For the very good buffet breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant, I had a table by the windows in the corner. It overlooked the Thames and gave me a very pleasant view of the skyscrapers in London’s Financial District across the river. I could also watch the variety of boats and ships that went by.
I couldn’t settle in too much, however, as I had scheduled a one hour, full-body Swedish massage at the hotel’s spa. I figured that, with three nights of concerts in a row, I would be glad to have had it.
Although I had assigned seats for all three, Simply Red concerts are just not the sort of shows where the audience sits quietly in their seats. Instead the audience gets up on their feet, dances, sings along during the choruses, applauds enthusiastically, and cheers throughout.
The band is unique. The styles of music include soul, jazz, blues, funk, rock, ballads, and the occasional reggae piece. They not only sound different from other bands, but their songs are different from each other too.
The band is very tight and every member of it is both versatile and quite talented on the instrument (or instruments) they play. On drums, Roman Roth; bass, Orefo Orakwue; guitar, Kenji Suzuki; keyboards, Gary Sanctuary; trumpet, flugelhorn and percussion is Kevin Robinson; saxophones, EWI, and additional keyboards is Ian Kirkham. The guitar, saxophone, trumpet, and keyboard solos are all spellbinding. The lead singer, Mick Hucknall, has an exquisitely unique singing voice, which just seems to become richer and more powerful as he ages (25 when he started and 65 now).
With the tour being for the 40th anniversary of the release of their first album, Picture Book, it was chock full of hits and fan favorites from over the years. Mick also talked to the audience (which he usually does at least some anyway), explaining the origins of some of the songs or telling stories related to them. This added an extra depth to their nearly two hour set.
Back to the massage. It was delightful and energized me. Afterwards I went for a walk outside. It was a lovely day. I explored the area around the O2 Arena, taking photos of the hotel, arena, and the river.
One of the photos that I took of the marquee at the main entrance to the arena ended up being posted on Simply Red’s Facebook page a few days later, credited to me. That was really cool. It was accompanied by four other photos, one of which was from the third concert and showed Mick onstage. I could clearly be seen in the audience watching him. I will share that photo in a later post.
Picked up some Chinese food for lunch. Then later in the afternoon, I took my masseuse’s advice and went to sit in the large thermal pool in the hotel next to the swimming pool. My legs kept trying to float up. If I tried to lean back, my entire body would rise and I would start to float away. I decided the problem was my lack of height. Others seemed to be staying in place, but they were all taller than me. So I sat on a ledge with my legs hanging down in order to not float off. Then I had a light dinner and got ready for the show.
I had decided that, since it was such a special anniversary, I would dress up each night. For the first night, I chose a purple sequined camisole with a purple and blue sequined shrug jacket.
The entrance from the hotel was pretty much on the other side of the arena from the main entrance, which I needed to go in. The complex was full of people and they were not all going to the concert. As it was, the arena could hold 20,000 and was sold out. So loads and loads of people milling around.
My seat for the first night was close to the stage, but really high up above it. It was the best seat I could get in the scramble to get any ticket I could after my friend had died. I am not a fan of heights, but I had talked myself into being okay with it on the way. Fortunately, when I went up the steps to enter the arena itself, I didn’t need to climb any further from there or go down any steps either. I just stepped over a bit to my right and sat down. Whew!
Not long after I arrived, another woman walked up to me and asked if I was Trisha. I said I was and she introduced herself to me. That was great. A new friend. I later had several people say that they saw me — some from across the arena. It seemed that my outfit could be seen from space.
I figured I would likely stay in my seat most of the time, unless the people in front of me stood and I would need to stand in order to see the stage. Didn’t realize that the people around me would be going in and out for the entire concert to get more drinks or to run to the WC. So I ended up standing for much of the show even at that dizzying height in what I would call nosebleed territory. The drunker several of those people got, I began to pray that nobody would be so drunk as to take a header over the railing just a few rows ahead of me.
The concert itself was absolutely fantastic – both Simply Red and their supporting act, Soul II Soul (biggest hit being “Back To Life (However Do You Want Me)”) played their hearts out. Afterwards I took the elevator down instead of the never-ending succession of escalators. Then I walked back to the hotel. I ended up staying up a bit late to post the photos I had taken on three Facebook pages (my own, the one I had been helping with for the past couple years, and another dedicated to the band to which I often contribute). Exhausted, but happy, I slept well once I was under the covers of my comfy bed.
Next time – The day and night of the second of the three Simply Red concerts
