“It's that weird band”

Russell: [beginning of his speaking isn't recorded, but he speaks about smashing all the keyboards &] - going one hundred percent guitar on the next album.

[Audience laughter, booing]

Russell: brothers are a dime a dozen.. Think of all the money we'd save on our tours. One less hotel room ... And he eats so much too. Okay. Um. [Ron takes the mic] Ron: From now on I'm gonna be just a dancer, so .. [shrugs] No more - no more keyboards. Easier - easier [can't make out what he says here].

before the show

This time I learned my lesson and did the reasonable thing you’d do on a hot summer day like this… And stayed at the hotel for the whole day before the show. The rest of my family had the big advantage of not (still) being down with a sort of sickness, so they didn’t have to be as cautious as me, and went out to see the city for a bit. Meanwhile, I had maybe the most fun I’ve ever had simply looking at things on social media and laying in bed. Because it was time to finally do all the catching up on what I’d missed in Sparks World when I was away!

I actually had to fight a bit against that mental barrier that was still there to shield me from any possible spoilers. It was so weird actually to not have to worry about that anymore. A huge relief of sorts. Wow, we were past the point of initiation now. If I can call it that. That’s a weird way to call it, but you get what I mean . And I still didn’t even have the time to really think about it until the next day. Too much stuff to see still, too little time.

Sparks take the best tour photos of all time. AND RUSSELL HAD SEVERAL DIFFERENT SUITS FOR THE TOUR, NOT JUST THE ONE I SAW?? And they were all so beautiful. What kind of fresh hell magic beauty and miracle of the best sort was this. And the “what’s in my bag” video with Russ was finally out too, I was so excited to see it all at once and it was all so great. But I knew I’d have to save some of this stuff for later, for the inevitable. For after we’d be back home.

It was also time to learn that some big name people were there at last night’s show, such as Edgar Wright himself??? Hell yes, let’s make it all even more epic in retrospect. Not only are Sparks fans real, these Sparks-adjacent people are too?? Along with Sparks themselves, of course. Wait… Sparks are real and I SAW THEM?? THAT part still didn’t compute, not really.

Eventually, the gang came back and we went for a quick dinner together. On a day like this, even an average bowl of pho in a bar that wasn’t even your first choice (because the bar we wanted to go to had to be closed of course… this stuff always happens) can become a delicacy that brings you great joy. Apparently, my dad even recognised another client in the bar, because he was also at the last show (I’m apparently bad at this. Recognising people and stuff.). Sparks fans like us were already Out And About. It was all getting truly exciting and real once again.

queue & waiting time

After dinner, and when we were on our way to the venue possibly, I remember seeing more Sparks shirts people, which was still such a surreal thing, even after living through that entire previous day. I remember someone with an especially cool handmade shirt that had both Ron and Russ on it, drawn in a simple but silly, geometric way. I wish I still remembered what it looked like, because it brought me much delight to see it when we were still just walking around in the area.

My maybe second biggest lesson from the day before was that I actually didn’t have to worry THAT much about getting there early to still have a very good spot at the show (especially when the heatwave was still doing its thing). So this was probably the main reason why we didn’t join the queue until sometime past 4pm once again. One funny thing I remember about this was this whole process of walking past the long labyrinth of barriers, and then, at the end of it, being met by this one fan, completely wordlessly, who just reached for my dad’s hand and mine, and wrote down our numbers in the queue on our hands with a marker. This wasn't happening the day before, so it took me by surprise XD

(The next thing that happened was another fan shouting out to me: ”I love your shirt!”. Gosh. You’re all so nice… (It was the I-405 Rules shirt that I also made!))

And the cool thing was that we were actually closer to the start of the queue than previously, so um… Can we make it to the barrier this time?? CAN WE DO IT??? Wouldn’t that be amazing… It was also cool to already be able to start recognising the people we’ve seen from yesterday, even if I’m apparently not SO good at this.

