Rough Copy and Hannah Barrett - Homecoming Gig - December 2013

So my final celeb event and meet of the year was the Homecoming gig at Fairfield Halls for Rough Copy and Hannah Barrett on the 30th December 2013. I was unable to get two tickets as there were none left together when I booked, so ended having to buy just the one ticket for me to go alone but it ended up being a great seat in the front stalls. Due to the long line at the box office to pick up tickets, the show ended up starting about twenty minutes later than it should had. But it was definitely worth the wait.

They had support from a dance group and someone else, who I cannot remember the name. But I want to jump straight to the main acts of the night, starting with Hannah. The girl was amazing as always and her laugh was just so infectious to the point I would have happily gone just see that! She did a fabulous job belting out numbers she had performed on the show, giving us a reminder through Skyfall why she deserved to go so much further than she did! I did manage to get a video of her performing Hallelujah but currently trying to sort it as it needs rotating. So keep a look out for that!

Rough Copy finally came on and started with my fave song they did on the X Factor, In the Air Tonight! I recorded that and you can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPD4QKXQWgI

Not only did they perform songs from the X Factor, which included another fave of mine, September, but they also performed two of their own compositions, which I actually really enjoyed. Hopefully the boys will have their own music out there in the charts in the next few months! The boys were fantastic and the harmonies were absolutely on point! The noise inside when they came on and throughout was absolutely deafening at times, but shows just how much love and support there is for them.

I was also lucky to be able to attend a meet and greet with them afterwards. Sadly as the photo was taken professionally, I currently do not own a copy to be able to upload, but it is better than whatever my camera could have taken!

Sellebrity Charity Football Match, Selhurst Park - November 2013

Should had written this blog entry last month when it was still fresh in my mind, but been so busy, it is only now that I have got round to it, so this will be quick and straight to the point and mainly my photos!

Have been wanting to go a celebrity football match for many years now, so when the opportunity came up to go at the club I support I was not going to pass it up. Despite tickets having been on sale for a few weeks by that point, I managed to get two seats at the front of the block, giving us a great view of the game and a perfect position to meet the celebs at the end of the match.

Highlights: Danny from McFly attempting to join in with the Crystals during their performance, Shane Ritchie nicking a set of Pom Poms as the teams took to the field and Danny from McFly scoring loads of goals! It was overall a damn good and at some points, funny match. Definitely something I would like to go to again.

Celebs met:

Spamalot - October 2013

Six months ago, I turned 30 and one of the presents I received was a £50 theatre voucher for use at any show playing at an ATG theatre. Obviously as I live near central London, I knew immediately it was going to be used on a West End Show. Once I went through the list, I whittled down my choice to two shows, Once and Spamalot. I ended going with the latter, firstly because I wanted it to be a show both me and my husband would enjoy and secondly, because as noted in a previous blog entry, Bonnie Langford convinced me I would enjoy it. 

I booked the tickets literally two weeks before my chosen date and ended up with amazing seats with me only having to pay an additional £7.50. Our seats were located in the stalls, in the middle of Row F! Definitely a fab present to have received when it got me seats like these. Sadly, after all the hassle we went through to get a babysitter, we ended up losing our babysitter at the last minute, meaning my husband was unable to come. Luckily for me, a friend of mine happened to be in town that weekend and was able to come along to the show with me.

Spamalot is currently playing at the Playhouse Theatre, which is located right by Embankment London Underground Station. On Fridays, the cast perform show twice in five hours, at 6pm and 9pm. I had chosen the 9pm show as I wanted to be able to meet the cast at the end of the show at the stage door, like I always do when I see a West End Show. The Playhouse Theatre is actually a really small, but gorgeous theatre. Even though we were sat in the stalls, you could tell that no matter where you sat you would have good and unobstructed view of the stage. It is definitely a great theatre for shows of less extravagance. 

The show is currently starring Les Dennis as King Arthur and Bonnie Langford as the Lady of the Lake, who are backed a small but fabulously brilliant and talented cast. As Bonnie had told me, when I had met her at London Film and Comic Con, the show really is taking the mickey out of musicals as it is full of over the top songs, but at the same time, it stays current with what is going on the world, to the point it through a reference to the new royal baby, Prince George! I am not going to give too much away as I really don't want to spoil the show as I think you should all go and see the show instead! The show is ridiculously funny, literally bordering on the line of crude and vulgar (but that depends on your sense of humour). My fave reference was to Justin Bieber and his waxwork and the characters' plan to go and melt his face off, which got a huge cheer from the audience! Some jokes did push it, with one of the cast members (and I sure this part of was improvised) joking they were going to get fired for just how dirty the joke was! But what I really loved is that the cast would giggle during the show at the jokes, whether or not it was part of the script! 

