I queued all day so that I could get to the front of the venue. I was also hoping to meet Melanie again, that didn’t work out because I would of lost my place in the queue. I did meet Claire though (blonde guitarist) after I spotted her getting out of a cab. I ran round to the door with Lisa who I’d been in line with. We called out to Claire and took photos with her. She was really sweet, not at all bothered by 2 crazy fans running after her. She even said my camera was cool. Claire likes my camera - yay!

So as for the gig itself, I did manage to get a place at the front. I was standing in-between Melanie and Claire’s mic stands. After listening to about 1 ½ hours of rave music and half an hour of Tomcat (not that bad really) I was ready for Melanie! The lights went down and a tape of “Melanie C radio” was played to hype us up a bit. The band came out first, it was cool to see Claire up on stage, right in front of me. I was pleased to see that Fergus was ok and I got to see Beth, the new bassist for the first time.

Melanie came out onto the stage during the opening bars of “Go” She was wearing light blue baggy jeans and an “I Love London” top. Her hair had grown a lot since I saw her back in April, as usual she looked so pretty in the flesh. After Go she sung Something’s Gonna Happen, I always love that live because she sings it so well. She stopped to talk to the audience for a while before going into Northern Star. I think that song is excellent but somehow it manages to sound a million times better when Melanie’s singing it 2 metres away from me. During the chorus Melanie had everyone waving their arms along with her, I could see her smiling and I smiled to because I could tell she was enjoying herself as much as I was. The “audience participation” continued well into “Be The One” when Melanie did her infamous finger twirling at the end of each chorus line. This was followed by “Closer” a personal favourite of mine. Everyone was quite chilled during this song. Melanie sung it from the heart and it showed.

The next song was introduced as “previously unreleased” so I knew it had to be “Independence Day” I was jumping around like a nutter while she sang it because I love it so much, I think it might even be my favourite Melanie track ever! After that it was time for a more rocky number, “I Want You Back” This was excellent, another track with real emotion. I’ve always thought it was a bit of an “angry” song, hearing it live you could see it in her eyes, it made me wonder who she was singing about.

Once again it was time to chill, with a very dramatic performance of “Why” Melanie’s said it has been one of her favourite tracks from the album and when she sings it, she means it. The following track was also sung with noticeable passion. Melanie sung “If That Were Me” extremely well. It sounded quite different from the album, Melanie included some extra ad-libs which really made the song come alive. Next was “Feel The Sun” , the track that Melanie claims to be the most personal one on the album. She managed to stun us all with a perfect performance from start to finish.

Then the band started to play the first chords of “Goin Down” and it was time to rock and roll! Melanie went totally mental and put all her energy into this one, even rolling around on the floor sometimes! She let the audience sing “super-bitch” and “I have gone hardcore” which was cool. “Ga Ga” was sung next, keeping with the rocky vibe of “Goin Down”. Hearing it live, with all her great guitarists made it extra special.

“Suddenly Monday” came next, I was pleased because instead of singing the album version she sung the full one. During the middle eight, Melanie and Claire decided to have a bit of a laugh together, they ran up and down the stage pretending to kick eachother and they even did a little dance for us! They seemed perfectly synchronised to I guess it must of been rehearsed, either that or perfected from so many previous gigs.

“Never Be The Same Again” was the “last” song. Unfortunately there was no Left Eye but Melanie’s more than capable of pulling the track off by herself, she was brilliant! Then it was our turn to sing to Melanie, she told us she’d come back for another song if we sang loud enough for her. While Melanie skipped off stage the band lead us in a little sing-a-long of “Never be The Same Again”. They stood there clapping and singing with us, it was excellent. The gig felt really special because the band were a huge part of it too, they rock! It wasn’t like I’d just come to see Melanie, the whole gang was there and it was like one big party! The band waved goodbye to us and we were left screaming “Melanie…!” for 5 minutes before the band ran on and played an extended introduction of “I turn To You”. Melanie joined them for what was really the last song. Everytime she sung the line “I turn to you…” she pointed to the audience and we all waved back at her. She blew us some kisses and skipped off stage for the time. I wasn’t too upset though as I was coming back for the gig the next day! I stuck around for a set list, which came complete with a big smudge on it where someone had put a bottle of water on it. Authentic huh?