Queueing was somewhat less eventful this time, but it wasn’t really a bad thing. I was actually taking it quite well in the sense of, yeah let’s sit out in the sun for a second day in a row. But it was all for a big cause, so I could take it all. The venue staff were even nicer this time, since they also handed out umbrellas, and we even got our own personal umbrella to shield ourselves from the unrelenting sun. We also even made it far enough into the queue to be able to use some of that shade from the big building… All of that made it so much more bearable.

Highlights of the queueing time on this day include: chatting with some fans about random Sparks stuff like Annette (which I still haven’t watched XD EVEN NOW, AS I’M WRITING THIS XD I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT’S STILL KEEPING ME FROM IT ANYMORE) and about whether we could expect any changes to the setlist compared to the night before (@where-did-the-groove-go and I decided that some minor changes among the MAD! songs selections were at least likely. Not given, but likely). There was some sort of road machine making noise right next to where we were, which made talking a bit difficult at times, but whatever. Then there was also the story of an unwanted bag of chips or some other type of snack. Do I explain this. Is that interesting? Well, just your usual queue stuff happening. Fun fun fun.

I also don’t remember seeing the Sparks Car. Maybe I saw the Sparks Car. Maybe I didn’t make much of it or realize. But I remember seeing a guy walk by, who looked kind of just like Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer, the musician who opened for Sparks on the previous tour, and pointing that out to my dad. Apparently it REALLY WAS him. If you’d believe it. (Now I truly understand how Sparks met Cate Blanchett at Cannes and went “wow, she looks just like Cate Blanchett”. Because yep. All these people do look like themselves, makes you think, huh.)

But oh well, eventually the time we were all waiting for approached again. And here’s the funny thing: for something like an hour or so after we arrived, maybe two other people joined the queue after us. People were really having enough of this heat, and you couldn’t blame them. There was lots of activity and more people arriving around the last half hour or so though. And then we got a bit nervous, because it was time already, but we had some sort of holdup, so nothing was happening yet. Eventually though, the doors were officially opened, and I remember thinking that even in some of the chaos ensuing, we were in a pretty good position queue-wise.

Then I made the mistake of wondering for too long if we should pick the left-hand entrance to the hall or the one on the right. Which made no sense because I still wanted to go to the left side of the stage, so what was that about, GIRLLLL. I remember this way too well to this day, because it was a real time-slowing-down moment for me, for some reason.

Well, at least that whole moment of uncertainty and not-quick-enough decision-making didn’t cost us the barrier, because we indeed MADE IT! Sort of at the last moment too, because the barrier started circling further back and away from the stage past that point where we stood. So we ended up further to the left than yesterday, but we got there, FIRST ROW AT A SPARKS SHOW ACCOMPLISHED. Was my life finally complete now? Kind of felt like it at that moment.

The wait inside went incomparably faster than before, because being able to simply lean on the barrier as you wait can change so much, since you don’t have to just be standing there doing nothing. I could tell that the pre-show music was much more hearable too, so that gave me hopes that the sound issues wouldn’t be that much of a problem this time (and they really weren’t. the sound was noticeably better. yippie!!)

I remember feeling just all around positively relaxed yet exuberant at this time, it was so great to be back and the vibes were just SO RIGHT! Maybe my plan for this day helped me in achieving this state actually. Because I knew I wouldn’t be taking any more photos or videos this time. I had loads from the day before. Now we just sit back. Now we watch and feel it for real.

…Because thankfully my dad agreed to try recording some stuff instead. LMAO. You know I couldn’t just pass it all up like this 😔 The curse of The Preserver. But this was a great compromise. Even if it didn’t completely absolve me of the problem of worrying about not catching the cool moments. Instead, I would just see these things and go “wow, I hope dad caught that!” ...and even glance over from time to time to make sure he was recording the Big Things. You just can’t escape the mindset. Oh well, we take what we can get though.

SHOWTIME!!!!!

