Madison Square Gardens - New York, NY (USA)
13/04/2005
Author: Lidia & Patty
Language: Translated by Linda
Show Rating: N/A

Wild Boys and Girls on Film, the show was AMAZING…AMAZING..AMAZING!
It is 1.18 a.m., and we have just gotten back from the concert and are dead to the world in every sense… it was a difficult day from a photography reportage viewpoint. We saw various people but, unfortunately, we did not take any pictures since we didn’t think it was the right thing to do.
The first person we saw was Ann Le Bon, we also spoke briefly to her. The first thing she asked us was “are you here for the show” and she understood right away that we were from another country. We told her about Duran’s Performance on NBC and that we also met the band. She said she was sorry that she did not catch the show since her TV was broken.
The second person we saw was Yasmin Le Bon! (the entire Le Bon family was present for the concert) Yasmin came out “incognito” to buy something and returned after a few minutes.
The third person we saw was Andy Jr., with his Ipod headphones in his ears and the music blasting. He came out acting like a bully, personally I thought that he was a little taller (but he is all his father except he is good looking). He came back and was even more wound up than when he left.
The fourth person to come out was Roger… Oh Roger! He came out of nowhere and we weren’t able to stop him but he smiled at us… at first. When he came back we asked when he would be going to do the sound check and he told us around 03.30 p.m.
He left in a hurry because he had things to do (then we saw him leave with various relatives), but he decided to come back and say to us “Girls, today is a beautiful day” … a good man of few words!
As Roger had told us, at 03.30 p.m., only Andy and Andy Jr. and Roger and his son James and Andy Hamilton came out…. and the others didn’t come out, did they do the sound check? We don’t know! But…does it seem right that the others were not present for the sound check? We understand (NY is a beautiful city….. and it was also a nice day), but we do not approve! How is possible that JT did not do his duty? Concerning Simon we were sure at 1000%, but not because he wasn’t doing his duty but because he doesn’t need to do a sound check, right guys?
Then we saw Andy’s oldest daughter Tracy, she came out alone but before she had gone out with a friend.
Those that did the sound check came back.. our attempt to stop Andy failed miserably. We still have not managed to understand that man.
At a certain point we realised that the moment had arrived to prepare ourselves for the concert.
Madison Square Gardens was incredible, and the security… was there security? It didn’t seem like it to us. We could have brought in our professional video camera, but being the experts we are, we had no technology of any kind with us.
The show punctually began at 08.55 p.m., the opening act “Juliet” played at 8.00 p.m. We are not going to go through the set list, we are sure it will be published on the official web site, but we can talk about the songs we wish they would have played and that they did play.
Hold Back The Rainnnnnnnnnnnnnn: the images that accompanied the song were neon and very electronic.
In What Happens Tomorrow they did not show the couple hugging.. too bad.
Bedroom Toys: WOOOOW! The fans threw various objects onto the stage, amongst which a blow up doll, that, by chance, fell onto Simon, who with his feline movements made it fall off the stage. The fans seemed to have enjoyed it, it was the funniest moment of the show. At the end of the song Simon improvised with a series of words that made no sense, with his voice sounding almost like Donald Duck.
The Chauffer: Sent chills up our spine! Everybody had disappeared from the stage except Nick who started the song. Simon came onto the stage with his chauffer hat (at the end of the song he played the ocarina). JT, Roger and Andy followed.
Careless Memories: Was absolutely incredible, an energy.. that we no longer have! The fans really got involved and they were really revved up. All of Madison Square Gardens yelling “Look Out!! Look out!!! Look Out!!!!!!!”
During Save a Prayer Simon asked the audience to pull out their mobile phones to illuminate the place.. but very few lights were seen.. attention!.. there were lights but it seemed to be much less than on the Wembley DVD. Simon let the fans sing the first and second verse.
The fans were overjoyed when the band played: The Reflex, Hungry Like the Wolf, Planet Earth, Wild Boys, Girls on Film, White Lines, Rio, etc., practically all of the “old songs”. There was a surprise amongst the new songs, NICE! The Americans seem to really dig this song and we were really happy to hear the Americans singing and dancing to this song.
The only sour note was Tel Aviv, Simon didn’t miss a note.. relax ?.. but at times you couldn’t hear his voice and often you couldn’t hear Nick and Andy, what a SIN!
The whole show was about 2 hours long, and it literally flew by.
During the show Simon often called out “Helloooo New York City”, you could understand that the group was very happy to be performing at Madison.
During GOF, as always the band was present, Simon went off stage into the audience so that somebody could introduce him. Surrounded by bodyguards he went to the first 20 rows of fans and chose a girl.. who would have thought… but she did not want to introduce him so he chose another two girls who introduced him yelling at the top of their lungs “Ladies and Gentlemen SIMOOOOOON LE BOOOOON”.
We didn’t think he was going to make it out of their alive. At the end of Rio Simon couldn’t find his tambourine, he asked everybody for it, even Roger. They brought it to him in the end.
When Simon introduced Andy he said something like, the man who gives electricity to the band; for JT he made everybody sing “play that funky base John”, they were really in top shape. Seriously, Simon must be going to the gym! He really looks well toned on stage and he dances around just marvellously. Nick was charming as ever in his shiny black pants. JT, unfortunately, didn’t wear his kilt but black leather pants with a red shirt and a grey vest. Simon didn’t wear his famous blue shirt with 1978 written on it, instead he wore a red shirt.
Andy was dressed in black and Roger was wearing a black shirt, that is all you could see.
They had to use 4 limos and an SUV, in which Simon got with his family, to take all of the family members present from the concert.
Before all the cars took off only Simon and Roger went over to the crowds and signed autographs. Now hear this, while Roger didn’t come to our part of the crowd Simon did and within our grips we gave Simon a big kiss.. slurp!
He was so soft, even with his unshaven beard, the bangs! They were indestructible, even the New York wind didn’t move them. Therefore, Simon John Charles Le Bon, surprisingly, became part of “the good crowd” and the others you may ask??? John came out but he didn’t even bother to wave (he was with Gela). Andy waved and SMILED after he was called over and over again. He had all of his 100 relatives with him. Nick came out last with Meredith and surely preferred not to stop or he would have become too late. He blew us a kiss though.
We are very glad that we came here for the concert and we are already thinking about the upcoming shows in Italy, we are sure they will be a big BOOOOOOM!, given that in America there are only positive comments about the band, the show and the physical aspects!

Sweet dreams.. today we say “Ciao” to you at 03.20 a.m…. aleeeeeeee

Kisses

Pat and Lidia