London and the Hammy O

 Well, well, well, well, well. After deciding that I could no longer manage  a tour without having a nervous breakdown, I faltered when I discovered he was doing two shows at the Hammersmith Odeon. (or Eventim Apollo, as it is presently called). The previous few shows were at those Very Nasty Places, the Arenas........ Not doing them again. Vast acreage of seats, massive stage that I can hardly see the top of, and a 3 mile gap between my horrendously expensive front row seat, and the Dreaded Barrier, usually filled up with peasants from all those lesser rows in the dim and distant background.  The Hammy O, on the other hand, is a teeny weeny ex cinema, (I think) and a place of my childhood memories...(although I have entirely forgotten who I saw there. Not even sure I went, tbh) But anyway, it is the stuff of 70's Legend. 

So, it had to be done. Managed to snag a couple of VIP tix just in time - what happened to those days when you bought it 2 weeks before you went and there were only 6 of you there?  No more..... But, we were in, For the last gig anyway. Tickets for the previous one was much more tricky, the joys of Dynamic pricing (thank you Oasis, for bringing this into the public eye), means that the more demand there is, the more the tickets cost. Yay. Eventually managed to find a couple on the end of row B, in front of our friend and Superguitarist, Tommy Henriksen, at the exorbitant price of £221 each. Ridiculous. But I bought them anyway. Imagine my surprise, on checking them about 2 months later, to find that TicketBastard in their wisdom, had declined to accept my payment! Panic ensued. Luckily my darling hubby found me some other good ones on Twickets (who?) although they were £220 as well. They were on the other side, row B. In front of our other friend, another Superguitarist Ryan Roxie. Phew......

And so I could relax, and go on several holidays. Retirement is such fun......

Moving on, October approached and I waited with bated breath, for the arrival of all my e-tickets. And they all showed up on schedule, along with the 2 that TicketBastard had said they wouldn't accept payment for........very strange.....and they never charged me, thank you TB, it meant I could get a ticketless friend in <3 , and kinda made up for some of the crap you dish out to us hapless music fans.

Booked a small flat 2 mins walk from the venue, with my friends Sarah, Mercy, and Steve, and we sort of all arrived at the same time. Then it was off to the nearest Wetherspoons to meet up with other Sick Things - and guys, it was so lovely to see you. One of the highlights of the whole touring thing.

We raised a glass to absent friends, (Peter, and Janice, we missed you <3 ) and soon it was time to go back and change for the gig. 

There were 2 support bands, and one of the plus points of seated gigs is that you don't have to endure them whist hanging on the barrier. Except for Ugly Kid Joe, and The Stranglers, and a few others, they are usually a tad boring.

So we hung out in the bar with our Alice friends for a while and then Steve and I thought we would check out our seats, and they turned out to be in the front row! It's such a small place, there is no row A on the side bits. What a result! No barrier either!

The security guys were a nightmare, they wouldn't let us touch the stage, and kept running up and down in front of us, interrupting the gig  - we sing along a LOT - making us move back 2 inches, and checking our tix to make sure we had front row....Ryan and Chuck had a go at them mid gig, because they were so awful, and things got a bit better after that, but they wouldn't let me bring my roses in, much less chuck 'em on stage, which was a bit sad.

Still, was a brilliant gig, 

The show was EPIC, and both Ryan and Tommy came over to fist bump and give us guitar pics. Thank you guys, much appreciated. We couldn't get band passes this time which is sad, so we didn't get to meet them all afterward as usual.....Oh well, c'est la vie.

The following morning, we headed out for breakfast, wandered around a bit, and ended up back at 'Spoons. Pretty good really and very cheap, although mine was a bit cold.

No point wandering around town trying to spot Alice, London is a big place, hah, so we retired to our apartment, picking up M&S ready meals on the way, and chilled all afternoon.

The following day, we mostly chilled in our lovely flat, before changing and going in early to our VIP. I was so nervous at this stage I couldn't eat my dinner, I know I'll probably want it at about 7.30, but unfortunately, once we're in, we can't come out again. They herded us around like sheep for a bit, and we spent all our time trying to get to the back of the queue, (Kyler had recommended this, when he met us in the foyer and took my LPs for Alice to sign later. He also took the roses in, in case security were going to be silly again. Like they are an offensive weapon, duh. 

We had a bit of trouble with a few guys, who were bound and determined to go in last - guess they just didn't realize that this is Our Place...lol, but it didn't matter in the end. There were 5 of us, so it took a while to get all the combinations of pics we wanted, so we had ALMOST the same amount of time as we used to, and Alice was lovely as usual, - 'Hello. Again.' he said, and we hugged and I gave him a quick peck on the cheek, sorry Sheryl. But it's just so nice to see him again, it's been 2 years, and I always feel like he's my favourite uncle or something, and so I feel it's justified. In fact, he did say something about how we look like the Addams Family when we're all together LOL. Also he said he feels underdressed next to Steve, who was his style guru. :)

We had a couple of hours to kill till the supports had finished, and then we made our way to our seats, warily eyeing up security, who said that they were NOT going to let anybody touch the stage or come down to the front if they didn't have a front row seat. So, Alice came on and everybody belted forward leaned on the stage and that was that!

Kyler had dropped off my roses and newly signed LPs (new sig, with a cross on the tail of the L, rather than just underneath)

Roses were looking a bit sad by now, but they lasted until Poison, when I waved them about a little bit, so's he knew I had them. And he came straight over and took them out of my hands and trashed them as usual! Didn't even have to throw them, we were so close!! And then he grabbed Sarah's hair and mussed it up a bit!!! Now she can't wash it ever again, lol. Video coming soon!

It was all over much too soon, can't believe I worried about it so much for so long, one of the best gigs ever, and I can hardly wait til next time!

He's probably coming over with the Vamps next year, so it might be 2 years.......

UNLESS...............we go to Europe on a Sick Things Holiday! Watch this space.