But, at last, it was THE TIME again. Seeing all the guys in the real world once more felt maybe only a little bit less surreal now… But also, HELLO, RUSSELL HAD A NEW SUIT AGAIN?? Wow, and I thought I’ve seen it all. The debut of the yellow suit… Yellow suit with koi fish and manta rays. Kind of unbelievable. (I used to think I could rank this as my 4th fav out of all 4 suits actually, but that’s mostly because they’re all so good and I guess I’m a big fan of when there’s a lot going on visually. But idk. THIS ONE IS AWESOME TOO!! SO SILLY!!)

And so, we were back on again. “HELLOOOO, LONDON! We are Sparks!” Yeah!!!! “So may we start?” YEAHHHHHH!!!!!!

So May We Start…? We may! Russell standing in that spotlight… I had a serious case of feeling a bit crazy, when, not very long after the show, I watched the video my dad took of the beginning of this song, because it appears like Russell is looking straight in our direction for a good 5 seconds or so. That did NOT happen irl. I don’t remember that. Wjat is going on.

BUT OH YEAH. He was so majestic performing this song and I will just never get over that. It never gets old how awesome it all is. He did the thing of pretending to look at his watch for “it’s time to start”!! and I love these kinds of moments too, as you know.

This was an amazing Do Things My Own Way, and I think I finally got to appreciate that this is the song during which Russell will just do fuckinggg whateverrrrr (example 1) (example 2). And still maintain an air of undeniable coolness while doing it. “OUT THE WAY”!! “ROLL THE DICE”!! (Later that evening, when we were all watching dad’s videos from the show, my brother saw that moment above and just said “so he’s seventy-something, huh?” YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT, BROTHER!!!)

Reinforcements was even more fun this time – Russell did a sort of marching along to the beat thing, and then he encouraged everyone to join in and sing along to the chorus (and to the lalalas too. also important)

After that it was time for Russell’s welcoming speech (“HEYYYY LONDON!”). He was happy to be playing here once again, and thanked the UK people once more for being the first to embrace Sparks. And we went into Academy Award Performance. So far all was going as expected, hehe… I liked how he did this sort of circular hand motion at several points in this song. He was really starting to kill it with all the moves, even more than the night before. And he was smiling a lot the whole evening, which was so adorables.

This next thing feels very silly to be focusing on, but I feel obliged to do it, because dad did list it among his biggest highlights of the show, in a sense (😭) and it was also killing me the whole time a bit, so. The Nefarious Piece of Plastic. Which we watched from our spot far to the left, as it got swept onto the stage the moment SMWS started, and then, during this song especially, Russell just kept circling all around it perfectly, as though he knew exactly where it was at the moment (I don’t think he did know). I guess I feared there’d be some sort of cartoonish slipping on a banana peel scenario, which I guess couldn’t possibly happen, but who knows!

(Someone from the crew finally picked it up before Beat the Clock. But it was also all thanks to the Nefarious Piece of Plastic that I was able to identify the footage from that MAD! tour reel as from London. Before they eventually confirmed that it was taken in London. So um, thank you for that, Nefarious Piece of Plastic?)

But let’s move on to Goofing Off!! This went so hard, and Russell doing “I’ll collapse right here” was so extra for no reason. And, to go with it, here’s some examples of how your average attempt at photographing the guy who never stands still may turn out.

During Beat the Clock Russell extended the microphone towards the audience for one moment, which I thought was pretty cute. Please Don't Fuck Up My World was beautiful once more, and Russell was totally vibing to that instrumental bridge, which was also cute.

Time was really passing by at this show. Which is really not surprising at all, but I know that not remembering the order of the songs on the setlist all that well yet helped with keeping some of that surprise factor still. The excitement levels weren’t any lower than before though – I wanted to HEAR IT ALL AGAIN!! And I was still hoping there was a chance for some new things or new songs happening, but it was also totally ok if that weren’t the case. I really just wanted to hear it all again. ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH!!!

