Cardiff, July 23th, 1999
After the (*great*) concert, Bryan came out of the castle by car and they immediately stopped near us. We were only about 10 people at the beginning.
I immediately told him what I most cared about: "Bryan, please come back to Italy soon!". He looked at me (I think he wasn't surprised to hear we were from Italy 'cause he had seen our big Italian flag during the concert) "Italy? We're coming to Italy next week!". We were shocked by this, so Anna and I asked him where and when he was coming, and he answered "Rome, Milan..." he turned back to one of the guys in the car and asked him, as if he didn't remember, then he told us "Rome, Milan and Venice". We found it very hard to believe that but he wouldn't tell more... in the meanwhile, I gave him my OADLT booklet and he wrote "Roberta!" and signed it... I told him the show was great and he asked me back if I had enjoyed.
We kept telling him how much we missed him etc. ... after a while he told me: "I love Italy!" so I replied "So why don't you come!" but he looked at me and went on saying: "I love Italian women. They're sooo sexy!!!". No need to say how I felt, I guess.
After that, we let other people getting their autographs, but we soon went back to him to ask him more about Italy... so we understood that he was just joking: he started smiling and telling us "Oh yeah I'm coming on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday..." with a strange accent (I'd say he was making fun of the Italian accent :-))), we told him "C'mon, you're not serious!" and Anna said "This is not the truth!", so he replied to her with an evil smile..."You know, I never say the truth". But he kept joking and saying "Monday, Tuesday..." waving his hands around in a very funny way... we were all laughing out loud. Then he said "I speak Italian!" and started saying Italian words... he turned to Anna and told her "Bella!" (=beautiful!) and to me and told me "Amore!" (=love, honey!). It sounded so sweet and funny with his accent :-).
He ketp joking around for a while - the security woman in front of the car wanted him to leave, but he didn't want to. So we got more stuff signed and talked to him a bit more, then he had to leave so he told me "Ciao bella!" and the car started moving.
Keith and Mickey looked very tired and Keith just said Italy is lovely and that they wanted to get back there.
London, July 25th, 1999
We talked to Keith much longer in the backstage area after the HP gig. I can't really recall everything we said... He told us how he'd love to see Venice (he's never been there!) and Florence... told us about their holiday in Sardinia (I knew the place they've stayed at), and their future plans, etc... It was amazing that he remembered of Anna and her friends since the last time he had met them, back in November 97! He asked us how long we were staying in London and told us they were leaving for Sweden on the 28th. We took pics together and got autographs, and kept talking for a good while.
Then we waited for Bryan to come out (Keith was still there though, talking to some friends). Bryan had a black Gucci long-sleeved shirt and looked in a great mood once again. He asked someone where the cars were and told us that he was getting into the car but he wanted us to follow him. Each time one of the security guys tried to keep us away, he stopped him in a firm way. While reaching the car he kept talking to us and said they are trying to come to Italy before Christmas. Then I told him "yeah, you always say you are coming to Italy...!" - then he recognized us, smiled and said "oh yeah we're coming on Tuesday!!!" so we started that "Monday, Tuesday..." thing once again :)). That was so funny. Then he tried to get into the car and told the guy who was near the door "get out of here!!", so the guy turned to him and replied "Bryan, this is the driver's side!" :-)) He went to the other side while everyone was laughing.
Once he finally got into the car he kept talking to us. Some (german?) girls told him that they had bad seats and the security guys didn't allow them get closer. He seemed really interested and disappointed about that, and said "I hate security" or something like that. He said we can always take pictures, no problem at all.
We took pics with him while he was in the car and he kept signing our tickets. After a while he had to get out so he said "ciao!" and left.
That's it, more or less... are you still awake? :) Go and check out the pix, then...!