STOWE 2008

This was a brilliant concert - not least of all because it was in the best marquee ever, complete with a ceiling covered in very small lights that looked like stars!!

The concert was primarily for the 'Old Stoics' as past members of Stowe school are referred to, but some tickets for the show were also made available to Roger's other fans. Access to the concert area was opened at 6.00pm and there was quite an atmosphere as people put up their gazebos and laid out their picnics in front of the marquee. Roger seemed quite comfortable to be back at his old school - the place that provided him with so much material for his songs. (He admitted he had sneaked back once since leaving school!) Roger's performance was perfect, the atmosphere was electric...and then the electric went off! Short pause for the power cut and then we were back up and running.  

The people in the marquee were up for a good night and they made sure they had it! The reception for Roger's songs was magnificent. Roger sang 'Breakfast in America' and we couldn't actually hear him singing - his voice was drowned out by the crowd! This was the pattern for most songs. At the beginning of a concert, Roger always invites the audience to participate by singing, dancing, laughing, crying, whetever emotion takes them at the time... I don't think anyone stayed in their seat for very long. This is the effect Roger has on the audience - he takes them along with him rather than just singing for them. We chatted throughout the concert (though not during the songs of course...) to the people all around us who had travelled to be there. The guys next to us had travelled from Newcastle and we discovered we were at the same concert at Newcastle City Hall in 1977...we shared fond memories of the yellow parasol...

The group in front of us had never been to see one of Roger's concerts but had come along with two of their french friends who were ardent fans. We have some wonderful recorded clips where Roger is singing 'School' and you can hear them shouting Roger's name with a wonderful french accent... great memories. We joined them down at the stage area after the concert where Aaron had come out to chat.

He very kindly signed my t-shirt - thanks Aaron.

It was one of those concerts that you hoped wouldn't end. I think we all could have sung on for a couple of hours more. In fact, even after Roger had sung his encores and was saying goodbye, he went back to the keyboard and with a roar of 'hear we go again' he led us into 'Breakfast in America' once more.