Despite the thunderstorms back home, our weather in London was gloriously hot with baking sunshine. After breakfasting again at O'Neill's on Euston Road, we headed on the Northern Line to Green Park intending to grab a mid-morning drink and ice cream at Venchi on Piccadilly. An extended family arrived just before we did, taking their time to decide what they wanted, so we aborted that decision and instead crossed the road to Caffè Concerto where we sat inside and had a strawberry tart, a couple of scones, a cappuccino and a freshly squeezed orange juice. It wasn't cheap but, with the heat building outside, the air conditioning made it worth it.
Afterwards, on the way to Hyde Park, we picked up a couple of bottles of still water from M&S, enduring the need to use their self-checkout. We kept the bottles sealed so we could take them into the venue with us.
I made the mistake of thinking our access gate would be beside the one we'd used for Pink. I'd purchased Gold Hydeaway tickets this time, not Diamond VIP (can't remember why because they were the same price) and it turned out the entrance for those was on the opposite side of the park. On the plus side, the short queue at Gate 10 was shaded by trees.
We got through security swiftly, received our wristbands and checked out the Hydeaway. It was a smaller and less grand affair than the Summer Garden, within a cosy area with lots of mature trees. Not all the tables had parasols and there were no deckchairs or beanbags to recline on. There were also fewer choices for eating places and, although the bar prices were the same, they only had 330ml cans of Coke Zero instead of 500ml bottles. We decided to go for a proper wander, not feeling such a great need to save ourselves a place.
Although this was our third BST gig, we'd never wandered into the general area before and were surprised by how far back it stretched. I should have realised, with sixty thousand in attendance, it would need to be big. Food stalls and bars lined the field with numbered sound relay stations with screens popping up every so often.
We never waited to watch any of the performers at either of the other stages.
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| The Rainbow Stage |
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| The Birdcage Stage |
We then checked out the Gold Standing area and were surprised to discover it covered the entire front of the stage. At Pink, the walkway extending from the middle of the stage formed the divide between Gold and Diamond but this time Gold appeared to have it all. The Diamond VIPs were relegated to the edge of the stage. That didn't make sense. Maybe they were allowed in too but had to use a different entrance further back. I never did find out if this was the case.
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| The Great Oak Stage, with Diamond VIPs behind the barrier on the right. |
We returned to the Hydeaway to relax and hydrate. The pollen count was off the chart, especially under the oak trees so my wife's hay fever played up horrendously. She blew her way through a whole packet of tissues before any of the main acts came on and had to fill her bag with toilet paper to survive the rest of the day.
I discovered a handy tip for making the free water more delicious. Having been offered (and accepted) a slice of lime with my Coke Zero, I inserted it into my bottle of water and remained refreshed by its flavour during multiple refills for the rest of the day.
We were joined briefly by someone who had flown in especially but had not paid to get in. He didn't stay long, knowing he wasn't wearing the appropriate wristband.
Natasha Bedingfield was the first act to appear on The Great Oak Stage. We headed through to watch her and found her quite pleasant. She had a beautiful voice and looked striking in her white stage clothes. Lots of the crowd sat or reclined on ground mats, laid out to maximise their space. It wasn't too busy and we had a great view, albeit with some photos taken on maximum zoom.
Love Like This
Pocketful of Sunshine
Single
Soulmate
The Scientist (Coldplay cover)
Weightless / Anti-Hero / Gotta Get Thru This / Just the Way You Are
(Medley of Taylor Swift, Daniel Bedingfield and Bruno Mars covers)
Purple Rain (Prince cover)
Wild Horses (Acapella, First verse and Chorus)
These Words
Unwritten (acoustic performance due to technical problems)
We left to get food, using the nearest exit at the rear which took us into the General Area. Suddenly everywhere seemed crowded. All the food places had long queues so we elected to return to the Hydeaway to eat there. It took us longer than anticipated to get back but at least the queues were shorter. Unfortunately, all the seats and tables were taken so we had to sit on the grass to eat our chicken burgers, which were actually delicious. By the time we'd finished, Daryl Hall was already on stage. The staff had closed the entrance we'd used previously to get into the Gold Area so we had to go in at the back. It had become very busy but we found a spot near the middle at the rear.
