O2-tastic!

Yeah I was there – two nights ago I was at the O2! Only as part of the audience I should add, but for me, that was no problem. It was totally unplanned though – it came totally out of the blue…

Where I was...

The first I heard about it was that afternoon, around 2:30pm. I was trying on some base layer clothing (for my planned running) in the changing cubicle of a Kingston store, when my mobile began ringing. It turned out to be my mate, who was calling from the O2 site in Greenwich. He had got hold of two tickets to see Paul McCartney’s ‘Good Evening London’ show, which was taking place that very evening. He said if I wanted to go I would have to get my self down to the entrance of the O2 by 6pm. All this seemed fair enough – I agreed to go along, and about an hour later, my journey began.

Travelling down there from New Malden Station couldn’t be easier – at Waterloo I took the Jubilee Line down to North Greenwich – the whole trip wasn’t more than fifty minutes. The O2 is literally just outside North Greenwich Tube, and as I emerged into daylight from the station escalator, the Dome was an impressive sight to behold. I met up with my mate just beyond the main entrance, who had been on a bit of a spending spree – the sum of £30 had got him the ‘Good Evening London’ Macca T-shirt, which he was already wearing, along with the official programme to the said concert. He seemed pretty pleased with his purchases.

Feeling a bit peckish, we made our way down the crowded malls in search of some burger based fare, and it was only as I passed the various shops, restaurants and mini-funfairs that I realised just how big the O2 venue was. We eventually settled for some ‘bratwurst in a roll’ from a stall in one of the German Markets (they get everywhere!), and then we made our way to a bar in a Chinese restaurant for a couple of beers.

As the clock ticked ever closer to 6.30pm it was time to get down to business. We made our way to the music venue – entrance H was where we had to be, which we located pretty quickly. A lengthy queue had already formed, which was moving in an orderly and thankfully quick way. We were expertly guided by the O2 staff to the correct block, row and seat number. Our seats were on the fourth level, and though we had a full view of the stage, it looked very small and distant – the giant video screens were a necessity if we were to have a hope of seeing anything.

Over the next two hours the music stadium completely filled, and then accompanied by a burst of activity from the giant video screens, the lights dimmed and the stage was suddenly swathed in a blaze of light as Macca made his entrance, music blasting around the stadium. As you can tell it was high octane stuff, and even though I’m not a huge Paul McCartney fan, I thought the gig really worked – he mixed up his modern stuff with some Beatles and Wings tracks, including tributes to the late great John Lennon and George Harrison. The pyrotechnics that accompanied the legendry Bond theme ‘Live and let die’ were awesome, and all the old favourites like ‘Mull of Kintyre’ were given an airing.

My mate and I were there to the end, just making the last train back to SW London – I didn’t even have time for a kebab!