VIP Treatment at The O2

VIP treatment at the O2. We had a rare child free night away recently when we went to see a band play at the O2 Arena Roxette had come back together to perform at their 30th anniversary XXX tour.

This was a memorable event for us because when my husband and I first started seeing each other 25 years ago we both loved Roxette and when we moved in together and pooled our cassette tape collection, the ‘Look Sharp!’ album was the only tape that we both had and therefore got duplicated! When we upgraded to CDs later we ended up buying it again! (I know, cassette tapes, right?!)

To celebrate our anniversary we managed to wangle one night in London as the kids stayed at Grandmas. It gave us the chance to enjoy a drink, the concert, eat a meal and top it off with a hotel stay where we could lie in the next day. Bliss!

A concert is a great idea for a special occasion as you create more happy memories in a way you don’t get with a wrapped gift. We bought our concert tickets from Ticketmaster and I have a feature within my account on there where you can list all your favourite bands and when they are performing you can easily see tickets for sale. When I’m stuck for a birthday idea I log in to see who is performing and when and if anything works then I buy it. It was during an account log in a few months ago that I saw the Roxette tickets!

It was the first time I’d been to The O2 and I wasn’t expecting it to be as spacious and uncrowded as it was whilst it was also very busy. We knew we’d be able to eat a meal and have a drink but what we weren’t prepared for was Sky Backstage. As we walked through the venue, a guy handed us a lanyard each which granted us access to the backstage bar which is only open on arena nights and is situated behind the main stage. You access the bar by walking the red carpet and there are plenty of photo opps along the way. You can pose for the paparazzi and have a sound-check in the Sky studio.

My husband loves Game of Thrones so had to have his photo taken on the throne! Apparently you are not supposed to look happy on the throne which is why he didn’t smile!

I wanted to be a newsreader and was given the chance to read the days’ bulletin in the special studio. Have a look at me in action!

Sky Backstage is free for Sky customers and their guests and you can pre-book your place. It’s worth going for the experience of it all, and it really added to the fun of our night.

Roxette were fantastic that night. Marie was seated for the whole performance due to her health. She had surgery in 2002 to remove a malignant brain tumor and took some time out of the spotlight to recover, so the fact that they were back and performing at all is incredible. She couldn’t belt out the high notes on ‘It Must Have Been Love’ the way she used to but bandmate Per Gessle made up for it with an energetic performance on stage. My husband and I really enjoyed the night, and singing along with the old songs.

Next on my concert bucket list is to go see a band overseas. I’d love to hop on a plane to Amsterdam or Dublin to see someone, so I’ll keep an eye on Ticketmaster to see what comes up!