Daryl's performance was not very good. Much like Axl Rose, he couldn't reach the high notes and had to sing around them, often aborting and pulling away from the microphone. His backing band did their best to carry him but Daryl was not happy. At the end of each song, he waved a throwaway hand as if to dismiss it, a sour expression on his face. He didn't give up but you could tell he felt bad and at the end he marched to the middle of the stage, took an extravagant bow then swiftly exited the stage, leaving the band trailing behind. Sad.
Setlist
Maneater (Daryl Hall & John Oates song)
Dreamtime
Family Man (Mike Oldfield cover)
Out of Touch (Daryl Hall & John Oates song)
Method of Modern Love (Daryl Hall & John Oates song)
I'm in a Philly Mood
Everytime You Go Away (Daryl Hall & John Oates song)
Sara Smile (Daryl Hall & John Oates song)
I Can't Go for That (No Can Do) (Daryl Hall & John Oates song)
Rich Girl (Daryl Hall & John Oates song)
You Make My Dreams (Daryl Hall & John Oates song)
More and more people poured in after his set but, fortunately, no one tall stood in front of us. To be fair, we were quite far back so most people were trying to get further forward. The sun was still going strong and there was barely a cloud in the sky. A drone seemed to be monitoring the crowd. Not that there was any trouble. As a more mature crowd, they had come to be entertained, not get blitzed out of the faces.
Billy wore a dark, tieless suit and dark sunglasses and took up his position at the piano, receiving a huge cheer from the crowd. He looked trimmer than the last time we'd seen him and his voice was in excellent form. He enjoyed entertaining us, telling us in his New York drawl, "I got good news, I got bad news. The bad news is we don't got anything new to play. The good news is you don't need to hear anything new." When he came out from behind the piano, he joked about being no Mick Jagger, whereupon the band kicked in with "Start Me Up" which he sang along to briefly, mimicking Jagger's moves, before calling it off for one of his own songs.
What made this event even better, apart from the brilliant sound quality, was the use of the giant screens to show the performance. With multiple camera angles and moving shots, it gave the screens a cinematic feel. They would cut to views of the audience singing along, showing how far back the crowd went, then straight back to Billy or the band. It gave the event a sense of scale, yet kept it intimate.
Billy shared the limelight with his band. Crystal Taliefero-Pratt took over lead vocals for Ike and Tina Turner's River Deep, Mountain High while Mike Delguidice got to sing his party piece, Nessum Dorma, fitting given Pavarotti had famously sung the song on the same stage back in 2001.
The encore was a delight, especially when they hit that chord that starts The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night. As a surprise bonus cover, it couldn't have been better.
Overall, it was a bloody good night.
Setlist
Intro track: The Natural (The End Title) (Randy Newman song)
My Life (with “Ode to Joy” intro)
Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
The Entertainer
Vienna (audience choice over “Just the Way You Are")
Zanzibar
An Innocent Man (with “Start Me Up” first two verses as intro)
The Longest Time (Snippet of The Marvelows - I Do as intro)
Don't Ask Me Why
New York State of Mind
Allentown
She's Always a Woman
Sometimes a Fantasy
Only the Good Die Young
The River of Dreams (With "River Deep, Mountain High" snippet sung by Crystal Taliefero)
Nessun Dorma (Giacomo Puccini cover) (Sung by Mike Delguidice)
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
Piano Man
Encore:
We Didn't Start the Fire
Uptown Girl (with Joe Jonas)
It's Still Rock and Roll to Me
Big Shot
A Hard Day's Night (The Beatles cover)
You May Be Right (With “Rock and Roll” by Led Zeppelin)
Ticket Price: £299.95 each via AXS.
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| Celeb guests, Sam Ryder and Stephen Merchant (Claudia Winkleman, Gary Neville, Catherine Tate and Brett Goldstein were also there) |
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| "When I was a little girl..." |
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| River Deep, Mountain High |
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| Nessum Dorma |
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| We Didn't Start the Fire |
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| Uptown Girl with Joe Jonas |
