Barry Gibb

When: Thursday 3^rd October

Where: O2

Why: YOU SHOULD BE DANCING, YEAH

All my musical life was leading up to this moment. It’s difficult to describe how much the BeeGees mean to me. I remember staying at my auntie’s house lying in bed listening to her BeeGees Greatest Hits CDs on my Discman (yeah) and having a genuine epiphany. They are song-writing GODS. White suit-wearing GODS. Falsetto GODS. In my gap year I used to sit in my friend’s car after our Greek classes (you know it) perfecting my falsetto Barry Gibb impressions, and so to find myself awaiting his arrival on stage at the O2 was a real pinch-me moment.

I have to say, it was the most emotional concert I’ve ever been to. There were tributes to Maurice and Robin, there were videos and songs in their honour, and I found myself crying at least three times. Barry really held it together, it was the perfect mix of nostalgia and happiness, disco tunes and memory-tugging ballads, public-facing showbiz and personal memories, and it felt like a privilege to be there. This man has shaped the British (and international) music industry and infiltrated our minds with his catchy, catchy melodies, and for that he should be revered and loved.

Bless you BG.

Brixpig x

Fleetwood Mac

When: Wednesday 25^th September

Where: O2

Why: RETURN OF THE MAC

Before I say ANYTHING, I have to provide the hugest of shout-outs to the numerous girls in my office who sat with refreshing fingers poised on the Ticketmaster website all those months ago, ready to bag me tickets for this pinnacle of my life’s gigs. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have got in and that would have devastated me, so in a sense they basically saved my life. Thanks girls.

With my mum in tow, and after an exceptionally satisfying Nando’s session (free chicken, bitches), we bounded into the O2 arena at least 45 minutes before the start of the show, not able to hold back our excitement any longer. A lifelong love of the Mac was finally reaching its nadir and the anticipation was massive. Then suddenly, after no support (who could support the Mac?), they burst onto the stage to ‘Second hand news’ and the audience leapt headlong into an evening that I’m sure will stay with them for years.

It was a good value show at nearly 3 hours (considering most tickets were around £90 it was just as well), and the band had great chemistry on stage – it seems that Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham have put their deep mutual hatred aside and become BFFs again, and it was very much the Stevie and Lindsey show overall. Lindsey is an incredible guitar player and never left the stage even for a moment, and his ‘Big Love’ solo was actually mind-blowing. I could have done without his tedious song intros though – wrap it up, Bucks. But it was Stevie who carried the evening for me; she’s the stand-out star and her voice is still outrageously good. You just want to thank God for her existence whenever she performs, and this night’s version of ‘Rhiannon’ was awesome. She also dedicated ‘Landslide’ to the Mac’s original legendary guitarist Peter Green, who to my massive surprise was apparently watching from the wings – I really thought he had died decades ago and that Stevie was talking metaphorically (not entirely impossible) until I googled him when things got weird. Ignorance city: population me.

The visuals and lighting were more impressive than I’d been expecting, imagining the band to do it old school and keep the focus on them – but the backing screen videos were varied and very cool, particularly during ‘Gold dust woman’ and the epic ‘Tusk’ (one of my favourite Mac songs ever).

After a solid gold set-list, the first encore featured huge tune ‘World turning’ which incorporated Mick Fleetwood’s mad, bad drum solo which lasted nearly five minutes.  An Observer reviewer described Mick on this tour as “an increasingly jester-like figure, sitting worryingly near a gong” which is both hysterical and totally accurate.

I was also massively lucky that I didn’t end up getting tickets for the first night in London, as they didn’t get the amazing bonus in the second interval that was the return of Christine McVie to sing ‘Don’t Stop’. She was led on stage, followed by a faithful stand up keyboard and the most enormous roar of approval from a crowd that I’ve ever heard. It was a genuinely emotional and historical moment and was the natural and obvious high point of the show. She was great and I hear she’s now actually re-joined Fleetwood Mac, so we can just hope they launch straight into another tour featuring the full line up and full back catalogue (her tunes such as ‘Everywhere’, ‘You make loving fun’, ‘Little lies’, ‘Songbird’ etc were missing this time, which was a massive shame).

