Foo Fighters at the O2

So last night I went off to go and see the Foo Fighters playing at the O2. I don't want to go into too much detail about the band other than to say that they were really rather good, as per usual.

However I will talk about the O2 for a bit. I've been to the Arena a couple of times now, once for the opening night and again for Andrea Bocelli. This time I was sat high up along the side. The sides are really steep, I worried for a moment what would happen if I slipped, it looks possible to roll all the way down and fall over the edge. I'm sure it's impossible though. What the steep sides did do was to give us a fantastic view of the stage. The sound quality was great as well.

I went with a friend who's not been there before and he was impressed with the Arena itself and also the easy access to food and drink facilities as well as the loos. However he's not been to the revamped Wembley Stadium or Arena so he's not totally up to date on the O2s competition.

All told I think the O2 Arena is a great Arena venue. Sure I'd rather see the bands in a small club but that's just not going to happen. The O2 makes Arena concerts about as good as they can be.

The only slight downer to the evening were the smokers. I popped out to the loos at one point and suddenly a female member of staff burst in and demanded that whoever was smoking stop, they'd set off a smoke alarm and it was claimed the management were on the verge of evacuating the venue. Maybe that was a bit exaggerated but to be honest I can see the management panicking when a smoke alarm goes off in the loo. Sure it's probably a smoker but can they risk it?

Also a woman in the row in front of us was smoking. She was trying to do it furtively, bending down in her seat with one hand covering the end of the fag. Was she really so stupid as to think that she could do it and not be noticed?

A part of me was angry that people were flouting the rules and making me smell of smoke, something I thought I'd never have to go through again at gigs.

A bigger part actually felt quite sad and sorry for those individuals who are so hooked on their addiction and lack sufficient self control so that that have to skulk off somewhere like a teenager at school for a crafty fag somewhere.

It's not big, it's not clever and it makes you look like a real idiot.

Anyhow a top venue and a top band.