Concert Reviews
The 2002 Australian Concert Tour
David Cassidy Live in Melbourne
November 11th 2002.
Vodafone Arena, Melbourne, Australia
By : Denise Patrick
I flew from Perth to Melbourne for my first ever David Cassidy concert at the Vodaphone Arena and its an experience I'll never forget.
After sitting in the 2nd row for the support act, which by the way I thought were very good, we were told during interval by security that as soon as the lights start to go down we could make our way to the stage. Of course that was all the encouragement the fans needed. The second the lights started to go down the front row surged forward and I did something I never thought I'd do . I literally jumped over the front row seats and made my mad dash to the stage. To my absolute delight I ended up slightly to the left of the microphone and I knew that I would finally be able to see "My David" up close but I hadn't realized the reaction to being that close to "My David" would be. The moment I first saw David standing on the side of the stage waiting to come on, my heart started pounding and I felt light headed. As soon as he rushed towards the microphone with his guitar on and started singing my stomach just dropped and I really thought I was going to faint or be sick and most likely both!! It took the whole of the 1st song for me to recover enough to actually start taking in the fact that there was my teenage idol in the flesh not 2 feet from me singing his heart out. It instantly brought back all the feelings I had for him back in the 70s and just like magic I was a teenager all over again and for that I'll always be grateful to David for making me feel that way again.
He sang all the songs that we have come to expect and sang them with such passion and pride. To the non-converted one could mistaken that Melbourne was the first time David had sung those songs. He moved about the stage with such ease and seemed to be enjoying himself.
He spoke of his memories of his concert at the MCG and how it had been so long since he had been in Australia. He also spent time looking at memorabilia such as some books and the infamous Rolling Stone picture which he showed to his back-up singers and commented about how new his scar was.
I had taken a small teddy, with the word 'Rockstar' on the front, and was very confident that I would be able to be in a position to give it to him. After numerous attempts to get his attention it became apparent to me that he seemed to be ignoring me and my bear so I was close to giving up, when a guy behind me said keep trying he is bound to notice you. Then was a lull in the noise so I started shouting "David take the bear" and of course he didn't hear me so then the some others were shouting out "take the bear" and still David didn't acknowledge me so in the end many of the fans were shouting "take the bear, take the bear" and David said "take off my hair, why??" then he noticed me and said "oh take the bear" then he bend down and took it and made some comment like "Well OK I've got the bear". It was quite funny and in fact it's mentioned in the Melbourne Age newspaper.
The best part of the night was when he sang Summer Days and Last Kiss . he was sensational. The worst of course was that it finished too soon, it seemed he had only just got started and then it was all over. But I have 2 more shows in Perth to look forward to and even more people to meet and enjoy the experiences with.
I loved every second of it and left the Vodaphone Arena feeling on top of the world after all I had stood at "My David's feet" for a whole night.
Denise Patrick
