EMINEM @ Milton Keynes Bowl, June 21st

[Ikon]

Two words - FUCKIN AWESOME!!!!!

 

This was the first of a 5 date tour of the UK that Eminem is doin this week as part of the European leg of his 'Anger Managment Tour'.

 

The missus and myself headed down on a coach, and after a 6hr journey we arrived at the national bowl about 45 after the gates had opened at 2pm. Suprisingly there was no que, despite the event being a 65,000 sell out, and we just waltzed in with no search of clothing or the bag I was carrying at all, our tickets weren't really checked either.

 

For anyone who has never been to the national bowl, it is basically exactly as the name says - a large field with a stage at the far end and then large slopes right the way round making a shape of a bowl. The stage is massive but for those who were stood right at the top of the slopes there were three huge screens set-up. Two were either side of the stage and another bigger one in the middle of the field. Behind this larger screen was also where all the lighting engineers were operating aswell as numerous cameras. The whole site also had a big carnival feeling about it with a few beer-tents and other stalls sellin merchandise etc. Beer was pretty reosnably priced at £3 a bottle and water was £2, but there was a load of taps on site in order to re-fill your bottles.

The area between the stage and the large screen in the middle of the field was fenced off and entry to this area was restricted to wristband holders which were issued on a first come firsted served basis, these were therefore given to the people who had been the first into the site when the gates opened.

 

The show was due to start at 4pm with Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood hosting his show from the site. However Westwood seemed to come on at about 3:15pm and as far as I could see he wasnt on the stage. He kept shouting 'make some noise if your ready for Eminem and 50 Cent' which for the first few times got crowd exited but after 3 or 4 times everybody just got bored of it. I dont know if it was actually Westwood on the dex but the DJ was playing tunes for about 30 second and then playing another. I know this is how many Hip-Hop DJ's mix but I felt that it was the wrong thing to do on this occasion, for example - He started playing the classic 'California Love' by Tupac and Dr Dre which got the crowd cheering and on their feet to dance to, but the DJ whacked the X-fader accross to the next tune after about 20 seconds which was a bit of an anti-climax for the crowd and it was clear to see there was a bit of restlesness and boredom around. It should also be noted that it was extremley hot and the sun was shining brightly. Westwood's show seemed to finish at about 5pm because he went quiet but the tunes were still playing and the sound system (300,000K!!) was going quiet and then loud and then quiet again. This went on until about 6:20pm when the crowd finally cracked and started booing and a massive bottle fight broke out and thousands of (plastic) bottles went flying everywhere!! luckily I was on the slope at this point and didnt get hit.

 

After a few minites of this the curtains opened and the first act, Cypress Hill, came onto the stage with massive cheers from the crowd. I spent most of their set fightin my way as close to the front as I could get after realising that people on stage just looked like ants.

The only tunes I remember then singing were 'Aint going out like this' and 'Rap superstar'. Unfortunatley their set was dogged with technical problems and the microphones kept dying on them. During the periods where the mics were dead they kept the crowd entertained by playing on bongo's which sounded well cool!. They seemed to be pissed off at the problems and they didnt stay on stage for that long.

 

After Cyprees Hill there was a break of about 30-40 mins which again brought about boredom and bottle fights. There were bottles being thrown all over the place by now, slopes included. I saw quite a few people being treated for cuts in the first aid tent, and I saw one girl who looked like she had been shot as she has a huge gash on her forehead and she was absolutley covered in blood!!!

During this time there was a large cheer from the crowd on the slope to the left of the stage and it emerged that there was fight going on. Two coppers went to sort it out only to get pelted by hundreds of bottles from the crowd! Ha Ha! funny as [censored]!!!.

 

Xzibit came on next. He came onto the stage on a low rider bike and he was joined by some dodgy looking geezer who's name I missed. He was performing tracks from his 'Man V's machine' album which I dont have so I didnt recognise many. Ones I did recognise though were 'Spit shine' and 'X'.

 

Again after he had finished the curtain closed and the crowd were left to either sit down or wander about. It was during this time that my girlfriend managed to blag a wristband of some fella who had two on. The security were only giving out bands to those already in the main pit, so if you were going out of this area and you wanted to go back in they would give you a band. Our plan was for her to go in and then hide her band and get another on her way out, give it to me and then we'd have one each. Unfortunatley the security were completly out of bands so there was no way of me gettin in!. I told the missus to stay in there to get some good photo's and I resigned myself to watchin from afar!. However 10 mins later she re-emerges with a wristband that she had found on the floor and thus my ticket into the front pit! bonus!!.

