I've owned this site for quite a while. Despite being a totally devoted Vanessa fan, I'd never seen her perform live. This all changed on December the 27, when I went to see Vanessa perform for the very first time. It was at the Mercury lounge. I arrived bright and early about 6:00 and the doors wouldn't be opening until 9:00. I thought I would be the first one there. How wrong I was! To my surprise who did I find waiting also? Amber and Sarah! I wasn't sure it was them. It looked a lot like them, but it seemed a bit strange for them to come all the way from Queensland. In the end, curiosity got the better of me. I introduced myself, and sure enough, it was them! They told me they were waiting for a friend. Apparently they had been waiting there for about 8 hours. That's devotion for you! He came at about 8:00. We all got along really well so we all stayed together. I told them it was my first time I'd ever been to see Vanessa. They told me I was in for a surprise. They weren't kidding either!
The doors opened at 9:00 as promised. Being the first person in line with a ticket, I was the very first person to enter. Then we had to wait a whole hour for the special guests, Heavenscent to come on. They played a few songs and were quite good, to give them credit. But they seemed to rush through them. They got off at about 40 minutes later then we had to wait another hour to finally see what we had all paid for...
Vanessa came on and the crowd went absolutely wild! They screamed so loud that the noise was absolutely deafening! We were very lucky to have the closest possible view of her (the front right in front of her). She was wearing a white top and black pants. Her younger sister was the backup vocals. First she sang, 'Who's Lovin' You', then, 'Every Day's A Winding Road', followed by, 'Spin (Everybody'd Doing It)'.
The next songs were, 'You Are Mine', 'Pray For Love', 'I Wanna Be Your Everything', 'Sun's Up', 'How Y' Livin' ' and 'The Power'. I bought my camera and was lucky to get some good shots were I was. Nobody seemed to notice me taking the shots, even though I was using a flash. When she started to sing, 'U R Mine', she began inviting people onto the stage. Amber and Sarah were first. She called up a lot of people, but not me. I noticed a dollar on the ground, so I tossed it up on the stage. She continued on with the song. I knew this was an opportunity that comes by once in a lifetime, so I just climbed on stage uninvited and joined the rest, causing the audience a bit of laughter. I don't think Vanessa even noticed that I hadn't been asked. The security didn't seem to mind either. I gave my camera to Amber and Sarah's friend and he managed to get two shots of me on stage with Vanessa. Just the photos I have been hoping for! After the song was finished someone behind the back began to lead the people off stage. But me, being who I am, just jumped right off stage myself. Vanessa noticed the dollar and said, 'Who's is this?' I didn't own up, so she gave it to someone else. I thought that was pretty funny.
The songs continued on. Next she sang, 'The Power' (which went down very well with the audience!) After that she said, "This song is for anyone who's been in a relationship that's been f_ _ked up". The song was of course, 'Everytime I Close My Eyes'. Next came, 'The Blues'. Then she sang one of my favourite songs, 'Piece Of My Heart'. I love Janis Joplin and I must say that Vanessa captured not only her voice spot on, but also managed to put the same energy into her performance that Janis used to. Next was, 'Turn To Me', which was followed by a short interlude. It wasn't really an interlude. The band kept on playing while Vanessa got something to drink.
With the interlude finished, she came on and did a heartwarming performance of, 'Shine'. That was followed by, 'Free Your Mind'. For the next song she said only the girls should sing with her because if the guys sang it, it would make them look a bit stupid. The song was, 'Natural Woman'. I'd already made myself look stupid already, so I sang along with the girls. Next came, 'A Long Way To The Top'. Not only did we sing along to this, I absolutely screamed my head off! Some people looked at me as if I was a bit weird (I guess in a way, I was!), but I'm not really the kind of person who worries what other people think. I love that song! Her last song was, 'Have A Look'. She did it brilliantly. It's amazing that she can still sing her first song as brilliant as she ever did.
We were all screaming our heads off for an encore, but Vanessa isn't the sort of performer who just does an encore simply because it's the thing to do. She makes us earn the encore. We were screaming and clapping as hard as we could. My hands were getting so sore! Then fianlly she came back on stage to a huge ovation. First she did, 'Lift It Up'. Then she did, 'Absolutely Everybody' (which made the crowd go "Absolutely" nuts!)
Just before we left, I managed to steal a tracklist from off the stage. After we got out, I admitted to Amber and Sarah that that was the best concert I've ever been to (and one of the best nights of my life). And I meant it. I've been to see many celebrities perform (Suzi Quatro, John Farnham, to name a few) and Vanessa was, by far, the best. Even Amber and Sarah's friend, who wasn't really a fan, admitted that he was "impressed". A lot of performers today could learn a lot from Vanessa's performances. I now understand why Amber and Sarah came all the way from Queensland to see her. She was worth ever cent we paid and more. I now feel that I'm a true Vanessa fan. I've always loved Vanessa, but as a fan, I've never felt quite complete. There always seemed to be something lacking. Now I know what it was and it is no longer. If you haven't seen Vanessa perform yet, I strongly advise you too, because no matter how good she is on C.D's, she 100 times, no, 1000 times better live.
Amber and Sarah had no idea that Vanessa was performing at the Docklands for new year's eve until I told them. They've made up their mind to go and see her before they go back. I'll be going too, of course, so you can expect to see another Vanessa encounter here real soon!
(Go to Photo Galleries 61-63 to have a look at the pictures!).
