Melanie C @ The Astoria, London - November 1st 1999


Awesome.  Quite simply awesome.  No other word can I, or shall I, use to
describe the event, because no other word comes close.  It's now two days
later, and it still quite hasn't sunk in that I was there.  I look at the
photos and think "hmm, did I really take these?".  I listen to the
ringing in my ears and think "was it really that loud?".  I feel the
soreness in my throat and think "I don't remember singing or shouting
*that* much...".  But it happened, it really happened.  And, for numerous
reasons, it'll be a day I won't ever forget.

It all started a little after 12:00, when I met up with my friend (and
fellow review writer :-) Karen.  Taking a slightly unusual route from the
tube station to the Astoria, we arrived at 12:30ish to find a handful of
people already waiting around by the front door.  The doors weren't due
to open for another 6 and a half hours, but who cares, because by hanging
around all that time we'll be able to get to the front!  And after 
chatting to each other for a while, we started chatting to Donna and
Sarah (hi girls!), who were stood alongside us.  At least, Karen started
chatting to them, I just listened, smiled, laughed, and added the
occasional comment here and there.  But hey, that's just the way I am, if
I can't think of anything to say, I keep quiet...  Anyway, after chatting
to them for a while, another girl joined in after hearing Karen's
Australian accent, because it turned out she was Australian as well.


I guess I should step out of the review just momentarily here and mention
something that will shortly become relevant...  The only times I've ever
met someone who's visited this site, it's been a pre-arranged meeting, so
I was wondering if I'd ever meet someone just by chance.  Now, granted,
standing around outside a Melanie C concert is loading the dice pretty
much in my favour, but even so, it's not a certainty.  Anyway, after
discovering that Donna had seen the site, I figured that was that, and 
the next time I rolled the dice I'd come up with snake eyes...


So anyway, we've got someone new to talk to, so let's all introduce each
other...  Can't recall why, but I didn't catch this Australian girl's
first name, although I did get that she was from Melbourne, and her
surname was Hill.  Then she asked my name.

"Chris"
"Chris what..."

Oh yes, the gods of fate were smiling down on me that day.  As soon as
she asked, I knew she'd visited the site before.  And then it all just
clicked into place.  

"Umm, is your name Alison?"
"Yeah"

Those of you who've spent far too long browsing around this site will now
understand exactly what I'm getting at here.  As for the rest of you, I
suggest a quick trip back to the list of Real Fans articles, where you'll
find one of the earliest was written by a Melbourne resident called, wait
for it, Alison Hill...  Unbelievable.  Of all the visitors I could possibly
have bumped into, it's someone from the other side of the world, someone
who's been an active supporter of the site for quite some time, and one of
those "elite" visitors who's name I can actually remember (with several
thousand of you, I certainly can't remember them all :-)
So, whilst Alison is thinking "ohmigod, it's Chris", I'm thinking "ohmigod,
it's Alison".  I don't really know if I can explain why it's such a big
deal to meet someone like her, you'd have to be a webmaster to really
understand what it means.  Just take it from me, it made me a happy bunny
even before Melanie got in on the act!


So, several more hours pass, three of Karen's other friends (big hellos 
to Zena and Ali, and a special hiya AT LAST to Gemma - been a while, but
we've finally met!) turn up and get ever so neatly assimilated into the
front of the queue.  And then, just after 7pm, the doors opened!!!



VOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!



Through the security check, past the ticket collectors, up the stairs,
through the doors and...  we're there, front row at the Astoria, all of
maybe 6 feet (2 metres for all you metric types) away from the stage, over
to the right hand side.  Oh yes, this'll do nicely ;-)

The support act, Sub-Circus, started their 6 song half hour set at around
7:30.  Thanks to the rather extreme levels of amplification (and our
proximity to the speakers :-), I couldn't make out anything the lead singer
was saying or singing, so song titles and lyrics could have been just about
anything.  No matter, the guitars were thrashed, the drums were bashed, and
the entire place was shaking with the noise.  Perfect warm-up material!

Between 8 and 9 our ears had a chance to cool down as the stage crew moved
Sub-Circus's stuff offstage and set up the few bits of Melanie's gear that
weren't already sitting there waiting for the big moment.  And then, 9pm
came, the lights dropped, and the place went MENTAL!


MELANIE, MELANIE, MELANIE!!!

On came the musicians, including a couple of familiar faces - Fergus
Gerrand and Paul Gendler (at least, I *think* it was Paul...  No mistaking
Fergus though :-) working with her again after being part of the Spice
Band for last years tour.


MELANIE, MELANIE, MELANIE!!!

Pause.


