London Film and Comic Con Winter - October 2014

After the madness and the expense of LFCC in July, I really did not think I would be able to afford to attend the Winter one. But as always, guest after guest were announced that I wanted to meet, so I knew I had to find money to be able to attend. Obviously I did, as I would not be writing this blog. Sadly, because I have it so long to write this, I cannot remember everything from that day, so I will do my best!

This year I met: Mindy Sterling, Ariana Richards, Michael Trucco, Alan Ruck, Peter Duncan, Jerome Flynn, Ralph Macchio, MC Gainey, Catrin Stewart, Melody Perkins, and the wrestlers, Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hottie.

I had the pleasure of being able to meet Mindy Sterling, famous for her role in the Austin Powers franchise. She was absolutely bundle of energy, dancing during her photoshoot with the fans. Rachael was meant to come with me as she wanted to meet Mindy, as she has appeared in ANT Farm and ICarly. So I made sure I got the autograph signed for Rachael and Mindy asked me to say hello to Rachael for her when I got home. That made Rachael's day!

Another of my fave guests from the day was MC Gainey. I was scheduled to meet him in July but unfortunately he had to cancel. Luckily I was able to use my photoshoot ticket at LFCCW instead. He was an absolute pleasure to meet. I told him I actually liked his character from Lost and was sad when they killed him off. As I was trying to decide between two photos of his character to have signed, he ended up signing them both for me, at no extra cost to me.

The guest I was probably most excited for was Alan Ruck. Ferris Bueller's Day Off is one of my fave movies and Alan Ruck is outstanding as Cameron. I have to admit I could barely contain my excitement over meeting him and probably embarrassed myself in front of him when I got his autograph! Annoyingly, he was my last photo shoot of the day at 4pm, which was a bit of pain. Turns out it was for him too as he turned up to it with luggage as it appeared he had to be quick as he had a flight to catch!

An unexpected guest for me was Jerome Flynn. I had not intended to meet him as he was slightly more expensive to do so and I was more of a fan of his music than any of the TV shows he has done. But I bumped into a friend and we both decided why the hell not! He was an absolute gentleman and actually didn't mind that I love his album from the 90's (Yes, I am talking about Robson and Jerome). He even gave my friend a quick photo even though he was not to be doing them apart from his photoshoot. But there is always one guest who is prepared to bend the rules!

Despite the number of guests I met, it was actually quite quiet and I completed all my autographs within an hour and somehow managed to find ways to waste the time before my photoshoots. Now I need to save up for LFCC in July, which looks like it will be expensive just based on the first few guest announcements!!

The Big Reunion Boyband Tour - October 2014

Anyone who knows me, knows I love my boybands! So when the Big Reunion announced that this year's tour would comprise of the boybands from both series, I knew I had to go! I managed to get a seat in the presale, for the front middle block, six rows from the front at The O2 Arena, for what was a reasonable price in comparison to other shows I have seen there. For the price I paid, I got to see SEVEN boybands, who were amazing!

A1: My favourite boyband on the tour. I have love them ever since I saw them first perform at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party, when they were battling it out for Best New Tour Act with Westlife (they didn't win). Been very lucky to have been able to meet them a few times when I was a teenager. They had done the reunion without Paul and this tour was no difference. To be honest, I highly doubt we will ever see Paul back with A1. The boys opened the show with Take On Me and also performed throughout the night, Caught in the Middle, Same Old Brand New You and Everytime. I really want to say the perform another song, but my mind has gone blank and I cannot find the official setlist for the show! Either they gave a fantastic performance, being the only band to play their own instruments in the show and it was great to hear more of Christian's voice as well. However, my own question is how did Ben managed the show without splitting his extremely tight trousers???

5ive: So before the tour begun and barely after it had been announced, it was announced that Abz would be taking part in the tour. 5 had already become 4 and now they were 3, and will continue to be 3 (as I have just discovered while checking my facts). To be honest, I was quite concerned how this would work as they had lost both their rappers and I had no idea how they were to pull it off! But my fears were squashed as they pull it off brilliantly. Turns out Scott is not too bad a rapper! It did not matter that they had lost members because despite now being 3, they still pulled off a great performance as they had when they were 5 or even 4. They performed the same songs as they had the year before: We Will Rock You/Everybody Get Up medley, Keep On Movin, If Ya Getting Down and they also performed When the Lights Go Out (I remember that as it is my fave song of theirs.