Bonnie Langford was absolutely brilliant as the Lady of the Lake. She has an amazing singing voice and brilliant comedy timing and is a fabulous dancer. Les was fantastic as King Arthur, though his dancing skills not so much! The entire cast were fantastic. All had strong voices and fantastic comedy timing! They make this show fantastic! The Voice of God, at our performance, was performed by West End legend, Michael Ball. He was so funny and he even swore, even if it was bleeped out. 

After the show, we went to the stage door and met Les, Bonnie and Adam Ellis. Due to the wigs worn, we did not spot some of the cast when they left! Adam was the first out and I told him how I thought he sounded fantastic singing like a woman, to the point that he really sounded like one! Les came out next but ended up shouting at a guy who was waiting at the stage door, who decided to insult him. It was a little scary seeing Les shout the way he did but he was very nice to those who had waited patiently and were polite to him. Though I somehow I managed to blur the photo when I took it! Bonnie came out last and as before was absolutely lovely to meet and I managed to get a better photo than I had gotten at LFCC.

Spamalot is currently available to book till February 2014, so if you get the chance, go and see the funniest show playing currently in the West End! I know I intend to go back, this time with my husband, if it is extended past that date!

Bruno Mars' Moonshine Jungle Tour - The O2 Arena, October 2013

Back in February, I booked tickets to see Bruno Mars live at The O2 Arena. The time between booking and finally seeing him really felt like it dragged on forever. So you can imagine my excitement when the day finally arrived! And typically my daughter got to come with me as my friend was unable to come!

I have to admit, while I think the choice of support act was a good one as it really did fit with Bruno's musical style, the set was just far too long at 45 minutes. I ended up being fed up and just wanting Bruno to hurry up and get on stage as I had already waited long enough from when I booked back in February!

But it ended up being worth the wait, because when he finally came on stage, he was brilliant! The show was electric and so fast moving, that it didn't feel all that long (it was around a 90mins set). He performed a good variety of his songs, from stuff from the latest album, all of his classics and even the stuff he had featured on for other artists!

It turned out, as I had found out earlier in the day, that it was Bruno's birthday that day and he was still performing despite that. So his band got the entire audience to sing Happy Birthday to him! Hearing the entire arena sing was definitely a surreal thing! Bruno even looked a little embarrassed!

Overall, this show was definitely one of the best live gigs I have been to! Bruno knows how to command a crowd without the need for big theatrics, which is not something that is easy to do these days! Even better though, was that the tickets costs much less than other concerts I have attended at The O2! Next time Bruno Mars is over in the UK touring, I definitely hope to be there!

London Film and Comic Con Winter - October 2013

London Film and Comic Con Winter replaced last year's Entertainment Media Show this year. Despite not having planned to go, due to lack of funds, the line up was too good to resist, specifically because of the huge number of Doctor Who guests that had been announced for the weekend. Plus as it fell on Matthew's birthday again, it was great excuse for a Mummy/Mattie day as he calls them.

Due to the lack of money I had, I decided to keep the number of people I met to the bare minimum and to Doctor Who guests only. So in the end, we ended up meeting Bonnie Langford, Paul McGann, Noel Clarke, Neve McIntosh and Andrew Hayden Smith. So while it ended up being a quick trip in comparison to previous conventions, it was definitely well worth it. Especially considering everyone we met wished Mattie a Happy Birthday!

Once inside, we headed straight over for my only photo shoot of the day with Noel Clarke. It had just started when we got there and as we have an extra help pass, we were in and at the front of the queue very quickly. Noel was absolutely lovely and attempted to engage Mattie in a conversation but Mattie was having none of it! It seemed Mattie was not going to be in the best today as he had been at previous conventions!

Once done with the photo shoot, we headed down towards the back of the hall where the autograph area was and immediately jumped in the queue to meet Bonnie. I have to admit, besides Dancing On Ice, I have never actually seen Bonnie in anything (though this was to change) and yet I still knew who she was! She was absolutely lovely to meet. We ended talking about the musical she currently starring in, Spamalot. I told her I was planning to coming to see it very soon and she informed she was due to leave in a few weeks (which helped a lot when I came to book). I also told her I was not a Monty Python fan and she told me it was not necessary to do so as it was more of taking the mickey out of musicals. She also told me about her mum, who like me, does not like Monty Python but had seen Spamalot 12 times! This really put my mind at ease about booking tickets (which I did a week later).

