Well, after running all around the house telling my uninterested and unimpressed family who thought IÕd lost my mind (I must admit I donÕt normally dance up and down the stairs on a Wednesday night), I rang the operator to get the number of the Albert Hall - rang them, and YES! George was gonna be there Monday and the tickets went on sale the next day at 9 am, Thursday April 2nd.
My uninterested brother then surprised and amazed me by offering to take a day off work and to leave at 7:30 a.m. to get tickets. I rang my friend Alex who was suitably shocked, stunned, and totally delirious, she hadnÕt seen the news. I donÕt think IÕll ever make a phone call that will make anyone as happy as that call made her. She phoned another friend of ours in Liverpool (Babs) who pointed out the date to us. April 1st - it wouldÕve been the perfect April Fools joke, but surely no one could be that cruel - could they?
At 10:25 am on Thursday I got a phone call at work - we had got the 4 tickets - weird looks from everyone in the office as I again started jumping up and down and grinning inanely. I told them the reason why but it didnÕt seem to help.
The next 3 1/2 days went very quickly, I was too excited to eat or sleep much - I even woke up at 5:30 am on Sunday morning - I donÕt normally surface until noon (well it is the day of rest). Then came the fateful day - Monday April 6th - I wish IÕd had longer to look forward to it because I knew that by this time the next day itÕd all be over with, but what a day it was gonna be!
First, I had work until 1 pm - may I just say I never knew a Monday morning could feel so good (Thanks George!) From work it was onto Piccadilly Circus to meet my brother and then later Babs and Alex. We were all excited and there was like an electricity in the air we knew before the night was through weÕd see him. My brother who was not really a fan had been on a staple diet for the last 4 days of The Beatles and GeorgeÕs music and after the show I think heÕs a convert.
We filled the few hours before setting off the Albert Hall with visits to MPL and Handmade films - both to no avail, but we didnÕt dare - HE was a matter of hours away. The Daily Star had said Paul, Ringo, and Julian would be joining him on stage, which wouldÕve been great, but as long as George was there weÕd be overjoyed. At 5:55 pm we left for the Albert Hall.
I hadnÕt been to the Royal Albert Hall before and when we were finally allowed into our seats I was amazed how small and intimate it was (it looks huge when itÕs on TV). And then when I found where our seats were I was knocked out; we were in a great seat and soon George would be on that stage just a few metres from us! I think George chose the music that was played before the show - who else would choose Traveling Wilburys and Loonie Don?
From this point on I was in a state - so if I get anything/everything wrong itÕs not me it is my mind that is confusing this.
At just after 8 pm, a spokesman from the Natural Law Party came on but it was ok as he was only on for a moment telling us that GeorgeÕs music was a crowning glory or something (We already knew that we were there after all for George and his music).
Then George was on stage! and wearing the brightest pink shirt youÕve ever seen, he got a standing ovation of course, but I donÕt think anyone really could take it in that George was on stage. However, heÕd just come on to thank us for coming and introduce Joe Walsh and then he was gone again. IÕm not really familiar with Joe Walsh or Gary Moore who followed him so itÕd be wrong of me to review them other than to say they went down very well with the audience and RingoÕs son Zak was one of the two drummers in Joe WalshÕs set.
Gary Moore finished just before 9 pm. Then there was a break which was interrupted at about 9:20 pm by the first opening bars of I Want to Tell You. George was back on stage - this time with a white shirt. He looked a little nervous - not surprising really - but sounded in good voice, which improved with each song as he gained confidence, until he was sounding even better than he does on record. His voice seemed especially strong on Piggies that featured two new verses.
This are the songs he did: 1) I Want to Tell You 2) Old Brown Shoe 3) Taxman 4) Give Me Love 5) Something 6) What is Life? 7) Piggies 8) Got my Mind Set On You 9) Cloud Nine 10) Here Comes the Sun 11) My Sweet Lord 12) All Those Years Ago 13) Cheer Down 14) IsnÕt It a Pity 15) DevilÕs Radio.
Taxman had itsÕ lyric changed from Mr. Wilson and Mr. Heath to Mr. Major and Mr. Bush. My fave song of the night was What is Life ? , which surprised me because itÕs not my favourite of GeorgeÕs songs, but there was something about the way he sang - it was so powerful that it really blew me away. Got My Mind Set on You had everyone on their feet including Julian Lennon who was sitting not far from us in the stalls along with all the normal people. Before George sang All Those Years Ago he said Òthis is an old song especially requested by in the audienceÓ. He was looking in JulianÕs direction. All Those Years Ago is a beautiful and moving song and IÕm sure it brought a tear to a few eyes (mine included).
