Ok I am here! I am sorry I was so tired yesterday. I think it all caught up with me, all that jet lag and standing in the rain for hours and hours. I came back from Florida with a nasty cough. Yes I know I can't seem to go ANYWHERE without being ill. But it's not pneumonia at least this time! LOL.
My two gigs were different for different reasons. Tuesday I got to Cardiff about midday and went to my hotel, where I was told I couldn't check in until 3! They did take my case though, so I went off and queued.
Eventually Prissie and her family and friends turned up to say hi to me in the queue and Karen was with them. It had started raining at this point, but only slightly. I had the foresight to have an umbrella so it wasn't too terrible. At that point my phone died and I could only hope Emma would find me. I had totally forgotten my phone charger so had no way to charge it up again.. so had to rely on her to find me.
At that point the people from the VIP section came along our line and handed out VIP bracelets and lanyards, I took an extra one for Emma as I was expecting her around 3.30. I then took a chance and ran to my hotel to check in and get my room. I ran back with my waterproofs and umbrella and everyone had moved forward. Fortunately I had made friends with the people around me and they held my place. Emma came along about 20 mins later I heard this person shouting. "is there a Row here?" I shouted back "Yes!" and there was Emma. She said she didn't think the security really believed her that someone was called Row. LOL.. But she joined me and we stood there, getting wetter and wetter waiting for them to let us in.
At 5 when we should have been going in, nothing happened.. still wet. Still raining like someone was throwing water balloons at us! We were hoping a lot that the roof would be on the stadium, but not too hopeful, as everyone had been saying "the band want the roof off".
Then we heard via the Queue grapevine that there was a delay. Great.
FINALLY at around 5:15 they started letting us in. And nerves set in.. I NEEDED that barrier position so badly!
Ticket scanned they took us into a small waiting area and we joined the line.. a security guard said to me "what about your bag?" I looked blankly at him.. "I don't HAVE a bag!" He said.. "no.. there are bags for you over there".. doh.. I ran and got mine.. as fast as I could and with butterflies performing an entire tap dance in my stomach went back the queue, behind two double doors, Emma in hot pursuit LOL.. sorry Emma I was totally one track for a bit there!
Finally they let us onto the floor and with more butterflies in my mouth I saw the stage.. we came in on Guy's side. I KNEW where I wanted. Jonny's side on the ramp about half way along. The ramp is so high you can't really see over it, so with a lump in my throat I dragged poor Emma around the end of the B stage and saw my place! FINALLY.. my spot! ( sorry OUR spot LOL).
We then started shivering. Thank god the roof was shut. But we were all still soaked. So we most of us stripped off our top layers, putting waterproofs and wet hoodies over the barrier. Until the security said we had to remove them!
My feet were so wet at one point I took my shoes off and poured water out of them. So with "trench foot" in mind, we took off our shoes and stood barefoot for a while, at least I did, Emma had socks with sheep on.. LOL.. so rock 'n' roll.
Then we burrowed into our Coldplay goodie bags, which are black thick cotton tote bags with the flower of life on and coldplay head full of dreams tour on the reverse. Inside was a Coldplay towel! HOW did they know?? LOL.. so needed, so we wrapped our towels round our shoulders and stuffed our wet stuff into the plastic bags the towels had come in.
The support bands came and went and we started to dry off, but were still frozen. Then finally the moment we had all been waiting for.. COLDPLAY..
There is NOTHING like that thrill is there? When they burst onto the stage and you KNOW that THIS is why you braved the queue the rain the cold.. whatever else ... the best feeling in the entire world. Bar none. But you all know this.
It was dark because the roof was closed and felt much later than it really was. Fireworks, Chris bounding down the ramp in front of us.. confetti.. so thick it was like a red and blue blizzard.. went in our mouths, in our hair, in our clothes.. the security guard opposite us was really young and innocent looking. At one point he had so much confetti in his hair it went up like a hat! LOL..
Highlights of the show was Jonny and Chris guitar duelling in front of us and Jonny doing a Guitar hero moment in the same spot later on. Chris making up a song about Jonny being Welsh, that took the roof off.. (not literally obviously it was still raining! LOL) Chris messing up.. of course..
Us against the world.. as a request and just being that close to the mammoth that is a Coldplay stadium show. Amazing amazing gig. By about ten minutes in I was so hot I was sweating, when I had been so cold. We jumped we sang, I coughed.. but sang anyway. the atmosphere was incredible. Wales can sing that much is certain.
Finally it was all over and we made our (slow) way out of the stadium. I scooped up a streamer, I haven't had a streamer before. But this time left the confetti. I have quite an abundance already from previous tours.
We made our way to the outside where it was still raining, and met up with Karen who had been sitting in the unreserved seats. We all sent to my hotel, about 5 mins away for a drink in the bar and some much needed crisps!
The next day neither Emma or I could get up and face another day queuing, both being so tired. So we arranged to meet Prissie and co for lunch, which was nice. Then all made our way to the stadium for our own queues. I was sitting in a bunch of teenagers at their first Coldplay gig, which was fun when they asked me how many I had been to.
By contrast the day was sunny and warm. And as I hadn't been in the queue very long, it didn't seem long before we were being let in.
This time I was sitting, as my poor old bones really couldn't have coped with standing (unless I could get barrier again) which with the amount of people let in before me was impossible. However I found my perfect seat, saved one for my hubby who was on his way from Surrey, about a 2.5 hour drive away (allegedly).
I then got several phone calls from him. They had shut all the roads into Cardiff and he eventually arrived at me during the second support act, pissed off and tired out, it having taken him five hours to do the two hour drive. He couldn't park at the hotel as the road had been shut so had to find a carpark and got one of the last three spaces available.
Anyway long story short, he arrived I gave him beer.. he cheered up and we had a FANTASTIC gig. I jumped barefoot for 90 mins, totally lost my voice and coughed some more and didn't care a bit. The lady in front of me, and her hubby were fun, we were singing together and squealing at Chris to take his top off.. LOL.. Maybe the two beers I had had helped that LOL.. But it was a fun gig. Different entirely from the day before, but it was good to see the spectacle of the lazers and fireworks, not to mention the xylobands from a distance.
I took a few videos that day as I had bought a phone charger earlier in the day. I will post them as soon as they upload.