Friday 21st March, Wembley Arena
This was the very last night of the tour so I had to be there. Luckily fate agreed with me and I managed to get a front row ticket only the week before (thank goodness for Ebay, I say - my bank manager disagrees). In stark contrast to the NEC two days previously, the atmosphere at Wembley was electric and there was a palpable air of excitement even before the music started. I can honestly say I enjoyed every single act that night – they put their hearts and souls into it and the audience responded accordingly, and with a great deal of affection. As Darius might say, there was a lot of love in the room that night. Perhaps the most emotional performer there was Andy who finished his set in tears and exited the stage with them streaming down his face. Judging from the reactions near me, a lot of the ladies in the audience that night would have been more than happy to help console him. ;-)
As I had been lucky enough to meet most of the acts at Meet & Greets, I took along a banner to drape over the front barrier, thanking them all for a wonderful tour. I made it reversible, with plain text on one side and the same text superimposed over a picture of Sean & Sarah on the other. I think one or two of the performers may have noticed it in the first half, but can’t be 100% sure. Come interval time, I turned it over to the Same Difference picture and excitedly awaited the start of the second half. When it began the reception for SD was immense, even at the beginning of their video introduction. Once again, lots of little people started to appear at the front barrier to get a closer view of their Idols. After belting renditions of Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and Nothing’s Gonna Stops Us Now, we came to what was my personal highlight of the evening, an emotionally-charged performance of Never Had A Dream Come True. Both Sean & Sarah had to fight back the tears at the start of the song and seemed almost overwhelmed by the massive and sustained ovation they got as they brought it to a close. Tears finally did flow as they thanked everyone who had made their dreams come true, especially their Mum, Dad, Nan & Grandad who were in the audience.
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The evening ended on a high when all the acts came back on stage for the final performance of their finale song, Don’t Stop Me Now. Sean & Sarah re-appeared wearing England football shirts, personally inscribed and signed. (Sean later threw his into the crowd - a lovely souvenir for some lucky audience member). As they came down to the front of stage, Sean once again spotted my banner, just as he had done at my first X Factor concert in Sheffield. I managed to capture some of his reaction, this time in pictures:
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Once again I left the venue a very happy bunny, so glad to have been part of it all.
The whole tour was a wonderful experience – I met up with some amazing people who I will never forget and through it all, some have become firm friends.
A big thank you to them all, and especially to Sean & Sarah for inspiring me to go along in the first place!
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