Here & Now Tour Diary

Thursday, December 12, 2002
Yesterday evening was the first night of the Here & Now Tour, as you all probably know. It was an interesting evening.
The evening started off with Visage. I know some of his singles, but he played "Night train", "Pleasure boys" and "Fade to grey", two of which I am not familiar with. I wasn't very sure of the first two. His male dancers were dressed differently for each song, and I must say they put on a great show together.
Next up was the Belle Stars. Now I have a few of their singles, and if I remember "Sign of the times" correctly, there were five or six of them. This night, there were only two left. Plus two scarcely dressed backing singers (ask the boys...). They sang "The clapping song", "Iko Iko" and "Sign of the times". A decent set vocally but it wasn't very outstanding.
The third act was Altered Images. Clare Grogan was in top shape, despite having not played live for almost TWO DECADES. Her typical voice will not be attractive for all of us, but if you know the songs you're pretty sure to enjoy this set. "Happy Birthday", "Don't talk to me about love", "See those eyes" and "I could be happy" made up this set.
The last act before the break was Dollar. I am probably going to offend some people here (or maybe not), but this was a bit embarrassing. This medley of old Dollar hits was totally unappealing to me. Theresa Bazar did her best to sing very well, but didn't succeed in my humble opinion. All of the songs sounded alike, but I did recognise "I wanna hold your hand" (yep, the old Beatles classic through the grinder) and "Oh L'amour" (although I prefer Erasure's version...)
After the break, the show went on with Five Star. Five? They had diminished to Three Star, but the songs were still nice enough to listen to. "Can't wait another minute", "All fall down", "Rain or shine", "The slightest touch" and "System addict" were performed almost flawlessly.
Then, for us fans, the highlight of the evening: Kim Wilde. Despite a severe cold which has been plaguing her for the past few weeks, Kim still managed a good set. Starting off with "Chequered love", she launched into "View from a bridge" and "Never trust a stranger" almost automatically. If you're lucky enough to go to one of the concerts in the coming 10 days, bear in mind that the audience is also invited to join in...
The highlight of the evening, for me at least, was the first live performance of "Four letter word" ever! Starting off with only Rick on guitar (he was on stage for the whole of Kim's set) and Kim on vocals, they managed an intimate atmosphere in such a large arena. I was surprised that Kim managed some of the high notes in the song despite her cold. When the band finally joined in after the first verse, the total effect was amazing.
The last two songs were, of course, "You keep me hangin on" and "Kids in America". These two never fail to get the audiences going, and tonight was no exception.
The last act in the show was the Human League. Now, if you're into this band, you're in for quite a treat! They not only perform their biggest hits ("Human", "Open your heart", "Fascination", "Mirror man", "Electric dreams"), but also an early Human League track, and two later tracks: "Tell me when" (1995, if I'm not mistaken) and "All I ever wanted" (2001).

Anyway, the show ended after almost 200 minutes at 23.10. It's a solid night out, but for people like me, who are going to see it eight more times.... both a treat and a very long evening! :-)

Friday, December 13, 2002
A typical Friday the 13th... Our train from Newcastle to Sheffield was delayed, so we ended up spending an hour waiting in the station, and leaving Newcastle with 40 minutes delay and arriving in Sheffield with 75 minuten delay! Quite impressive performance by Virgin Trains there...
Upon arrival in Sheffield it was obvious that this was a typical English town (grey, dull) with typical English weather (grey, dull). Still, we were there and there was plenty of time to get to the Arena. It was very nice meeting some real Kim Wilde fans in the Arena, the first I've seen so far. The show was pretty much the same as yesterday. There were a few amusing moments: one of the Belle Stars not coming on stage when the other three were waiting, and Clare Grogan almost flashing her undies when getting out of her stage prop. (I won't spoil the surprise, but those of you who were there will know what I mean.)
Kim did another great set, with the seven now familiar old hits. "Kids" seemed to rock a little more than yesterday, and "Four letter word" was improved in some details. I think that by the end of the tour, we will be able to hear an almost perfect live version of this track... Shame that there will be no official recording to go with this tour!
Security was tighter than yesterday, as people from behind row 7 were not allowed to come toward the stage. That included me, sadly, but also some types who didn't understand or want to accept this. One guy almost got into a fistfight with a security man.
The Human League's set was slightly different when compared to yesterday: including "Love action" but excluding the first track from yesterday, "The things that dreams are made of".
All in all, the concert was good and the audience response a little more enthusiastic than yesterday. Looking forward to seven more treats like this...

