The Calling Concert - Nov 1st

(check out Sami's photos on the photos page!!)

by Sami

Nervously clutching our prized tickets, our first glimpse of what the night ahead would be like was leaving the Hammersmith tube station, and being confronted by hundreds of people gathering outside London Hammersmith Apollo stadium. As two lost little Australians, my best friend Nell and I made our way towards the doors where a huge crowd was gathering, although the venue doors weren't to be opened for another hour. If we thought that the few hundred people waiting early was a sight to behold, before our very eyes, in less than a half hour's time, the crowd had more than tripled in size and very soon we were thanking our lucky stars that we had gotten there early. As the line slowly made its way through the doors at opening time, we watched as the line of fans wound its way round and round the barriers and off down the street, easily being more than 2kms in length! Finally, battling the crowds (and after making a very necessary stop at the bar, to supress the nerves!) we were escorted to our seats in the very middle of the block. Prime Alex viewing space! Sitting through the opening act, we were baffled as to why there were so many seats vacant and had already decided that the spare seats in the front row were most definitely ours if those silly people chose not to claim them! However, on a 2nd trip to the bar, I soon discovered that everyone was sitting out the first act by hanging out in the bar and only intended to fill their seats moments before The Calling came out.

As the opening bars to 'One by One' filtered through the speakers, and the lights went low, the crowd went totally mad. A packed concert hall of around 5000 screaming people must certainly be quite a daunting thing to walk out on stage to! Nell and I found ourselves totally caught up in it and I did the one thing I swore I wouldn't do in public... I screamed out with joy like the rest of the people around me. And then Alex appeared. We captured this moment on video, yet when you watch it back you can't hear the music for the screaming of the crowd. Its enough to raise the hairs on the back of your neck, its a thrilling moment when he walks out. The rest of the concert was as you'd imagine.... bloody incredible. If there is one thing that Alex and the rest of the band hold a supreme talent for, its keeping the crowd enthralled. No one can work a crowd up quite like Alex does! Of course, the fact that he's incredibly good looking most certainly doesn't go un-noticed! What made the concert so good was definitely the strength, clarity and sheer emotion that Alex conveys with his voice, especially on songs such as 'Anything' and 'Could It Be Any Harder'. 'Wherever You Will Go" appeared to be the last song of the set and the band received a huge standing ovation. The atmosphere whilst they were performing this song was electric, every person in the place was standing, waving their hands in the air and singing along. Nell and I were even jumping up and down at one stage, totally without self restraint! As Alex dashed off stage at the end of the song, it was almost heart-breaking to think it was all over. But the crowd didn't let up, cheering "encore" over and over again, for what seemed an eternity. Suddenly, the lights came back on and Alex dashed out on stage again, wearing the Cross of St George british flag across his shoulders, promising to sing a few more songs. The next few songs were almost a blur, the crowd remained on their feet (us included!) for the remainder of the concert and the sadness was audible when Alex ran off stage for the last time. As we stumbled outside into the night, there were again hundreds of people waiting near the band's tour bus in the hope of a glimpse of the band.

True to his word, Alex did appear at the end of the concert and sign for his fans. Sadly, we weren't included as we couldn't get within 500m of the man so just the sight of his blonde hair had to do us for now! So home it was that we went (with the pair of binoculars from the seat in front of us as proof that we went!), and watched back our short videos and admired our photos. Although it doesn't look like we were very close by the shocking pictures my camera took, we were actually right in the midst of all the action. So my parting words are a huge thank you to The Calling for such a brilliant night!

To Alex, Aaron and the rest of the crew, you are totally amazing and your music has really touched our lives. You're an inspiration to both me and my best friend, so please return to Australia soon! xxxx

The song order of the night:
1. One By One
2. Adrienne
3. Chasing The Sun
4. Anything
5. Could It Be Any Harder
6. Things Will Go My Way
7. For You
8. If Only
9. Surrender (to which Alex announced "this is my sexy song!")
10. Somebody Out There
11. Why Don't You and I
12. Stigmatized
13. Wherever You Will Go
14. Don't Look Back (apparently a U2 cover, although no one was quite sure on this)
15. Dreaming In Red
16. Our Lives