RAH - Sunday Sept. 26 1999
After far too little sleep and another day of sightseeing in London, I passed by the hotel and changed to my concert jacket. The night before I had decided to change to a more normal outfit (for me that is) black leather pants, purple silk shirt, the jacket and the hat (with it's new scarf) and comfortable white tennis shoes (Ecco brand, model called Central line, with underground map on the soles).
I took the tube to High Street Kensington, again and walked towards the "Bah" (what else can you call a pub called the Goat?) The place soon became packed with Purple-heads. (Remember this was the first date to be announced, the Saturday was an extra concert, news of which where released pretty late, so the real fans had already bought their tickets for THIS show) More and more fans crowded the place as they where tiring of the convention and getting hungry. As Svante and the guys from last night appeared the room was absolutely packed and they decided to try next door for some food. I soon joined them nervously waiting for the food as the clock kept ticking forwards. The food arrived barely in time to throw it down before rushing of to the RAH. This time I didn't even try to get the T-shirt I was after but left it to post-show. I now had tickets at the absolute back, top stalls top row, directly opposite the stage. I came to realise that there are no bad seats in this hall, good view everywhere, of course excluding the lower prize limited view seats, high up on each side of the stage.
The concert had the same set list as the night before, only this time the crowd knew what they where to expect and there where no disruptions. All participants seemed more at ease and every thing was a little bit better than the previous night. Miller Anderson was secure with his singing, Sam Brown a marvel, RG's piece had just a little more of everything, "Via Miami" was brilliant, "That's why God's singin' the Blues" still didn't quit fit in but was well sung and played etc. As the concerto started Jon Lord was bobbing and swaying with the music, Stevie Wonder like, marking each perfect full stop with a clenched fist before checking the score for the next mark. None of the strain from Saturday marked his face and he was clearly enjoying himself tremendously. His solos where longer and livelier and OH! So good! The crowd where equally into it and cheered, catcalled and clapped anytime they could. I have never experienced so many standing ovations in a single concert, ever. Any disrupting calls where all positive this night, shout of "Yeah!", "Dio!", "Jon Lord!", "Bravo!" and "More!" sometimes made the ones that had been there the night before slightly nervous, until we heard just what they where shouting. After "Pictures of Home" the band left the stage and the crowd was in a frenzy. They came back and slammed into "Smoke" with a vengeance. Had I been nervous about the building-structure the night before, I was now close to positively alarmed, the floor shook and swayed with the weight of thousands of feet stomping in time with the riff. My hands ached with clapping, my throat hurt from singing, and I was in a bliss. And again it was all over - a concert of a lifetime. I cannot imagine that I will ever experience anything quite like it again.
Outside there was a slight drizzle as we waited for everybody to join us. Photos where taken, recordings where checked (oops!. Should I mention that?), t-shirts where bought and everybody was equally overjoyed. Not least Mash who had got his hands on Ian Paice's notes for the concerto, a hilarious document of three pages starting of "Wait 6-7 min., SILLY TUNE.". We stopped a few taxis and went to the Hilton Olympia to round things off. I came to think of my purple London post-cards, took one of them out of my bag and got Svante and a few others to sign it thinking it would be a nice memory. I put a heading on it, stating "Amdp/THS crowd London 25-26 Sept 1999" and suddenly changed my mind. I turned to one of the guys and asked "what if we all sign this card and then give it to the band as a memory of us?", He agreed that it was a good idea and I set to it. Everybody signed it, one by one. Some off the ladies put lipstick marks on it and we left it to Stephen to hand it over at an appropriate time, as well as posting it on the web for all to see (where?). We hung out for a long while, nobody wanting this memorable weekend to end, but all things pass and we split up, everybody going to their respective hotels.
A feeling of loss went through my brain as I realised that I will never again experience a weekend like this one, or concerts like these two magic nights at the RAH.
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