Considering that the youngest child observed was under 5, carried out asleep in the arms of his mother at the end of the X Factor Finalist's Tour 2007, it is a bitter sweet thought that by the time he has seen another six decades fly past him, like me, his pop and rock concert going is likely to have been in the hundreds, compared to my own handful, commencing and ending with Bruce Springsteen thirty and four years ago.
For the record, and one ought to remember every one, the biggest gigs were Live Aid 1 in 1985 and the Rolling Stone, both at Wembley, with the first Stones Concert cancelled. Other Stadium events, in addition to the Boss at Newcastle and Crystal Palace, with his Sheffield East Street Band in between, included Bowie at Sunderland, and Tina Turner twice at Gateshead along with Rod Stewart, and the Big Country, and involved a lot of standing during the concert and queuing for hours beforehand. I cannot ever recall standing up at the Newcastle City Hall for the Nolans, Bryan Ferry, Elkie Brooks or Phil Collins and where my only visit to punk was Nigel Kennedy.
So as my 68th birthday rapidly approaches I was a little anxious about being conspicuously the oldest foggey in town as I made my way to the Newcastle arena on a damp February night, but soon immediately heartened by the sight of a seven or eight year old travelling with her greying haired grandmother on the Metro train which I joined at Hewarth. And in the brief period in which there was time to mingle as I attempted to find the male loos and my seat, eureka there were several grey heads, but not a lot.
The Metro arena is tucked away behind Central Station, down at the riverside in a dispiritingly bleak part of town with access along a tunnel beneath the train track to Scotland. Since the last visits to experience Elton John and Toon away to the Mackems on the big screen, they have built the Life Centre with its trendy bars on one side and a giant hotel on the car park and market space on the other of the way down to the storage depot, beyond which there is a new multi storey, outside of which I counted three stretch limo's parked on the way back. However there is no escape from great climb up to the stadium entrance.
I reckon that I have only missed viewing 'live' a couple of the 80 or so X Factor TV shows over the past five years, and the starter programmes, full of carefully selected auditionees, lost their novelty after the first season. My reason for investing £28.85 in the electronically mailed A 4 size Ticketmaster with two bar-codes was Leona.
I had sat there memorised by this authentic young woman whose former boss had the good sense to immediately advertise her telephone receptionist job as soon as her heard her sing on the Telly. Simon, never known for overdoing his praise, struggled to find new ways of being ecstatic with her faultless, hair on the back rising, emotional, performances as she made her way to international stardom, with only the universally popular Ray likely to upstage, and which I have to admit, he did on the night. And now to the concert.
Well nearly, because for once I had allowed sufficient time beforehand for preparation, downloading the pen pictures of the other 11 finalists, to remember their names, and to assess anticipation. I had liked Robert but did not think Ashley was as good as Simon suggested. I thought Dionne was good and would have liked the older Unconventionals to have made it beyond the first week. And how would Keri cope with a tour and had Ben recovered his evident disappointment at coming third, and what was the name of that other group. And then of course there was the pride of Scotland, the MacDonald brothers who I agreed with Simon, as usually, were nice lads you could take home to mum, but not in the same league as Journey South.
My seat could not have better, well it could on reflection, but only just alittle: In the first block, at one side, on the back row and on the second aisle. If I wanted to stand and shout there was no one behind me. The same seat about half way down would have been perfect depending on those around. In this instance there was a large size male and energetic fortyish lady on my left and a young mother with six and seven year olds immediately in front. The stage, as it was revealed, comprised the full width of the arena at a height which meant that everyone who stood on the arena floor still looked up to the stage, although I was not sure what would be the position of those who remained sitting. The stage was tiered so I reckoned that sit midway down and you were at the same level as the upper stage.
The show opened with Eton Road, and two of the lads remained on stage as compares throughout the evening. They performed three numbers which included Mack the Knife and from Me to You and the first impact was the noise, superior to St James Park although a fifth of the number, the audience that is, so it meant the music volume was at the maximum so the artists could be heard above the cacophony of shrill, as it was evident there were more kids than teens, and most of the mums had come to do their thing. The males were only more in evidence in their support for Ben.
Eton road were the only group, the MacDonald brothers discounted, who appeared with not a word said about 4sure and the Unconventionals, or that Dionne and Keri were not there, which was surprising as Shaun did a number to rapturous standing applause, Shaun was the baby teenager who could not remember his words when he made it to Florida. There was also an appearance of 4 auditionees, the twins who can sing, and two others who could also give Chico, a run for his singing money but lacking a hundredth of his charisma.
The story of 17 year old Nikkita had moved everyone, having lost her mother a year or so before and she kept up the upbeat tempo with Dancing Queen and one other. Her appearance confirmed the pattern of performances. There were five large screens. The middle two stuck to portrait views of the young starlets while the three others flashed through their X factor experience, including comments from judges, family and visiting celebrity. High above the stage and protruding full width above the audience, a coloured large print ticker tape announced the Christian name of each artist and there was full production pyrotechnics with exploding bursts upwards of silver and gold and various other unexpected surprises of fire, falls and vapour which caused pandemonium among the young, and young at heart.
