Stafford, Staffordshire, UK - August 19th, 2001
by Alison Cornish

9am
I had to get a bus to get a train to Stafford. The bus was very early (got into Oxford 20 mins early), and I missed it - so I had to call parents and have a lift to the station at 9am. Got a lecture about getting a job, learning to drive, stop going to Texas stuff etc etc - which I *really* don't need at 9am.

9:40
Arrived at the station to get a train, get to Stafford. My friends had got there earlier and gone to the festival without me. Well I don't blame them, I wouldn’t want to hang about for 1hr, and certainly not in (what I saw of) Stafford.

10:20
Train arrived to Stafford. They had announced it was delayed but it arrived in Oxford on time.

12:30
Arrived in Stafford. I have to go to the hotel first and check in (as I booked it), which was £25 return on a taxi. However the taxi driver took me to the Travellodge not the Travel Inn (which was nearer) and he should have charged me £25 alone, just to get to the Travel Inn. As the price had already been decided he couldn’t charge me more!

1:00pm
I arrive at the hotel and check in. The room wasn’t ready so I left my things there.

1:40
I get back to Stafford. There is a bus waiting to take people to the festival.

1:45
I just make a bus to the festival which cost £5 return. That was the same distance as to the hotel - irritating the hotel is on the M6 and in the other direction.

2:15
I arrive at the festival and had a walk through a lot of mud to get to the main stage. I was never given a wrist band, I don’t know why. I got a text from Stu and Cara which said "we are at the right of the stage". Pretty vague.

2:30 - 9:30
I was impressed I found them so quickly! The weather was wet/sunny/wet/sunny and the ground was just mud. My trainers went brown in seconds, and mud went into my socks - yucckkk!

Anyway, the good stuff. I saw Nelly Furtado (spelling?), still think she is not great live but I don’t really like her songs. Also I saw Embrace (played some down phone to sister), Faithless (I thought the crowd would go, but no, he had fans), Coldplay (sounded better than at T in the Park). We got very crushed and at one point during Faithless my glasses flew off . I only just caught them and turned round to Stu and Cara to say I was going. On my attempt to get out, I somehow got stuck in the middle. I knew Julia, Nicky, Kathy, Bea and Dirk were in the middle at the front somewhere so I stayed there. When Faithless finished I found them and stayed with them. The Charlatans were...well...I never saw any of it. I spent the whole time trying to keep my head up to breathe, keep hold of my bag, stop my rib cage being crushed, and well, I thought the 2 metal pins in my back might actually be squashed right through my body. Some paracetamols (dissolvable ones) in my bag had been crushed into a powder, and Nickys crisps were just flattened to bits!

09:30
Not a very nice experience... but I got 2nd row and had a great view of Sharleen (or rather Charlotte!). The stage wasn’t as "nice" as the Denmark festivals. It was very high (I could barely see Johnny and Tony was hidden behind a camera for the whole show), it was too long, and too far away. However the sound quality and the speakers sounded alot better than Denmark. Just before the start I heard Nicky ask a tall guy next to me if he was there for Texas. He said he was. If anyone says they are actually *there* for Texas then chances are they are on the mailing lists. Then I found out he was Phil! Which was cool, because I meant to meet him at T in the Park! Also met Pam!

Texas came on stage a few minutes late and did the usual set:

It was Zero Zero, I Don’t Want A Lover, Black Eyed Boy, Halo and Guitar Song. Then a Scottish girl next to me pointed out Sharleen hadn’t spoken. She was right - about 4-5 songs had passed and it had been one song after another, no chatting. I know Texas had only got a 1hr 30min set time, instead of 1hr 45, so maybe it was because of that.

Apparently during In Our Lifetime (?) someone threw a cup of water which just missed Sharleen by inches when it was shot out of the audience. I missed this, as my eyes were not on Sharleen, but Charlotte. Nicole saw me after the first song - she saw Nicky and Julia etc before that and then she gestured and saw me and waved! Also Charlotte saw me too!

Anyway moving swiftly on! Next was Tired Of Being Alone...its cool with the "it wasn’t me" sample! However my eyes were on Charlotte and Nicole who made me laugh. They have this bit in their "little dance" where Charlotte points to Nicole, wiggles her hips, then Nicole points back and wiggles! However this time Charlotte missed her beat, pointed at the wrong time and Nicole just looked at her with this "what was that?" look! So Nicole didn’t do the dance. (Umm I think I may have been the only person to notice that as no one else said they had!).