Next we went to see Paul McGann, who, as I tried to explain to Mattie, used to be the Doctor. I think Paul may have taken offence to this (in a joke sort of way) as he jokingly went on the defensive and said he was the Doctor, putting simply that once the doctor, always the doctor, which quite honestly is true! I did admit I had never seen his stint as the Doctor but that my husband had! We then went to see Noel for an autograph, who was an absolute joy to meet. We ended up chatting about his small but important role in Star Trek: Into the Darkness. I won't say how the conversation went just in case you have not seen the movie as not to spoil it for you.

We then headed over to see Neve McIntosh. She had a ridiculously long queue, longer than the crew had expected. Perhaps as she is part of the current cast of Doctor Who helped towards how many people wanted to meet her and trust me, it was worth meeting her. She was very sweet to Mattie, explaining that she had chosen to wear her human make up that day (she play Madame Vastra on the show, the green lizard alien thing, sorry cannot remember what type) and on being told it was Mattie's birthday, she sung Happy Birthday to him! Definitely one of the best guests we have ever met at a convention!

Finally, we met Andrew Hayden Smith, but only after a long wait. He had been on a lunch break and then had interviewed Noel! While waiting I was discussing with the crew and some other fans about his role Byker Grove and trying to remember the name of his character. But he was worth the wait as he was very sweet, but quieter than I expected!

It was a quick day for us, but as always there was a fab line up of guests and some absolutely brilliant cosplayers! Cannot wait for my next convention in March!

National Paralympic Day - September 2013

One year ago today, I was up in London with my youngest child, Owen, waiting for the start of the Greatest Team Parade, despite having arrived four hours early. But it guaranteed us an amazing spot at the start of the route to see the athletes go by. Nearly one year later, I decided to take Matthew to the National Paralympic Day at Olympic Park to meet the paralympians who had amazed and inspired us!

On arrival, having had to walk for about to 15 minutes or so, we immediately saw a group of paralympians posing for press photographers. We quickly headed over to get a shot of them and got the chance to meet the lovely Olivia Breen. Mattie went all shy and refused to have a photo with her.

As we did not have tickets for the Copper Box, due to finding out about the event far too late to be able to get them, we headed over to the stall area to see what was about. We ended up spending most of our time there going back and forth between the Paralympics GB Tent, where there were signings with different athletes every hour. Mattie was quite shy meeting them to begin with but by the end, he ended up being very confident and a little gobby!

One of our favourite things we found was the Luminarium. It was this huge blow up tent, which each section beautifully lit in different ways. To me and Mattie, it was this huge and ridiculously brilliant sensory tent, which Mattie fell in love with immediately. He had so much fun in there and was so happy that it became incredibly hard to get him out, but eventually after bribing with him with me offering to buy him an ice cream, he agreed to come out! This tent is amazing and has made me want to have the chance to create a sensory room for Mattie, if he ever gets his own bedroom.

Between one of the signings, we headed over the bridge to sit and eat our lunch, when we spotted a huge crowd heading past us. It turned out to be Boris Johnson, a number of paralympians and a group of press photographers. We headed over to see what was going on and when the chance presented itself, we got the chance to meet Hannah Cockcroft, Sophie Christiansen and Will Bayley. Hannah was absolutely lovely and was so patient while waiting for Mattie to take my photo with her, especially as he accidentally turned the camera off! I also told her that my husband fancied her, which she laughed at (the husband is not happy I told her though).

I am not going to list the names of those we met, because I could not for the life of remember who each and every one of them were, but they were all so nice, offering us chances to hold or even wear their medals from London 2012 and one had even brought their medal they won in Lyon this year. The final one we met was the person I think everyone wanted to meet and the one of the main reasons we went, David Weir. It was a big deal for us, not because we had cheered him on but because he is the local boy. David lives not far from us and I grew up in the same town as him. When we met him and told him that, the journalist sat next to him immediately asked to interview me to which I agreed. I told him how proud I was that a local boy had done so well! David ended being the one person I did not need coax Mattie to have a photo with!

