This was my first time to the new Wembley stadium. My brother Jonny and I had been to the old one many years ago. We even go to go out on the pitch and stand on the centre spot! The new Wembley stadium is very impressive. The huge arch over the top can be seen for miles around.
I bought the tickets for Emily at Christmas time. Our friends Steve and Lauren also came with us too. We got there around mid-day and parked in the car park right outside. Much better that catching trains and tubes to get there. And it wasn’t too pricey either. After a walk round the stadium and a few teas and a hot dog we decided to queue up. Some people had be camped out for many hours before us. Some even had portable picnic tables! The hard concrete floors were a little uncomfortable, but with regular walking breaks it wasn’t too bad.
After 2 or so hours of queuing we looked behind us along Olympic Way to see about a mile of queues. It was unbelievable! Glad we got there a few hours early!
After going through the automatic ticket booths we got into Wembley Stadium and went straight in to the main standing area. There weren’t that many people in by then so got to the front. We then um-ed and ah-ed, and decided standing for hours on end would be too much, so went to find some seats close to the left hand side of the stage.
There was a few more hours wait after getting seats. After Steve and I have several beers, at extortionate prices, the supporting group came on – The Pet Shop Boys! Neil Tennant put on a good show, although all his dancers we wearing strange outfits with cube parts on them.
There was another break after The Pet Shop Boys, so time for a few more beers.
Then, some crazy Professor type guy came our, pressed a few buttons on a giant computer keyboard which was controlling a computer screen on the main stage video wall. He started a 1 minute count down for Take That…
5, 4, 3, 2, 1… What you have to realise is, about 80% of the crowd were women. So when Gary, Jason, Howard and Mark came out on the stage there were deafening screams. 80,000 people all screaming. That’s quite a noise.
The four boys the sang the songs they release after Take That got back together (the one’s without Robbie). There was an interesting one with a giant caterpillar… which was a bit trippy.
Then the 4 of them left the stage… Next was Robbie, who gave quite an impressive entrance. If you thought the welcoming Gary, Jason, Howard and Mark got was loud, this was nothing compared to what Robbie got.
Now despite what you think of Robbie Williams, he is a born entertainer. And the 30 or so minutes he was on was probably the best.
After Robbie’s solo performance he was joined by the other 4 when they did all their recent songs with the 5 of them, followed by the favourite old school Take That songs.
Throughout the performance a large mechanical man came out of the stage at certain points. By the end of the show it had come right out into the crowd and was stood up. Not quite sure what it was signifying, but was impressive.
After the show had finished, leaving the actual stadium wasn’t as bad as I thought. The real problem came when it took us over an hour to get out the car park. The car park wardens didn’t have a clue about traffic control meaning everyone just headed straight to the two lane exit. It was a complete joke.
Several hours later we were back home after a long, tiring, but great day. Thanks guys.