I also remember taking those moments between the songs to sort of. Look around more and mentally place myself where I was, sort of taking it all in and trying to compartmentalize the facts. It was an unforgettable feeling, realizing that I’m really just doing this and it’s all truly happening in the moment. I could say I was realizing it all over again once more, but was I really? Did really any of that truly hit yet the previous night? I fear it might have not. So this was all so, so needed.

Suburban Homeboy was even more fun than before – Ron walked on in a cap and it SAID SOMETHING, but I couldn’t tell what it was from our angle. I’d learn soon enough though. So awesome. Russell did a silly little run to join him onstage. And Ron’s mic wiggle :3 It was delightful all around. And ended with yet another RON CHANT!!!

All You Ever Think About Is Sex was ALSO EVEN BETTER!!! My dad & I had a field day about it for a long time after the show, imitating the sounds of the intro at each other at totally random moments, and doing that “tin-cracking” motion that Russell did. It went like: “tu-DUM. Tu-dum. tu-DUM. Tu-dum. CRCK! CRCK! CRCK! CRCK!” (or something similar). Russell never once did NOT kill it with the moves, but it bears repeating, especially on this song. Look at himmmmm.

A great moment from JanSport Backpack: “oh why, do you keep walking away”: *does a little walk backwards*. Also, that piano from Ron at the end still brings me great joy every time.

Loved getting to experience the delight of Music That You Can Dance To again. Worth mentioning at this point that the vibes at this show were also different for me in the sense of, the crowd in our closest proximity was more laid-back than previously. So the general feeling was more “getting lost in the song and in the performance” than "ecstatically jamming outttttt”. Which was maybe a bit sad with songs like this one, but also still very great (and even needed) in its own way. Being in the first row also kind of closes you off from stuff happening around you I feel like, so, you know, little things like these can surprisingly change a lot.

With When Do I Get to Sing ‘My Way’? I would learn that you really just miss any sort of mistakes as they happen live, which is great. Because Russell kind of flubbed those first two lines and I didn’t even notice until a second or third rewatch of our video of the song. So you can say for sure that he handled all mistakes like this extremely well. 

It was also around the time of this song when I noticed that Russell had unbuttoned his shirt. Aaaand this had NO impact on me whatsoever! Being in the first row is very cool though, I will say. You know, because uhhh. Ok anyway .

The Number One Song in Heaven completely floored me once more. There’s really not much more that I can say about this one I’m afraid, but it was really just SO. GOOD. Unbelievable. Always awesome to join in with the ☝️ pointing yet again. And Russell did the Extended Lalalas too, and it was all soooooooooooo !!! The applause after this song was so grand… This entire show felt like it had an even bigger audience now, somehow, and like the people were even more in tune with everything going on. And really loving it all. Several more very moving moments of this type would follow later.

So, alright, This Town. We can all agree that this is sort of the best live song of all time, right. I’m really obsessed with the moment about a minute in (for example), and seeing this song live really made me appreciate the drumming on it SO MUCH. Like in that aforementioned moment, during the “and it ain’t me who’s gonna leave” part especially. The fast hits on the drums, accentuated by the lights, and then the single hit on the crash cymbal. If that’s even the right word for that thing. Something about it! It’s kind of badass (shoutout to Darren again). And also the I-guess-bridge later, with everything being backlit and stuff, also kind of badass. I’ve become a little bit more interested in possibly trying out drumming at some point in my life after seeing all this (along with every other instrument that exists I guess. They’re all just too cool. Waow. Instruments and music..)

I would also discover after too many rewatches of the video we have of the song that Eli performed the solo basically lying on the ground. Very slay of him.

Following This Town, the applause was, once again, overwhelmingly grand, and after letting it continue for a good minute, Russell thanked the UK audience again for being the first to put Sparks on the map, which makes playing songs like This Town even more special. Then, he added: “some more tunes?”. YOU KNOW IT, BROTHER!!! (the silly.)

