Been to several (not all) of the O2 gigs for the last three weeks. All of them were in lower tier until Friday 17 Aug when I was "suckered" into buying NPGMC floor tickets in block F1.

On arriving I was initially really disappointed with the view (but realised after a while that Mya's band's instruments were higher on the stage than Prince's band who sit in the "pit" in the O of the

My next concern was that all I would see was the back of Prince's head as on some of the previous nights he didn't seem to work the back of the stage that much (on the 7th he only went around the back about 3 times max).

Anyhow my gig partner Mentalist pursuaded me not to bother trying to exchange tix (not sure if it would have been possible anyway) as we were surrounded by fellow "hardcore" fans and the atmosphere was pretty good (no casual beer swilling, hotdog munching, chatterbox twats at all).

I then realised of course that the band actually have to pass next to blocks F1 and F2 to reach the stage - doh! That meant I knew when they were coming on and off.

The gig was good but probably the weakest I have been to so far (certainly the shortest). Certainly weaker than 7th and 14th. However, a few setlist changes worked well and being surrounded by Prince geeks made it great fun.

However, the best bits:

1) Prince really worked the back of the stage on 17th. He was around there loads and always got a massive reaction from the geeks like me!

2) Being surrounded by "real fans" meant everyone was really into it. Knew all the songs. Were respectful of the quiet slow numbers. Were respectful of each other. Chatted before and after but not during the gig.

3) After the encore I saw Prince being wheeled away in the BOX and knew the gig was over then as the band began walking by. I shaked hands with Morris Hayes, Shelby J, Renato Neto, Joshua Dunham and got "high fives" or "finger wipes" from pretty much everyone else except the Twinz!

4) After the lights were up and everyone was leaving (probably just a few stragglers like us and a few people in our block killing time before the aftershow) Morris Hayes comes back out into the arena so I walk over and thank him for the gigs so far and then ask him about the aftershow tonight. He was real cagey with his answer but assured me he would be playing because he was "in the mood". He was a really polite nice guy.

At the aftershow we then met a couple of girls who were complete prince freaks (in a good way), one of who (Shelly) had kind of got to "know" Morris Hayes over the years of attending gigs. Well Morris came strolling over again for a chat. He recognised me from a couple of hours earlier. He also found out if was Shelly's birthday (she asked him to to get Prince to wish her happy birthday if he performed but he reminded her "Prince doesn't celebrate birthdays!"). However he disappeared back stage and about 10 mins later came back out with a handful of muffins "we don't have no birthday cake so this is the best I can do!"

Just thought that was a real nice thing to do. It made her night "I've got muffins from Prince's table!!!!!" and also a lot of "Got the butter for your muffin" type jokes (yes we were all Prince geeks to the max).

Anyhow I guess the purpose of my post was to share my experience AND also to reassure people who have block F1 tickets that it really isn't all bad. The lower tier is a better view but the atmosphere in F1 was amazing. They are different experiences and if you were only going once I would say lower tier. However, if you have multiple nights then stick with at least one in F1*

*note though that I think F2 would be a more restricted view (through the band).
[Edited 8/20/07 6:57am]
[Edited 8/20/07 6:57am]

Thank you so much for this! I sold my F1 tickets for Saturday night because

a) we've overdosed and didn't appreciate the last concert as much as we had the earlier ones so felt we needed a break, and

b) I've heard nothing but negative about these seats!

It's good to get a different perspective, and confirm my suspicions that you get close to the band - I hadn't thought about the fact that most people in these seats are "proper" fans because they're mostly NPGMC seats! Bonus!

I have F1 seats for the last night and it's been putting a downer on it for me but now, if I can't manage to blag something better, I don't think I'll get too worried about it because after what you've written, it's not all bad!

And Morris is great - he's so friendly and really takes the time to talk to the fans. He signed my programme on 7th Aug, and remembered me when I went to say Hi on the Friday after. That stuff matters...and Morris is the MAN when it comes to making us fans feel special!!

Thanks for a great and really useful post. Glad to hear you had a great night.

themellowone said:

I also would like to say thank you. I have F1 tickets for the 9th September and have been really worried about all the negative comments. I am now going to keep my tickets and make the most of it - great atmosphere down on the floor anyway. Was in A2 on Friday and it was brilliant, and everybody danced which made it even better!!!

Muffins on eBay then

themellowone said:

Hey guys you're welcome - nice to be useful. I have read so much negativity (some of it such as the ticket allocation from Ticketmaster/AEG is fair enough and I agree) but felt it was good to give another perspective on the F1 issue.

As I said though, really can't speak for F2 as it is directly behind the band. I assume F3 is the same as F1.

Again, if anyone is only going once then I would recommend lower tier. However, F1/F2 is cool for a "different experience"

As for the muffins! I was all set to eat one of them much to the horror of birthday girl hey I was hungry by 1am!