1471154386 (N) by Caroline Flack

Author:Caroline Flack
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781471154416
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 2015-10-22T07:00:00+00:00

9

Gladiators

TMi (stands for Too Much information) was only on air between September and late spring, then you had a long summer break before starting again the following September. It really was like being back at school and to celebrate my ‘end of term’, Anna took me to the Isle of Wight. As Angus was a music manager, he and Anna would rent a house every year and they said I could stay in their spare room. We used to call it Rock Villas because every time you opened the door there was another member of a rock band standing there.

Stadium bands are quite different to the little indie gigs I was used to and that summer I finally got to see the Rolling Stones. They weren’t on Dad’s playlist when I was growing up – he only became a fan a couple of years ago when he finally got to see them playing live – but Liz used to play them a lot.

Isle of Wight 2007 was the first festival they had done in Britain for thirty years and there was a real sense of occasion. They put on such an amazing show and I totally understand why they’re called The Greatest Rock Band in the World. Amy Winehouse came on with Mick Jagger for ‘Ain’t Too Proud to Beg’. She was now at the height of her fame. Back to Black was the biggest-selling album of the year, and she had just got married.

Amy was a friend of Josie’s and so I knew her, or rather I would see her around at the Hawley which was her local – I can’t claim her as a friend. You always knew she was different. As a person she was very welcoming and very lovely, there were no airs and graces or any kind of snobbery, or ‘I’m this’ or ‘I’m that and I wanna be famous’. She didn’t want any of that.

There was never any doubt about her talent and I was a big fan. D-Day had got Josie and me tickets to see her at the Astoria in Charing Cross Road that previous February. The Astoria was my favourite music venue of all time – until they demolished it to make way for the Crossrail project. I feel privileged to have seen that concert. Amy Winehouse was without doubt the greatest artist of my generation. And if you’ve ever been through the agony of heartbreak, you can’t fail to be moved. It’s not just about listening and hearing, she makes you feel. It’s visceral. Everything was so personal. She was singing about her problems, but she was talking directly to you. I was blown away.

I saw her the following year when she was on before Jay Z at Glastonbury and I could see that she had changed. She looked so vulnerable and even as I was watching I had the feeling that this was the last time I was ever going to see her.

Sometime around Easter 2007 Josie and I went to see Kate Nash.

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