Where do I start? very disappointed.
The doors opened at 19:00, Mario finally took to the stage at 22:15!!!! Why????
If it was his intention to come on so late, why didn't they arrange for half decent warm up acts? Basiclly, we had some bloke called Cat, who I recognised from MTV, trying to entertain the crowd between the dreadful warm up acts. Cat is about as funny as a poke in the eye with a very sharp stick. Between his tedious ramblins we had to listen to, what looked like a load of kids who had just been dragged of the nearest council estate. Just a load of shouting and squelling down the microphone.
At about 21:30, just when everyone was becoming restless, Cat introduced two American fellas who aparently had just recorded a single with R Kelly. From the reaction of the crowd you could tell that nobody cared, my girlfriend counted 3 people waving their hands in the air, to be honest, I felt sorry for the poor blokes on stage as there was no reaction whatsoever.
After that drivel, we though Mario must be ready to take the stage when Cat introduced another singer, this time female. Unfortunately, I can't remember her name but to be fair to her she was pretty good.
Finally, the big moment arrived, after what seemed like a liftime of waiting and a dodgy keyboard which delayed things further, Mario was on stage! At which point a fight between two girls broke out in the crowd, probably due to frustration for having to wait for so long!
As I said earlier, I'm a big Mario fan and I like the fact that he sounds as good live as he does on a CD but this was not the Mario I was expecting.
The most embarassing part for me was when he so blantently forgot the words to 'Stranded'. This is not X Factor pal, sort it out!
Anyway, as he started so late we had to leave before the end to catch a train. Suffice to say, I won't be going to another Mario concert again.
Note to the organisers - PLEASE stop booking rubbish warm up acts. The acts seem to get worse the more I go to the IndigO2.