Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Coldplay! (part 1)

So Monday was Coldplay Day. Took a much needed day off work so that I could meet my sister at 4.30pm at Victoria. She was late, despite wanting to get there earlier, so I bought both our train tickets to Crystal Palace and went and sat in a little grassy square (well, more of a triangle really) on Buckingham Palace Road. Didn't really mind, it was a nice day and there were some cute girls reading on the grass. Eventually she arrived in London and we found a train to Crystal Palace. A lady sat next to my sister and gathered that we were going to the concert so asked us about when it will start / end etc as she lives close to the grounds and can hear everything. She told my sister various things (mostly un-interesting) about Crystal Palace, but I was too excited to pay attention really.

The reason for my sister wanting to get there earlier than she actually managed to was that her boyfriend had decided he'd quite like to come after all. He saw their set at Glastonbury on TV and wanted to come. My sister had heard that they were selling some tickets at the gate so we were trying to get there soon enough to get one. If we got one then we'd ring him and he'd get the Oxford "Tube" down to London.

At the station touts were sifting through the crowds getting off the train in the shifty way that they do. I asked the 2nd one we passed how much to buy one. It was £40 so K rang her boyfriend to check if that was OK. The problem was, well there were 2 really. Firstly the fact that we paid less than £40 for our tickets, and 2nd that we didn't know what time Coldplay were actually playing so didn't know if he'd be able to get there in time. We rejected the touts "generous" offer on these grounds, although he'd probably have been willing to go lower on the price. Just after, an American girl (from New York) stopped us and asked if we'd been trying to buy or sell tickets. Apparently her boyfriend had been called into work at the last minute and couldn't come so she had a ticket to sell. We said we'd pay face value for it (about £33) but still needed to find out if M could get down in time to see the gig. She was fine with that, the tout had only offered her a tenner for the ticket that he'd have sold us for £40! Eventually she even said she'd sell it us for £20. We kept her with us while we walked out the station and then I guarded here (and the ticket) while my sister went to find out what time Coldplay were on. They started at 8.30, it was now just gone 5 so there should be plenty of time. My sister did the deal and the New Yorker and us went our separate ways.

Got into the stadium and went straight for the t-shirt stall. Took ages and ages to get served as there were two really laid back guys behind the counter who didn't care about the queues or the order in which they served people. Eventually got my tour T-shirt so we could go and watch the first support band, Morning Runner. A bit rocky for my sister really, and the lead singer was really fat so didn't really look the part of a rock-star! Still decent though.

We got a drink from the bar, and coming back guess who we saw? It was the New York Girl, but she didn't stop to chat, just waved and walked on by.

Next on the bill was Super Grass. We got a good pitch in front of the sound/light desk. In front of us a family came, the father looked like Sean Connery but that wasn't the weird thing. Their teenage daughter was with them, she had braces in so was probably about 16, but who goes to gigs with their parents??

To Be Continued....

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