Next the part which makes every concert soooo different. It was time for Pull Up To The Bumper babyyyy. I saw Graham wandering around in front of the front of the stage just after Tired Of Being Alone, so I knew it was time! Sharleen selected 3 guys from the crowd after explaining why she wouldn’t pick a woman. She did her usual lines and said if your a good dancer it means your good in bed. One of the guys which she had chosen for herself, who kinda loved himself, ran off the stage after this! It was very funny - neither Graham or Delboy (over at the side of the stage) could find him and they said he disappeared! Jerry and Johnny’s child were at the side of the stage. Sharleen called him her nephew - awww! Sharleen selected another person to get up on stage and Jerry and some of the others kept pointing at the child and saying Sharleen should get him on the stage. Sharleen looked at them with this "nooo" look! The dancing competition started before Sharleens new guy made it onto the stage. Nicole had her guy on the ground (as predicted)! Charlotte was in top form and won the competition, go Charlotte!

Charlotte and Nicole were hanging around on stage. I was puzzled, is the set list changing and is In Demand later? No, Nicole got Charlotte and they went off stage - it looked like they had forgotten to leave! Oops, as this meant I had no time to get my phone out of my bag and call Terri. She was upset she couldn’t make it to the last concert and wanted me to play this song down the phone to her. I saw Sharleen pick up the guitar. Tried to call her, damn "network busy". I texted her. Come onnnnnn Terri! Finally, she called, the first verse had been sung. I held up the phone, but felt silly so didn’t hold it up for long, but kept checking it didn’t disconnect! The song sounded incredible. I just watched, until the "yeah yeah, yeah yeah, yeahhhh" started, and then joined in with the rest of the crowd. Terri said afterwards that she couldn’t hear Sharleen just all the crowd at that point! But it was great as she totally felt the atmosphere, as though she was there...

Texas did change the order of a couple of the songs in the set list and surprised me when they did When We Are Together *after* Summer Son. I deliberately planned to change films in my camera at When We Are Together, and then when I saw Sharleen get her guitar I was like oh no! Summer Son is a "jumping" "clapping" song, which you really don’t want to be changing films during!

Then the last song before the encore, Say What You Want. It was almost over, it was sad. They waved and left the stage, then reappeared (note : Sharleen is getting very fast at costume changes! She has got it down to 2 minutes!). Inner Smile, the "pointing" song! 1, 2, 3, 4 yeah yeah yeah yeah...I pointed at Charlotte and Nicole, most of the crowd point at Sharleen. Charlotte and Nicole pointed back!

The very last song...Suspicious Minds. They played it for the last time. Such a great cover. I say the "ooo baby baby" part (backing singers), the crowd were all singing Sharleens part...Nicole went over and took a photo of us - it reminded me of when she did this in Bordeaux and the crowd surged forwards, wanting to be in it. Its depressing to think we wont ever see that live again. Its over, the end, for 2 years...2 whole years. I was kinda down afterwards. Its a weird feeling after seeing them, not just performing, but chatting and stuff...at least once a month and sometimes several times a month, and now, there is nothing. I just have this "feeling" that they wont be able to go that long without playing live. I think there will be some private concerts, and maybe they will play a concert at the end of the year. I hope so anyway!

Also its not only about seeing Texas play or meeting and chatting to them, its also about meeting up with other people too. People that I wouldn't see if it wasn't for Texas. People that I won't see for a long time. That is sad too...There is a fan meeting in Paris in October which I hope to go to. I know that’s not the same, and not all of the UK fans will want to travel to Paris, but at least I can see some of the others again. Some is better than none...

11ish
Anyway concert over. Staging being removed. Time for a quick photo of the gang. Then to cross the sea of mud to see the merchandise. There wasn’t anything new. We said our goodbyes as Julia, Nicky, Kathy, Bea and Dirk were heading off. Stuart, Cara and I hung around near the stage. We decided to get the 12:30 bus but underestimated the long walk back and missed the bus by about 5 minutes! This meant we had to wait around until 4:30am. It was good fun - we hang out chatting about everything from: male/female nipples (yes I will put that in Stuart!), sex, relationships, music, life and other stuff! Then Stuart and Cara then tell me they don’t want to share the room which I had booked and paid for, so couldn't cancel it. Also my stuff was there, but anyway. I have spent as much, if not more, money going to this one festival, than flying to Hamburg and doing the 2 Denmark dates! Who cares, it was worth it, the last concert for...a while...

4:30
The bus arrived at last. It was getting quite chilly outside!

5:15
We arrived back at Stafford train station. I got a taxi back to the hotel on my own. Only had a few hours sleep, as they kick you out at 12. Got another £30 taxi fare. Just caught a train back to Oxford and was *very* lucky to get a seat. Train was late, missed my bus home. Went into Oxford and got my photos developed. I have some good ones and a few of Nickys hair! *lol*

Ahh well, its all over...c ya sometime!


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