And so we went into Whippings and Apologies, followed by Lord Have Mercy, which featured another unforgettable guitar solo from Eli, and I forgot to mention that last time (we love all the solos). This song (along with the previous one, I guess) stands out to me also, because there’d be several times when Russell walked over very close to us, and it was kind of A Feeling at this point in the show. But do I really have to get into this……… ok, whatever. Moving onnnnnn

So. The facts now. Because we were now already at the end of the main show… :((( But eventually the encore followed, and Ron was back in his Mount Fuji hoodie even, yay! The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte was everything, once again. Russell, the king of frolicking. His voice was so silly and his energy was absolutely infectious. It was just so everything to be able to see it.

Afterwards, Russell introduced the band, but before he got to Ron, he went “And… and… and…” while slowly making his way over to him, and it was so funny to me how he said it. His “OLDER BROTHER" got all the applause, as well as the big bows from the band, and my dad kind of lost it at the band guys doing that, which is so real.

Then we had another Ron chant!!!! <3 and Russell said: “he says ‘thank you’”. LMAO. And THEN: “a man of few words”... [a second of contemplation] “...actually a lot of words, because he wrote the lyrics for these songs”. HAHAHA, THE MOMENT EVER.

All That really hit me this time, and I think I saw even more torches up in the balconies, and everywhere else. I really, really didn’t want it all to end… “I can't believe my luck in meeting YOU… and YOU!” it’s literally fine it’s WHATEVER!!!!!!….. god.

…And the song came to a close. Right after that, Russell did a sort of wavy motion at the band, like he was inviting them to join them onstage, but Evan did the same thing back at him, so they continued like this for a second and they both laughed. Then the band left and it was just Ron and Russell onstage now. Russell spoke out his thanks again, but then, he started talking about… huh, THE DOCUMENTARY?

I knew IMMEDIATELY what this had to mean. I tried explaining to my dad why this was going to be a very momentous thing happening now, but I didn’t manage to get it through yet, as Russell went on:

“...he [Edgar] said that he wanted to do a documentary about Sparks… and we said… ARE YOU KIDDING?” (teehee) “...with or without Sparks, it’s an amazing film, but we happen to be in it, so… SO MUCH BETTER!” YAY. Ron was standing next to Russell this whole time and just smiling more and more :D “...and, as a treat, our photographer tonight will be Mr. Edgar Wright!” !!!!!!!!

YEAH, I KNEW IT!!!!! Edgar appeared a second later and hugged the brothers (awww) and wow, we were getting our photo taken by THE SPARKS BROTHERS DIRECTOR HIMSELF. I really wasn’t expecting this and it was so exciting!!! Wow, it was really all just getting even better still. Didn’t even matter that we didn't make it into the photo in the end (ok, MAYBE my arm did XD) IT WAS JUST SO EXCITING. Seriously, I don’t even know why it was such a big moment for me but it really was. Things are really happening all the time in Sparks World and they are all such great things.

(it was also funny to look at dad’s photos from after All That later, where you can totally see Edgar standing in the back already, haha)

Russell was very funny, and he said that with such a cool film director taking the photo, we had to do our best bits now (“it’s YOUR CHANCE!”). And then, also: “keep going, he says… he’s a tough director… he says ‘GIVE! GIVE!’”

It felt like several very long minutes of Ron and Russell just basking in the applause after this. Russell went over to Ron and put his hand on his shoulder, and they just stood cutely like this, before he did that classic “pushing Ron forward for applause” thing again. (there’s a great video of this moment. Should I clip it for you all). THEY’RE JUST SO!!!!!!!!!

Possibly worth mentioning that a selfie with Sparks now also exists. That's me IRL.

