Three's A Crowd

It's less than a month to our first gig.  We have had glorious weather here in the UK for nearly a week now, and as our summers haven't lasted for much longer than seven days in the last few years, I'm not hopeful of good weather for June 21st. Anyway it got me thinking about how hot it was at Old Trafford Cricket Ground on The Rising tour.  It's almost 9 years ago now - 29th May 2003.

We weren't seasoned concert goers in those days and a bit clueless about ticket sales. We missed out on tickets when they went on sale but managed to get a couple last minute. We sat so far back we could have saved our money and stood outside! It was the first time I was really excited to hear a particular song - Loose Ends - I recognised it after a couple of notes and admit I felt rather smug, like a proper fan.  Don't think any one around us had any idea what it was. Coincidentally Loose Ends was played on Bruce Brunch today.

Old Trafford Cricket Ground holds 50,000 for a concert and I assume it was full.  I mention this only because at the beginning of the European leg of the tour there was a bit of an obsession on Greasy Lake about ticket sales - or lack of them.

Why do people mind so much do you think? Are they disappointed because they think Bruce can't command a bigger audience these days or perhaps just worried about the lack of atmosphere in a partly filled stadium? Are they embarrassed on Bruce's behalf because he is playing to stadiums only three quarter full or for themselves because being a Bruce fan holds less kudos than it once did?

Should we be pleased that tickets are easier to come by at least at some venues? Perhaps there are masochistic tendencies at play here. Maybe we like the stressful, nerve wracking, panic stricken frenzy when the tickets go on sale. Maybe we miss the adrenalin rush and the euphoria of getting tickets against all the odds.

Anyway since the first few shows we have had the two Barcelona gigs and Frankfurt, both holding 50,000 to 60,000 people, and sell out shows. Tonight's show in Cologne is a sell out too and can hold a similar audience.

Closer to home neither Sunderland nor Manchester are sold out.  Incidentally Coldplay's Manchester gig sold out in five minutes.

I think Bruce might be caught between a rock and a hard place here. In The UK the O2 Arena in London holds 20,000. Manchester Arena - the largest in the UK- holds 21,000. Our first Bruce concert was at Sheffield Arena. It holds only 13,500.

You see what I'm getting at here. Our man may not be able to fill stadiums all around Europe but he's still too big for arenas.  Do we really want him to scale it down and run the risk of not getting a ticket?

Anyway enough of that.




Our Sunderland gig will be our first show for nearly two and a half years. Our last was MSG in November 2009.  The other week I couldn't resist an offer from Snapfish to make up a photo book for half price and I chose to take some photos from that weekend.  It makes me happy every time I look at it.