Given that Christine’s return was a huge high point and their joint curtain call was so well received, you would have thought that would be the natural ending point. But no. A second encore ensued – not against that in principle, but it was a bit of a lame duck after the massiveness that was C-McVie. They didn’t end on huge crowd pleasers but on slow tunes including ‘Silver springs’. These were then followed by grateful spiels of love from first Stevie running back on stage, then Mick. Nice sentiments, wrong timing guys. Although Mick wrapping up by screaming “THE MAC IS BACK!” was endearing and powerful.

Overall, an epic evening from an epic band and one of the highlights of my life.

Brixpig x

Barbra Streisand

When: Saturday 1^st June

Where:  O2 (right at the top... wobbly kneed)

Why: I’m not going to dignify that question with an answer

Right, let me just get this out of the way before the rest of this entry: nothing anyone could say against this concert will ever be allowed to stand, from my perspective, because Barbra SANG A YENTL SONG. It was The way he makes me feel, it was epic and a pinnacle of my life’s experience. So there you are. Let’s go on.

After downing four jugs of Long Island iced teas at Las Iguanas, my ma and dearest woman-playlist-loving pal Martin headed in to begin the arduous climb to the very top of the O2 arena, to take our place in the “cheap” seats. We had to sit my mother down straight away as she doesn’t handle heights well, but her love for Babs held her up and got her through.

Barbra is a classy broad. The stage was set with a 60 piece orchestra, the black and white photo montage of her life was playing, and then slowly from the centre of the stage rose a legend in a black sequined pant suit, to a rapturous response from the crowd. She launched into On a clear day from the movie of the same name (see my review for full understanding of this iconically mental film), which was a beautiful way to start. Her voice was as powerful and iconic as ever; a little bit more croaky at the higher end of the register but she has been singing for such a long time. If anything an occasional lovely scratch just gave each song more character, and meant one could appreciate the sheer force of the 71 year old woman standing before you. She launched into some vintage classics and a bit of disco (Enough is Enough), and introduced her sister Rozzi to sing for a bit, who seemed lovely and essentially could make a decent living as a Barbra tribute act.

Rozzi was one of a few breaks in the show which meant that Babs could have a wee sit down – others included a lengthy trumpet solo from guest star Chris Botti (very accomplished, but yawn) and a slightly bizarre offering from Jason Gould, her son (bit of a mama’s boy, but to be fair if your mum is Barbra Streisand then I suppose it’s understandable). The show went on for a good three hours but if you counted up the minutes of Babs-time it would probably come in at about 2. I love her and I’m sure her family and friends are very nice, but I can’t imagine many people would pay up to £450 (NOT me – “cheap” seats remember guys) to see Jason Gould and a random trumpeter.

Another small pause came in the form of a Barbra Q&A, which involved questions such as “How are you so beautiful?” and “I met my girlfriend on a Barbra Streisand forum. Will you ask if she’ll marry me?” from a lovely lady sitting not far behind us (lots of applause, it was a beautiful moment even if Babs did seem a bit disturbed by being upstaged thanks to her own website). Another audience member asked why Barbra didn’t sing any songs from the (REALLY EXCELLENT) Guilty album anymore (Barry Gibb, darling), and Babs replied that she didn’t really “believe in the philosophy” nowadays. Which was bold, as that album holds a lot of her hits. She did throw us a snippet of Woman in love though which was snapped up eagerly by the crowd.

She was very chatty and self-deprecating, explaining that this was only her 93^rd concert ever as she had stage fright for decades. But she’s a natural at simultaneously blowing your socks off in awe at one of the world’s greatest stars, and making a huge arena where you’re sitting approximately half a mile away seem like an intimate venue that you’ve been honoured to be invited to. Not many stars could hold such a huge audience spellbound as they sit and sniff the (colour matching) roses on the little side table by her mic, quietly contemplating life for a few minutes as people shriek “WE LOVE YOU”!! (“... thank you darling.”) I loved the small moments in between songs where she’d tell a little anecdote about her favourite people and the sudden realisation that I was watching BARBRA STREISAND would sneak over me and make me hop with glee. Little things such as quoting On a clear day doing her hilarious English accent were what made the show for me. Big hits such as The way we were (mum was very happy with that one) and songs from Gypsy (Rose’s turn/Some people) contributed too though, and when Babs appeared after the interval in a long red dress with epic shoulder pads and fitted with a CAPE, under a video of genuine hot-stuff Omar Shariff in Funny Girl to sing My Man, I did think I might not ever stop smiling.

