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The London Astoria Performance
I chatted up one of the bouncers and asked how we could get backstage. He was helpful and said he would ask his friend who was part of security. Time passed extremley quick and they eventually cleared everyone off the stage at 2.30 am. Within a couple of minutes the stage had a chair and a couple of other props placed on it. Then Steve appeared to check everything out on stage (which I completeley missed somehow) I looked to the side of the stage and I could see Pete smoking a cigarette. It felt like forever waiting there. Then the music started and there were images in the the background of Pete through the years. Then this young woman appeared on stage she was completely bald and had her ears pierced many times, she was extremley thin and she sort of stood there moving occasionally a bit like a mannequin. Then there was another young lady on stage along side her, she had huge amounts of long blonde hair, she smiled a lot. Then Pete appeared wearing a crop top and something wrapped over it, with a kind of sarong skirt thing and a gold sequined mask. He had multi couloured extensions in his hair too. His make up was a sort of bluey green. He looked fantastic ! Now I know this is going to sound bad coming from a fan but I don't have a clue what the first song was, obviously a cover, it was good, but I think they should have used a well known song at first to warm the crowd up. The next song was 'The Real Thing' U2. I thought they did it extremely well. Then a cover of a Prince song I've never heard before. Sorry about this I'm not much help here am I, well I was having a good time and I was in a world of my own, I didn't take a note pad ! Then he did Brand New lover and he interacted with the girls extremley well and the blonde chick threw out records into the audience,he danced and moved around the stage a lot. I turned to Claire who looked quite taken a back by Pete and I said 'I fucking love him' several times. We were right at the front and Pete came very close and actually sat on the stage in front of us several times.Then was Lover Come Back to me and of course the Remix of 'You Spin Me' The crowd were really enjoying it and so was I. Pete appeared to be in a very good mood, smiling and chatting a little between songs. A guy would appear and help him take off more clothes as he went along. Then he said thanks and good night and that was it ! He reached out and touched people in the crowd, I grabbed his arm, he was warm and smelled sweet. I was totally stunned, after just 30 minutes they left the stage and everything was moved off imediateley. Then the crowd got back up and danced on the stage. I was still standing there motionless with my mouth open. Claire asked if I was alright and then I replied 'was that it, I've waited half of my life for thirty minutes.' I soon recovered and got up on the stage. I chatted to my friend the bouncer he said he would see if he could get Pete's autograph for me. He did. I was pleased but felt I wanted more. At the end of the night I'd had a great time, the gig was one of the best as far as a performance goes I'm sure. He used tapes to sing to as usual and commented on that during the gig, I can't remember what he said about it now ! All in all I was satified with a quick thirty minutes. All my suspicions had been confirmed - Pete was exactly as I thought he would be, wonderful. Also available:
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Myself, fellow Dead or Aliver Rik, and my friend Claire arrived at Gay relieved to see Pete's name above the door. We went in to discover the atmosphere was fantastic and now I don't know much about sound systems and that, but the acoustics in there were really very good. It is, I think, an old theatre. Anyhow we went to the bar and spotted a huge projected picture of Pete on the wall. I still couldn't belive it was happening after waiting these thirteen years. It was still early and we had two hours before Pete was due on at 1.30am. I was so excited I was up and dancing on the stage along with many others.