Belfast - October 6th, 2004 by Good_Yet_Undone - Bonez Tour

[Vintage Disposition]

Concert: Belfast
Reviewer: Good_Yet_Ungood
Date: October 6th 2004



Since our seats were unreserved, my friend and I made the decision to queue from about 5pm (the doors opened at 6:30). So, after a rather uneventful wait in the cold (albeit a rather amusing moment near the end when a guy near the front of the queue dragged his out-of-skull-drunk girlfriend up from the ground where she had been lying near-dead for over an hour). Once it turned half six, we pushed and shoved our way around the barriers and, after being body-searched, we were free to grab a seat. We managed to get a place in the fourth row from the front. The view was, inevitably, excellent.

At 8 o’clock, Simple Plan made their way onto the stage. To be fair, I didn’t dislike them to the extent which I thought I would, but they were nothing better than average. In fact, I cringed when they asked the audience, “So, who wants to hear some rock and roll?”.

It’s nine o’clock. After much anticipation, the lights are extinguished and the music begins. The setlist? I can’t remember the exact order, but it was probably very similar to that of the previous shows:

He Wasn’t
Happy Ending
Take Me Away
Freak Out
Sk8r Boi
Anything But Ordinary
Who Knows
I’m With You
Mobile
Naked
Losing Grip
Together
Forgotten
Tomorrow
Fall To Pieces
Nobody’s Home
Don't Tell Me
Unwanted
————-
Complicated (Encore)
Slipped Away (Encore)

I’m not going to attempt to break the concert down song by song, quite simply because it would take too long and would involve me using the words “amazing voice”, “beautiful”, “poignant” and “amazing” a lot. While the entire concert was superb, the highlights were definitely “I’m With You”, “Naked”, “Tomorrow”, “Fall To Pieces”, “Nobody’s Home”, “Dont Tell Me” and “Slipped Away” (Highlights? Half the bloody concert, more like). The above performances were powerful, deeply poignant, passionate, devastatingly beautiful and captivating muchly. The songs have a habit of resonating deeply with me since I relate to them on a profound level, but the live performances were beautiful beyond words.

Avril was energetic, passionate, happy and beautiful. The view was incredible. Everything about the concert was amazing. And, of course, being a fanatic, I got myself into a bit of bother with security on a couple of occasions. Security were intent on keeping everyone out of the aisles, and I was intent on screaming, dancing and jumping for the duration. Unfortunately, being on the edge of the row, I kept moving into the aisle, prompting a security guard to ask me “Do you actually have a seat?” on more than one occasion (even the lady beside us asked my friend “Is he mad?!” at one point). However, after the concert, I wanted merchandise, but I also really needed a drink, so I left the arena building and bought something from a vending machine nearby. Unfortunately, whenever we tried to get back into the arena building, we were stopped by security. Trying another entrance proved more successful – I was stopped by the security guard who told me during the concert to move in from the aisle.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you in.”
“Please, I just want to go to the merchandise stand. I’ll only be a few minutes.”
“Were you at the conce- Oh, hang on, you were! Yeah, I remember the dancing.”

Quite simply, the concert was incredible. Words cannot describe the extent to which her performance moved, affected, excited, captivated and enthralled me. I am so grateful to her and to everyone who made it what it was. Thank you.

-----

So, I was the person in the white t-shirt at the end of the fourth row at the right-hand side of the auditorium. If you saw me (and especially if you were the really sweet lady standing to the left of us), please reply and tell me that I wasn't making a complete arse of myself. Or that I was.