Meeting the Royal Family was the highlight of my whole career in music.
It was a chance of a lifetime. We found out while we were on tour just a week or two before the show. It didn't hit me until I saw the security backstage. Then our co-manager, Bruce, told me, "Mattie, they have 8 to 10 frogmen swimming 24 hours a day in the water around the site."
It was really intense. The security was so tight. They had snipers in the catwalk, everybody on the roof, four helicopters flying above. . . They did a bomb scan and everything.
We did two days of pre-production and dress rehearsals. The momentum built and the excitement built and then we did our protocol rehearsal. We stood in line and the woman said we didn't have to worry about the curtseying or the bowing. The protocol stuff was basically try not to speak before they speak to you and try not to stick your hand out to shake before they offer their hand first. They carry the conversation. They ask you a question, and you answer it, and you try not to be facetious.
I was more nervous meeting them than performing for them. I had very sweaty palms. Reno had a scarf in his hands and I said "You're not going to give Prince Charles your headband, are you?" and he said, "No, I'm trying to keep my hands dry!"
They met Scott, Doug, then Mike, who introduced me and Paul, but they knew everybody's name anyway! They knew we were from Vancouver and that we'd just done four months on the road. They knew about the recent record release, and they knew we were planning on coming to England, so we talked about that. Princess Diana asked if she could come to the concert, and Mike told here he 'd get her a backstage pass. Apparently she had been to an opera gala the night before and had been real bored, and really appreciated some rock 'n' roll.
We met them in the intermission, and we were scheduled to play the second half. Prince Charles came through first and shook our hands and said "Glad to meet you . . . pleased to meet you . . ." Then he said something like, "I don't want to put my foot in my mouth, but have you performed, or are you going to perform?" We said, "No, we're going to perform," and he said, "Great, because I met some performers and I said, 'Great Performance!' and they hadn't performed yet, and I was quite embarrassed really." That broke the ice. We all had a little chuckle. It was so honest, and all of a sudden you felt so at ease.
Performing for them was almost academic, really. I think I was more nervous about playing for Vancouver than playing for royalty. We hadn't played at home for 4 years. It was really important for us to do it well.
It was. We were only doing three songs, but I really wanted to make those three songs the very best we could play them. I was too far back to see the audience well during the performance. You know when we play in concert on tour, the kids are a lot closer. I like to lock eyes with people in the audience if I can, 'cuz if someone' right up rockin', I'll tell you, they make my whole night.
The kids outside on the Expo grounds--it was sort of an outdoor covered theatre with the sides open--were really rockin'. You could hear them cheering and yelling. The reports were great, that we played well. Everybody was in tune, the pacing was good, and Michael sang well. I walked off almost in tears because I was so proud of the band.
It was really a magic evening . . . It happened so fast! I was so psyched for it -- and then it was over . . .
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