Planes, Trains and Automobiles

For myself and my eldest daughter Angela, this was a mini adventure. I got so wrapped up in schedules and maps and kilometres I almost forgot why I had travelled all the way to Spain. To travel to a beautiful country surrounded by the most hospitable of people was breathtaking in itself, and I was SO looking forward to meeting up with Esther and Sergio in Madrid, and of course Montse and Monica in Barcelona. We arrived at our hotel at 2am on Thursday but had more than prepared ourselves for the five or six hours' train rides on the following morning to Madrid (thank you so much, Esther). Sadly, even though we had timetables and the hotel staff were more than helpful, we were misinformed about train links so the crucial link to Madrid was missed. As beautiful as the Temple de la Sagrada Familia and La Rambla are, they are NOT what we came to Spain for two days to see. To say we were disappointed was an understatement, so we got rather merry to drown our sorrows and I felt extremely sad at not being able to meet up with Esther and also to share a show together.

We soon forgot the disappointment at the Bikini Club in Barcelona the following evening when Glenn, Joe Lyn, JJ, Tomas and Kjell came on stage. There was uproar as soon as they kicked in with Hold On, an excellent opener, and boy do the Spanish love HTP! I can never stop myself from turning around at points throughout Glenn's shows to see and feel the crowd's reaction - awesome, absolutely awesome. I Surrender was next; a classic of course and a great one for a sing along. Losing My Head caused uproar and you just HAVE to sing along with the chorus. The tracks on HTP 2 are far superior than on HTP I (in my opinion), and I don't think the crowd would have gone home disappointed if they had played almost every track from the album and left out a few of the classics. (No Mistreated? For me? God forbid!) Alone I Breathe compliments both Glenn and Joe Lyn's voices superbly and one guy to my left was thumping the sky and 'singing' as loudly as Glenn, so thought it wise to take a few steps to the right in case he gave me a black eye!

Grace now has about a hundred versions of YKOM (and counting ) and I think I need to start a collection of my absolute favourite, Mistreated, as I can't get enough of Glenn's voice when this song is performed. Another classic, which always shows off Joe Lyn's voice, was Street of Dreams. Gettin' Tighter and YKOM followed (I thought of you instantly Grace, of course).

Death Alley Driver wouldn't have been a choice of mine, but again the crowd were in their element. This crowd did seem to be here for Joe Lyn as much as for Glenn, and were singing along with the words. I was fascinated that everyone could sing along so easily to ALL the words in all the songs - I would have to simply hum along if they were singing in Spanish! If I remember rightly, Stormbringer was next and then Glenn thanked us and said goodnight.

The encore was the same as Russia and Japan (I think?) - Devil's Road, Spotlight Kid and Burn, and then it was all over all too quickly - yet again.

I think Going My Way would have been an excellent choice to add to the three tracks performed from HTP 2, and would have made the JLT fans in the audience that little bit happier. I'm not sure who mentioned on the boards recently that this IS the HTP 2 tour and more tracks from the album should have been performed, and I would have really liked to have seen that. I am however, one of the fortunate ones to have seen Glenn quite a few times over the past eighteen months and can afford to be 'choosy' about what I'd like to see performed (everything - you got seven hours, Glenn? ). If you've never seen Glenn perform or at least not for some years, then the classics would most definitely have to be drenched in the setlist.

That's my 'review' for what it's worth. I'll leave the more technical and professional stuff to the other boys and girls on the boards.

An absolute bonus was to meet up with Montse and Monica, both stunning to say the least! They should be putting some good shots on the boards soon, and mine will follow. Not sure where you are in Spain Jesus, but were you at the gigs? And Gema, thanks for the photos - they're of excellent quality - are you a professional? Esther, I look forward to your photos from the show in Madrid and will speak with you very soon.

And Glenn is still most definitely the best of the best.
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