My first visit to the Millennium
Dome on 26th July 2000 on a overcast and slightly foreboding day, my Mum and
I got off at the tube station and onto the escalators to take us to the surface
- almost immediately we caught sight of the Dome - ovo00
Once we had queued up for our
tickets we were immediately surrounded by strange sights, the boy here was so
strangely lifelike that you had a feeling he was watching you
- ovo05
The area shown below was the body
area, perhaps the most famous and strangest section of the Dome, it was huge
enough for a large walkway to run all through it, you can see some people on
the walk coming out of the 'hand' - ovo09
A striking view looking directly
up to the top of the Dome, there are a maze of gantries and people up there,
too tiny to see. This is where the acrobats/dancers would descend from, and
hang as if nothing was holding them - ovo10
Peter Gabriel
OVO
The crowds were allowed
to sit on the floor right up to the stage almost, the red painted areas of floor
had to be kept clear to allow dancers and technicians the space to run on and
off, and to get the large frames that surround the stage. These pictures were
taken from the stands - ovo21
Here you see the show at a key
moment from the show, note the frame structures in the previous picture are
now upright with a person strapped into the spinning wheel at the top. The outer
red framework and covering rose from the floor and had a spiral walkway running
around it, one of the characters strode around this. The inner tower has now
been raised to its full height, large wooden logs were carried on and used to
support it, as can be seen from the following pictures - ovo23
This picture follows closely on
from the last. Another key moment is depicted here, the covering is 'destroyed',
and a huge flash and explosion (note the smoke) brings the outer frame tumbling
down to the ground, leaving the inner tower standing tall but alone
- ovo24
The most fantastic section of
the show was to come however, a small army of people gathered up huge swathes
of material and were winched up. Note the figures dancing in the air in the
upper-centre of the picture - ovo25
A continuation of the picture
above, the material was eventually raised to envelop the dancers
- ovo26
The pictures above were taken during my first
visit to The Millennium Dome, I only took a limited amount of photographs on
this day, however I took more pictures on my second
visit, including a couple of stunning shots.
There seems to be some doubt whether the show
was ever recorded on film - if no recording exists then it is a tragedy that
rivals the lack of footage from the Genesis The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
Genesis tour.