Saturday, December 14, 2002
The third concert in three days and the differences between each show start to surface. Today, there was a slight change in the line-up: Altered Images was moved to the fourth position, after Belle Stars and Dollar. This new sequence was very enjoyable, and a nice surprise when you have sat through two previous concerts like we did. I also found out why I didn't like Dollar as much as the other ones: their medley of three or four songs is a weak spot. If they'd perform five songs fully, it wouldn't come across as a kindof messy collection like it does now. It's also amusing to see that David still wants to have Theresa as close as possible to his not-so-humble self, while she does everything she can to stay away from him.
Kim's set was shortened. She cut out "View from a bridge" to save her voice from croaking. After all, there's still six dates to go... She was doing better, however, and it showed during the songs. Every night I'm growing more impressed of the band as well, because they really give the key songs ("Chequered love", "You keep me hangin' on" and "Kids in America") a rock treatment. It's also amusing to see how Rick is enjoying himself, almost tearing his guitar apart at times.
Kim introduced "Four letter word" as a song she'd never played live before (well, it was the third time, obviously!) and keeps adding "I think you'll understand why when you've heard it". To tell you the truth, no, I can't!
She also told an amusing story about how she came home yesterday evening, only to find out that her husband had caused an early Christmas for the kids by leaving the office door at home open. Kim had locked it, because of all the presents hidden there. Now she has to buy presents all over again! Poor girl...

Sunday, December 15, 2002
The new sequence seems to be definitive now, as nothing changed in comparison to yesterday. Today's show was a bit of a special one for the artists, as they were very excited being able to say "Hello Wembley!". It's something we heard quite a few times tonight. The audience was not too rowdy, and still enjoyed every act that appeared on stage. The Belle Stars threw a good party, and there was a lot of appreciation for Clare Grogan (a.k.a. Altered Images), who was clearly enjoying herself. She also took a picture of the audience during "I could be happy".
None of the vocal problems Deniece from Five Star had in Sheffield were apparent today, as she was in top form. Their set gets better every night, and it oozes professionality. Kim seemed to be over her vocal problems as well: "View from a bridge" was back on, and there was some serious rocking on the stage. Her father, Marty, was in the audience, so he finally got to hear a live version of his masterpiece "Four letter word". And quite a good version it was, too! "You keep me hangin' on" and "Kids in America" got a great audience reception, and all too soon it was over again.
For Kim Wilde fans, the Human League set is the best "after-concert" you can get. They don't interact with the audience much, but the songs stand up very well in this setting. Tonight they introduced two new songs in their gig: "The sound of the crowd" and "Heart like a wheel". For the first time, there was also an encore. They returned after a minute to play one more song before it was all over again. 23.05, and Wembley had been turned upside down for the better part of three hours.

Monday, December 16, 2002
From London, where the previous two dates were played, we went down to Bournemouth, a small city on the south coast of the UK. Having never been here, I was pleasantly surprised by the friendly atmosphere of the surroundings. The BIC, where the concert was held today, combines a large concert hall with a swimming pool, workout areas and much more in one big building. When we collected the tickets, we spotted a few artists coming in to do their soundchecks. It would be hard work tonight, as the concert was standing places only. We were lucky enough to catch a place at the front, a golden opportunity to see every artist from up close, but also a golden opportunity to get totally wrecked and very tired at the end of it all!
I noticed that there are basically two groups of artists in this tour: the ones that look at the front row, and those who look at the back of the area. Steve Strange from Visage belongs to the latter group. He did the best set so far. I had become a bit frightened of the way he sang "Fade to grey" during this tour, because he kindof growls the chorus bit. This time around, he kept in tune and that was a very nice surprise. I also enjoyed his playing around with water pistols during "Pleasure boys", that was a nice touch.
The Belle Stars set was very intense. Both girls kept looking right at me and that was both a funny and scary experience.
Dollar played their usual set, with one difference: this time David Van Day had a camera with him, and he attempted to make a picture of his singing partner Teresa, and then one of the audience. Altered Images was charming as ever, with Clare genuinely enjoying herself with this audience. It has to be said: they sang along with most of the songs and I've never seen an audience more receptive and enthusiastic.
Five Star did a very good set once more, and then it was up to Kim to bring the house down. And this she did. It was a lot of fun to see her totally rock out. Of course everyone clapped along to "Chequered love" and "You came", and we totally enjoyed the drama of "View from a bridge" and "Never trust a stranger". My personal favourite "Four letter word" was performed perfectly tonight. Kim was singing the high notes with no problems whatsoever. Her voice seemed to wrap around the lyrics and take us back to 1988 when this track was branded into our minds. After such a beautiful ballad, it's a lot of fun to go all out with "You keep me hangin on" and "Kids in America". The last song was received with a lot of enthusiasm, people were stamping and clapping like you wouldn't believe.
After this, it was hard for the Human League to follow this up. But they still did: "The things that dreams are made of" was their first song again, whereas yesterday's two new songs were played again. There was no encore tonight, so at 23.00 we were set free, ready to go back with a lot of great memories. One day of rest, and then there's Cardiff on Wednesday!

