Belfast recap - Friday 17th June

Getting up at 3.30am was a lot easier than I thought it would be! We left at 4.30am and Tony drove me to Heathrow. I used one of those self check-in machines and then just handed in my suitcase - easy!

I had a nice surprise as I thought I was flying Easyjet (one of the "free for all" / no pre-reserved seats airlines) but it appears that I booked BMI so I could choose a window seat and we had an included breakfast.

My flight left promptly at 7.05am and we landed a few minutes early at 8.00am. When we reached Belfast City Airport there was a grand total of 3 other airplanes at the airport!

It was drizzling when we landed!

I caught an airport bus into the centre of Belfast (past the Odyssey Arena!) to City Hall and then walked for about 5 minutes to my hotel. I had booked into the same Travelodge as I stayed on the CHSIB Tour and reached there at about 9.00am. I asked if I could check-in early but as I expected she said I couldn't. What I didn't expect was that she said that I couldn't check-in until 3.00pm, if I wanted to leave my luggage then I should leave it in an unlocked room and that they didn't have anywhere that I could plug-in my laptop (so I could do some work) but I could ask at the restaurant next door!

I texted a friend who had also come over for the concert but arrived yesterday and she checked at her hotel. They had a room for tonight for the same price as mine and I could check-in straightaway! I caught a taxi across and arrived just as she and another friend were having breakfast so I got my room and then joined them for a cup of tea while they ate. By coincidence we're two rooms apart too!

I spent the rest of the morning working (I have to pay for this tour somehow!) and then in the afternoon we chin-wagged! (I went out for a lovely Chinese meal for lunch.)

Our hotel was about a 30 minute walk from the venue but as we would be standing for hours we caught a taxi and got there by the time the gates opened at 5.30pm. We had standing tickets and when my friend had booked hers, she had specifically asked TicketMaster if we would be standing in front of the stage and they assured her that we could. Of course when we get there, they have about 200 seats and we had to stand around the outside!

Hardly right in front of the stage:
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Thank goodness for a zoom lense!
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As there was the entrance to the seated area on Kasim's side (and it would have been hard to see him with the stack of speakers) we stood on Paul's side of the stage. Thankfully we managed to get in the second row too. Unfortunately this did mean that we rarely saw Mark, CC and John during the concert.

I'll post a full review at http://www.kasiminfo.com/2005/06/17.html but it was a good concert. Meat Loaf's voice was good again (after having almost a week off) and the crowd obviously enjoyed it. At one point someone tried to push in and the people around him called security over so he was removed - we joked that if that happened in UK, the people would just tut at him loudly!

As we stood on that side of the stage we could see some of the band watching the other acts. John Micelli watched Melanie C for quite a while and then sat in the seated area for a while too. Kasim watched Melanie C too and then Paul Crook and Meat Loaf watched Status Quo. Some fans of Status Quo obviously had a Meet and Greet with them before their set so I wondered why Meat Loaf hadn't arranged one there.

I actually took a load of photos at this gig too which is unusual for me! Most didn't come out too well as I was a long way away but I got a few good shots of Kasim.

After the concert I bought some programmes for some US fans who asked for one and then we walked (slowly!) back to the hotel as our feet ached!

I got to sleep at about 1.00am after a 21 hour day!