|
March 23, 2003 by Buddy
X
6 a.m. :
I am sitting in the train from Paris-Gare du Nord to London-Waterloo
on this very early Friday morning excited and impatient to finally see
Neneh in person. For the first time in all those years of being fan.
But it is also the first morning of the Irak war after Bush's
declaration the evening before. The circumstances are not the best for
travelling to the UK and I am worried about what is going to happen.
And then I can't get the thought out of my head that Neneh will cancel
her gig anyway seen the current situation. But I bought my train
tickets in advance and couldn’t return them the last minute. So I
tell myself that in any case I will finally see my friend again who
studies in London.
7 p.m. :
After a long day all through London, my friend and I are finally
sitting in the train to Cambridge. The train ride seems to be endless.
But eventually we arrive at Cambridge station and with a little help
find the club called ‘Fez Club’ on Market Street. The entrance is
blocked with a barrier and I am surprised not to see the line up of
people I expected to see. But the security guards inform us that Neneh
is coming alright and they hand me a flyer for the show. We have to
wait for another hour to get in, squatting a nearby bookstore to avoid
the biting cold.
10 p.m. :
We are in (for 7 £) the club is still basically empty. So we make a
little tour around : The club is designed in a Moroccan cavernous
style, there are drapes hanging from the ceiling and the colours vary
from browns to oranges. Plenty of places to sit, corners where you can
hide away from the rest of the club and chill out in the dim light.
The only bad thing about the club, which I find quite disturbing, is
that the music is far too loud. The club is small, I’d say a
capacity of 300 people, so the speakers stand always very close.
11 p.m. :
Around 11 p.m., when the pubs around close, the club is starting to
fill up and not long after jammed with people. The crowd young, mostly
students has obviously made the effort to dress up although there is
no dress code. I glance around to locate other Neneh fans but have the
impression that most of the other guests are the club’s regulars. As
a matter of fact, the girl at the checkroom doesn't believe that I
actually came from France to see Neneh. Well, it is a bit strange, I
admit. But I missed out on every occasion that she performed nearby so
I really wanted to do it this time. Anyway, the girl tells me Neneh is
getting ready in the office and about start the show in a few moments.
0 a.m. :
The few moments turn out to be another endless hour of waiting. But at
midnight, there she appears : Neneh Cherry. I don’t know where she
came from and how she got there as I was on the guard all the time and
haven't spotted her entering, but she is there. She is introduced by
her fellow DJ with a rather modest ‘Neneh Cherry in da house’ and
the music is rolling. The dancefloor fills almost instantly and when
Neneh finally takes the micro to do a freestyle rap, the crowd is hers
and stayshers for the rest of the night.
Neneh
is mostly playing Hip Hop. I’m not really into Hip Hop but her mix
has something electrifying and definitely goes down well. She manages
to combine mostly mainstream Hip Hop (Truth Hurts, Busta Rhymes) with
Banghra, Reggae (Sean Paul) and Oriental elements, and mix it with her
cool but sparse raps.
During
the show, I try to get into the DJ cabin but am stopped very quickly
in my attempts by a security guy. I explain that I only want to take
some pictures for my website. So he goes in and talks to Neneh for a
moment to then open the door and push me in.
And
there she stands, right in front of me. I have trouble realizing that
I am actually standing centimeters away from the beautiful and smiling
Neneh watching her spin records. She is wearing dark blue Levis, a
dark blue linen top, a multi coloured scarf, her hair, gone natural
black again, is tied back in a pony-tail and huge silver earrings
frame her face and big smile as she is posing for my camera.
Back on
the dancefloor, my friend scolds me for not having asked Neneh for an
autograph. But I assure her I am not giving up yet (as the
administrator of Neneh Cherry Online I have a certain responsibility
to fulfill my mission, haven’t I).
A guy
climbs up on a little pedestal in front of the cabin and talks to
Neneh. He gives her his NBA shirt which she puts on to wear for the
rest of the night. I figure I can do the same and manage to hand her
my Homebrew CD and a little note that way. She smiles, looks at the
album (I think she is a bit surprised that someone brought her record
along) and signs the booklet. The little note says : Neneh, check
out your fansite at www.nenehcherry.de.
We love you and desperately wait for your fourth album. I can’t see
whether she reads the note but as she is shortly after back at the
turntables, I figure that she just dropped it without reading. My
friend is laughing at me : « Nice try », she says.
Yes, but it was a try at least.
2 a.m. :
The show is reaching its end two hours later. Neneh announces :
« That’s it from us. Goodnight ! ». But the climax
is yet to come. Neneh starts to range her records in boxes when a guy
(obviously a fan himself) and I approach the now open cabin door. And
believe it or not, but Neneh comes directly towards us to shake our
hands. She tells me : « Nice to meet you, I have read
your little note and will look for the site. » We talk for
another moment about the show till she is pulled out on the dancefloor
by some other people where she dances with the guy she got the shirt
from and another girl who is visibly touched when Neneh hugs her. And
finally I have the chance to be taken on photo arm in arm with Neneh :).
Neneh
is very professional in her gestures and manner. It's true that she is
not at all making a fuss about her being a star (the club's
overvigilant security was quite the reverse), she is as lovely and
down-to-earth as you would expect when seeing her in an interview.
Throughout the night, she connected very well with the people, she
smiles a lot and listens when someone approaches her, but she remained
quite unapproachable in the end.
Neneh,
thank you for the great night.
|
]
