He started with a smile on his dial, but it soon faded. Halfway into ‘Murders in The Rue Morgue’ he stopped the show. Admittedly the band was out of time, but I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw a show stopped because the song wasn’t perfect. Di’Anno had a rant at his drummer and complained he couldn’t hear himself. His lead guitarist then apologized on the microphone the band hadn’t rehearsed for the show at all. It was like Spinal Tap on steroids. Things eventually got going again, but between every song the frontman complained. It started with jetlag, being tired, the weather, the sound and his microphone. Paul wanted a cordless one so the lead wouldn’t get tangled in his wheelchair. This was actually a fair call, but not one to make mid-show. The wheelchair also copped the man-child’s wrath for being “f^%king uncomfortable”. Like a toddler throwing a toy from their highchair Di’Anno pulled a cushion he was sitting on and threw it on the stage.
Di’Anno’s favourite word contains four letters and begins with C – and just about everyone was in the firing line. The bloke at the sound desk was one, multiple punters literally begging him to keep playing – all shared the same word. One punter got told to call a cab or he was going home in an ambulance. It would almost have been funny if it wasn’t so sad. I wanted to follow the lead of a few others and just walk out, but morbid curiosity got the better of me and I stayed until the bitter end. Di’Anno was on a bizarre journey. Like the stages of grief, we saw the denial of it being anyone’s fault but his own. Next was expletive-ridden anger directed at a female punter near the front being told to “shut the f^%k up” and to either stop drinking, or drink more. It was hard to tell in his rambling rant. The bargaining started with a few songs from the end of the show, and although the sound guy was still a C – now came contrition, apologies, and the promise of a free show for when/if he returns. Depression is what we were all feeling and Di’Anno looked like a defeated man.
