Chelmsford / Stafford UK - August 18th & 19th, 2001

by Bea & Kathy

The other side of the story, what really happened!


Gent, August 17th, 11.00
We have been ready for ages, eagerly awaiting our ride to the airport. We wonder whether Dirk has already set off. He’d better not be late or he will have to face two very angry young ladies. Imagine what we would do to him.

Gent, August 17th, 11.45
Seems that we underestimated our driver cause when he rings the bell Kathy is still saying her goodbyes to her internetfriend. Are we glad to see Dirk.

Gent, August 17th, 12.00
Poor Dirk, we don’t even offer him a drink, so much for hospitality! We are in a hurry.

Brussels, August 17th, 13.00
Arriving early we feel a bit embarrased about the way we rushed our friend. But hey he’d better get used to travelling with women. It’ll get even worse when we get to our destination.

Brussels, August 17th, 14.15
Time to drag Bea to the gate.

Brussels, August 17th, 15.00
What looks like a miracle for some is more like a nightmare to others. We can’t remember which gods Bea prayed to, to have a safe flight, but at least they heard her.

Manchester, August 17th, 17.00
Dirk takes care of the luggage. We feel a bit sorry for him as obviously he can’t keep up with us, we are running like fools. We hope Nicky and Julia weren’t too embarrassed when they saw the belgian delegation storming into their direction. It is great to see our friends again. It had been months since we last met them in Gent.

Nottingham, August 17th, 19.00
After having some Italian food at the Mexican, Nicky and Julia showed us around Nottingham. Now we know where the oldest pub in England is. We love the size of the drinks in the UK. A shame we didn’t manage to see the castle. As Nickies and Julias charms didn’t persuade the gatekeeper to let us in, maybe Dirks looks would have done the trick. We don’t ask him to try, instead we want Robin to shoot an arrow in his .... Robin misses.

Travel Inn (weknowwhereintheukWatfordGap), August 18th, 00.30
About time we get out of the car! Someone needs a shower urgently!

Travel Inn (weknowwhereintheukWatfordGap), August 18th, 08.15
Didn’t sleep very well, snoring kept us awake all night long. Wonder who that was?!?

Hylands Park, Chelmsford, August 18th, 12.00
We have a traditional english breakfast, which will probably be our last decent meal of the day. Then it’s off to Chelmsford. Arriving at the park, we think we are at the wrong event cause all the carpark staff wear suits and ties. Julia can’t resist telling one guy who isn’t wearing those off. Poor bloke! One last visit to the loo and we take our positions in front of the stage. It will be a very long wait.

Hylands Park, Chelmsford, August 18th, 13.30
We are very surprised to find out that Dirk is such a hiphopfan. When Spooks do the “say yeaaah” game, he is about the only one that sings along. Kathy is almost deafened by his “f*ck yous” and wants to go for cover. Do we know this guy?!?

Hylands Park, Chelmsford, August 18th, 14.45
We have been here only 2 hours and we already need to go urgently. How will we manage a whole day we wonder? Luckily Nelly Furtado provides some distraction on stage. We sing along. She is OK!

Hylands Park, Chelmsford, August 18th, 15.45
We get funny looks from Dirk. Who the hell are Embrace? We see him think: I should have brought a helmet to avoid concussion.

Hylands Park, Chelmsford, August 18th, 17.00
Faithless, the big highlight in our long Texas-wait. Good opportunity to stretch our leggs a bit. Standing in the same spot for hours sure is not easy. We had been telling Dirk, Nicky and Julia what a good live-show Faithless put on so they’d better prove us right. Luckily Maxi Jazz, Sister Blizz and their gang don’t let us down. We all go out of our minds. Faitless has gained some new fans.

Hylands Park, Chelmsford, August 18th, 18.15
More and more people gather in front of the stage. Hardly any space left to move. Everybody wants to see Coldplay. They get such a warm welcome. The band seem so happy to be there. They can’t believe they are playing in front of such a big crowd. Their music is brilliant. The crowd loves it. We get goosepimples when everyone sings along. What a beautiful moment. There are so many press photographers. At some point they are more interested in the crowd going wild. You can see the result in NME.