Cardiff Film and Comic Con - August 2013

Despite living in London and therefore having access to numerous conventions there, I knew I could not pass up the chance to attend a new convention taking place in Cardiff. Being that Cardiff is the home where the fantastic Doctor Who and Torchwood series are filmed, I absolutely had to attend. Despite the long wait from booking to attending and the lack of guests announced till literally just before the event, I made the right decision in attending as I had an amazing time!

The first guest we met, because surprisingly he had no queue at the time, was David Hasslehoff. The kids picked out the shot of him in Spongebob to get signed as they all love him in that, so I decided to have it made out to the kids. It was a good decision to make as we ended coming away with more than what we were entitled to. For £30, we should have had only one autograph, but because David recognises that as he is the only live character in the Spongebob movie, children are more likely to recognise him than the voice actors. As a result, he had made up postcard  of the shot we had chosen, specifically to give to children. He got two of them and signed them and gave them to the kids. He also gave the kids one of those face masks that are so popular, this one being of him, which I cheekily put on to embarrass the kids! David also generously allowed Rachael to have a photo of him! Definitely £30 well worth spending!

Next guest we met was Kai Owen, who played Rhys in Torchwood. I had been lucky to meet Eve Myles in July and purposefully picked out a shot of them together to get signed as I already knew I would meeting Kai at that point. Kai was an absolute delight to meet and he joked that I had my own personal photographer when Rachael took our photo for us! He talked about just how lovely Eve was and we told him how she had been so nice by allowing to take a sneaky picture of her with my son when we met her. It was obvious from the way he talked about her that they had formed a close friendship when working on Torchwood together! Admittedly I have to say his Welsh accent was gorgeous!

As we moved away from meeting Kai, we spotted K9, so we popped over to get some shots. Both me and Rachael got a shot with him, but poor Mattie just did not seem interested this time round! K9 kept moving about while we were by him which I loved! I am pretty certain that Mat Irvine, who was sat nearby and is the technical consultant on Doctor Who, was the one playing with the controls! 

On spotting Chris Rankin with no queue, we quickly shot over to meet him! He had originally scheduled to appear at Colletormania in Glasgow the weekend before but was unable to make it, so was rescheduled to Cardiff and being a huge Harry Potter fan, I was absolutely delighted he was there as was Rachael. When we arrived at the table, the excitement obviously got to me, as I said to Rachael, "It's Percy Weasley!", which Chris laughed at. Chris was absolutely lovely, nothing like his character in Harry Potter and quite happily came out from behind the table to have photos with both me and Rachael!

The next we met was the amazing John Leeson, better known to TV viewers as the voice of K9! He was absolutely brilliant to meet and so nice! He kept doing K9's voice, which was had us laughing and was very kind in allowing us photo and inviting behind the table to do so! Even better was the autograph from him and K9, which I love! After John, we had a quick break and then went onto to meet Kenny Baker, who is known R2D2, for Jon and got the DVD boxset signed for him!

Our last guest we met was the brilliant Brian Blessed. We got in the queue just as they were asking people not to have posed photos with him. That was fine by me as I had a photo shoot booked with him! He was very lovely to meet and very chatty as well! Rachael was impressed that he had been in Doctor Who (though in the much earlier series). When it was time for his photo shoot, there was a ridiculously long queue and thankfully as we had an extra help pass so we were able to jump it, but sadly Brian had done a disappearing act and ended being 15 minutes late. But when he finally turned up, despite the crew's need to get everyone through quickly and promptly, he kept on chatting away to crowd that was queuing and making everyone laugh. Definitely one of the most interesting photo shoots I have ever been to!

This convention was the first convention when I finally plucked up the courage to ask those in cosplay for photos! It didn't feel as though there were as many as at previous conventions, but they had their own section upstairs, so perhaps that is where most of them were. I have to give special mention to all the children dressed up as they all look so cute! One little girl we saw before we went into the convention was dressed in a pink Batgirl outfit and looked so adorable! Also loved the number of Disney costumes as well, specifically a brilliant Merida from Brave and a fabulously done Ursula from the Little Mermaid! But my favourite cosplay was definitely all the Doctor Who ones! Two guys I found, dressed as the 10th and the 11th Doctors, not only their costumes perfect with the correct sonic screwdrivers, but they really did look like their doctors, right down the hair! Next year, Rachael says she wants to cosplay, so I will pulling out her Disney Princess dresses for her to wear!

It was definitely a fantastic first convention in Cardiff. It was definitely busier than anyone expected as there was still a long queue to get in just before 3pm, just as we were leaving! But it has not put me off coming back in March for the next one!