Chris Moyles winner Kelly

There are 2 words I will use to explain my Live 8 experience - Long and Amazing!

For me the day started when the alarm went off at 5am, I jumped out of bed with excitement, I have been totally hyper since I won the tickets on Thursday morning on The Chris Moyles Breakfast Show! I must at this point say a HUGE thanks to Claire, Mark and James, my 3 friends, who all did me proud waiting and listening to the radio for me, not knowing exactly what they were listening for! I owe you all big time, you know how desperate I was to be part of Live 8 and you helped me be there, so thanks!

Anyway back to the day, I threw myself together, along with my bag of essentials (cameras, phone, money!) and made my way to get the coach to London. Met up with everyone on the way and finally made it to Oxford Circus for 8am. From there I had a bit of a nightmare when it came to collecting my tickets as I nearly got the 4 of us lost by going the wrong way down Regent Street, but we eventually made it to the Radio 1 studios where I collected our tickets from a lovely friendly security guard on the main reception, who was full of stories about the people he has met, ranging from Sir Paul McCartney to The Big Brother contestants!

From there we stopped off to get some breakfast and to buy some drinks, finally arriving at Hyde Park at about 9.30am. Already the area was buzzing, there were official programmes being sold every 100 metres or so by the most energetic merchandise sellers I have ever seen and also freebies being given out, we managed to grab ourselves some foam hands, I found these later on to make great seats!

It took us a good half an hour to get along the long road to the main entrance to the park and at this time there were already at least 10,000 people in front of us queuing. We joined the queue and very quickly the area around us was full of people all doing the same as us. To make the queuing time go faster we had brought along some music and mini speakers so as a group we had a bit of a sing along to a few cheesy numbers and we also tried to break the world record for the longest "Oops up Side Your Head" dance line but failed miserably with only the 4 of us and 1 girl behind us willing to participate! Maybe everyone else was tired or something but we thought it was a good idea!

The time quickly passed and soon it was 11.45 and the gates were opened to let the crowds in. It was a slow walk to the main gates as everyone had their bags searched but by 12.15 we were inside the main show area and sat down on the grass in our spot. The next hours and 24min was spent laughing and joking with the people sat around us, it seemed as if where we were sitting was the place to be, as more and more people weaved their way through the crowds to fill any tiny space they could! We met some lovely people, everyone was in such a good mood, must say hi to the guys from Rochester, sorry we never got your names!

Soon it was 1.55pm and the announcement came that we all were waiting for, that the concert would be starting very very shortly. Everyone jumped up off the grass and I speedily came to terms with the fact that even though we were quite close to the front in relation to the size of the park, I wasn't going to see any acts in person, only on the monitors located at the sides of the stage and at the edges of the crowds.

First up was Sir Paul, who with the help of U2 did a great version of Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, which I thought was the perfect way to start the show. Next U2 performed and when Bono started singing "One" I could feel the lump in my throat getting bigger and already I was feeling emotional! It's a beautiful song anyway but to hear it on this special day just gave it that extra meaning.

Coldplay again had the same effect on me, In My Place is a favourite song of mine and hearing it live was amazing. Next up was Elton John, 1 of the acts I was particularly looking forward to, as he is such a legend in my eyes! He gave a top-notch performance, you wouldn't expect anything less from a master such as himself, but I did feel sorry for Pete Doherty who sang with him, he looked totally out of place and a mess! I really hope Elton can help him out!

After that were Dido and Stereophonics, both of which are not my cup of tea but never the less gave great performances, and like every artist, were received very warmly by the crowd. After that were REM, again 1 of the acts I was looking forward to as I have always liked their music but never took the opportunity to see them live. Again the lump in my throat appeared with the opening bars of "Everybody Hurts", a truly classic song and to hear it live was spectacular.

Then came Ms Dynamite, Keane and Travis. I have to admit I did ponder on why Ms Dynamite was on the line up before she came on stage but she gave a great performance and deserved to be there! Keane and Travis were both good acts for getting everyone singing along, which seemed to have been lacking up until this point!