After George had finished DevilÕs Radio he thanked us all for coming (he seemed genuinely pleased). He said he gets paranoid that Òwe might not like him, well you never know.Ó Then he said goodnight. But we knew he couldnÕt finish without ÒWhile My Guitar Gently WeepsÓ.
What we didnÕt know was that he would come back with a friend, and I donÕt mean Gary Moore, I mean Òa blast from all of our pasts . . . Ringo StarrÓ - cue the biggest cheer of the night and grown men bursting into tears (the man in front of us was obviously a Ringo fan). Ringo was taking too long thanking everyone so George told him to shut up and get on the drums.
Then a surprise - Roll Over Beethoven with George and Ringo on stage. It was like 1964 all over again. Then at what I thought was the end of the song, Ray Cooper did a frantic instrumental workout on drums.
Then George came back for two more verses and he was joined by his son Dhani on guitar - a truly wonderful and memorable moment. George didnÕt say anything but he looked extremely happy.
A Natural Law Party representative put a garland around GeorgeÕs neck and gave Olivia (who had come on stage in a white dress looking gorgeous) a bouquet of flowers. Then came the most hilarious moment of the night - George took the bouquet and threw individual flowers into the audience Dame Edna Everage style (I guess you had to be there). And so ended one of the greatest and most memorable nights ever.
Now we know how many Beatles it takes to fill the Albert Hall - one, with a little help from his friend.
Tony Wood
I remember quite clearly the Wednesday night at the beginning of April when Richard rang me to say Ò YouÕll never guess who is playing at the Albert Hall on Monday !Ó He was right, I couldnÕt. Because there were rumours about Paul doing a concert to celebrate his half - century I assumed it would be him, and somehow I couldnÕt grasp what Richard was saying: George was doing a benefit for the Natural Law Party (who ?) and tickets were going on sale the next day. After I put the phone down my head was reeling: George-I-donÕt-do-live-appearances except-in-Japan-Harrison was giving a concert in London this very Monday! I hastily dialled the Royal Albert Hall, and decided to gamble on making a credit card booking the next day, so 8.55 am Thursday saw me clutching the plastic in one hand and the receiver in the other - listening to the engaged signal for 25 minutes and slowly going out of my mind. Why on earth was I sitting in my lounge when I could be queuing up in Kensington Gore? All the tickets would surely be sold before I got through and IÕd probably spend the rest of my life kicking myself (to death). But then the miracle happened just after 9.20 - I got connected! The lovely, sweet, kind booking clerk took my order and said my tickets would be posted that day. Just like that! Oh, the relief! I did a dance round the living room singing ÒIÕm going to see George Harrison, IÕm going to see George Harrison!Ó - heaven knows what the neighbours thought, though they probably gave up wondering about me long ago!
I managed to calm down enough to get to work, but the excitement wasnÕt over - apparently Ringo was due to hold a press conference on Monday to announce dates for his forthcoming tour! I decided I could get to both his liverpool and London dates, so I rang the Liverpool Empire first.
ÒHello, could you tell me if you have the tickets for RingoÕs concert yet?Ó I was quite deflated when a voice replied ÒRingo who?Ó in broad Scouse, but at least I found out when to ring back before slamming the phone down in disgust. Hammersmith Odeon werenÕt much better so I whiled away the boring hours till Monday by ringing round my Beatle friends: ÒHas everyone got tickets?Ó ÒWhoÕs appearing with him?Ó ÒNatural Who Party?Ó ÒWhat row are you in?Ó etc. which took up the rest of Thursday. On Friday I was due to go away for the weekend and I was delighted when the gold dust (sorry, tickets) arrived in the second post - now I could clutch them tightly for the next three days!
On the return journey from the Midlands on Sunday I thought a detour via Henley seemed appropriate, especially as IÕve never had my camera with me before. I stood at the gates of Friar Park, straining my ears for the sounds of guitars being tuned (why did you go somewhere else to rehearse that day, George?), but never mind, only 24 hours to go now. It was worse than waiting for Christmas morning when youÕre five years old but incredibly at last I was outside the Royal Albert Hall.
There was such a buzz of excitement and anticipation, people were meeting up, more rumours were flying - ÒHeÕs going to do more dates later this yearÓ, ÒRingoÕs coming to the concert but definitely wonÕt be on stageÓ, ÒEric ClaptonÕs not hereÓ, ÒGeorge has a live album and a studio album due out soonÓ, ÒWhat is yogic flying anyway?Ó until we could contain ourselves no more and found our way to the seats.
