For Mother's Day, my daughter Laura bought me two tickets for the upcoming Smokie concert at the Auditorium, Grimsby on the 21st March, 2002.

As this was my first ever concert, to say I was excited about going to it was an understatement. My son-in-law agreed to babysit so all I had to do was take my son there in a taxi, drop him off, collect my daughter and turn up at the Auditorium, before 7.30pm.

Sounds simple, eh? Not in my household. With an autistic son, things have to be very carefully worded, so I told him he was going to visit his brother, who also lives with my daughter and son-in-law. I'd ordered the taxi that afternoon, for 6.40pm. At 6.45, I rang the taxi firm. He's not here, I said. He's on his way, they said. So I locked up, and my son and I stood freezing at my front gate for another ten minutes while every car except a taxi drove past. I rang the firm on my mobile, although how they heard me through my grinding teeth, I don't know. I told them it was 7pm, and my concert starts in half an hour and WHERE was the taxi? They said they'd send someone else.

Within a few minutes a nice lady pulled up and said 'Taxi?'. In we got and set off for my daughter's house. The lady taxi driver went the wrong way and got stuck at a junction, trying to turn right into a road which is notorious for drivers not letting you out, nor the traffic letting up. I mentioned that I needed to be at the Auditorium for 7.30, and I'd booked the taxi for 6.40. She explained that the driver who'd taken the job had just not bothered to turn up. Finally arriving at my daughter's house, dropped Andrew and off we set, with lady taxi driver going like the clappers all the way. The office radioed her and told her to knock £2 off my bill by way of an apology to me. I was so grateful to arrive at the concert venue before the start that I tipped the replacement driver anyway.

Queuing up to collect our tickets then getting seated was nerve-wracking, would we be able to see the band? (My daughter is not a tall person). No problem, we had a great view. On came Smokie to rapturous applause, they apologized that because they were 'tight Yorkies' they were their own support band - so we were in for a double-dose.

The first half of the concert was new songs and covers of other artist's songs, interspersed with jokes and stories about their other concerts. When they went for a break of fifteen minutes, there was part of a documentary to watch which was filmed by a tv station other than the BBC of the group in China. I'd already seen this documentary in full but my daughter hadn't, so she watched that while I surveyed the audience. Mostly the people were about my age (40+) but there were some quite a lot older and some younger. Not many my daughter's age (23) but then, she wasn't even born when Smokie started out.

The second half they played all their old songs, which went down very well with the audience, who were singing along and jiggling about in their seats. I noticed a few flashlights so I sneaked a couple of photos myself, carefully looking round for burly minders as I didn't want to be thrown out. (There was a sign above the door entrance - No Flash Photography Allowed).

When the band said goodnight and left the stage, just about everyone yelled for more and stamped their feet. They hadn't played their most famous hit 'Livin' Next Door To Alice' but they ran back on and played it to tremendous cheers. I liked the live version, which went:

'I don't know why she's leaving, or where she's gonna go, I guess she's got her reasons but I just don't wanna know, 'cos for twenty-four years I've been livin' next door to Alice'

'Twenty-four years just waitin' for a chance, to tell her how I feel and maybe get into her pants...'

When they said goodnight for the last time there was a standing ovation. Smokie were as good live as they are on their records, which is saying a lot. There is only one member of the group left of the original line-up, but they have managed to keep the same unique sound.
The concert was in all a brilliant night out and I'd definitely go see them again. On our way out, I texted my boyfriend to tell him that we were leaving, as he was working earlier. We walked to the main road so he wouldn't have to drive onto the car park, thus avoiding the huge snake of slow-moving cars trying to leave the car-park. One of the cars which passed us was a gorgeous blue Mercedes containing the group. By the time I realized it was them, it was too late to wave.

Ten minutes later I checked my mobile phone in my handbag. Peter had tried to ring me twice, so I rang him back. He asked me where I was, I said we were outside, on the main road. He told me that he was in the foyer, looking for us. He said we'd missed meeting the band - they came out to meet some of the fans and they signed autographs and then posed for photos with them!

Oh well, some you win, some you lose. I had a great night, and my best Mother's Day ever, thank you Laura.

Archangel Galaxy Babe

28.03.02 Front Page

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