A beautiful day for this concert in Finsbury Park. Maybe a little too hot, but upper twenties was bearable compared to the thirties at the beginning of the week.
I have often gone to gigs and at the early part I am thinking to myself, "Why have I come to this? Its more endurance test than entertainment." And this fell very much into that category. Rather by design of the organisers.
In the first place, this was advertised as gates open at 3 pm. This was misleading, as yes there were orderly queues at the entrance and we were admitted at 3pm. Except we were not really. All that happened is we went along a channel and then were kettled in a big crowd in the heat, by far the worst conditions we would be in for the next 7 hours, for another quarter of an hour before our tickets were actually checked and we were let in to the arena itself.
The next disappointment was to find there were to be no acts whatsoever for almost 3 more hours. Of course this gave the crowd the "opportunity " to enjoy overpriced fast food and expensive low quality alcohol in a baking field. Of course the reason most people had arrived at 3pm was simply to get a good position. And then just endure until they decided to give us something to see.
Normally I go right to the front for a gig, but at Finsbury Park I go for a "second" front. Essentially they organise it so there are two enclosures (which you can go between), which are separated by a double row of barriers. By going to the front of this second barrier I can stand plumb in the middle, as you can see, whereas if I had gone for the front barrier I would have had to stand at one side, the central spaces already having been taken by the time I got in. Also this way I get no one directly in front of me - useful for the vertically challenged
And this is the view behind me. Pretty empty at this stage but full to the back by the end of the evening
As I say, there were no acts until nearly 6pm. The organisers would no doubt say there was a DJ, but frankly this was no different to just playing the normal set of songs you would expect at any venue. I am sure there would be any number of young bands who would kill for the chance to play before a gathering crowd in four figures, and the crowd would like to see something, so why was there this enormous empty period? Possibly they think they will make more money by people continuing to buy drinks uninterrupted by any form of entertainment.
I also wonder what the economics are for putting on something like this. I mean obviously the main act get the lion's share of takings and the "name" support will get a fair whack too, but beyond that I was left musing whether the early support gets paid, or they (or rather their record company) pays the organiser for the exposure. That would explain why younger bands don't get the chance, and why in my experience, the first supports are so often vastly inferior to the bands I see in pubs playing to audiences under a hundred. Also often the early supports seem totally unlike the main act, so a bit like going to the opera and finding a death metal band acting as warm up.
So here our first live entertainment came from Finn Forster. Who I feel is being promoted as the new Sam Fender. In the way that anyone who is successful is usually promptly cloned. Don't get me wrong, this is a good looking young man with a very decent voice. But my heart always sinks when I see a singer songwriter turn up on stage with his acoustic guitar. I immediately think I am going to be bored for the next half hour. And I duly was. Although not as bored looking as his drummer.
Also, what is up with these guys not playing in a band? He introduced "his band", but why aren't they the band? Its nice seeing a group of mates playing and enjoying their music. This felt like a bloke with his minions.
As I say, good looking young man with very decent voice who I am sure will attract a bit of a young female audience. But there are loads of such people out there. He is nothing special.
In contrast Blossoms are very special. No one sounds, or looks, quite like them. I certainly enjoyed this performance, as did the crowd who gave an enthusiastic reception rather than a merely polite one which is what Finn Forster had received.
Having seen Blossoms a number of times I would make two observations about this occasion. First, acting as a support, although themselves able to attract big crowds, this felt a bit like going through the motions. Very enjoyable, but efficient more than ebullient.
Also this is the first time I have seen them where the backbone of the show was not their superb debut album, but an even scattering from their output of five albums now. And where they didn't finish on their best known, and best, track, Charlemagne. Still one of my favourite all time songs. Just wished they had played a longer set.
And only Tom Ogden could make yellow flared trousers look really cool!
They actually finished by bringing out the fibre glass gorilla called Gary which was stolen from a garden centre and which inspired the name of their fifth album.
And finally the Stereophonics. They played a very long greatest hits set, starting in evening light and ending in pitch darkness. It was everything one could have hoped for. There is a reason the Stereophonics could sell out Finsbury Park, which I believe means something like 45,000.
One thing about the Stereophonics, unlike most rock acts, is that their ballads and their full on rock songs sound equally good. Many rock acts only do ballads for variety. Kelly Jones has a superb, gravelly rock voice. Indeed he is almost the perfect front man for such a band. He looks remarkably good for a man about 50. He delivers just the right amount of patter - intelligent and witty comments on some of the songs. The voice holds up perfectly over his band. Just the consummate performance. And hence why the whole day was made worthwhile.
Great visuals behind as well. And it very much feels like this band of middle aged blokes like being on stage together, and play as well as any band could hope to do. And my zoom lens enabled me to get some very good shots even at the distance away that I was, augmented by a few from the big screens.
As the night wore on, the pyrotechnics and the lights stepped up a gear. This show felt very self-contained, as if everything preceding it had been bolted on but unrelated. Which it probably was.
They finished on the awesome Dakota, although they have so many hits they could have gone out on many others. But Dakota is their spine tingling best
And so at just after 10, the end of a great night. I confess I was more than a little stiff after standing rooted to the spot of 7 hours. I am just grateful that I can still do this sot of thing - I doubt many blokes my age could, not least because of the need to go to the toilet. Somehow even at 62 I can go ten hours without a loo break. Although my plan to walk home - a bit over an hour's walk - succumbed to the temptation of a passing bus up the Hight Street!
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