backstage at the royal albert hall

May 30, 2010 in don mclean

On May 7th I was lucky enough to have a backstage pass and guest tickets for Don McLean’s show at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

My friend Ron Buck and I had a lot of fun making the most of our access-all-areas permits and chatting to the band in the green room before the show. Everyone was excited to be back at this great venue and framed photos illustrating the venue’s long and rich history were liberally posted around the backstage corridors and dressing rooms.

Don’s performance was a complete triumph and he sang for two hours to over 5000 fans, old and new. Before taking my seat I filmed his stage entry and the amazing reception from the crowd.

Afterwards, backstage was buzzing with numerous VIPs and old friends who’d arrived to say hello to Don, who was clearly ecstatic at how the performance had gone.

I was lucky to be there and it was a great night.

Before the show – in Don McLean’s place on stage at the Albert Hall:

4 Replies

Annie
May 31st, 2010 at 8:36 am

A fitting opportunity for you Alan after all the hard work you continue to put in to running Don’s web site for all of us fans.Just curious as to who were the VIPs who came to see Don apart from you and Ron of course.It was very exciting again to hear the build up as he came on it was wonderful to be part of that audience.
Did you get to record the whole show?
Thanks for this
alan
May 31st, 2010 at 10:31 am

It was busier than normal backstage after the show but I can’t honestly say if the guests were very important or not, though they were all very friendly. I am awful at person recognition so maybe I obliviously got to speak to some famous star, though I doubt it (other than Don of course)! However there was quite a mix of people (judging by appearances) coming and going.
I didn’t film the whole show. I quickly took my seat in the stalls after the first couple of songs.
Annie
May 31st, 2010 at 9:31 pm

Thanks Alan it was good to see you at RAH and Manchester hope you enjoyed the tour as much as I did.Just been reading your article on how you got to meet Don after you started his web site, it would be interesting for others to read on the site but not sure if its already there and I just haven’t seen it.
Thank you very much for your kind comment about me on the site made me feel very special.Any indication from Don if there will be another UK tour in the future or do I need to start saving to go the states. If you started following Don when you were 3 did your parents enjoy Don’s music?
alan
Jun 1st, 2010 at 10:59 pm

It was good to see you in London and Manchester and I am sure Don will be back. He is with the Asgard Agency and 3A Entertainment and these people mean business and will keep Don touring as long as he continues selling out tickets at places like the Albert Hall. There are no bigger concert promoters in the UK and they didn’t sign Don for fun. It also means they are in complete control of when and what concert dates can be published on the official Don McLean website so we no longer report unconfirmed dates but Don is on the ascendancy and the only shock would be if the Albert Hall was his last major concert. I think 3A and Asgard are brilliant for Don and I have been completely impressed by their operation during this tour. Every member of their team (which was the most extensive I’ve seen accompanying Don on tour) was clearly entirely capable, professional, efficient and accomplished. They reminded me of how Don was so impressed by Garth Brooks’ team at their Central Park concert in 1997. 3A’s next engagement is the X Factor arena tour and it would be good to see Don as a guest on the next series of that TV show and maybe Don can jump from the Albert Hall to the O2 next time around.

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