Oonagh Robinson: Surprised by mums of young Beliebers
I'VE been feeling really left out all week as it's become increasingly clear I missed an important memo about the now notorious Justin Bieber gig in Nottingham t'uther night.
Apparently, I'm the only local mum who DID NOT take a child under the age of six to see the pint-size teen sensation perform at the Capital FM Arena (when the cheeky scamp turned up late after tweeting about his "worst birthday" – what a charmer).
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Bieber-gate: Cheeky scamp was late for his own concert.
I feel such a failure as a parent.
The star has been panned by disappointed Nottingham folk after he left them sitting around like lemons for an hour before he deigned to finally show up on stage on Saturday night.
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Meanwhile, some parents who had forked out hundreds of quid for a special "meet and greet" were also kept hanging on for ages only to get a measly 20-second photo opportunity with the hallowed Mr B, whose hits include... erm.... pass.
What's more, Bieber did exactly the same thing a couple of days later at the O2 in London – only this time he kept his adoring public waiting for TWO HOURS before coming on stage, meaning the kids who attended didn't get home until about 2am in the morning.
On a school night!
I'm not at all surprised that "The Beliebers" are a bit peeved with their idol. I know he might be under a lot of pressure touring the country and belting out his massive, if completely unnameable by me, hits – but when people are forking out their hard-earned cash for tickets, they expect a bit of common courtesy.
But, what does indeed surprise me is how many of the people who spoke to The Post to air their grievances had dragged along unfeasibly young kids to the concert.
One woman, for instance, had bought her three-year-old son.
Yes you read that right. A three-year-old – at a packed pop concert.
He managed half an hour once Bieber had finally started singing before falling fast asleep (which is probably more than I could have managed, but still).
What on earth are people thinking?
My youngest is nearly six and still can't make it past eight o'clock in the evening without turning into the Abysmal Bewilderbeast of Olde Ilkestone Towne because she's so horrendously overtired and inconsolably grumpy by then.
I could no more think of taking her out to a public concert with screaming hordes of teenage girls and massive booming music blaring out till past midnight than I could take her, I don't know, to the Planet Neptune.
It simply wouldn't enter my head.
In fact, my eldest has only just experienced her first-ever proper gig – and she's a comparatively geriatric 16.
One mum, whose six-year-old child was amongst those disappointed after "Bieber-gate" in Nottingham, said she'd intended it to be a "once-in-a-lifetime experience."
Really?
Kids of five and six have got an awful lot of "lifetime" still to come – will they really count seeing a moody 19-year-old with a shocking punctuality problem as their highlight?
Crikey, I do hope not.
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