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Ultimate Rock Shambles (longish)



"Ultimate Rock Shambles" was the headline of Sunday mornings paper here in Canberra, Australia.  At about 6pm the previous day everything was looking pretty damn rosy - my wife, brother and I left for the Canberra performance of the Ultimate Rock Symphony.  We had lined up a confirmed pre-show meet & greet with Roger and the other performers at 7.  We also had every reason to expect after-show passes.  Life was looking good - finally I was going to see one of The Who perform live and the odds were I was going to meet him and Simon Townshend as well.

But.... on arrival at the stadium parking attendants were telling everyone that the show had been cancelled.  Oh bugger I thought to myself (not quite the words I was using at the time...) and we drove right on up to the front entrance and parked to see exactly what was going on.  Signs posted on the gates advised that Daltrey was not well enough to perform due to the car accident the previous day in Sydney and that several of the others had come down with a virus.

We hung around for a while watching all the set riggers arrive to pull everything down and got talking to another couple who also were there for the meet & greet.  We tried to get in touch with our meet & greet contact to get more info but he was unavailable. 

Meanwhile another couple who we were going to meet up with for the show turned up and on hearing the news everyone seemed to think we were wasting our time hanging around and that we should all go off to get some dinner and catch a movie so the evening wasn't a total waste.  We waited another half hour or so but couldn't find out anything more and given that we had no idea whether any of them had made it to Canberra in the first place, combined with my very black mood about the whole thing I said well golly (again, not quite the words I used) we may as well go to dinner.   Dinner was terrible and the movie was lousy (Incredible Mr Ripley - started ok but way tooo longgggg....).  This day sucked big-time.

"But the high has to rise from the low..."

Next morning was unusual from the start - my 20mth old son slept in till 8am (which meant we did too).  That is absolutely unheard of and so despite the previous nights devastating dissappointment I woke feeling rather refreshed and was up for some morning hunting around in case any of them were in fact in town overnight.  The morning paper confirmed that Daltrey had made it to town and spent the night resting in his hotel room.  That was all we needed and my wife, son, and I were in the car and on the road - question was do we go straight to the airport or do we try at the Hyatt.  We decided to swing by the Hyatt figuring that it was kind of on the way to the airport anyway and if one or more of them were ill they would be unlikely to fly out too early.  Got to the Hyatt just after 9am and walked slowly right through peering into the restaurant etc until at the end of the main foyer I spied my meet & greet contact (let's call him Mr. X).  I went up and introduced myself (I'd only ever emailed him and spoken on the phone) and explained why we were there.  He was with a lawyer and said that Daltrey was at the hotel and was laid up in his room resting - they were to meet with his PA at 10 to discuss legal issues surrounding the cancelled show and car accident.  He said he would ask the PA if a meeting could be arranged.  I thanked him and said we would go grab a coffee and then wait around in the foyer.  We had a quick breakfast and coffee in the restaurant and returned to the foyer at 10. 

While sitting there I looked out into the nearby courtyard and could see a group of people sitting at a table partially obscured by trees.  I moved into a better position and could make out Mr. X with a group of 3 or 4 people including the great man himself - Roger Daltrey!  He was sitting having breakfast and sipping on a coffee.  He appeared to be in a good mood, laughing a bit etc so I was getting optimistic at this point - I was determined not to leave without at least an auto!

Anyway, to wrap this whole thing up - after half an hour they all got up and walked back to the hotel, towards the very door we were sitting by.  My wife had taken our boy for a walk so I sprinted down the corridoor to grab them and got back just in time to compose myself before the group walked in.  Roger walked around the chairs we were sitting at and Mr. X pointed us out.  Roger came around and we shook hands.  Mr. X explained about my website but knowing Roger's disinterest in all things computing ( a fact btw which only makes me respect him more)  I played that down a bit.  He was very apologetic about the concert and when I asked him if he had time to sign a couple of things and get some photos he was only too willing.  I got my stuff out while he chatted with my wife about his accident - then he started signing and I chatted with him about the usual stuff - the new tour and LP coming up, the accident etc etc.  He signed 2 lobby cards, 3 solo LPs and a Who lp - some personalised, some not.   We chatted briefly some more - he said they would be bringing the Rock Symphony back (to Australia at least).  I asked him if the Sydney show that night was going ahead and he was uncertain that it would (but it did).  He then gave my wife and I some parenting advice about the importance of keeping babies strapped in capsules when travelling - reckoned that our boy would be a goner if he had been in Roger's accident and unrestrained.  We finished with a couple of photos and Rog gave my wife a big hug - then laughed and told her not to squeeze so tight as it was hurting.  At that point my wife could have single-handedly put an end to this years Who tour! 8-)

We thanked him again - he apologised some more and that was it.  He was off to get some physio treatment or something.  He musn't have stayed in town much longer because I later met someone from my office who saw him at the airport just before midday.

We never saw any of the others - Cooper or Frampton but I didn't really care although I really would have liked to meet Simon Townshend as I've really been enjoying his recent solo work.  Paul Rodgers, Billy Thorpe and Nikki Lamborn were the ones supposedly stricken by the virus (reported as flu in the paper).  Them I can maybe meet another day.  I doubt I'll ever get another opportunity like that to meet Roger.  


So that's it - after 8 years or so reading everyone elses posts it's nice to finally have my own little Who story to tell.

Denis.


Visit The Who in Australia at: www.thewho.net/australia
*** Ultimate Rock Symphony touring in Feb/March 2000 ***

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