One quiet Sunday morning shortly after, I frantic email sat in my email box. Book your ticket- the reunion IS happening!. OMG. EBay pulled tickets to be auctioned as soon as they went up, but those on top of the game saved those names & emails & worked out deals. Simon was able to score me a ticket!! I immediately PayPal’d him the cash. Now to get the days of from work! The only thing harder than getting time off from work at short notice is getting time off from work on a Holiday weekend!

Booking my flight was ok. I was able to save $500 by making a lay over in Chicago. Boston to London via Chicago is not all that great. I mean, it was nice to save the cash, but I was getting incredibly stir crazy & antsy, and by the time we landed in London, I was tired and wound up. Also- if you can, travel Virgin Atlantic. Well worth the price!!

The plan was to meet up at the Columbia hotel the day before. My buds had the good idea of getting hotels within walking distance to the park. I searched & booked a hotel in walking distance to both Hyde park, the Columbia and the Tube stations. Bejera Park hotel was small but safe & cozy. It had internet in the lobby (which saved me from a journey to Piccadilly Circus daily) and a great view from my 4th floor room! Amazing dusk views of the old world chimmenys had me hoping that Dick Van Dyke would pop out & sing me a song.

I had a small cold coming on before I left Boston, and by the time I woke up the following morning it had gestated into a full bown miserable cold! I went to the local pharmacy, Boots & asked for help choosing a medicine. Head congested, pounding, fever, cough, sore throat, I took my fruit, water, & lozenges back to my room, defeated. I originally booked a tour on the London Eye, but I was just too sick. I slept until 4ish and it proved to be a wise move. I called Simon to give him my information- not having a cell phone is a very odd feeling. I left him a voice mail, and later he’d tell me that he thought it was a wrong number because he couldn’t recognize the voice!

Horrible pic of me.

Les Paul's Les Paul

John Lennon's Jacket

Instant Karma lyrics

Damn I was hungry. I didn’t fly XXXX miles to sleep! Time for supper! The Hard Rock Café! My waiter was a nice chap named Jayme and I should have taken a picture of him. But I didn’t. Going to the loudest resturant with you’ve lost your voice was not a great move, but we made it work. He felt bad for me and made me a really great hot chocolate drink. AND he gave me a pass to the Hard Rock Vault, which I DID take pictures of. A woman from Texas took this bad picture of me. The tour guide was really cool & let us hold some guitars. Many items from the vault and resturant were sent to a special exhibit at Live8.

Tourist!

Platform 9 & 3/4

On the way to Hogawarts...

London eye in the West End

At some point in this I went to Camden park & saw the shops there. Didn’t make it to Carnarby Street, and I didn’t get a chance to make it to a Palace guard, where I really wanted to have a photo op. I was able to stop at King Cross Train station though, home of Platform 9 & 3/4. As I was setting up my tripod, a security guard asked me what I was doing. Interesting. He told me to be quick and move along. Interesting indeed. During the time I took my pics, (which was only about 10 minutes) many many tourists did the same.

Everyone visits & gets sorted out

Group pic! God I'm fat.

Everybody smile and say "Roger"!

Huh? Wha?

So 4pm at the Columbia Hotel was the meeting place. We’d all meet & get everything in order with tickets and all that. I arrived & didn’t recognize anyone, although I knew I was in the right place. One guy I recognized right away- the first time I saw Jens he was at the David Gilmour Meltdown gig in 2001, and I thought he was a colossal dick for wearing a Waters shirt to a Gilmour gig. Jens is, in fact, quite a nice gentleman and I’d be proud to wear a Waters shirt with him. I was actually originally going to room with Jens, Emil and Lala at a Hostile nearby, but I was arriving days before them and grabbed my own room instead. Simon arrived & pink shirt guy did too. We drank & visited. Bob & dave were from Canada. They grabbed a cheap flight, but it was weeks early, so they killed time by visiting Prague. They saw Black Sabbath there too!

The papers did a pretty good job letting everyone know what to expect

Our Canadian friends climb for a better look at soundcheck

The whole gig was rather well organized

I wonder how long this took to put up.

