27th August, 2008 (3:43 pm)
The Day With the Dancing and Dr. Who
I think we’ve just about recovered from our trek across the country to see George Michael’s (allegedly) final UK arena show. As M’s work wouldn’t give him the day off following the bank holiday weekend (bastards), we had to drive to London and back all on the same day. This meant that I got home at 2am the morning of my return to work. Heh.
It was a sheer fluke that we got the tickets at all. I was home the day they went on sale but by the time I got through on the priority line for Ticketmaster at 9.02am they’d already sold out, and the website was crapping out errors and time-outs like nobody’s business. So I’d kind of resigned myself to missing it but kept doing that random refresh that netheads do, just on the off-chance the page may load, and then on the off-chance the page did load. I hyperventilated and promptly booked the tickets before the website changed it’s mind, and a few weeks later two shiny, purple Final Two tickets fell through my letterbox. AWESOME. I didn’t even have to get one of those bolloxy restricted view places or pay £200+ tickets either - for £50 each we were sat smack bang in the middle at the back of the top tier. This meant that we had a fantastic view of the entire stage, albeit with Michael left looking a bit ant-like due to the distance. But I could live with that!
We got there really early, though. M gets a bit anal about travel/parking times etc., so thanks to an early start after dropping S off at my in-laws and a clear drive, we had five hours to kill when we got there. FFS. :p So we had a walk around, a drink and some food, and managed to spend the entire day together, just the two of us, without one wanting to murder the other. And because it was, like, THERE, we went to the Dr. Who exhibition - WITHOUT OUR SON. (I’m sad to report that after suffering through three series’ worth of the Doctor and Rose and Donna and crap-actor-Martha (S isn’t interested in Chris Eccleston, so we haven’t seen S1) I’ve been infected by the Who bug. How embarrassing.) I felt awful about going without him at our side, but wtf IT WAS RIGHT THERE! We toyed about how to approach it; lie and pretend that we didn’t go, fib and say we HAD to go or simply cough up the truth. In the end we plumped for the latter, so after I gave him his pressies and showed him the (bad phone) photos, I asked if he was cross that we went without him. He cuddled me and said no, course not, he got the best pressies which is just as good! Bless. :) We bought him an exhibition guide so that he could see all the exhibits currently housed in London and he loves it . . . to the extent that the front cover has already fallen off due to excessive reading. No Kudos Cool Parenting Points loss for us.
Personally, I think the main reason he’s so cool about it is because the Earl’s Court show sports two of the spooky Father Christmas’ from the Christmas Specials and they completely and utterly SCARE THE SHIT OUT OF HIM. That’s right - not the daleks, not the cybermen, not the woman who steals people’s faces or the teachers who turn into flying bat-things. He will watch just about anything other than extras dressed up in cheap Santa Claus costumes and plastic masks.
Anyway, I know Michael’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I thought he rocked. He did some solo stuff I knew, some solo stuff I didn’t, and then some awesome Wham! (WTF? there’s no official website?!) stuff that everyone knew and went mental for. I’m a little young to remember Wham! properly - I was five or six when they split up, I think - but I do love the complete campness and danceability of stuff like Freedom (good video!) and I’m Your Man. I don’t normally notice stuff like video displays and light shows, but even that was incredible - so while I fidgeted through the slow stuff that I don’t like, the stage still looked pretty and it was more than adequately balanced by his patented hip shake and fake police uniforms. Yay!
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Comment by starrynite — 27 August, 2008 @ 3:58 pm
Sounds like you had a good time. I’m not the hugest George fan but do have a tendency to bop a little bit to the old Wham! classics lol.
Was the gig at Wembley or the O2?
Personally I just can’t get over how different the new Dr Whos are from the old skool serieses (is that a word?) that I grew up with. Give me Peter Davison or Sylvester McCoy and crappy FX over anythin with Billie Piper in!
Comment by Audrey — 27 August, 2008 @ 9:46 pm
George Michael isn’t my cup-o-tea, but it sounds like the experience was something to be envied on a whole. (: I’ve only ever been able to afford tickets like those: in the way back. Seeing the whole stage is a bonus though.