Sir Bob himself treated us next to a song, and again everyone sung along at the tops of their voices! Annie Lennox was fab, what a superb voice, and "Why" such a fitting song for the day. Yet again everyone joined in with Annie along to "Sweet Dreams". UB40 received a similar reaction as Annie, with singing such classic songs everyone was singing along, which when it is so many people I cant even describe how wicked it sounds!

After UB40 came Snoop Dogg. This is the 1st time I have seem him live and he was every bit as good as I expected! He had me bouncing up and down from beginning to end! I have to admit though I was taken aback by the "colourful language" he used for a show airing on TV in a teatime slot! The look on the faces of some of the older members of the crowd was a picture! This was the halfway point in the show and it was already running late by around 45 mins, I soon realised I wouldn't be leaving Hyde Park til about 11pm at the earliest!

I hate to admit it but although I know that Razorlight were on next I cannot actually remember their performance! I think maybe at this point my feet were starting to feel the pressure and I was sitting down, after all that bouncing to Snoop I needed a break!!! I wasn't resting for long though as next up was Madonna, and I just HAD to see her! The true Queen Of Pop, she gave a fantastic performance and was adored by the crowd! She had everyone clapping in unison to "Music" and singing in unison to "Like A Prayer", what a great choice of songs!

After Madge had finished I decided whilst Snow Patrol and The Killers were on I would venture to the loo's, to get a little something to remind me of my day and to get something to eat! I was a little disappointed though when I got to the Merchandise Stall they had sold out of every single t-shirt! I got back from my little trip just about halfway through Joss Stone's performance. Wow what a voice! The song she ended with I had never heard before, and I think was called "I Have a Dream". Again it was a song that was totally in keeping with the feel of the day.

I have to admit that I did spend most of Joss's performance waiting for it to end, not because she was bad or boring or anything like that but because I knew who was next, The Scissor Sisters! The Scissors are my top band at the moment and as usual they gave a sparkling performance and looked absolutely amazing! I spent the whole performance waiving my pink inflatable scissors in the air and singing along to 2 of their hits "Take Your Mama" and "Laura". As a devoted fan it was also amazing to hear a brand spanking new track from them, their whole performance for me seemed to be over within a couple of minutes!

Next up were Velvet Revolver, who I have to admit I have never heard of before! Seeing Slash play live was great though, what a master he is! Sting was after Velvet Revolver and again he sang classic songs that got the crowd in Karaoke mode! Then came along Mariah Carey, who came across as the diva I thought she would! Couldn't fault her singing though, and "Hero" is a touching track. Again though, just as with Joss Stone I was waiting for the end as I knew who was next, Robbie. I have been a fan since the very early Take That days so seeing him again was thrilling! His performance was the one that got the crowd going most in my opinion, even the mention of his name caused the crowd to erupt! It has been said so many times before but he is a true showman, and gave his all for is 15 mins on that stage! For me it brought back memories of how fantastic Knebworth was and again his performance flied past!

After Robbie came The Who and Pink Floyd. Both were acts I know were highly anticipated by the crowd, for me I guess I am just a little to young to appreciate how amazingly huge they were at their peak but all the same I enjoyed both acts, True musicians in every sense of the word. Obviously as a Scissor Sisters fan "Comfortably Numb" was an experience, somewhat different to the Scissors Electricfied version!

I couldn't believe it when at 11.45pm, some 2 hours later that planned, it was time for the finale! The day had gone past so fast, it was hard to take it all in, it still is now! Again it was Paul McCartney, who yet again gave me that lump in my throat and tear in my eye with his breathtaking songs "The Long and Winding Road" and "Hey Jude".

I was very disappointed that unfortunately due to travel arrangements I couldn't stay to watch all the finale, we had no choice but to make our way to the exit with Hey Jude playing in the background but I couldn't think of a better way to end the show. Walking down Oxford Street to the tube station there were thousands of people, but it was strangely quiet, like everybody, like myself was taking stock of what a truly inspiring day they had just not only witnessed but had actually been part of.

By Kelly Tant