Well, you could have knocked me down with a Club Sandwich when I saw how near the front I was - surely IÕd be able to touch the Great Man when he appeared? I might even have managed it had I not been so busy giving George a standing ovation and dancing. I also did a fair bit of singing (probably to the disgust of the people around me) and I was a real smartarse when he did the superb new intro to ÔSomethingÕ. While 95% of the audience were scratching their heads, us clever-clogs who have got the bootleg tapes of the Japanese concerts (oops, please donÕt sue me!) were going ÒWe knowÓ! Also, no security guard was going to stop me whipping my camera out during ÔTaxmanÕ - which in my humble opinion knocks spots off the version on ÔRevolverÕ (wash my mouth out with soap and water).
The camera came in handy again when Mr. H dropped that little bombshell near the end about some blast from the past, so IÕve got some smashing pics of backs of heads craning to see George and Ringo on stage together! It was all beyond superlatives actually, although a girl near me kept saying Òthis is awesomeÓ which I thought came fairly close to the truth. George, how could you think we might not like you when really we love you to bits? Please, please more concerts, as soon and as often as you like. Amidst all this joy, though, there was one heart-wrenching-moment - I canÕt be the only one who suddenly had something in my eye during ÔAll Those Years AgoÕ.
Well as someone once said, all things must pass, and so eventually I had to come off cloud nine (I knew IÕd sneak that in somewhere!) and get back to normal life - but of course most of Tuesday was spent ringing round and discussing the concert at great length. During the course of the day we found out that RingoÕs tickets were going on sale the next morning at Hammersmith and I wasnÕt taking any chances this time. I took the morning off and got to the Odeon just after the doors opened. More phone calls that day - this time to put Ringo fan Esther out of her misery because IÕd got her very precious ticket!
I really thought that was all the excitement I could handle for one week, but it wasnÕt to be. That night the Evening Standard revealed that Julian Lennon was making a personal appearance at Tower Records the following afternoon. It might get close enough to him to take some photos; what I didnÕt realise was that Julian would entertain us by singing for about 25 minutes before happily agreeing to sign everything for everyone who was prepared to wait. I also didnÕt know that my blank-blank camera would die on me two minutes before Julian appeared, I nearly threw the damn thing through a display of 7Ó singles but fortunately I was rescued by two charming Beatles fans (hi Steve and Pete) who took photos of me with Jules when the big moment arrived. Being a bit of a John fan (slight understatement) I found it fairly goose-pimply to be so near to his first-born - who often looks and sounds so much like his old man that itÕs positively eerie. Being the 9th of April I asked John Charles Julian if heÕd had a nice birthday the day before. (Yes it was a bit corny). He was very sweet and patient with everyone, and after listening to his latest album I also decided that heÕs seriously under-rated.
And that really was the end of the most exciting week since the creation of the universe. Luckily though there were little bonuses after that like the arrival of the Liverpool Empire tickets and getting the photos developed. And the good news is I have another great week to look forward to in July: Ringo in Liverpool on Monday, Ringo in London on Tuesday (plus a quick chorus of Happy Birthday) and the fabulous LBFC video show/quiz/disco on the Saturday! Keep wishing in unison!
_ Debbie Wakeford
My seat was fantastic for other reasons - not only being quite near the stage, but because I was sitting just a few seats away from Julian Lennon !! Justin Clayton - fellow band member and friend was with him. I saw Julian come in and sit down about 5 minutes before the show started. Luckily not many people noticed him, and so I kept looking his way all through the first half, vowing to run after him is he so much as made a move toward the exit!
When the lights came up in the interval and Julian started walking my way towards the exit I made my move and asked him for his autograph. He said ÒsureÓ and asked me to follow him up the steps into the corridor where he signed a Beatles form I had with me, and signed another one for my Italian penfriend. I said ÒthanksÓ and he started to leave until I held out my hand and said ÒThese are for you (and Justin)Ó - he stopped and held out his hand and I gave him two crystals (Rose Quartz and Citrine). He gave me a grin and said ÔCheersÓ - all I could do was smile madly and say the same back giving him the thumbs. Then he dashed off after Justin while I just stood there (well, ÔfloatedÕ is a better description).
After that me and my mum went and bought a ÔVote Natural Law PartyÓ T-shirt and then we were interviewed by a reporter who wanted to know what we thought of the NLP and were we enjoying ourselves?!!!
As we went back for the second half I noticed Julian had bought a T-shirt too.
Vicki Hipwell
...When Ringo came on at the end I was over the moon. I couldnÕt believe it - two Beatles on stage. Was I dreaming? - no, I didnÕt think so. I had waited many years for this wonderful moment and nothing would keep me from my joy at seeing George and Ringo that night. The concert was wonderful but words cannot say how I felt that night. Thank you George for a wonderful event and thank you Ringo also for a great and wonderful moment that will live with me for the rest of my life.
Belle Atkins