Wednesday, December 18, 2002
This Xmas tour brought me to Wales for the very first time, and that was pretty exciting of course. I'd heard a few things about how beautiful Wales can be, and that Cardiff was quite an interesting city. Unfortunately, I wasn't very lucky on this day. The hotel we got to looked pretty run-down and the owner was a scruffy man who looked a bit like someone who'd killed his wife and buried her in the garden. Quite scary. As were the rooms.
Still, we didn't have to be there for long, so we dropped our stuff and headed towards the Arena, to collect the tickets for tonight's concert. I got a very strange look from the woman sitting there, and then she told me I had to collect my ticket from the Ticketline box office, somewhere on the other side of town. After a brief moment of disbelief we headed there, only to find that they weren't ticketline.co.uk, where I ordered my ticket, but ticketlikeuk.com. Thanks heaven for original names! Back to the Arena then, and suddenly this woman *did* find my ticket. If I hadn't been so tired and angry, I might have been happy.

The concert that night was a bizzarre experience. We were lucky enough to get a place at the front (the big advantage of standing concerts is that you get rewarded for being there early), but after Visage had started, I was approached by a gang of drunken, anti- social people. The first hour of the concert was a living hell. The music was good enough, but being hassled by your fellow audience members kindof detracts from the experience.
In short: I was angered and irritated and I would almost have left after Altered Images. Fortunately, the drunken idiots gave up and I could actually watch the rest of the concert in relative peace.

Kim's set was almost as good as in Bournemouth, with her voice in top form. During the songs she told us how she spent her day off with the children, who kept asking her: "Does Santa really live on the North Pole?" To which she answered, with a groan: "Yes".
Kim and Rick seemed to have a very good time on the stage, rocking around as they have during previous concerts. As for the audience: Dutch fans Emiel and Arjen were at the front also, screaming their lungs out as tradition prescribes. Great fun to watch, but I would hate to stand behind them. They jump so high that your view would be totally blocked for the duration of Kim's set... Good fun though!

Friday, December 20, 2002
Today's gig took place in Brighton, another standing concert. We were able to catch some room at the front this time, for the total concert experience. There were a few nice things tonight: Rick joined Altered Images for one song with his guitar, during "See those eyes", contributing a rock edge to the song.
During Kim's set there was a very nice surprise: Roxanne joined in on "You keep me hangin' on" and "Kids in America". Kim herself was in top form, again doing a very fine version of "Four letter word".

Saturday, December 21, 2002
A gig in Birmingham is always good fun, with a very receptive audience to start with. After yesterday, it was again an event full of surprises. During Dollar's set, one member of the audience went up to the stage and threw her knickers toward David van Day. He didn't respond. Clare Grogan from Altered Images did: she followed Dollar and was truly surprised to find them there. A few moments later the trio sang an acapella version of "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer". Tonight, Rick joined them for all four songs, so that was a nice surprise for the Wilde fans present there.
Kim Wilde did her set of seven songs as good as the last few evenings, but found herself confronted with an audience waiting for "Kids in America" after only four of them! Fortunately, she didn't cut her set short, but did "Four letter word" and "You keep me hangin' on" first.
After Kim it was down to the Human League to finish the night. Phil Oakey, who had some voice problems during the last few dates, didn't have to struggle so much anymore, and so they did a great selection of songs without much trouble. As an encore they played "The Lebanon", the only track that hadn't reappeared since Newcastle (12 December).

Sunday, December 22, 2002
Today's concert in Manchester would be the last in the series that started on 12 December. I was looking forward to it in a way, because the travelling and listening for many days began to take its toll on my health, but it was also very sad. Having been on this tour for ten days, there was little else I had to think of, and that made for a very relaxing time.
Yvonne and I had reasonably good seats, in the middle on the twelfth row. The venue, the Manchester Evening News Arena, was still as good as I remembered it. The concert was one of the best I'd seen during the tour. Steve Strange still suffered from a cold, but he braved this and put on a very good set. I saw the Belle Stars for the ninth time and to be honest, I was getting a bit bored. Sure, the songs are nice enough and their voices pretty good, but nine times The clapping song makes you slightly irritable.
Dollar were great fun this time around. We had laughed so much about the cheesy moves, the corny songs and the dodgy vocals over the past days that this was a great final showing for us.
Clare Grogan from Altered Images was lovely as ever. She wasn't sure if she'd ever be performing again, and I can only say that I hope so. If at all possible, I will be there to watch it. One of the nicest surprises during this tour.
Five Star's professional set prompted a can of fans to open up, taking up much of the space at the front with their loud screams of adoration and even banners to let the trio know that they were still the best in the world.
Kim Wilde got a similar reception, but from a different group of fans. Claiming the front rows instead of the Five Star fans, there was lots of dancing and screaming as she launched into Chequered love for the last time this month. Rick, who had accompanied Altered Images again tonight, was doing his thing while Kim seemed determined to prove once and for all that she was a real wild child.
Just like yesterday, the audience seemed most anxious to hear Kids in America, but they had to wait until her very last song. It was delivered, finally, with the same power and drive that we'd witnessed a few times before.
After Kim and Rick left the stage it was time for the Human League. Their set was almost identical to yesterday, even the encore was there one more time: The Lebanon was the very last song on this tour.
Sadly, it was all over now. Time to head home. Kim was already heading there, and tomorrow, Yvonne and I would return to our respective homes to get ready for Christmas. With lots of stories to tell and memories to share!