MELANIE, MELANIE, MELAAAAAAAHHHHHHH YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

There, standing so close to us it felt like we could reach out and touch
her, was the woman we'd all come to see.  From the spiky fringe of her short
hair, down past the Motorhead t-shirt and paint splattered jeans, to the
Nike trainers, it was her.  Melanie Chisholm.  Words cannot describe the
feeling of that moment, so I'm not even going to try.

The first two songs, "Soul Believer/Something's Gonna Happen" and
"Independence Day" were pretty easy to pick up, even though I'd never heard
them before in full.  Of the two, I'd pick Soul Believer as my fave, but
they were both great.  Off to a flying start, then!

"Northern Star"...  I love this song.  I loved it from the clip on the
documentary, I love it on the album.  And now I love the live version as
well.

Skipping over "Be The One" to "Ga Ga", the crowd really got going with
this one, and it showed on Melanie's face.  She doesn't pretend to be
happy up on stage, when she smiles you *know* it's because she really loves
performing.  And that makes us all want to sing that little bit louder,
cheer and yell that little bit longer after each song...

Hey look, it's November 1st 1999, that must mean it's... "Suddenly Monday"
(OK, you can all stop groaning now!)  This is another of those songs off
the album that I've loved from the start, and as with Northern Star, the
live version did not disappoint one bit.  If anything, it's even more fun
to hear the live version, simply because it's such a lively sort of song.

"I Turn To You", "Feel The Sun", "If That Were Me" - can't think of
anything unique to say about any of these, they were all performed
beautifully.  That brought us to "Going Down".  If Ga Ga had made us all
go mental, Going Down had us carted off to the asylum.  What a blast!  And
then, showing no mercy, giving us no time to rest, she went straight into
the one-woman version of "Wannabe".  Is it possible for someone to have too
much fun?  Some of us were getting dangerously close to our fun thresholds,
and there were still 4 songs to go!

At last, a full-length version of "Wonder What It Would Be Like".  This,
more than any of her other as-yet-unreleased songs, is the one I'd kill to
get as a b-side.  I was really disappointed when it didn't make it onto the
album, so its inclusion in the concert playlist was most welcome.

The start of the album gave us the end of the concert with "Go".  It's one
of those tracks I automatically turn up the volume for when I'm listening
to the album, but no need for that this time - between Melanie's strong
voice and the kick-ass amp/speaker setup, it rocked!


So, that was it.  She smiled, she waved, she thanked us all, and off she
and the band went.  Yeah right, we all know better than that, we've all
read the reviews of previous concerts, we know she'll be back.  Didn't
stop any of us from yelling like complete nutters just to make sure she
did return for the encore, though :-)


A quick remodelling of the stage to bring on a stool and some acoustic
percussion gear for Fergus, and then SHE WAS BACK!!!


"Closer"...  Listening to this acoustic version just reinforces my belief
that the album version, with all its intrusive instrumentation, should
never have seen the light of day.  It's such a beautiful set of lyrics,
and Melanie really puts her heart and soul into performing it, so it
doesn't need anything more than a simple backing track.  And that's
exactly how it was performed here.  Beautiful, simply beautiful.

Finally, the evening drew to a close with an acoustic version of "Going
Down".  It might seem strange doing an acoustic version of a song which
is so un-acoustic in nature, but it worked really well.


And that was that.  Melanie and the band lined up for a quick curtain call,
and then they were off - the end of the concert, the end of the tour...


Comparing this performance to a Spice Girls concert is futile.  The Girls'
shows are just as much theatre as they are music, making them a complete
audio and visual spectacle.  This, on the other hand, was a concert where
the only thing that mattered was the music.  The stage set was
minimalistic, with just a simple "desert horizon" painted backdrop at the
back of the stage, and some plain metal supports for part of the lighting
rig.  And that's how it should be.  We were there to see Melanie.  We were
there to hear Melanie.  It wouldn't have mattered how elaborate the stage
dressing had been, no-one would have been paying attention to it.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, can better the experience of being so close
to the singer you adore more than every other singer in the universe.
Without question, this was THE concert I've been waiting for ever since I
became aware of Melanie's existence.


Finally...  everyone comes away from a concert saying "oh, that was the
best night of my life".  For once, I'm in full agreement, and I'd love to
be able to do it all over again.  Just to have one more chance to be a
part of something as special as that day was.

Who cares what the critics say.  Who cares that her records can't compete
with kiddie-pop in the charts.  Seeing her perform live like this makes
you realise that there's more to music than chart positions, sales figures,
tabloid press approval...  To see a singer genuinely enjoying themselves,
and to be part of an audience that are all on a collective high because of
the performance, is something everyone should experience at least once in
their lives.  Or twice...  c'mon Melanie, start planning your next tour!!!