Concert Royalty
"some person called Fergie is supporting. You don't think it's the same Fergie who married Prince Andrew, do you?...Nicole Kidman, her husband and Hugh Jackman were sitting down in the stalls and, one can cheekily think, queueing up to buy their sausage rolls!"
There I was at work last week contemplating life, the universe and everything when the phone rang. It was the wife. "Hi" she said in an excited tone. "We are going to the Police" Straight away my mind started racing at 1,000 miles per hour (or 1,700 kilometres per hour for all you metric nerds). I responded "Police? why what has happened? has there been an accident, or a robbery? are the girls okay?"
My wife then started laughing. "Nooo, silly" it's the rock group that I am on about". Once I had gotten off the floor and my pulse had returned to normal, I let out a huge sigh of relief. "That's not all" continued the missus. "I have won tickets to a corporate box to see them!" By now I was all ears. It turned out that my wife's name had been selected at random through shopping for her part time business and had become the recipient of two corporate tickets.
I was over the moon! I hadn't seen the Police since London way back in the....dark ages. At that stage they were just about the biggest group in the world. The news got better as my wife explained "some person called Fergie is supporting. You don't think it's the same Fergie who married Prince Andrew, do you?" I advised her that it was the lovely Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas fame and not Sarah Ferguson. To this day I am not convinced that my other half was joking.
Well, two days later and we were at the Sydney Olympic Stadium to watch the concert. It was a warm night and more that 40,000 people were expected to attend that night. We arrived at the corporate box and received a friendly greeting. I have to admit going 'corporate' sure beats queueing up with the masses. It really is another world.
During the night we were fed lots of food. In fact, you could have fed half the population of Sydney methinks. It got to the stage where I was refusing food. Anyone who knows me will tell you that for me to refuse food is akin to finding gold at the end of the rainbow! But that night I did. I was also drinking fruit juice and water as I had promised to drive home that night. Mind you, with all the differing wines and beers on offer I was very tempted to sample a few.
As for the concert itself, Sting's son was singing in Fiction Plane the first act of the night. His voice was very similar to that of his father. Next up was Fergie. When she started singing I was thinking that I would be bored with all the hip hop and rap stuff that she was performing. As you might tell I am not a great fan of these musical genres. Mind you, she could sing and even do a number of hand stands while singing! She had a number of 'body popping' dancers on stage as well as a backing group who were quite good.
Fergie went off and came back a few minutes later bedecked in black and looking like a rock chick. This she confirmed while singing songs by Led Zeppelin, Guns 'n' Roses, and the Rolling Stones before doing a great version of Heart's 'Barracuda'.
Off she went again and came back to sing a few 'RnB' numbers including her huge hit 'Big Girls Don't Cry'. Throughout her time on stage she was very impressive. I think I had become quite a huge Fergie fan by the end of it!
There was a 30 minute break before the Police came on. My wife whispered to me, in between eating another hors douvres, "I can't wait to hear 'Fields of Gold' live". I had to politely remind her that the Police didn't perform that song but Sting did as a solo artist. Music is certainly not one of her strong points!
Anyway, Sting, Andy Summers (65 years old and looking 50!), and Stewart Copeland put on a show that was absolutely awesome! From the opener 'Message In A Bottle' to 'Every Breath You Take' the Police were superb. The bearded Sting has a voice that can only be appreciated live. The group gave it their all as they played the obvious greatest hits package.
Meanwhile, from our great vantage point in the corporate box we were all being wined and dined like royalty. It amazed me that while, for one night at least, we were being treated like like VIP's, Nicole Kidman, her husband and Hugh Jackman were sitting down in the stalls and, one can cheekily think, queueing up to buy their sausage rolls!
Now there's food for thought!
There I was at work last week contemplating life, the universe and everything when the phone rang. It was the wife. "Hi" she said in an excited tone. "We are going to the Police" Straight away my mind started racing at 1,000 miles per hour (or 1,700 kilometres per hour for all you metric nerds). I responded "Police? why what has happened? has there been an accident, or a robbery? are the girls okay?"
My wife then started laughing. "Nooo, silly" it's the rock group that I am on about". Once I had gotten off the floor and my pulse had returned to normal, I let out a huge sigh of relief. "That's not all" continued the missus. "I have won tickets to a corporate box to see them!" By now I was all ears. It turned out that my wife's name had been selected at random through shopping for her part time business and had become the recipient of two corporate tickets.
I was over the moon! I hadn't seen the Police since London way back in the....dark ages. At that stage they were just about the biggest group in the world. The news got better as my wife explained "some person called Fergie is supporting. You don't think it's the same Fergie who married Prince Andrew, do you?" I advised her that it was the lovely Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas fame and not Sarah Ferguson. To this day I am not convinced that my other half was joking.
Well, two days later and we were at the Sydney Olympic Stadium to watch the concert. It was a warm night and more that 40,000 people were expected to attend that night. We arrived at the corporate box and received a friendly greeting. I have to admit going 'corporate' sure beats queueing up with the masses. It really is another world.
During the night we were fed lots of food. In fact, you could have fed half the population of Sydney methinks. It got to the stage where I was refusing food. Anyone who knows me will tell you that for me to refuse food is akin to finding gold at the end of the rainbow! But that night I did. I was also drinking fruit juice and water as I had promised to drive home that night. Mind you, with all the differing wines and beers on offer I was very tempted to sample a few.
As for the concert itself, Sting's son was singing in Fiction Plane the first act of the night. His voice was very similar to that of his father. Next up was Fergie. When she started singing I was thinking that I would be bored with all the hip hop and rap stuff that she was performing. As you might tell I am not a great fan of these musical genres. Mind you, she could sing and even do a number of hand stands while singing! She had a number of 'body popping' dancers on stage as well as a backing group who were quite good.
Fergie went off and came back a few minutes later bedecked in black and looking like a rock chick. This she confirmed while singing songs by Led Zeppelin, Guns 'n' Roses, and the Rolling Stones before doing a great version of Heart's 'Barracuda'.
Off she went again and came back to sing a few 'RnB' numbers including her huge hit 'Big Girls Don't Cry'. Throughout her time on stage she was very impressive. I think I had become quite a huge Fergie fan by the end of it!
There was a 30 minute break before the Police came on. My wife whispered to me, in between eating another hors douvres, "I can't wait to hear 'Fields of Gold' live". I had to politely remind her that the Police didn't perform that song but Sting did as a solo artist. Music is certainly not one of her strong points!
Anyway, Sting, Andy Summers (65 years old and looking 50!), and Stewart Copeland put on a show that was absolutely awesome! From the opener 'Message In A Bottle' to 'Every Breath You Take' the Police were superb. The bearded Sting has a voice that can only be appreciated live. The group gave it their all as they played the obvious greatest hits package.
Meanwhile, from our great vantage point in the corporate box we were all being wined and dined like royalty. It amazed me that while, for one night at least, we were being treated like like VIP's, Nicole Kidman, her husband and Hugh Jackman were sitting down in the stalls and, one can cheekily think, queueing up to buy their sausage rolls!
Now there's food for thought!
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