"Heaven 17 rocks my world!" - A concert review
Wow! I must admit, before the Cowboy tour I had never heard of Heaven 17, but now I am so very glad I had the chance to experience them live!
They put on one of the most powerful shows I've ever heard. They haveso much fun up on stage. Glenn is always smiling, from the moment he walks on stage to the very end of their set. Billie has a tremendously powerful voice and makes "Temptation" come right out and grab hold of you! Angie is simply fantastic. She has the moves! She has the voice! and a smile that lights up the entire arena. Martyn does an excellent job with the backing vocals, especially on "We Blame Love." Ian is just so reminiscent of Vince Clarke, with better hair. :)
Attempting to keep this in fairly chronologic order, I'll start with the first show. This is the story that just rocks my world. At the Sheffield show, we (me and a small group of people I had met in my travels (the Diehards, as Angie labelled us :) - see previous reference) were standing around by the backstage area (outside) when Heaven 17's van pulled in. Instead of going up to the stage doors, it pulled around and parked about 200 yards from the doors. Then, much to my amazement and sheer joy, out comes Glenn and the gang - walking right towards us!! Without hesitation, we all met them halfway, to be polite. :)
Anyway, It was great!! I got pictures, and they all signed a postcard I had of the band (the only thing I had at the time, unfortunately.) They areall very, very nice. I was highly impressed, and my respect and admiration skyrocketed on the spot. The absolute greatest thing happened the next day at Wembley. Again, we met the band before the show and got more autographs and pictures (thanks guys!) and they had the best show of the entire tour. Very powerful, very in synch, very awesome. They got the crowd very pumped up. After the show, we saw Angie sitting stage left in the lower bowl and we congratulated her on a fine show, thanked her, and bid her good night. A bit later, as we all wandererd around Wembley, Angie came up to us and had us follow her 'round back. She invited us to the backstage party!! She was looking for the tour manager to get us some official back stage passes (they wouldn't let us in without them) and Janet (from the EIS) kindly gave us all passes (thanks Janet!). We had a fabulous time! (Well, I did at least - and I think I speak for everyone who was there :) I met Glenn's mum (a very nice lady, obviuosly :), Billie's sister, and lots of other people.
It was at this party that we found out Heaven 17 were playing at a club the next night. Way cool! This is the kicker - Angie took all of our names and invited as as her guests to the club show!!! Damn, but that was one of the greatest things anyone's ever done for me! I was just so very honored at having the privalege of being personally invited to a show! The show was at the Astoria, and I'm still a bit confused about the whole setup. There was something (was it the show? the night? the club? someone help me out here if you know what the hell I'm talking about) called G.a.y. (and no, I didn't miss one of the intended meanings, I'm not that out of it :) Anyway, that's pretty irrelevant - to me.
Anyway, we (the Diehards) went to the club and endured a few hours of theloudest music I have ever heard in my life! It was well worth it though. About 2:00 am Heaven 17 came on and played a short set:
It was a very fun show. They looked like they were all having a blast on stage! The audience was certainly enjoying it, everyone was dancing in what little space was available.
Shortly after the show, Angie made her way down a very convoluted set of stairs and hallways into the audience and found me (it's times like that I am really glad that I am so tall :) She invited us backstage again so we made our way up through the same set of convoluted stairs and hallways to a small room upstairs. Again, a fabulous time was had by all. Their tour manager handed us some posters of the guys, which they (and Angie & Billie!) were kind enough to sign for us. Everyone wrote some very nice messages on mine, like Glenn's "Thanks for all your unveering support!"
Overall it was an extremely fabulous night! By the time we left the club, it was about 4:00 am and we were all pumped! It was an experience I shallnever forget - thank you so much Angie, Glenn, Billie, Ian and Martyn!!!
Newsflash! Heaven 17 is playing in Toronto on May 24!! and... (this is theultimate kicker, Claire, Nick, Nicki, & Neil are flying over for the show!! AAAAAHHHHH!!!! Now this is going to be a party! More later...
Well, as it turns out, Heaven 17 wasn't able to make it to Toronto in May. However, Neil, Claire, and Nicki did make the trip, so that was quite a bonus.
[For you Canadian surfers out there, you need to do some lobbying to get the speed limit raised on those desolate stretches of highway through the Candian countryside.] The trip from Ann Arbor to Toronto took about 4.5 hours - without stopping. I've never driven so far in one sitting before and I don't think I ever want to do it again.
Toronto, for those who've never been there, is a rather nice place. Still not as nice as San Diego, but close. Fairly easy to navigate by car and foot with tons of activities, shops, and what-not to do and see in this pleasantly clean city. The CN tower itself is a must-see, especially from the top! Do spend the extra $3 to go to the uppermost level, it's well worth it. However, try to go on a clear day. :)
Details of the Erasure concert can be found on my Erasure Concert page. This page is still dedicated to the wonderful trio (with backup singers, too!) of Heaven 17 - and related articles.