Last night we went to see David Essex.



Sadly, the less said about the gig the better. I thought David Essex was rubbish and that the gig was a massive disappointment, both to me and to Lorraine.We have seen David Essex in concert twice before and both times he was really good, which made it even worse.

The first time we saw David Essex was a few years back at the NEC, when he was appearing as part of a 70's package tour featuring Les McKeown (the ex lead singer of the Bay City Rollers), the Osmonds and David Cassidy. David Cassidy was headlining, but David Essex blew him off the stage with a mixture of a great voice, great songs (he played 6 or 7 of his biggest hits) and a genuine rapport with the audience. Surprisingly, maybe, the Osmonds were also really good that night.

The second time was a couple of years ago at the Symphony Hall. Obviously this time it was a full length concert. David Essex looked good, sounded good, bounced around the stage with the energy of a teenager and played all of his hits bar my favourite "Stardust". Bastard! Generally a good night was had by all and especially by the hundreds of ladies in their late 40's.

Last night David Essex's voice was shot to hell, he looked fragile and there was definitely a whiff of going-through-the-motions about the whole endeavour. He mentioned a couple of times that it had been a long tour. I checked and Birmingham was the 45th date. Maybe that had a lot to do with the whole lack of energy. You cannot expect a man of 61 to have the same energy as one of 25, but that is hardly any comfort to your average punter shelling out for an evening of entertainment. Not that it appeared the rest of the audience noticed or cared. There was a lot of screaming, a gaggle of middle aged women down the front, and the nice middle class lady who sat next to me (not Jennifer) swooned throughout.

I suppose I was a bit bored by the show. Jennifer agreed. She said that if she heard David Essex was touring again, she wouldn't bother to go to see him for a third time. I think that speaks volumes.

Hopefully our next two gigs will be better. Neil Diamond at the O2 Arena in London, on Saturday, and Goldfrapp at the Symphony Hall, on Sunday.

**

Sleep is hard going at the moment, and I am probably tireder than I thought I was. I realised this this afternoon when I cried all of the way through watching the 21st episode of series 3 of "Lost". You know the episode that I mean. "Greatest Hits", which has Charlie writing down the five greatest moments of his life, which we saw in flashback.

So sad. So heartfelt. So melancholic, considering what happens in episodes 22 and 23. I even teared up when describing what happened to Jennifer, who does not watch "Lost" at all. She shook her head sadly.

Am I an utter wuss, or what? I think I am.

**

This will probably be the last post until Monday. We have to catch an early coach tomorrow and then there will be limited opportunity to avail myself on the facilities of an Internet cafe.

So, have a good weekend folks, and if the opportunity arises for any of you to 'ave it', I strongly advise that you do so.