The hastily renamed all star music trip report (Madonna concert and London) COMPLETE - Page 4 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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OMG!! That concert looks amazing. I have not been a huge Madonna fan since like 1990, but I think I might consider going to see her if she ever comes back to Boston now.
How amazing! Human Nature is one of my favorite Madonna songs so I would have really enjoyed to hear her sing it with just the guitar. It looked like an amazing show.
Wow...what a crowd for the boat but what a great idea you had. Not only did you have a seat but what wonderful pictures you got along the way, and a much better time then standing at port waiting for a boat.
What a long wait for the concert to start but glad that it was worth it. Wonderful pictures you got from your seat...It did look like a very energietic,busy concert. Glad that you had such a good time.
Looks like a great concert, although I personally would have wanted more of her older songs. Such a long wait for the show to start is really uncalled for... I have to say I can't blame people for booing. Glad to hear that the show made up for the wait.
Sounds like a fun concert, once it finally got started, that is! And I loved looking at your shots from the boat - it brought back great memories. I wish I'd taken a boat ride along the Thames - your shots from under the Tower Bridge especially are really fantastic. And boy am I glad I got to see the bridge before the renovations began, particularly if they'll be going on for years to come!
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
The next song was La Isla Bonita and this was another radical re-working. Although you could still hear the Spanish influences in this song, it ended up being done in more of a hoe-down style, complete with a fiddle in places! It was bizarre, but heck, it worked.
Then it was into one of the highlights of the night and again, not one of her best known songs - You Must Love Me from Evita. Although I like this song, it’s not one of my favourites, but what stood out for me on this was the exceptionally long note she held at one point. How the heck she did that after all the dancing around she’d been doing earlier, I have no idea. She got my full admiration for that one.
Next was a video break of Get Up, with some interesting messages about saving the planet – a bit heavy in places, but it was a good message to get across.
Then it was into another old favourite – Like A Prayer, which featured plenty of Biblical phrases on the screens behind Madonna. Again, it was another re-working and it worked really well, much more rocky than the original version.
After a few more songs, we were sadly at the end of the concert, which finished with Give It To Me. I thought it was a bit of an odd choice and there were people yelling “encore” even after the lights came up. It just wasn’t the song I was expecting her to finish with. :
By the way, at this point, I must mention the German couple next to us. He was about six foot something and was getting very into the concert, standing up most of the time and dancing around. That was fine, except the way he was swinging his arms around, they were coming very close to my head a lot of the time, which didn’t fill me with confidence. Well, because the concert was so late starting – and then by default so late in finishing – a lot of people started to leave before the end, no doubt because public transport would soon be stopping. The four people next to us on the other side left, so we moved up to get away from him. By the end of the concert, he had moved up and was right next to me again. The guy was a total menace and I was really glad to get away from him and his swinging arms!
We collected up my camera and headed outside. There, we found the tribute area to Michael Jackson – very fitting, especially as he was due at the O2 a matter of weeks after his death for his record breaking run of 50 concerts here. That’s why they’re keeping it out until 14 July, as the first date of the concerts would have been 13 July. I know quite a few people who had tickets for those concerts. Very sad.
And a night-time shot of the O2 thrown in!
Then it was back to the car and this was where the nightmare started for us. How prophetic that I told Mark not to mess with the sat nav system, because we’d no doubt be stuck in traffic for a few minutes getting out of the car park and he’d have plenty of time to do that then. Well, I did genuinely think that it would be a few minutes only, as that’s been our experience on all the previous times we’ve been here.
Not this time. We sat there, not moving for some time, then we’d inch forward a bit and get all excited, because you suddenly think the problem is over. Of course, we had the usual problems with getting out of any car park – everyone thinks that they’ve got the right of way to push out in front of you. I’m glad it was Mark driving, as I would’ve probably just given it to everyone.
At one point, we had a four wheel drive about six inches away from our right side and a Mini reversing towards me in the passenger seat! He stopped abut six inches away from us, so close that I couldn’t even open the door and still had his reversing lights on. I was absolutely terrified! I was literally standing there shaking, as I knew that all it would take is for him to slip on the brake and he’d be straight into the car – and me! This went on for a good 15 minutes, before he finally gave up and had to pull in, when a cyclist tried to get through. At that point, I threw my door open to stop him reversing so far again. The stand off continued, with him at least a bit further away, but eventually he obviously realised he wasn’t going to get out and pulled back into the space and they got out of the car. I assume, he’d had enough and went back into the O2. I have to say, I don’t blame him.
Eventually, we got out of there, but it had taken us over 90 minutes. The concert finished at 11.25 and we left the car park at 1.10 in the morning. We have no idea what the delay was – there were no reports of any accidents. The only thing we could think of was that they appeared to have a different road layout, so whether that was the problem, we don’t know. It was just crazy.
We stuck to our initial plans to head to the Express by Holiday Inn at Wimbledon, but no more than half a mile further on, we hit traffic again. We figured it would be fine when we got through the traffic lights, but when we did, it was queuing as far as we could see. I had just had enough and told Mark to go home. I figured we’d be lucky to get to the hotel before 2.00 and we were both getting really hungry, pretty tired and very frustrated, so we did a U-turn. After stopping for a drive-thru McDonalds, we were home in half an hour and definitely made the right decision.
The next day, I don’t think we even surfaced until 11.00 and at least we were able to watch Wimbledon on TV and of course enjoy the epic final between Federer and Roddick. It’s a shame we didn’t get to Wimbledon after all, but trying to do that really would’ve killed us and we have been before. The main aim was for me to see Madonna and I finally achieved that aim. She lived up to all my expectations and exceeded them, so it was a great weekend, even without the all star sports line-up.
Wow, what a week-end. However, the pics you got while crusing on the river are spectacular. If you did nothing else that week-end that would have been worth it! I hope we get to see the Tower Bridge when we come across the pond next June!
Talk about traffic...definitely agree with your decision. I think I would have chosen some Mcdonald's and watching the matches on TV as well. Glad you enjoyed such a great concert...
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He stopped abut six inches away from us, so close that I couldn’t even open the door and still had his reversing lights on. I was absolutely terrified! I was literally standing there shaking, as I knew that all it would take is for him to slip on the brake and he’d be straight into the car – and me! This went on for a good 15 minutes, before he finally gave up and had to pull in, when a cyclist tried to get through. At that point, I threw my door open to stop him reversing so far again. The stand off continued, with him at least a bit further away, but eventually he obviously realised he wasn’t going to get out and pulled back into the space and they got out of the car. I assume, he’d had enough and went back into the O2. I have to say, I don’t blame him. 
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