn’t come close enough to our side.
So we only saw him doing on the big screens. Back on stage again the concert was
nearly over.
Bryan came back alone and dedicated the next song to all the brave
soldiers in Iraq who have to fight there and can’t be with their families.
He played an acoustic version of FLYING. This song went under my skin and got
me goose bumps. It’s awesome!!!
For the first time in my life I listened
to ALL FOR LOVE live in a concert which was really unexpected this time with all
his new material. The song is from the three musketeers and also a fantastic track
performed acoustic. Bryan said before playing it we should ignore any weird words
because he was just learning to sing this song again. The last song he gave all
his love to us with STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART. During singing he explained the lyrics
with his arms and fingers moving. Once he built a heart with both his thumbs and
forefingers and held them over his heart which was so nice and sweet. All in all
we got two hours BA singing and talking.
I enjoyed every single moment of
this gig very much. He spoke very often to his audience. Once (I don’t remember
when this was) he told us something about song writing. It is easy to write lyrics,
it’s easy to write music, but to make it fit together that’s the difficult
part. That’s hard work. Bryan was in such a good mood. The atmosphere was
brilliant. The two things I regret was: My place which could have been so much
better (thanks security!! It reminded me very much of the security at Cologne
Arena which is always a nightmare.) and that he didn’t play more new stuff.
In my opinion there is only fantastic material on the new album that would sound
so great live (maybe with the exception of this side of paradise which seems to
be a bit sad) which I would have loved to have heard.
Moya and I decided not
to wait for Bryan or the band and went home. I had been on my feet since half
past three in the morning and felt tired and Moya because of her illness. We were
looking forward to Sheffield in only two days later. | 