 

Next up came the biggie, and the reason everyone was there. Eminem. A sheet covering the top of the stage drooped down revealing a 'the Eminem show' sign which brought a deafaning cheer from the crowd. The curtains opened and on stage were a ferris wheel, a winding staircase, a clowns head a small tent and a lagre screen in the middle of the stage. The screen started to show extracts of various US politicians, including anti-Tupac protester Dolores Tucker, slating Eminem. The ferris wheel then started to move and Eminem apeared in one of the cars wearing a long blonde wig, he threw the wig off and broke into 'Square dance'. The atmosphere was electric with everyone singing along to every word. He did a few more songs including 'White America' and he was then joined on stage by his group D12. They sang 'When the music stops', 'Purple pills' and 'Fight music' amongst others.

D12 then exited the stage and Em broke into 'Stan' which sent the crowd absolutley crazy!! This was one of the best parts of the night as the DJ turned down the volume on the corus and the whole crowd sung it! deffinatley a "hairs on the back of your neck" moment. Quality!.

Em left the stage and some big fat black fella, possibly Bizzare from D12, then came onto stage dressed as a circus ringmaster. He announced that Em would perform a magic trick and someone who looked like Em came onto stage (most probably a look-a-like), stood on a trampoline or something and then something came down from the top of the stage, covered him, and with a puff of smoke it dropped down and he was gone. Em then reappeared wearing different clothes and broke into 'Soldier'. After this he sang 'Cleanin out my closet' and was then joined on stage by one of his new prodeges - Obie Trice. During his time on stage Obie got the crowd to shout out "[censored] you Debbie", in reference to Em's mum, which was pretty funny. I wasnt really in Obie before now but I thought he was really good he did 'Drips' and 'Love me' with Em.

 

After this came 50 Cent. He was on stage with Obie and his group G-Unit. He started with his massive hit 'In da club' and also did his new song '21 questions' and 'Patiently waiting' with Em. He threw 3 of his t-shirts he had on out into the crowd, which I dont think the security were too happy about due to a quick shift in the crowd in the direction of them!.

 

They all left the stage leaving Em who then sang the tune of the night for me 'Lose yourself'. There is something about the gutair riff at the beginning of this track that gets you moving, and it was no exeption this time, I looked right round the bowl and could see the whole crowd bouncing with hands in the air throughout the track!. He then sang '8 mile road', 'Superman', 'Drug ballad'. Then came 'Sing for the moment' during which the crowd were told to raise their lighters into the air. The sight of tens of thousands of lighters flickering around the bowl was fuckin amazing!!!.

 

To finish off he then sang 'Without me' and 'my dad's gone crazy'. The curtains then closed and there were cheers of 'one more' from the crowd. The fat guy appeared again announcing that there was to be an after party at the Sanctuary (gutted!!). The crowd was cheering and whistling so he asked 'aren't you ready to go home yet?? do you want one more'. The crowd were screaming and shouting and then the intro to 'Rap game' started to play and Em, D12, Obie and 50 Cent appeared on stage to sing the track. The show finished with a small fireworks show and that was that!!.

 

Overall it was a truly awesome night, deffinatley one of the best events Ive ever been to.

The only gripe's Ive got about the event are the long period's of nothing happening at the start of the day and during the breaks betwwen each artist's set. They could of maybe had some Britsh Hip-Hop acts filling these periods.

I would of also liked to of seen Cypress Hill on stage for longer but that couldnt of been helped I suppose. Also the bottle fights put a slight downer on the day.

Other than that I couldnt fault it and the performances more than made up for it!.

 

 

[Snez]

wow, it sounds amazing! He doesnt do things by halves does he?!

I'd love to go and see him. i dont particuarly like this genre of music but anything by eminem gets my vote which is weird! my uncle has gone to see him 2nite so im sure i'll get my nose rubbed in it even more tomorrow!

[RaverBaby69]

i hate u, u bastard!

 

sounds like a completely different atmoshpere and setting 2 the manc one i went 2. cant believe the afterparty was at the sanctury!

 

im so gutted i didnt go. got offered tickets for £35 but on top of that wud of had 2 pay for train down there and acomadation and i just cudnt afford it!

[James]

wicked review Ikon

[Dawn]

Went last night it was awesome

 

Couldn't have put it into words better Ikon

 

BUT ... no 50 Cent no Westwood ... same bottle fights pure madness lol (never seen any casualties)... but we had 3 huge fires too

 

If it's too be believed, he gave a woman in the crowd a £450,000 chain with a massive cross on, she passed out!!!

 

The only rant of the night ... No 50 Cent, and being told the Bowl was a 10 minute walk from the car park, 45 minutes later!!!!

 

[Snez]

tidyturd said:

 

If it's too be believed, he gave a woman in the crowd a £450,000 chain with a massive cross on, she passed out!!!

 

wow i'd pass out if eminem even looked at me and waved nm gave me summat like that!!

[SarahPVC]

flippin heck - top review!

Can we get it written up as an offical review James?