Diary of Lauren O'Hagan

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

text excerpt

We reached St David’s Hall slightly late, about ten past eight, so when we got to our seats, the support act King King were already on. I could have died when I saw our seats. I knew they were front row, but we were literally on top of the band we were so close. I started to feel so so nervous, thinking about them being right there in front of me. King King were good, but I just wanted Europe to come out.

Eventually, at twenty past nine, the lights went down and the epic tune to Walk the Earth started up. Then suddenly, out they walked: Ian, Mic, John Norum, John Leven and Joey. And there Joey was, right in front of me. He was dressed in a black shirt with silver studs, half open to expose the top of his chest, black jeans and black pointy shoes.

The show was absolutely outstanding, although I felt that there was a bit less banter with the crowd than usual. The funniest part, however, was when Joey referred to John Norum as a Norwegian God and someone shouted out that he was a Norwegian God. ‘No, I’m not; I’m a Swedish God,’ he bantered back.

I guess I would go as far as to say that I enjoyed the Deep Purple concert more least year because Europe was supporting, so I was literally the only one at the front that was there for them. Because of that, I did get noticed and Joey handed me his plectrum personally.

Anyway, despite these little grumbles, the ending proved to be spectacular. They came back out and did encores of Cherokee and of course, The Final Countdown. Joey saw me singing Cherokee like crazy and smled. On the ‘marching on the trail of tears’ bit, he even leaned his microphone stand down towards me so I could sing it. What was the most moving part for me, however, was The Final Countdown, despite the fact that it does annoy me that most people are only there for that. The whole crowd started jumping up and down and going mad and I pushed my way to the front. About half way through, I held my arm out forward towards Joey and he leant down and took my hand and shook it. I

At the end, John Leven started chucking out a tonne of plectrums. I was lucky as one of them reached the floor next to me, so I picked it up and claimed it as my own. That was a great find!

All in all, it was a wonderful experience. I'm now desperate for the next time to see them again!

excerpt from 'Diary of Lauren O'Hagan' (450 words)

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