I was brought slightly down to earth by a bizarre performance of Bernstein’s Let the garden grow in sort of Earth Song-eco message style with all the family and a full choir (who took AGES to file onto the stage) which even though Barbra was involved was just tedious, but sometimes you have to ignore these flaws, and I was grateful for a pause to level out so that I wouldn’t have to float home. Babs is such an incredible singer, completely owning the emotional heart of every song (except the weird choir one) and making you feel like she’s singing everything straight into your heart. Stunning.

For a few lovely (obviously dodgy quality) videos of Babs, have a look at my YouTube channel.  

Brixpig x

Hit Factory Live

When: Friday 21^st December

Where: The O2

Why: KYLIE AND JASON, YO

[Prepare yourself: there's a lot of enthusiasm about to hit you square in the heart.]

Anyone who claims not to love the heavenly combination that is Minogue and Donovan is either a low-down dirty liar or they had their soul removed at birth and have been living as a robot. If you ever need a lift, a little cheering couple of minutes of love combined with a TUNE, you can’t do better than to hit up the original Especially for You video and just dive in. I used to watch it on repeat on an actual video tape, rewinding and everything, just because it’s impossible to get enough. I still think they look cool AS in this video even though it’s nearly as old as me. Oh, swoon.

Anyway, the promise of the first live performance of Especially for You with Kylie AND Jason in like 25 years was the main impetus for me to agree to volunteer with work at the ‘Hit Factory Live Pete Waterman love-in Festival of the Nineties’ (to give it it’s official title), safe in the knowledge that I’d get to watch the entire show and only have to shake a bucket in the intervals rather than stoop in a hot box-office for nine hours putting wristbands on the sweaty arms of ‘VIPs’ like what happened at the Olympics (still not over it). So I gleefully headed to the O2 for what turned out to be the most 90s evening of my life, even more than when I was actually living in the 90s.

The show was intended to celebrate Pete Waterman’s long reign of terror over the pop industry and was the one that had been originally intended for Hyde Park but cancelled due to apocalypse-levels of mud. All I can say is, it was worth the wait.

The first half consisted of ‘One-hit wonders’ (respectful), kicking off with the EPIC 2 Unlimited. If I ever needed to get the party started, these two would be the first vintage dance duo I’d call. They actually got to sing a few of their tracks, on account of them being amazing, and it was the best way to literally blast everyone firmly back into the past. They were followed by Hazel Dean (no idea), one of Brother Beyond (no idea), the lovely Sonia (SCREAM! Took me STRAIGHT back to Brownie pack holiday), Pepsi & Shirley (ladies of Wham! Ladies with attitude), Sinitta who was freaking terrifying as expected (men in pants undressing her… NO), and Princess (no idea). The backing dancers for all the acts, I have to say, were sublime and perfectly energetic and got the moves SO RIGHT. What was not so right, however, was Waterman making his first trip onto the stage to announce how happy he was to have everyone together again, apart from his good friend Donna Summer, followed by a few tears and then shoving his newest artist, a 16-year old youth, onstage to cover a couple of her tracks and basically bring everyone DOWN. Bad move Pete. He did get a lot o’ love from all the other acts though, each of them praising him for making their dreams come true, which fair enough, whatever, but gush on your own time guys, I require a constant stream of funky moves to keep me awake after two days of office Christmas partying had begun to take its toll. The first half ended with Dead or Alive spinning us all right round, and one of whom I bumped into backstage (ha, check me out right, so glam) looking absolutely terrifying due to extreme tallness and face paint, plus menacing attitude.

The second half was a total winner, and featured the more successful PWL acts. Rick Astley had the audience in the palm of his hand and charmed the pants off all the ladies in the crowd (“I need to see some JIGGLE, ladies!”), schmoozing his way through several hits with his velvety tones, and finishing on the one and only Never gonna give you up (during which I found myself doing the Peter Kay school disco dance moves, not a good sign). Bananarama followed, who I was most excited about seeing (after K&J, obv), and they didn’t let me down. Only two of the original three members still perform, and they are absolute legends. Witty, sarcastic, totally chilled out about life in general, they were flawless vocally and dance-wise, and looked fabulous, despite self-disparaging remarks such as “the moves to this are a KILLER” and “we’re getting too old for this”. They were just hilarious, and best of all they sounded just like Bananarama. Which I know is such a stupid thing to say but it really hit me that I was actually seeing Bananarama, legends of the girl group genre. They did me proud by singing all the best ones (although they forgot about Robert de Niro’s waiting, a personal fave) – Love in the first degree, I want you back, I heard a rumour, Venus… (all the crowd doing the firey dance moves… amazing). SO GOOD.

