Melanie C @ Wembley Arena, 5th November 2000


OK, I might as well admit right now that this isn't going to be a full review
of the concert, simply because if it were then it'd end up looking
suspiciously like the one I've just written for the Shepherds Bush concert...
Since the set lists were identical, and since her performance sounded pretty
much identical, if you want to know my opinions of each song, then go read
the Shepherds Bush review.

Now that I've said that, what else could there be to talk about here?  Well,
not a lot, actually.  But enough to make it worthwhile writing something :-)


I suppose the BIG question is, can Melanie do a larger venue like Wembley
Arena justice?  After all, we've been used to seeing her in cosy little venues
like the Astoria, Shepherds Bush Empire etc. etc, and yet here she is in a big
old barn of a venue with about as much capacity as 5 or 6 of the smaller ones.

The short answer is, yes and no.  I was lucky, I'd managed to get hold of 3rd
row seats, which put me not that much further away from the stage than I'd
been at the two previous concerts.  And from that position, it was a superb
show.  Not as good as the Astoria (I doubt anything will beat that evening),
but at least as good as Shepherds Bush.  Although the music didn't have the
same physical impact, thanks to being spread out through the large arena
instead of contained within a small space, this was compensated for by having
a larger stage.  This allowed the band and all their gear to get out the way
of Melanie so she could wander around more freely than in the smaller venues.
At times during the Shepherds Bush concert, it seemed like she was hiding
behind the floor speakers, so little room was there for her to move.  But
here she could get right up to the edge of the stage, and right out to the
far sides.  Also, with the stage being raised up higher, we were looking more
up at her than across to her, so we spent less time looking at the backs of
other peoples heads or arms, and more time able to gaze at her...  

However, for people sitting further away, Melanie must have looked like a
little dot on the horizon.  They might still have been able to hear her just
fine, but for me part of the Melanie Experience is being able to see her
every move, all the cute little facial expressions she pulls, every flick of
her hair, every last bead of sweat as she gives it everything...  Perhaps it
wouldn't be such a big deal for other artists/bands, but with someone like
Melanie who most of us admire not just as a performer but as an individual,
being up close and personal with her during the concert is what really makes
it special.  But that's just my opinion, and I'd love to hear from anyone who
was sat further back from the stage!


What else?  By good luck rather than good planning I managed to miss Tomcat
this time, so no comments on their performance.  On the other hand, I saw
all of Kelis' act (and quite a bit of Kelis too...) and I have to admit to
being wrong about her.  I know we shouldn't judge artists on the basis of
one song, but when I disliked *that* song so much, it clouded my judgment
of her to the point where I didn't think it'd be possible for me to like
anything she did.  Boy, was I wrong!  With the exception of *that* song, the
rest of her set was fantastic.  Honourable mention must go to the member of
the stage crew crawling around the stage during the set in order to retrieve
all the drumsticks her drummer kept on throwing away :-)

Reserved seating...  After two cold and wet afternoons/evenings queueing
outside the Astoria and the Empire in order to secure a spot near the front
(despite the best efforts of latecomers pushing their way in, and venue
security rearranging the queues so that people behind us got let in before
us - grrrrrr!!!), it was quite a magical experience to be able to turn up
at half 7, walk straight inside and get out of the freezing rain, and then
be led past hundreds of people already in their seats, to where our empty
seats were waiting right up there at the front.  If only venues like the
Astoria could implement a scheme that would let your position inside be
linked to your ticket, rather than continuing to allow a free-for-all to
occur outside in the queue - sooner or later someone is going to get hurt
during the mad scramble to get to the front...  Not sure how they'd arrange
it, but there has to be a better way than is used at present.  Even if they
just made it crystal clear where the queue should start, and in which
direction it should head, that'd be an improvement.


And that's pretty much all I have to say.  I know, bit poor compared to my
previous efforts, but like I said at the start, if I had written a full
review then it'd have been almost a carbon copy of the previous review,
and I don't want to waste your time reading something you've already read,
or my time writing something I've already written!  But to make up for the
lack of words here, I've added a ton of photos to the multimedia section.
So many, in fact, that I've had to split them across three galleries...  Well,
big venues deserve big photo collections, right ;-)