Hylands Park, Chelmsford, August 18th, 19.45
Some people leave so we all manage to get to the first row. Mission accomplished. Only one more band to go. Piece of cake we think but we thought that a bit too soon. People go really mad. So much pushing. We hardly manage to stay on our feet. You should see our faces. It can be pretty scary being pushed from one side to the other by so many people. We have to hang on, can’t give up now. All of a sudden Dirk disappears. We fear the worst. We are relieved when we see his face again. He is one hungy guy in search of satisfying his hunger. We offer him our sandwiches but find out that they got stuck to Nickies boots. The car will smell fishy later on.

Hylands Park, Chelmsford, August 18th, 20.45
To be honest we are glad that The Charlatans finished their set. Not that they are no good, but we need some space to breathe again!

Hylands Park, Chelmsford, August 18th, 21.15
The moment has arrived. We check if we are still all there. We all made it. Time to prepare for the big one.
During Guitar Song Kathy wants to surprise a friend in Portugal who has never had the chance to see Texas live. She calls her. After some time she thinks it isn’t working and decides to hang up. Later we find out that someone on the other side of the line was freaking out on Guitar Song. (*wink*) This is one of our last chances to get our mate doing a dirty dance with Sharleen. That would be so funny. When Sharleen starts looking for her guy we all point at our victim. Dirk beggs us not to, but what can he do against four women, we try our best. Unfortunately there are too many guys eager to get on stage. They don’t know what they are in for. Are they “good dancers” or not? Sharleen is about to find out.

Hylands Park, Chelmsford, August 18th, 23.00
We are sad that it’s over again but are very happy to find a toilet. We don’t even mind the state they are in. Pfffffffff what a relief. Finding the car is something else. Thank god Dirk had a deal with a tree.

Travel Inn (weknowwhereintheukWatfordGap), August 19th, 02.30
We have al long drive ahead and would kill for a nice cold drink. As there is no chance of getting those, Dirks gets out a huge bag of wine gums. We get drunk on those. At least they won’t give us a headache in the morning. We sing along with Texas. Some of the songs they just did, are on Virgin Radio. We relive those wonderfull moments.

Travel Inn (weknowwhereintheukWatfordGap), August 19th, 08.15
The wine gums made Dirk snore even louder. Short sleep. Another long day ahead.

Weston Park, Stafford, August 19th, 11.30
As we arrive at the arena it is already raining. We decide to wait in the car for a while. Next to the car some guys who had a rough night prepare breakfast on an improvised (made of beercans) stove. Luckily we had ours earlier. Dirk almost gets lynched by his harem for only even suggesting to go and see Attomic Kitten. What is he like! He wishes he hadn’t opened his mouth. He will never make a mistake like this again.
Dirk dares us girls to get to the stage first. Off course we let him win. Otherwise his ego would have seriously been damaged. The first row is already taken so we try and find out who is staying for Texas. People give us funny looks. Seems nearly everyone is there to see Texas. 2nd Row will have to do for now.
After Spooks, Bea neads to go urgently. She makes her way through thousands of people to find a massive queue. She decides to do something very un-british and jumpes the queue. Luckily no-one notices, she gets away with it. We all wonder how she will manage to make her way back. People are already so close to each other. We fear we won’t see her again till after Texas. Obviously we underestimated her willpower. She tells us it was so tough making her way back. Some people wouldn’t let her through but she persevered and made her way back in the end. That was the toughest visit to the loo ever.
Same bands, same music. Today Dirk is very active with his camera, especially when female performers are on. Nelly, Sister Blizz, they will all be hanging above his bed by now.

Weston Park, Stafford, August 19th, 16.00
We thought yesterday was bad, but we hadn’t seen anything yet. Even sardines have it easier than us. We have to hang on to each other so that we don’t fall over. Peoples bodyparts are all over us. In normal circumstances you would hit them in the face for it. We constantly check if we are all OK. We hang on. The things we do for Texas! It is crazy! Suddenly Dirk goes funny. His eyes look like he has had a couple of joints but no space for that and no women on stage either. He nearly gives up. We encourage him to stay. We don’t want to loose him now. We persuade a security guy to provide him with some water and that seems to do the trick. Pfffew. Imagine being there for so long and than give up.

