Six weeks ago I vowed never to return to the venue I found myself standing outside on Saturday night. The last time I was at Wembley Stadium - to see U2 - it was a truly lack-luster experience. Sat too far away in 'fan club ticket seats' I said, never again. So imagine my surprise to be back beneath the scaffold arch. Adamant that we got standing tickets, or nothing, we struck a deal with the devil's helpers outside and found our way in. Inside Wembley felt strangely intimate: whether it was the stage, the crowd, the lighting, the sound, the screens; come to think of it, it was probably all of the above; I could feel a conversion coming on. But I wasn't expecting a second one. Jay-Z tore up the stage with the best hip-hop sound I've heard. Oh yeah, and I've heard hip-hop. Ahem. 99 Problems... yeah, yeah, naturally amazing. But it was a track from his new album, The Blueprint 3 which totally blew me. 'Empire State Of Mind' was accompanied by an epic back drop of the Manhattan sky-line. And the epic vocal of Bridget Kelly, in place of Alicia Keys. Jesus wept, she can sing. Moved by hippety hop. Who'd have thunk. And to top that, at the end of the gig, Mr Z started to thank the audience individually. Like Les Dennis and Dustin Gee used to do. Sweet.Oh, yeah, Coldplay were pretty spesh too. But I'll leave that for another time.
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