The Olympic Stadium in Stratford, in the east of London, was absolutely stunning. Even before people arrived, the atmosphere was thrilling. There was a buzzling feeling backstage, everyone was nervous and excited in equal amounts, even Guy who usually remained quite unfazed by everything. Fortunately, Chris’ voice had not been affected by his cold and the worst symptoms had disappeared thanks to the countless cups of tea, lots of water, Parecetamol and lots of rest. Chris had bounced back and seemed to be bubblier than ever.
“Have you seen all those dancers?” Will said walking into our dressing room, avoiding an energetic Chris who was bouncing around the place.
“We should have got matching outfits, you’d look good in shiny golden clothes,” Chris told him.
“Forget it,” the drummer said. “Hey, Jon, fancy a match?” Will told me pointing to the play station.
“Of course!” I flashed a smile. I wasn’t about to turn down a match on the PS3, was I?
Playing videogames was always helpful when dealing of pre-gig nerves. Will and I would always play together against the computer and so far we had won eleven out of seventeen matches since we had started the tour again. We made a great team.
Afterwards, we played for a bit and went through our vocal warm-up routine. I tried to treat this ceremony as any other show so as not to get too nervous. However, it was a bit impossible with so many people coming and going, it was undeniably a special night.
When Rihanna popped a quick visit to our dressing room, I greeted her politely and nicely as the guys did, but remained right next to Chris while they talked. I would not let them alone for a second. Having so many people around was beneficial and I fortunately did not witness any inappropriate behaviour on their part.
I still felt insecure and upset when I thought about her and Chris’ crush on her, but I had made a conscious decision not to pay attention to it today. It was such an important and transcendental night for us that I could not afford to get distracted and fuck up a song. The responsibility was too great; I would feel extremely frustrated if I let this personal issue affect my performance, particularly considering my reaction to watching them together last Sunday. It was better for my peace of mind if I just ignored it tonight. I would watch it later, but not tonight. I would focus on our performance, Strawberry Swing and 42 had been brought back into the set for this particular event and I was beyond excited to play them again.
My parents had texted me to let me know they would be watching and that also made me nervous. I wanted to make them proud.
“Ready fellas?” Chris said, opening his arms, drawing us close for our pre-gig huddle.
It was a magical moment for us. It was ours, just the five of us. It gave me all the energy and assurance I needed.
I walked on stage with a positive and confident attitude.
The entire show blew my mind, it was absolutely wonderful, the audience, the dancers, the orchestra, everything went according to plan, even the guests' appearances. I purposefully closed my eyes to Chris’ and Rihanna’s interaction- I would worry about it later- and by the time the ceremony ended we walked out of the stage totally elated and with a great sense of achievement.
We patted each other on the back for a job well done and received nothing but great complimentary comments on our performance. We were so ecstatic we popped open a few bottles of champagne to celebrate.
I looked around me, everyone was so joyful that my smile got even bigger seeing everybody’s happy expressions. I caught my husband’s eyes and he winked at me, he was radiating bliss, I leaned down and planted a kiss on his mouth. “You were amazing, babe,” I whispered in his ear.