(I made the above image in October 2025. I’ve been at this for a long time…)

At the end, Ron did a very sweet and moving speech, saying that this evening was beyond what they expected, and that “it means so much to us, not only for the present, but for the future” and that it was inspiring them “to try to achieve greater heights, both creatively and reaching people emotionally”. Man…. They sure did reach me emotionally. I just love them so much!!!!!

after the show

Once they left, it felt like not even 10 seconds had passed, until I managed to find WDTGG and their gang again! And, you know, the most important thing you can do right after a Sparks show, is: find your Sparks friends and go all “THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!!!” at them!!! :D So that was kind of the perfect way to end that entire show experience.

Eventually, it was time to leave the hall and get going, but not without passing by the merch stand once again first (finally got the MAD! tour shirt too. I thought I could go more crazy with it this time and get, like, the lil’ Sparks bag or something too, but something stopped me at the last moment…)

Then, more photos of the venue in those great lights, and getting back to the hotel, and it felt so much like that one gif. You know the one. It was just so chill. We’re in the city on a warm summer night after having the best time ever and it’s wonderful. And there’s all these people around, and they don’t even know that we just saw Sparks, like wow, they all don’t even know that.

You know, there’s those times when someone asks you “so how was it? was that good?” and it sort of feels like a fundamentally wrong question. Did you enjoy the best time you’ve had in years? You feel all fuzzy inside and can’t stop smiling, but all you can say is “YES, THAT WAS GREAT!” How do you even describe it. How are you supposed to be able to do that and convey even a fraction of the feeling.

On the next day, we were already about to return home from the UK. The day went great, and we still saw some more places and had fun. Over and over again, during those next few days that followed, I’d be struck by suddenly remembering, and have this feeling of: “holy shit… wow, that really DID happen”. I finally saw Sparks… It filled me with such a special and overwhelming feeling whenever I’d remember again. I really can’t find a good way of explaining it, but it followed me around for at least a week straight, and it made that time feel like some sort of fever dream still. It was strange, but I also loved something about it and didn’t want to get over it yet, because that would mean really putting an end to this whole adventure.

Such a strange state to be in, over those next few days. Felt like a whole new level of understanding existence itself opened up for me. I’m completely serious that two days later, while I was just lying there in bed in the afternoon, I could’ve spent hours upon hours just thinking about everything. Mostly about this whole newest adventure, but also reflecting on everything else. Trying to put words to this is really freaking difficult. This whole state had an element of something really good and needed and I didn’t want it to ever go away. In a way it was like, yeah, I’m way overdue with this sort of factory reset. It made existence feel more profound somehow.

It was also strange, because I didn't suddenly feel super motivated to really do stuff once we returned, but it was like something crucial has shifted in my brain nonetheless. I guess life really could be beautiful sometimes after all, huh. And, seriously, just lying there that one time, staring at the ceiling and replaying it all in my mind again… it still feels as vivid as the whole trip itself felt to me.

On the other side of things though, the second we returned to our country (not even back home yet, just having time to think about it all in the transit city was enough), it turned out to be pretty much non-stop crying time. I couldn’t accept that it was already over. I was devastated and I missed them so much already. Having two shows like this in a row is really something beautiful, and I'd advise everyone to try doing something like this if they ever get the chance, but… yeah. Having regrets about how I could’ve “done better” and gotten more out of it still, somehow, made it even worse. Even the knowledge that there’d still be one more show to go, in just over 2 weeks, didn't help much at all. Maybe it was the last thing to keep me somewhat stable at that moment, actually. Hah.

(I also had this stupid thing of not only rewatching this tour’s footage religiously (understandable), but also the previous tour’s, and regretting that all those songs weren’t also there, somehow. You can’t have everything!!! But I guess at times you can be excused for wishing otherwise anyway.)

So, this already felt like the much dreaded end of everything, even if it wasn’t. The eventual return, the wait for which felt like eternity, would make things much better though. It would still all become EVEN BETTER. So, thanks for reading again, and see you next time, when we finally get into all of what THAT was about.