The third performance was from the exuberant Robert, who after his rocking Take a chance on me, demonstrated that he can also sing with Forever.
The surprise of the evening was Ashley whose Easy, after the Winner Takes All, suggested that it would be worthwhile listening to a full CD, if he ever gets the opportunity to make one. Simon you were right, as usual.
The first half of one hour and a quarter was brought to a rousing, everyone on their stamping feat crescendo of 500 miles in which they removed their shirts, but not their kilts and donned Newcastle shirts donated by the club. They opened, I think with Shang-a-lang and in between there was one other.
The excitement of the two children sitting in front was a joy to behold and the little girl was in ecstasy when Ashley appeared, and by the second half was dancing with that uninhibitedness which I used think was lost as soon as adulthood was achieved, although the behaviour of many around indicated that I was wrong! The evening had nearly been ruined for the young lad whose mum was approached just before interval by a senior steward who said he could no longer wave around a star wars type laser stick, purchased from the train tunnel sellers along with glitter cowgirl hats, much in abundance and colourful mini mouse head gear. The argument was that he was being dangerous (and admittedly he was close to hitting both his mum and sister) but the real reason was the promotion at the interval, as well as beforehand, of a half size version of official merchandising. The only other downbeat incident was an extra money Nokia promotion when three members of the audience for Durham Stockton and elsewhere volunteered (selected how?) to sing a snippet of Crazy for a prize as a result of a text vote, which was as flat as the proverbial pancake.
The interval was of half an hour which enabled visits to the loo, for drinks, doughnuts and chips which were also allowed into the auditorium.
The second half, also a further hour and a quarter was restricted to Ben, Ray and Leona.
The contrast between the three talents is striking and each merit a full length performance in their own right. Both Ben and Ray have singles and CDs launched at the same time in March and the Leona mini CD stayed at number 1 for four weeks which is remarkable given the scale of sales in the first week.
Ben Mills is multitalented, a traditional rocker but who can perform ballads and play the piano as well as the guitar. He performed four numbers of which with a Little Help from my friends brought the house down or raised the roof. One advantage of 24 hour e book is that I already have a third row balcony seat for the City Hall on a Friday in November. While Maggie May has been added to 'With a little help,' his Album, Pictures of you includes his original material and this includes a single to be issued on March 5th. A preview of two numbers is available on www.myspace.com/benmillsofficial.
There is no doubt that the star of the star of the show in terms of audience popularity is Ray and his Performances of You Never Walk Alone and My Way were Outstanding and the audience joined in to an extent that he appeared bowled over. It is evident that he cannot still believe what has happened to him, hence one felt when he mentioned that he would be appearing at the City Hall in October, his question will you come to see me, appeared a genuine question. The album contains his X factor hits and other familiar numbers. I forecast that Mr Quinn will be entertaining long after I am no longer able to write on.
And then came Leona
In the video screen build up the Garry Barlow comment that Leona was fifty times better than any other contestant is included, and this creates a potential problem for an artist appearing at the end of a long audience participation party. Will she measure up? I break off to the check the national lottery you are a winner e mail, but alas it is only 7.20, sufficient for a couple more weeks of entries.
There were moments during the ten weeks of successive performances that I watched in disbelief, how was it possible that despite winning talent contests and seeking to become a professional singer, success had eluded her. There was also the excited, witnessed in previous seasons where the more talented were not supported by the populist public. The only British Diva who has stood the test of time and whose voice can be compared with Leona is Dame Shirley Bassey, and I pick the order of words carefully. I was not to be disappointed.
Forget the spectacular presentation worthy of an international star, Leona has that extraordinary capacity to cut herself off from all that is around and perform with an consistent intensity and integrity which is spine tingling and awe inspiring. It a I was there and saw it first, among ten thousand others, that I will take along with seeing Marlene Dietrich at the end of her career, I still have a German version of Where have all the flowers gone. Alas my only regret is not experiencing Edith Piaf singing No Regrets.
The magical and unique aspect which one hopes she will be able to retain is that the ability to communicate directly with every member of the audience directly, despite being totally engrossed by her own singing, together with that is this really happening to me vulnerability. She is yet to learn to command a stage in quite the same way as Dietrich, Piaf and Bassey, but perhaps Leona's charisma will be that of quintessential English Rose, which you risk destroying with the slightest touch.
Those around her are showing wisdom in waiting for a single which will convert the world, although a I hope her first albums will include all the memorable performances from the series. When she sang I will always love you, the lad in front who spent most of the time being a lad, suddenly hugged his mother and said I love you to her, and after that there is nothing more to say, except lets hope I can get a ticket when she has her first tour.
