20th February, 1999. Docklands Arena, London
At 7.30 on the dot, Babel Fish came on. They didn't seem bad, they
are certainly the only Norweigan group I know! They are probably destined
for chart success and stuff; their first single seems quite good!! Anyway,
the next thing that was put on was THAT advert, which seems quite cheesy
really. At about 8.20, they showed the Lottery performance; is that the
first ever Lottery performance that any band have played live???
Then on came Brian Kennedy with just a guitar. (This cheered my sister
up!) He played well and sang brilliantly, with a couple of tracks off his
album he's still recording and at one point remarked "This is a mad
venue!!" He even got the crowd to sing along on Van Morrison's brilliant
song "crazy love". Here's his track list:
1. Better Man
2. Captured
3. Playing with my heart
4. Time, or it might be called our town
5. Put the message in the box
Brian had got the crowd livened up, and we had some brilliant mexican
waves and feet stamping etc!! Anyway, at about 9:00, the video screens
flicked on again, showing us the Corrs arriving at the Docklands - Jim and
Sharon were on bikes!!
Then we got to the good bit at about 9.15pm. On came the Corrs to a
blistering When He's Not Around. (yes they had changed from the lottery!)
The Right Time had a video of a revolving clock at the back of the stage
which just irritated me really!! Joy Of Life was really good, Sharon can
really play that violin!! Forgiven not Forgotten with the Erin Shore intro
was one of the best tracks of the night; or so I thought anyway. It was
then followed with What Can I Do remix style. The band didn't seem to enjoy
this one as much, and I think it was the low point of the evening. Jim's
Solo bit followed, with some friendly banter, and much calls of "Jim, we
love you", etc!! He played a couple of pieces brilliantly; what
are they called? Then on came Sharon and Caroline and sang No Frontiers
with Jim at the piano; everyone should have a copy of them singing that
brilliant song!! Runaway with Caroline at the piano (although as always, at
the back) followed before the band launched into a vigourous Haste To The
Wedding with Jim exhorting the crowd to get to their feet. After that,
Andrea talked for a bit about their success and how pleased they were - she
also said how she
felt this was an intimate venue, even though there were 12,500 people
there!! She then announced the next song as Queen Of Hollywood, but the
guitars went
crahing into Only When I Sleep! She apologised after this, putting it downto her
dehydration!!! An amzing version of Dreams followed with I Never Loved You
Anyway finishing off the proceedings. This was until they came back on for
an encore (changed!) of So Young (with the added words) and then finally
Toss The Feathers which was brilliant. Here's the track list (hopefully
right, but i may be wrong!!)
1. When He's Not Around
2. No Good For Me
3. The Right Time
4. Joy Of Life
5. Erin Shore (intro) Forgiven not Forgotten
6. What Can I Do
7. HA
8. Jim's Solo
9. No Frontiers
10. Runaway
11. Haste To The Wedding
12. Secret Life
13. Only When I Sleep
14. Queen Of Hollywood
15. Dreams
16. I Never Loved You Anyway
17. So Young
18. Toss The Feathers
(I may have got some of this wrong, but it's nearly there!)
Generally, it was absoloutely brilliant, one of the best concerts I've
ever been to; the only gripe I have about it was the guitar solos; some of
them sounded out of place!!
I've just read over this, and just realised how long it is - sorry!!
Matthew Holdsworth