The Spoonykipper Story

Apart from seeing Eminem I'd never been to a concert/gig that really interested me. I couldn't really enjoy Eminem that much anyways as that was back when my back was messed up and I was in pain/couldn't stand the well. So when I got an email from 02 about priority tickets for Aerosmith I jumped at the chance to go see them! As soon as they went on sale I got myself two tickets for standing and was all happy. Then came the "who am I taking with me" question....At first I thought maybe my uncle as he likes Aerosmith and so I mentioned it to him, but while chatting to the girl at work I like about music, I asked if she liked Aerosmith and then asked if she'd like to go. She wasn't sure and so I left it as that and then it hit me...Why not ask Karl, he liked them as well as me and I've not done anything with him for awhile. So I called him up and asked him about it and he said he'd go and even pay for his ticket which was a plus.

Gig day! I met Karl downtown around 12 and we walked to the train station while chatting about random stuff. We stopped in at pub on the way for a drink and then carried on to the station. We reaaaalllllly shouldn't have left as early as we did because by the time we got to the 02 Arena (I remebered how to get there from my tubing around London the month before! Go me!) we had like two hours+ to kill. So we walked about the Arena looking at stuff, I brought an Aerosmith shirt and put it on to fit in with all the other people wearing Aerosmith things. We spent most of the time before hand sat on the floor in the queue to the gate.

When we finally got in we made our way to the stage or as close as we could get to it and then stood waiting again while roadies set up and tested thing. Looking around the Arena it didn't seem as big as it did when I came before to see someone else here. Then again last time I was there I was sat in the upper tier seats at the very front. After some time the lights went down and the first support band came on! The band was ok, sounded like they were just starting out and kept promoting themselves between songs. After them we stood and waitted again while the roadies did they thing and again the light went down and the second support band came on. This band was better then the first and the main vocalist/guitarist jumped off the front of the drums every now and then (I did take video and photos of some gig but it's all uploaded on to facebook but I'll stick a link to some on here at some point). After this there was more roadie action and the drum kit that was there for the support bands was taken away and replaced with an Aerosmith drum kit and people went crazy and took photos of it. The lights went down and a big screen thing came down witht he Aerosmith logo on and people went nuts, screaming etc. The sheet stayed up for about 2-3mins with drum and guitar testing going on while it was up and then! Spotlights flashed up on the Aerosmith sign as the guitar startered playing, the sheet was dropped and was a flash of light Aerosmith were there and playing "Love in an Elevator". Considering how old the band is now (you can really see it in some of the photos I took) they still rocked it. I also kind of lost Karl as with some people pushing through the crowd he ended up behind me and then later he went to the bar at the back anyways and stayed there. I on the other hand was happy where I was with some random German girl grinding herself on me. It was a good night but the only let down really was the crowd....They all just stood there and hardly moved or joined or anything! Which to me seems a waste of time, I mean why pay out money to see a band you like to stand there and just do nothing? You can do that at home.

After the gig ended it was the fight to the tube station! Hundreds of people all coming out of the 02 Arena and going to the station but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The tube we got on didn't have that many people so I could finaly sit down and off we went back to Euston and then home.

The next day or so Karl phoned me up, going to Aerosmith had put the "gig bug" into him and he wanted to see more bands and said he'd try and get some tickets to see Linkin Park. He wasn't able to get tickets for Linkin Park but he got tickets for Them Crooked Vultures (band started by Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters) on July 5th at the Brixton Academy.