The local papers had been printing guides to the Live8 event, making sure everyone knew what to expect. The field was to hold many video screens, and we all sort of mapped out our trek- we’d follow the left wall & make our way down to the front of the stage that way. We’d also found out that Soundchecks were going on all day & Floyd were scheduled to check at 6pm. Our friend Chris was inside the perimiter with a photographer friend and called us with info. We all migrated over to the show site, which actually turned out into quite a walk. I had no idea this giant park was in the middle of London! We made it to the gates & heard something… but it was Madonna! WTF? Our Canadian friends decided to climb a tree & see what was up. Yep. Madonna. We tried to peek in through the huge gates, Jens was lifted over to see- and an international news team interviewed him. After walking around for almost an hour (the fresh air was good for me) we decided to grab a bite to eat at the eerie café.

Phil Waters & Simon Wimpenny enjoy the day before as well.

One of the waiters at the Eerie Cafe

Cheers

Phil enjoys a beverage or two

The Eerie Café was pretty neat. A gothic Halloween type place & the waiters & waitresses were airbrushed to look like animals & demons & the like. We all had a nice time & sat & drank & ate & visited. At 8pm, we got a call that Floyd was sound checking for real this time. Some people went back over to the park, some stayed, and I went back to the hotel for sleep. A day of visiting was fun, but I wasn’t feeling well at all and I needed to rest before the LONG day ahead of us.

I've got a Golden Ticket

The long walk to the gates

The line grows at 9:45am

Has anyone seen Laura?

The plan was to meet at the Columbia at 9am & walk over. Gates to open at noon, show starts at 2pm. 9am and no one is at the hotel! I trekked it on my own. I never did see anyone all day! Why? Because it turns out there was an estimated 200,000 people there! It never did seem that big. I walked the long walk to get into the long line. I borrowed someone’s cell phone to call Simon’s cell in the hopes of meeting up inside. Turns out his battery went dead early & he left it at the hotel. I staked out my spot & waited. I think I’d make a good monk. Patience was a key all day. I stood for 16 hours. I left the hotel at 8:30am, and came back to the hotel at midnight. That said- the concert was amazing because of the crowd. No booze was served & everyone was polite & helped each other out all day.

While in the queue, a gentleman infront of me shouted “has anyone seen Laura?” many people chuckled, thinking it was a joke, as the chances of finding anyone were slim to none. Then many people called for Laura. Turns out, Laura got separated from her group, and was somewhere in the massive queues. Many people helped call for her, and remarkably she emerged & weaved her way back to her family to much applause and a very happy mother.
Bob addressed us from the loud speaker a few times & it was nice that the Big Cheese himself addressed us. “Please be patient, help out your neighbor, have fun” was the message heard often. Also, as it neared noon “do not push or run” was spoken.

No recording devices. But no one checked bags. I could have had something much more harmful than a recorder in my bag, but it wasn’t opened. Instead the security lady told me to leave my large bottle of water at the gate. Apparently, you could only bring like a 21oz. water in. After finally getting inside the gate, it was apparent how HUGE the field was. I immediately made a bee line to the general spot we all agreed to meet. I borrowed another cell phone to try Simon’s phone again. I realized that I should have grabbed everyone’s cell number too. I figured I’d shoot some pics. I stood in one spot & turned. These pics were early in the day- around noontime. The concert was not scheduled to start until 2pm. The closer to show time, the harder it’d be to find my friends. Never going to find them. Eh! Show goes on!

Started promptly at 2pm, U2 & Paul McCartney opened & everyone had fun thereafter. U2 had doves during Beautiful day. Coldplay was freaking great. I took a nap in some open grass during Elton John, the Stereophonic and Miss Dynamite. And I think Dido too. I ate my fruit & tried to just chill as much as possible. Man was I sick. Bill Gates addressed the crowd. Weird moment #1. I thought I’d walk around & make my way to the restrooms. The Port-o-loos. Yes, really. Well, after a 45 minute walk, I had to make a decision. It was going to take forever to get there. Did I really have to go? No. So I decided that I’d pee in my pants if I had to. I’m not proud of it, but hey. Gotta do what you’ve gotta do. No one would ever know, unless I wrote about it online. Oh wait.

