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It was an extreamly long journey from South-East Kent to the land of Oasis that is Manchester. It was a bit ironic how
the place was filled with Gorillaz advertisments.
I did however stop by Stoke-on-Trent as it was on the way. It's a town that represents Murdoc with great colours. Or
broken buildings, drugs and other things that Murdoc seems to love.
I stayed at the Brittania hotel which was a 10 minute walk from the Opera house. When I got in I went straight to the
little shop and bought a 'Shoot to ill' and a tour date's top as well as a program for the night.
The doors opened at 8 and the show began at 9 with a funny little show by 2D and Murdoc, who took a puppet form for the
night. They also played a little WB cartoon staring Daffy Duck. At long last the curtains went up and began playing the songs
from Intro to Demon Days.
Damon, however, was sat at his piano singing with a light behind that silhouetted
him however the song were performed well and people screamed for joy as the guest stars came on for each of their songs. Shaun
Ryder and Rosie Wilson was the highlight for me as Shaun came on stage with a bottle of what appeared to be some sort of alcohol shouting;
'Eeets cooming oop, eets cooming
oop, eets cooming ooop... EETS DAAAARE!!!' and poor Rosie couldn't stop laughing as she struggled to keep up with the words.
Damon however found it no trouble to sing; he just kept looking at Shaun as if to say 'are you okay?'
After Demon Days the two puppets
called us to cheer like mad before the curtains came up for an encore. The encore song was Hong Kong. Everyone cheered
before going silent and awaiting Damon to sing, but we didn't expect him to get up and perform for us like
he had said he couldn't do. The next song was Latin Simone which was dedicated to the recently passed Ibrahim Ferrer. Once
the curtains had gone down for the last time I felt tears trying to break out as Damon dissapeared behind the Saftey Curtain.
However...
I went out to the Stage Door to
see who I could find. I was hoping to get Shaun Ryder's autograph but, as the other guest stars came out, I grabbed
one of the De La Soul guys and got his autograph. Then Shaun Ryder did come out, refusing to sign anything until he was bombarded
by fans. I was stuck at the back of the small crowd but one of the security gaurds took me round to him. While signing my
program he asked the security gaurd who had took me to him 'Where did that bottle come from, last night?'
I got a bit bored of waiting for anyone else to come out and I was about to give up hope but then
I remembered 'this is the only exit, he has no where else to go' and he really didn't. A bodyguard came out followed by the
one and only Damon Albarn!!! People rushed to get his autograph but one guy behind me called 'Hey, let this
kid through!' and the crowd seperated as I was almost pushed into Damon. He looked at me and smiled, taking my Program
and Pen. While signing my program he said,
'You're brave being the youngest here.' Refering to the fact that everyone at the Stage door were
over 20 years of age and I was the only teenager. I stuttered, not knowing what to say to my idol except
'Th-th-thanks...' to which he mumbled,
'Cute...' while scribbling two kisses under his signature which seemed to say 'with love Dam Chav
x x' but of course was meant to be 'Damon Albarn'.
As I scrambled to get out of the crowd Damon's bodygaurd almost stepped on me.
'Watch the kid.' Damon told him, to which I'm sure I went pink.
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| Pixie and Damon |
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| With Love "Dam Chav" x x |
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