Proms In The Park review

[alobear]

Hyde Park on a Saturday afternoon at the tail-end of summer.

Dave and I turned up, looking extra cool (but feeling rather hot) in our full-length leather coats, all-black ensemble and shades - while all my friends sensibly stuck with jeans and t-shirts. We were the only ones with chairs, though, so we got our revenge...

Anyway, the concert was excellent. A mediocre Madness tribute band was followed by the fabulous Chazz and Dave, who appear to have cracked the secret to the elixir of life. Chico from The X Factor I could really have done without, and Lionel Ritchie I can take or leave generally, but nothing was particularly bad in the first half.

Then we got full orchestra renditions of the theme to Superman and a medley of music from Pirates of the Caribbean, which were fabulous. The opera stuff was very well done, too, and all the classical music was mixed in with more modern tunes to keep everyone's attention.

Up until the finale, the highlight for me was most definitely the trip to the toilet, where I discovered that the BBC does not skimp on its facilities - real toilets, with actual sinks, soap and paper towels were a revelation after I had steeled myself for Glastonbury-style pits.

Then we had the patriotic bit. Now, I'm not in the least patriotic, but give me a chance to sing stirring songs at the top of my lungs in the middle of Hyde Park and I'll turn into a flag-waving loony with the best of them. Land Of Hope And Glory started us off, Rule Britannia was great fun, Dave and I both cried during Jerusalem, and even the National Anthem wasn't as dull as usual. Fireworks to end were great.

And then we had an unexpectedly easy journey home, not really having to wait at all, and arriving back at the flat only very shortly after midnight.

However, it was a pretty long and tiring day, so my plan for tomorrow is to be still like vegetables, in preparation for the mammoth journey to Vancouver on Monday.