Friday 29th October was definitely a night to remember for me.
The Eastpak Antidote Tour came to London at the HMV Forum and the build up to the show was amazing. When I arrived at the venue there was girls that had been queueing since 6am (pictured above - still smiling!) and the next pair in the queue had come all the way from Spain for the show! We did tell them that the tour was coming to Spain but they said that London was best (who can blame them!). The line to get in was going right around the building which was incredible to see. The show went without a hitch and all of the bands were really well received. First up were Veara and I was pleased to see a huge crowd ready to cheer them on. Next was The Riverboat Gamblers who again rocked out hard and put on a very energetic show. For me, the highlight was The Black Pacific (ex-Pennywise front man Jim Lindberg's new venture) and he showed the same spark and natural frontmanship (made up word but it works!) that he did in his Pennywise days. He had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand and they definitely gained a legion of new fans after their performance. Headliners Sum 41 appeared on stage last and it's safe to say that the crowd were thrilled to see them. Deryck did the usual by bringing some lucky fans up onto the stage to give them a night they'll never forget! I couldn't stay long to see them as I had to head to the after show to make sure it was all set up and beautiful before our guests arrived. And I must say, I was very pleased with how it looked. We had the tour logo's on vinyl stickers all over the venue (the red mouth's you can see above) and it was then a case of waiting for the red London buses to arrive with all of our guests! My good friend Leigh Shorter hit the decks first and proved invaluable throughout the night and even had to help Cone from Sum 41 as he was unsure of how to DJ through his ipod (bless!). Photo's above show The Black Pacific and Sum 41 being interviewed at the after show and I had my pic taken with the lovely Jim Lindberg (I was pretty happy at this point!). It was an absolutely awesome night which I enjoyed thoroughly (til way gone 4am) and I hope the rest of the tour continues to please fans up until the last show in Germany...
