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05/11/08 -
O2 ARENA, LONDON Review by Steven Stanley:
We arrived at the venue mid-afternoon and myself, Karl, Ade, Nat, Mave, Andraea, Ross and Mel all planted ourselves in the 'American Bar & Grill' until Bryan was pretty much ready to come onstage. We got on the floor about 5 minutes before he was due on and did really well to get about 20 rows back - it was literally heaving. Then, the lights went down and we were treated to a great fireworks show on the mainstage - it was great! For a second I wondered if I was seeing the Bon Jovi show again!
Following that (which provided an excellent diversion), Bryan took to the b-stage with 'Can't Stop This Thing We Started'. In between acoustic songs the whole Arena sang 'Happy Birthday' to him and he continued with the show. There was a great vibe in there tonight - I'm pretty sure that Barack Obama getting elected the next US President overnight had something to do with it. Bryan acknowledged it during the show and everyone cheered.
'Hearts On Fire', 'Back To You' and '69' all sounded great infront of such a brilliant crowd, you could tell they were lapping it up. The 'When You're Gone' girl was Jen Goodman - someone who had raised a lot of money for one of Bryan's charities... halfway through the song a heavily pregnant Mel C stormed onstage during the second verse and the place erupted. To tell you the truth I didn't realise who it was until nearly the end of the song!
I'm glad he kept 'Thought I'd Died And Gone To Heaven' in the set... it sounded great even though he forgot most of the words - some impressive ad-libs though! The whole crowd were singing 'whoa, whoooaaaa'... sent shivers down my spine... he really rocked it up at the end too... best song of the night by far. 'She's Only Happy' was thrown in for good measure as well which kept the party going. I'm not sure many people knew 'Take Me Back' but everyone enjoyed it anyway - which is a lesson to Bryan as he should have more confidence to play stuff from his old back-catalogue - some great great songs in there. 'Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman' broke up the party atmosphere once more during what should be a rocking part of the show as did 'I Thought I'd Seen Everything' (which saw a lot of people head to the bar)... but they are my only quips in what was otherwise an awesome show. 'C'mon Everybody' is a great addition to the encores - I'd actually like to see him close the show with it and go out with a bang. The normally mundane acoustic section tonight though was brilliant as he played 'When The Night Comes' (so great to hear with 20 thousand doing the backing vocals) and 'Walk On By' which must surely showcase to all the people there that he hadn't lost his songwriting skills.
(Above) The cellphone moment during 'All For Love' (Below) The huge stage rig at the O2
All in all a great show - Bryan showed London he still has what it takes to pull it out of the bag, really glad I went and the company was great too. The tour looked doomed at the start of last week but even through hard times it just goes to show that when people pull together it makes all the difference.
Setlist: (Below) Part of the great get together at the O2
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Pictures by Steven Stanley, Sue Wade & Mel
BA has his name up in lights surrounding the huge O2 Arena
Karl is atonished our orders incorporated the numbers 11 and 18 - it must be a sign
Bryan on his strat
Jen Goodman & Mel C
Bryan on a Gibson
Mel, Nat (like a desert needs the rain!) and Mave
Anita (who came from Austria) and me after the show
Karl 'Jazz Hands' Watson |
