Kerre McIvor: Don’t stop the music

It was the talkback callers who were the catalyst for our big night.

On Wednesday last week, during the final hour of my show, people were phoning in on the way home from the Beyoncé concert, raving about how amazing it had been. And these were not teenagers – they were men and women, my age or thereabouts, and they’d had a blast.

They enthused about the music, costumes, light show, dance routines and energy of Beyoncé – one of the best concerts they’d ever seen was the general consensus.

On Facebook it was exactly the same. Friends who had been organised enough to get tickets posted photos of themselves at the concert, and shots of the star herself on stage.

Everyone was a little bit in love with Beyoncé and I was starting to get a severe case of Fomo (Fear Of Missing Out).

As soon as I got home, I got on the computer to see if there were any tickets left for her Saturday gig. And, as good fortune would have it, there were some brilliant seats left.

Quite often this will happen – promoters hold on to good tickets up to the last minute just in case they need them, then release the seats at the 11th hour.

“Darling,” I called to the husband. “Do you want to go to the Beyoncé concert on Saturday night?”

“Aye,” he replied, and so I pressed buy now. Two seconds after the receipt for the (eye-wateringly expensive) tickets appeared on screen, the husband popped his head out the office door, saying, “What did you just ask me?”

“I asked you if you wanted to go to the Beyoncé concert,” I said, “And you said, ‘yes!’”

“Oh, noooo,” he said in his wonderful Father Ted accent.

“We can’t be going. We’ll be the oldest ones there!”

“Too late.” I harrumphed. “You said yes. I’ve bought them, and everyone I know has been so I can’t take anyone else.”

I was crossing my fingers behind my back when I said this. Although I was certain that most of my friends who would have wanted to go had their tickets already, I wasn’t 100% sure.

So Saturday came as Saturdays are wont to do, and after a lovely day out celebrating a good friend’s birthday, I came home to get ready for the show.

It was ages since I’d been to a concert. I think the last one was Neil Diamond with my mum. I like to think my taste in music is eclectic.

So, off to Vector Arena we went – my reluctant husband and I. For a long time it looked as though he was right – we were the oldest there. But then we started spotting a few people who looked like us and we (or rather, he) didn’t feel so self-conscious.

We arrived just in time for Beyoncé and she was worth every cent of the (eye-wateringly expensive, did I mention that!?) tickets.

She was punctual; the show was well choreographed; she had a 12-piece all-female band; she danced, sang and interacted with the audience – she was a true professional who didn’t take the sold-out arena for granted. I was dead impressed, as was the husband.

We were close enough to the stage to see her in all her splendour, and as he so very succinctly put it, “It can’t be a waste of a night when you’re looking at that.”

I have put on my Christmas wish list a blue sequined catsuit – Beyoncé looked amazing in it and she’s a curvy girl and she… well, perhaps not then.

But I have resolved to see more live music. The energy that comes from a well-performed live act is intoxicating.

As well as reading her column, listen to Kerre on Newstalk ZB,  Monday to Thursday, 8pm to midnight.