ROCK concerts like this are a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but as well as remembering the great performances, people at Hyde Park will almost certainly remember the queues, the expense and the time it took to get around because of the sheer number of people.

No such problem at Gateshead and, to be fair, a few more people there would not have gone amiss.

It looked a little empty in front of the gigantic screen in the middle of the field, and seemed a shame that the number of tickets had been restricted when so many more could have come.

There was never any more than about 500 or so, although organisers estimate 1,800 people were there throughout the day.

Small groups of music fans gathered on the grass and sipped lager in the sun, almost everyone sitting.

But the band that changed all that was Travis, with, ironically, given the brilliant sunshine and dreary sentiment, Why Does It Always Rain On Me?

That track changed the feel of the festival of rock legends and, from then on, groups of people danced throughout the afternoon until the end.

Madonna, Joss Stone and Robbie Williams all had people doing their thing at the laidback Live8 event.

It was a little unusual to see people clapping the television after the songs, applauding an artist 300 miles away, but it made me feel part of the bigger event taking place around the world.

Sir Bob Geldolf got a huge round of applause when he introduced a survivor of the African famine from 20 years ago and made his speech -and an even bigger one when he broke into I Don't Like Mondays.

You could almost hear people saying: "Go on Bob, have your moment."

The fact it was run by the BBC meant we got the links with Jonathan Ross and all the interviews, as well as footage from the other concerts around the world.

There were a few minor technical difficulties earlier in the afternoon but they were sorted fairly quickly, earning the technicians a bigger cheer from the Gateshead Live8 crowd than some of the artists who performed.

People started to drift off at about 7.30pm, but I was determined to see legends such as Sir Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd and The Who.

A fatal and unforgivable mistake was closing the bar before 10pm, which meant, as the event continued until midnight, there were two drink-free hours.

By the end of the proceedings, following explosive sets from aforementioned legends, there were only a handful of people left and maybe only 20 in front of that big television screen.

But we can all say: "Live8, I was there... sort of."