I was up late watching our Public Broadcasting Station in the area and they played Dr. Who. It was season 1, episode 1. I thought it was pretty cheesy, but have heard the show is actually quite enthralling. The next week I saw episode 2… and now I’ve seen a total of 4 from the first season, and am beginning to see the allure. I’ve only seen a couple random episodes of the original, which was weird but fun. I’d have gone to see the Dr. Who exhibit (:
Comment by Vixx — 27 August, 2008 @ 10:37 pm
We did have a good time - a great time, actually! And I was very happy with my tickets, even if we were miles away. Oh - and it was Earl’s Court, starrynite. First time I’d been there. Bit disappointed, actually!
Oh, Audrey, you’re gonna get sucked it! I think David Tennant (Doctor #10) kicks Chris Eccleston’s ass. :D I know what you mean about it being cheesy, though - I don’t disagree at all. The acting is generally pretty crap, but I do oh-so-love the Daleks and Cybermen!
V xx
Comment by Teesee — 28 August, 2008 @ 12:22 am
Pfft. I liked Ecclestone as Doctor Who 9…
And you went to London and you didn’t even say hello to me? I’m hurt. You cut me deep man… (woman?!)
Comment by Vixx — 28 August, 2008 @ 7:23 am
Different courses, different horses. :D I think I dig little indie boy David, is all!
And awww, my bad. But if it helps I go to London all the time and don’t see you then either, so it’s not a one-off. :p I also don’t see my BFFs from Uni, either. Am a bad person!
V xx
Comment by sharon — 28 August, 2008 @ 10:55 am
Never really cared for George or Wham, but it’s good to know there’s someone out there who can still give value for money when it comes to putting on a decent show. And I’ll (almost) skip right over the fact that not only did you not say hello to Tessee in London, but you forgot about me too…
We thought about doing the Dr Who exhibition when we went to Comic Con last month (mostly because it was right next door) but since my interest in Dr Who begins and ends with Captain Jack Harkness, didn’t really think it would be worth it.
Comment by Tanya — 28 August, 2008 @ 1:42 pm
I grow up to the sound of George Michael and Wham, my Mum was a big fan. Glad the concert rocked!
Comment by Melissa — 28 August, 2008 @ 11:37 pm
The boyfriend & I went to the Dr Who exhibition in Blackpool twice without children (mainly because we don’t have any and that’d just be weird), and I loved it all.
I’m very naughty though and was taking photographs in the strictly non-photo-taking areas with my camera hidden under my jacket like some sort of pervert. It was worth it though!
Comment by Vixx — 29 August, 2008 @ 7:37 am
Oooh, Melissa - tell me, what’s the Dr. Who Museum like? We were thinking of taking S for the weekend in the next few weeks. Worth a visit? Up to date? And the most important question - any of the creepy Father Christmas’ there??
Shar - Harkness? Really? SO don’t get the Captain Jack thing.
Tanya - did you check out the video? There’s some good stuff floating about on YouTube. The DVD is coming out for Christmas, too!
V xx
Comment by Claire — 30 August, 2008 @ 6:21 pm
I can’t say I’m surprised to hear that he put on a good show, Mum went to see him last year (at Wembley, I think?) and gushed about how brilliant it was for weeks. Mum’s mad been mad on George Michael/Wham! for years and his music was pretty much the soundtrack to my childhood (so I would’ve probably known even the rarer tracks *blushes*).
From his most recent interviews, I think he’s turned into a bit of a twat on a personal level (I blame the wacky baccy), but vocally, he’s mustard live.
BTW, I *totally* get M’s time-related paranoia when travelling to gigs - we always get there HOURS beforehand. XD
Comment by Vixx — 2 September, 2008 @ 9:27 am
Honestly, you and M are so similar sometimes it’s uncanny. :p
I don’t disagree about the twatness - some of his latest offerings have been overly political and crap, quite frankly, but when he dances in FastLove, I can do nothing but forgive him. Yummy.
V xx
Comment by sharon — 3 September, 2008 @ 10:16 am
“Shar - Harkness? Really? SO don’t get the Captain Jack thing.”
I don’t get it either. I’m even slightly ashamed of myself.