Madison Square Gardens 4/13/2005

Wow, I don't know where to begin with this review. The show was excellent! The boys were in fine form tonight. Simon was wearing a black jacket with a white shirt (with the famous black skinny tie), and very tight black pants (hee hee! Ahem, okay, I'm back....LOL!). Later, he took the jacket and tie off (should have been more, but anyway....LOL!). John had a grayish jacket, pink shirt, and black leather pants (woo hoo!). Later, he took off the jacket and it looked like his shirt was pink with skull designs on it (I was in the first balcony section looking through binaculars so I could be wrong!). After that, and I can't remember where in the show this happened, he came out with a white shirt, black vest (which he does take off. Again, should have taken more off....LOL!). Nick was wearing all black with a white tie and black glitter pants, and Andy and Roger had on all black as usual. Okay, now that's out of the way, on with the show! LOL! People like when I post what they wore, so I aim to please! :)

I was very excited to be at Madison Square Gardens. I never seen a concert here before (I saw sesame street live back in the early 80s at MSG if that counts for anything though! LOL!). The whole arena was packed with people. Every seat was full from where I was sitting (except there was one empty seat next to me. Fine by me, more room for me to dance. Woo hoo!). Apparently, I wasn't the only one excited. The boys were thrilled too as Simon said, "we knew we would get here!" Yes, definitely, long time coming.

There were several highlights throughout the whole show. Too many to mention here. I was mainly watching John and Simon. A lot of JoSi action that I loved. Of course, though, when Simon came out in a black suit with the famous hat during "The Chauffeur", at that particular moment my eyes were on him.

It was great hearing "Tiger Tiger" and Hold Back the Rain" live. I never heard those songs live before. I think "Tiger Tiger" was their first time playing it live (well I know they played that song on the UK tour last year). Anyway, after "The chauffeur", Simon was wearing a black shirt sleeve shirt.

"Bedroom Toys", the whole performance was hilarious. Simon said, "We all know what kind of toys the boys like, but do we know what kind of toys the girls like?" At that point, he had someone in the audience introduce the song and he was like "I think she said Bedroom Toys!" The chicken and blow up doll thrown onstage was a riot too. I was singing laughing throughout the whole performance. Although the song is kind of silly, IMO, the performance was funny as hell.

"Save A Prayer" was another highlight when Simon told everyone who had lights or cell phones to turn them on because he thought it was very beautiful seeing the different lights. He was right! One of the benefits of being in the balcony is that you can see everything and I did. I saw all of those lights. It was very cool. That's one of my favorite songs and it is just not a DD concert without "Save A Prayer". Again, another moment when my eyes were only on Simon. I liked how John and Simon got the audience to sing the chorus. The whole room was singing. It was great.

"Ordinary World" was another highlight - As I said with "Save A Prayer", it would not be a DD concert without this song. It was done perfectly!

"Astronaut" - excellent song. Again, John tried to get the audience going by telling them to clap. It was great. We were definitely rocking! I have one question, does anyone know what happened to Simon's guitar for this song?

"White Lines" was a definite plus for me. I made sure they played the song by "threatening" them if they didn't play it; but that is another story for another time....LOL! At this point, Simon changed his shirt again and had a red shirt that was pretty cool.

"Girls on Film", the introductions were the obvious highlight. When Simon introduced Nick "from the planet freak out", Nick made some funny faces on the screen. Naturally, we got "play the fuckin' bass John" for John (hee hee), and everyone went crazy when he was introduced (hello, John Taylor, enough said)! Simon, then, went into the audience to find a lucky lady to introduce him. He found one, but she either didn't know his name or was very nervous (I would think she was nervous and got taken by surprise), so he said "all right, I will go to someone else. You do it!" He says to another girl and she was excited that she got the opportunity. It looked like she grabbed the mike out of his hands.

The music was great. There were no pitch problems (and I would know since I have perfect pitch). I liked the new harmony that was added to "The Reflex" (this is where I get slightly technical). During the chorus part of the song ("why-y-y-y don't you use it" part), Simon sung a B and C to add to the rest of the singing voices that made it sound really neat! It was quite an interesting chord.

"Nice" - I think parrallel 5ths are funny. There were definitely parrallel 5ths in the voices towards the end (vocally speaking that is - although the band uses a lot of that in their instrumental parts to most of their songs). Great song! "I Don't Wany Your Love" - There should have been more than just the chorus. That song rocked!

I liked the part where the guys were all playing guitars on the screen during "Wild Boys" and there was another part, I can't remember what song it was, where they were showing a past concert on the screen. It looked like it was from 1999 and it was in slow motion. That was interesting too. During "Careless Memories", the parts where it got violent on the cartoon I knew to look away. I love "What Happens Tomorrow" by the way and that has been my new favorite song/video for awhile. As I said, there were more highlights. Those mentioned were just a few.

However, what was up with Anna dancing around and looking silly half the time? LOL! Okay, she is a great singer, but there were times when she looked kind of ridiculous just dancing around not doing anything. However, I do like her. As a singer myself, I can tell you that she definitely has a voice. I have to agree with Simon when he said "boy can she sing!"

I could go on and on, but we will be here forever! I had a great time at the concert. I wish there were more songs done from "Astronaut". We only got four, but hey I am not complaining! I was glad to be there and even though I only had three hours of sleep that night, it was worth it! I am ready for them to return in the summer. :)

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