I really wish that Rhonda had to blog today. It will be difficult to put my feelings and thoughts into words. I’m not even sure that I know all of my feelings and words. Here’s the thing. I’m emotional about last night’s show. I knew that I would be, no matter what the show was like. I knew that I would have mixed feelings the morning after. These statements have proven to be true. I am emotional and have mixed feelings about the show. Rhonda and I have been planning this trip for almost a year. It has been almost an entire year in which we were constantly talking about going to the UK to see Duran perform there, in their home country. We built the trip(s) around the Birmingham show. You see, while it was cool to see them in Brighton or Bournemouth, it isn’t the same as seeing them in Birmingham, their hometown, the birthplace of the band. Thus, we put a lot of time, energy and heart into last night’s show.
I’ll back up a bit. We took a train from Bournemouth to Birmingham. This was a three hour train ride and one that I was concerned about at first. I have pretty bad motion sickness but I adjusted without getting sick. The time allowed Rhonda and I to brainstorm some fun activities for the blog! (Coming soon!!!) We also enjoyed seeing the UK countryside, which is quite pretty. Once in Birmingham, we checked into the Hyatt Regency, which is on the former site of the Rum Runner. We are such dorks! Then, we ordered food (our first and only meal of the day!) and some champagne! We had to celebrate. We had come a long way and had been through too much not to! At the same time, we were getting ready as we had people to see and drinks to have as we were due to meet friends in a pub on Broad Street at 4. There, we enjoyed some cider and fabulous company. Our excitement was pretty high when the group of us headed over to the venue together. The whole world could probably tell how excited we were!
When Rhonda and I arrived inside the venue, we were shocked at how big it was! It was much bigger than the venues in both Brighton and Bournemouth. We hoped for a good crowd and, for the most part, we got one as the crowd responded to Duran’s requests to clap hands, sing along, etc. We had a straight shot to Nick in the 4th row. Great seats! The only bummer for me is that I had a big guy in front of me to the side, which, sometimes, blocked my view of John, which is unacceptable! Anyway, we didn’t have to wait long before Duran took the stage.
I’m not going to go into detail about the show as much of it was somewhat of a blur caused by having to been to 3 shows in a row and due to the fact that I was so emotionally escalated. Overall, I would say that Birmingham was a great show and that the band performed well! It was a large improvement over Bournemouth as there were no technical issues of note and that they had a good rhythm the whole show. The crowd was much better as well along with our seats. No songs really stood for me as really, really, really awesome but no songs weren’t fabulous. It was a solid performance.
They did comment a number of times about being “home”. Simon made a comment at the end of Ordinary World thanking the crowd for either taking care of them or watching over them or something. It was actually very touching. That said, it seemed like we were a little like strangers invading someone’s home, some place we didn’t belong. Obviously, this sentiment is silly since there were lots and lots of other fans there from different places other than Birmingham. Anyway, the show ended too quickly for my tastes as I tried to soak it all in. Goodness knows that I probably won’t have that opportunity maybe ever again. I wanted to remember all of it.
After the show, we were looking forward to hanging with our friends and partying it up. While we did spend some time with friends, had some drinks and were up much, much, much later than we should have been, it wasn’t the wild and crazy time that we had envisioned. This is completely our fault as we were still trying to process the show and having our dream of seeing them play in Birmingham fulfilled. I have to admit that there was a bit of a let down and there is today still. This let down has/had nothing to do with the show, the band or the kick ass people we have met and gotten to know (better). It has to do with us. It has to do with having a long time goal met and being left to wonder what it going to be the next goal, the next step. Obviously, today, we are heading up to Scotland to see a friend of mine and to be there for the Glasgow show. We are both glad that we have one more show, something after Birmingham. We need that. After we return to the US, we will continue to write the blog and we will finish the book. That’s a good goal to have, right? It is. Now, our book will be better after this past year and the experiences we have had.
Now, I have to end the blog and see what platform we have to pick up our train. Good times are still ahead!!!
-A
you are always complaining but yet you got to see them many times this year this is the only bad review I saw about the Brum show
Wow. I just love people who post comments on the blog, anonymously, that slam us. We are always complaining, huh?! Care to offer some examples? I'm sure that we can provide many that are just the opposite.
Now, I'm not sure how this was a “bad” review of Brum since I called it a “great” show above in my post and stated how the band performed well.
-A
As you know, I had a similar reaction to the Brum show; the band were great but I was emotionally detached from it. So pleased you had a fabulous Glasgow show to end your tour. Gives me hope for regaining my Duran mojo at London 😀 (btw, I think expectation sometimes/often gets in the way of enjoyment)
Wow, that was a bad review??? I guess I'm confused then, because I was with Amanda and we both thought it was great! It's just that after a year of planning, once you go to the show – it's an emotional tidal wave of feelings that come next. I'm sorry if that didn't come across well in the review (I felt it did), but trust me, it was a great show.
As for complaining, sorry if it comes across that way. It's not our intention, but we are in fact human….and aren't afraid to put ourselves and our names out there on the blog.
Bryony – I think you have to get it out of your head that every show should be like those rehearsal gigs (and that's really tough to do, I know), because those shows were special and probably ruined you for life. LOL I am the first to admit though that half of my experience with this show was because I was RIGHT THERE. I saw everything. I'll never be able to sit in the back anymore because it's no fun for me that way. This is about to get very, very expensive. (not that it wasn't already!!!)
-R
I had similar reactions to the New York Madison Square Garden show.Maybe I was expecting way too much,thinking it would be gigantic & the crowds would be crazy hysterical!I guess it's not 84 or 87 anymore…The venue wasn't even sold-out & the GA front section(Luckily,we managed to access the GA section instead of our seats that were way back)wasn't even full.There was plenty of space at the back!!!
I was hoping for a special setlist but.no.not even,other than having Mark Ronson & Ana Matronic as guests!And some of the pple around me(many men for some reason)weren't even singing or clapping or anything 🙁
All of that combined left me puzzled…Joel
I do think that some shows are hard to live up to expectations. That has way more to do with us, the fans, rather than the band.
-A
I totally agree, Amanda. I really think that we fans have to learn how to have realistic expectations otherwise we're ALWAYS going to be disappointed. For instance, on this UK tour – my expectation was simply that they show up and actually play a damn show! Of course Birmingham was a little different for me – I didn't have high expectations, so that didn't make the show disappointing for me, it was just at the end of it I realized that we'd done what we'd set out to do. So after that I guess I was just a little perplexed as to what would come next.
Now I know: world domination….and getting Dom Brown to interact with us. LOL ;D -R