Then came Jason Donovan, who seems to be the sweetest man in the world and does a good tune, I grant you. I never really followed his solo career (I was loyal to Kylie, man) but I can get down to Too many broken hearts with the best of them. STEPS were next – I admit, I wasn’t expecting good things after seeing various TV performances from them since their reunion, but they were actually extremely slick and impressive, and got a massive response from the crowd – especially Claire, who got big cheers every time she sang. Seeing thousands of people simultaneously doing the moves to Tragedy and One for Sorrow cannot fail to make you laugh and there was a lot of general good feeling, and they were a proper blast from the past.

And then finally, finally… it was time. Pete Waterman came out and did the introduction, my heart started beating a billion times a second, and the famous ‘Oooohs’ from the start of the song floated over the crowd, and were instantly drowned out by the SCREAMS which burst out after presumably having been building up for twenty-five years. Kylie and Jason appeared from either side of the stage and totally represented. My life came full circle and it was a beautiful moment. He even picked her up and swung her round in the middle of the song, as of old. I have rarely known such utter contentment with the state of things. Basically it was great. Then they all came back on and sang Merry Christmas, I hit our dressing room (oh yes, we were opposite Pete Waterman), and as I emerged spotted H from Steps and basically shouted “IT’S H FROM STEPS” in his face, in more of a factual than enthusiastic manner (let’s face it, he’s a knob), and then I went home and slept for 13 hours.

Brixpig x

Darren Hayes

Photo by Richard Cullen

When: Monday 24^th September

Where: Indigo2 at the O2 Arena

Why: Sixth time’s a charm!

Yep, I’ve seen Darren Hayes in concert six times now. I know this classes me as a full-on pop nerd, but I am unrepentant. He is such a charismatic performer that I know I’m guaranteed a great evening. His voice is as delicious as ever – stronger in fact every time I see him. I had never been to the Indigo2 and it’s a really nice, fairly intimate venue with extremely comfy seats. Bonus. I got a King’s Row VIP seat (because they were the only ones left and weren’t too expensivo), which was exciting because I got to skip the queue for entry and we had our own little bar, also with no massive queues. But it was a bit boring in the VIP bar and there were no actual VIPs in there for me to goggle at. Nice toilets though… I was on my own (again, I realise this adds nothing to my street cred) but I sat with a Budweiser and quietly revved myself up. 

Anyway it was a beautiful evening and I will always love the Hayes. The support were The Candle Thieves (@candlethieves) who were very sweet, twinkly and tuneful and defo worth a listen – especially if you’re a fan of Nizlopi as their lead singer sounds EXACTLY like them. Seriously, it’s mad.

Only downsides were that despite my good view, I was sat behind the world’s most insane dancer, who must win the prize for ‘fan most desperate to get the artist’s attention’. The fact that she did get a wave at the end will surely only reinforce her RIDICULOUS moves and make her keep going, and for this I feel sorry for anyone who has the misfortune to sit behind her in the future. It’s impossible to describe, but I’ll stick my video up and you will be able to see what I mean. It wasn’t intended to capture her moves, but inevitably it did because she was UNAVOIDABLE.

Other sad point was that the set-list was almost identical to that of his last concert (which I was obviously at). While I realise that he is touring the same album, I had thought the point of this tour was to showcase some of the songs that hadn’t been performed at the last gig. But apparently not. It was ok because it’s a great set (apart from the We Are Smug cabaret number in the middle – once was enough for that, seriously) but I was a little bit disappointed. As was the chap next to me, who I had bonded with through mutual hatred of crazed dancing woman in front of us.

Still. Any gig that ends on a mash-up of Instatiable and Rhythm is a Dancer is a gig I need to be at.

Brixpig x