Weston Park, Stafford, August 19th, 21.15
This is it. We are glad the moment has arrived but also a bit sad. This will be the last Texas concert for ages. Unfortunately Kathy isn’t in the first row. She makes the best of it anyway. One last time Sharleen gives us all she’s got. Big surprise during the dancing competition. We have seen a lot of wiseguys during the tour but Leon takes the cake. He was full of dirty language which we don’t want to repeat here. He does some indecent proposals to Sharleen. Booooooooo. Off course Sharleen puts him in his place. When it comes down to the action Leon suddenly isn’t so brave anymore. He completely loses it and chickens out. Ironically Sharleen isn’t surprised by his big mouth but by his silence. When Leon escapes the crowd booooooooos him away. W*nker, w*nker, w*nker. Leon might want to forget this moment as soon as possible, but we think his friends will never let him. What a mistake to make!
The action has already started on stage and poor Sharleen is still desperately looking for a replacement. Dirk has another chance. He nealy gets a heartattack when Sharleen looks in his direction for a split second. Dirk misses out again. Shame for us all cause he would have been brilliant no doubt. The replacement guy looks so funny in his wellies, waterproofs and hat. Like he had been working in the field the whole day. Suddenly we notice that the guys fly is undone. Sharleen doens’t forget to mention it to him. How embarrassing!

Weston Park, Stafford, August 19th, 22.45
The clock is ticking away. When they start playing Suspicious Minds we become nostalgic already. We sing our lungs out realising this is the last time we will hear this song live. A tear comes to our eye. We hardly dare looking at each other.
Sharleen thanks all the fans for attending their concerts during the Greatest Hits tour and announces their 2 year break. But she assures us that they will be back with even better material. We can’t wait to hear it. Nicole makes a picture of us crazy people.

Weston Park, Stafford, August 19th, 23.00
Greatest Hits Tour finished for ever. All we have left now are all those wonderfull memories. The places we went, the people we met thanks to Texas and off course the brilliant music. We meet up with some old and new friends. We hang around the arena for a while. We don’t want it to end. So many things to talk about. We also have to say goodbye to them. Dirk, our big kid, wants to go to the fair but his harem are to tired. Poor guy.

Travel Inn (weknowwhereintheukCrewe), August 20th, 11.00
This time no snoring but massive roars from Dirks stomach. We need to feed him urgently so it is off to Manchester. We have a very nice meal. After that we drag ourselves around the streets of this great city and end up spending nearly the whole afternoon sitting outside a pub. Heaven after two wonderfull but also tough days. We are so tired. Time to leave for the airport. Why does time pass so quickly?

Manchester airport, August 20th, 18.00
This is the end. We don’t feel like it, but we have to go home. If only we could extend our stay for a while. No chance of that so we say goodbye to our great friends Nicky and Julia. Hopefully it won’t be two years before we see them again. We check in and then wonder around the shops for a bit. Dirk goes wild on the CD’s again and Kathy well euh Kathy buys a massive amound of Walkers crisps, apparently her favourites. She will have wonderfull memories whilst eating those.

Brussels, August 20th, 22.00
We arrive at Brussels airport. Trouble finding the car again. We sure spent a lot of time looking for cars this weekend. We try to keep up the spirit in the car but realise that the weekend we looked forward to so badly was over. Dirk drops us off at home and we throw ourselves on the couch. We will never forget this wonderfull trip!


What a year this has been! We have been all over Europe to see our favourite band. Sometimes it was tough keeping up with the pace but when we look back we remember all the wonderfull moments we had. Thanks to Texas we have met so many great people. People from all over the world with the same passion for the best band around. It was great getting to know you all and let’s hope that we will meet again soon!
Thanks to Texas for everything. We are greatfull for everything you have given us. Enjoy your break and we hope to see you in 2 years!
Take Care everyone!

Kathy and Bea


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