It was a great people watching day. They odd ones seemed to travel in pairs. The fellows with the Skunk Mullets, the shaved heads.. there were two guys walking around in full Superman costumes, and also two guys walking around in animal skin togas, a la the Flintstones. Darth Vader was there too. IF anyone has a picture of the Eastern Eurpoean chaps with the “Pink Floyd is Back” shirts and their Rastafarian friend, send it along! I made it to the middle of the crowd, but wanted to make it back to my original spot. I liked Snow Patrol a lot. Travis was also pretty good. Velvet Revolver was Ok, but they sounded terrible. There is a theory that each band had their own people run the board, which would make sense since every artist had their own sound. Madonna was great. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but she really did a great job. I HATED the Siccisor Sisters. OMG I really hated them. People like UB40 really surprised me. The crowd ate them up & it was a good vibe to bop around with. Mariah Carey failed to impress the crowd, even though her set was OK & she sang her own songs. The crowd loved Snoop Dogg . The newspaper guides with the order of artists was very helpful & people shared their papers. I met two brothers from Ireland & shared my sandwiches with them. They decided to help me push my way back up to the front. So I was in the middle & they just pushed & threaded their way to a proper spot.

Snow Patrol

Velvet Revolver

Bob Geldof

Bob doesn't like Mondays.

One thing that was very noticable, was the way technology influenced the whole day. Everyone had their camera phones & were sending pictures and MP3s of songs immediately, in realy time. Nokia had a booth where you could have your picture taken & sent to the video boards. Or you could send your own picture to the boards. The concert was available free on AOL, and people were emailing their friends at home songs that had just ended in MP3 quailty. Nuts.

A kid emails a friend a pic

Mariah Carey failed to impress

The Who

OMG!! Floyd!

I don’t like Sting, so I tuned him out. Robbie Williams freaking ROCKED! I had never seen or heard of him before, but he was AMAZING. The crowd responded & sang along & it was fantastic. When I got home, I bought his greatest hits. The Who was ok, but it’s not really the Who when it’s really only Townshead & Daltry eh?
Pink Floyd came on without any introduction. Just the heartbeats that got louder. AMAZING. I am SO glad I made the trip. The place was electric. The sound was amazing.

I don’t know whether it was because I was tired, sick, or what, but the day really moved me. It was an incredibly moving event. I cried during U2’s “One”, when Geldof introduced the survivor, when Annie Lennox sang “Why”, during Robbie Williams and during Floyd.

Once Floyd was over, my reviere was broken and I suddenly felt my cold, my headache and my feet which stood me up for 16 hours. I left. Paul McCartney was scheduled to do the same set he did at the Superbowl, and plus the thought of a 18 minute “Hey Jude” just didn’t appeal to me AT ALL. So I started for the gate.

It was rather difficult to NOT step on people or trash in the dark. There were no “safety” lights in the crowd, nor clear aisles, just people. And where there wasn’t people you had to be careful not to twist your ankle on the trash. I finally made it out and then to the outside sidewalk. Many many people were in the process of leaving already. The concert ran long and the public trains were not going to run late; people were encouraged to catch their train and watch the end at home on TV. Once on the main road, walking was MUCH easier & some of the local businesses were projecting the concert feed onto screens taped to their windows, which was neat. I could hear the Hey Jude finale over 2 blocks away.

I got back to my hotel somewhere around midnight, and I was in serious pain. My knees and ankles were very swollen (I have Rhumetoid Arthritis) and I was simply exhausted from being at a 16 hr gig! A warm bath & ibuprofen was for me! Water & fruit too. I didn’t sleep well at all that night. As it was, I had to get up to catch a 7am flight.

Even though I was very sick, I wouldn’t have passed up the chance to be there for anything! If I had to watch it on TV, I would have been kicking myself and very jealous at everyone there.