Today in 1998 I was down in London at Horse Guards Parade for the world premiere of Tubular Bells 3. I had been teaching during the day, and was picked up by my brother-in-law - another big fan of Mike's music - who drove us to Cambridge where we got the train to London.
The weather forecast was not great, but I had my Gore-Tex jacket which I was fairly sure would keep me fairly dry.
The venue was impressive and historic. The stage was set and we had decent enough seats.
We weren't expecting there to be a support act.. then Martyn Joseph came on stage.
And just as the concert was about to start, so did the rain... and it poured down.
There were thousands of men in the rain...
There was also a feeling that not all of the sounds were played live... certainly the glasses filled with water which were note for note perfect... the rain itself would have taken the glasses out of tune...
The concert itself was short - a run through of the album and the encore wasn't any new track, and there were no other Tubular bits.
The guitar solos were superb of course and it was Mike playing live, so you couldn't really complain!
I still have the polo shirt I bought when I arrived - just as well as the merchandise ran out quite quickly it seems from other memories of the evening.
We walked back to the train station very wet.
The Guardian review referred to the weather.
You can watch it all here, and stay dry...
Robin Smith - Keyboards
Adrian Thomas - Keyboards, Programming, Guitar, Conductor
Carrie Melbourne - Bass Guitar, Chapman Stick
Hugh Burns - Guitar
Katherine Rockhill - Piano
Ian Thomas - Drums
Jody Linscott - Percussion
Alasdair Malloy - Percussion, Champagne Glasses, Tubular Bells
Rosa Cedrón - Cello, Vocals
Pepsi Demacque - Vocals
Amar - Vocals
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