It was a nice surprise for me to open my email inbox Saturday, and find two free tickets to the Madonna Concert taking place at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium the very same evening.
Seizing the moment, I jumped on a train through to Edinburgh Haymarket with my best friend Shaun for a spontaneous night in Edinburgh.
We met a lovely woman on the train, who informed us that contrary to what we had heard you can actually still drink alcohol on trains in Scotland until 9pm, thankfully a woman was doing the rounds with a trolly and the problem was soon rectified. With the banter and drinks flowing the short 50 minute journey flew through and before we knew it we where joining the crowds walking down to the stadium.
I’ve never been to Murrayfield, which was actually the inspiration for my youngest brother’s name – Murray, so it was exciting to be going to a new place. We were seated in the West Stand which had a fantastic view over the Edinburgh skyline taking in Edinburgh Castle, one of my advertisers, and Arthur’s Seat.
Dj Alesso warmed up the crowd and at 9 the entrance of one blacked out car flanked by two security cars and bodyguards sent the crowd wild as one special blonde woman exited the car and made her way to the stage.
A theatrical Istanbul themed start kicked off the show. And what a show it was, the most incredible talented dancers at their technical and physical peak, the most amazing use of set, slick choreography and vocals to match the status of pop superstar that Madonna deserves.
For a 53-year-old, you could easily be deceived into believing she was at least a decade younger, it was to great delight and screams from the audience when she revealed her backside to the crowd!
I really enjoyed the show, remembered a few old hits such as ‘Vogue’ and enjoyed singing along to her more recent classics. This is one artist who has worked hard at bridging the gap across age’s and boy has it paid off, the variation in ages I saw at the concert was mad, such an accessible show for all ages, perhaps minus the bloody gory start to the performance.
We met a lovely guy and girl who are both lawyers and managed to persuade us to miss the last train home to Glasgow for the evening and have a night out in Edinburgh with them, a long night lay ahead for us!
We walked to Ghillie Dhu, a beautiful converted church with an incredible Scottish vibe to it where we partied into the small hours. I would definitely recommend this bar/club to anyone looking for a night out in Edinburgh, I felt like I was in a Scottish postcard, all the staff wear kilts, musicians strumming away on their guitars and the friendly buzz Edinburgh is famed for all made for a good night.
An evening stroll to the casino for a ‘wee flutter’ and then on with the search for the essential am snack, chippies, followed. This is definitely one side Edinburgh lacks in, we couldn’t find any open after 4am, Glasgow on the other hand is bustling at this time with a variety of chip and kebab shops fighting for business from the punters.
We talked a bewildered looking receptionist in a 5 star hotel into selling us some snacks and took a nice stroll along princess street admiring the castle and surrounding views in the early morning light. To our dismay we found no trains would be leaving the train station until around 9.30am, but on the good advice of some friendly buskers whom we shared a good old chat with, made our way to the bus station where we found a bus leaving for Glasgow at 7.30am.
By now it must have been around 6am so we made our way to McDonald’s for breakfast and warmth! Feeling happy and fuelled we where beyond happy when the bus finally came, and crashed out for the entire journey back to Glasgow. I could not have been happier to fall into my bed just before 10am after a full day on the go.
A brilliant spontaneous night, I loved the gig, met some cool people and loved my first ‘proper’ night out in Edinburgh …
until the next spontaneous event!
matthewohare 