This unofficial site features his current and recent events and tours
Review of Spandau Ballet Radio 2 recording-
17th November 2009
When I applied for tickets on the BBC website, I was sure that there would be more applications than spaces available. I did a search of the BBC website and found that the Radio Theatre only held 310 people, this was going to be a small intimate gig. Wendy and I decided to both apply so this would give us two chances of getting tickets and Wendy phoned up and registered and I did mine online and if it turned out that we won four tickets then we would have offered them to friends. The applications were only open for a couple of days and then I was left waiting to find out if I was one of the lucky ones. I really didn't think I would be lucky, so even when the day came that the tickets were allocated I wasn't scanning my inbox for the email. In signing up for the tickets I'd opted to be let know any other events I could book for and I'd had a couple of other emails from the BBC. As usual when I got home from work I checked my emails and ploughed through the junk of companies trying to sell me something etc. It wasn't until I got to about the 9th email that I realised the email had arrived offering me the tickets. I was over the moon, it was just a case of getting the day off work and getting to Wendy's house. The tickets said that admission was not guaranteed as they sent out more tickets than there were spaces. After consulting with my daughter who has been to recordings before with the overbooking policy, she recommended getting there early and getting to the front of the queue.
Just in case there were traffic delays getting into London, we decided to make an early start and got to the car park around 3.30pm and went to the BBC to enquire about what the arrangements for queuing were, we then Oxford Street to have a look around a few shops and have something to eat before joining the queue. By the time we got to the BBC there were 14 people in the queue in front of us, but least we knew that we would be guaranteed entrance and had a good chance of getting good seats. We had quite a long wait in the queue but passed the time talking to the other people also in the queue. I was glad it wasn't raining even if it was a bit chilly and I was glad that I had brought my gloves.
Eventually we were let into the BBC and through the security check. We were shown to a holding room with a bar selling drinks and snacks. I noticed that a man who was further up the queue was waiting near the doorway waiting for the message that we could go into the theatre, it seemed a good idea to try and join him. A lot of the people there seemed to have done a lot of these sort of shows before so knew that even though you had arrived early, it didn't guarantee a good seat. When we got the signal, Wendy got through the door before me and made her way down to the theatre and managed to get the last two seats on the end of the front row.
It was time for the show to start and an excited Kate Thornton introduced the show and the band came on stage. The show was a cut down version of the tour set list and all the songs were sung in the same way as they were on the tour. The stage was only about 18 inches high (45 cm) and the front row was under a metre away from the edge of the stage, so we were pretty close, but being at the end of the of the row we were in front of Steve Norman and Gary Kemp, but Tony wasn't that far away and saw us straight away and was happy to see someone he knew.
As far as I could tell there were no other Tony fans that I knew there, his Mum and Alison were there along with Steve Norman's mum and Shelley.
It was an excellent evening and I can't wait to hear it on the radio, although I am a bit concerned that there were two microphones pointing out into the audience just above me and to my right, so it will be my cheers and clapping you will hear!
Some people may think that I must have pulled some strings to get these tickets, that I must have some sort of inside help just because I do this site and the friends I have, but I can categorically swear that I submitted my details through the BBC website and was chosen by them, it was such a surprise to get tickets and I felt so lucky. Once I got there and didn't see anyone I knew, I felt like I was representing us all, especially those who had applied for tickets and not got them.
The time went quickly and although the radio show is only an hour long, they recorded about 1 hour and 15 minutes so I'm not sure how this is going to translate into the broadcast. It was too early when we were the last of the audience to leave the theatre, so we decided to wait around and say hi and thanks for a great gig to the band. We also spoke to Shane Richie who had been at the gig. We saw Kacey Aisnworth (who was Little Mo in Eastenders) leaving the show. It was rather late when we got back to Wendy's house and then I had an early start the next morning for a meeting in Bristol, so my appolgies to everyone at that meeting if I was a bit tired.
Denise