Damage: Another band with a member down. But with their vocals and harmonies still on point. I was never a huge fan of Damage but was obsessed with Love II Love. After seeing in February and again on their tour, I don't think I could ever get tired of listening to them song as their harmonies are for me some of the best in the business! They perfomed: Ghetto Romance, Wonderful Tonight, Forever and Love II Love. Throughout the evening everyone had been doing the obligatory stage selfies, but Damage had to go the other way, posing for the fans. Started serious and then just got funny!


911: Another band from the first series with a guarantee to get the girls screaming during Bodyshakin. Also performed: More than a Woman and A Little Bit More. There was another song, I think Love Sensation. What is brilliant about 911 is that these guys are now in their 40's and they are still performing the original dance routines! However, Lee has handed over some of the lead vocals to Jimmy and it is great to be able to finally hear his voice.

5th Story: the boyband supergroup put together for the last series, formed of Gareth Gates, Dane Bowers, Kavana, Adam Rickett and Kenzie. Quite honestly this band should never have worked at the February gig but they did! I actually looked forward to seeing them perform again and I hope to see them to do some more gigs together! For their songs, they did their same setlist from February, performing one song from each band members' career. These were: I Breath Again (Adam), Freak Me (Dane), I Can Make You Feel Good (Kavana), Crossroads/Flip Reverse (Kenzie) and they closed the show with Spirit in the Sky (Gareth).


3T: The only American boyband on the tour and admittedly not my fave group. I do love Anything, their debut single back in the 90's. However, I will say that for a 3 piece, their harmonies are incredible. Also was very impressed that they continued to honour and remember their uncle, Michael Jackson, during their set.

Blue: Again another band with a member down, but all thanks to Simon to appearing on Strictly Come Dancing (he was present for all gigs that didn't clash with show nights). I love seeing these guys perform live but even I knew none of them were going to be rapping to replace Simon. But I did not see them inviting Bradley from S Club 7 to come and fill in for Simon! Great move boys! Bradley did a great job and fit right in with the boys! Even teased us about the S Club Reunion, which was announced barely days later!

Now The Big Reunion is done and dusted for 2014, we are left wondering is series 3 going to happen in 2015 and if so, who is going to appear?

Memphis - October 2014

Back in April, I booked tickets for some musicals with my birthday money. One of those shows was Memphis. I took a chance booking it as I did not know much about the show except for the fact it was a Tony winning show and that Beverley Knight would be the female lead. I also took a risk in booking for the second night of previews, knowing how much can go wrong in that period. But turned out, it was damn good chance I took and well worth the risk, because Memphis is now one of my most favourite musicals EVER!

The show originally opened on Broadway back in 2009 and won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical, in 2010. The show is loosely based on the story of Radio DJ Dewey Philips, a Memphis DJ who was one of the first white DJs to play black music back in the 1950's. The story revolves around Huey and his rise to fame and his relationship with club singer, Felicia. It deals with powerful themes from 1950's, dealing with a relationship between a white man and black woman, something considered unacceptable at the time, and the consequences of their love. It is a beautiful story with the power to shock as at the end of act 1 (spoilers!), a gang of white men beat up Felicia. 

The music was written by Bon Jovi's David Bryan, with lyrics written by David Bryan and Joe DiPietro. It is definitely one of the best musical scores to be written in a long time, with the Broadway soundtrack currently available to buy at the theatre and the West End soundtrack has recently been recorded. My favourite track is Memphis Lives in Me, sung by Huey and Company towards the end of the show. I could quite honestly listen to that song on repeat for hours as it is such a great song, with beautiful lyrics and Killian Donnelly sings such a stunning vocal that really believe his loss but also of his love for Memphis. 

The cast is absolutely outstanding. I felt like they had been performing the show for years. It was hard to believe that they were only on the second night of previews! Beverley Knight was absolutely phenomenal in the role of Felicia. I knew she had an amazing voice, but her vocals that night absolutely blew me away. She is most definitely a much welcomed addition to the talented group of West End leading ladies. Killian Donnelly was also outstanding. I had heard many things about him and seen great reviews for him during his run in The Commitments. Killian produced such an amazing performance, that he made me really feel Huey, making me desperately want Huey to come out on top and get the girl! 

Every cast member makes that show what is, producing such phenomenal performances. But there is one more person I need to mention and that is, Tyrone Huntley. Throughout the entire first act he does not speak. Then the final scene after Felicia has been beaten, he just suddenly opens his mouth and sings. He absolutely stunned me with his beautiful performance of Say a Prayer, producing a great end to Act 1. He is definitely one to watch in the West End.

Memphis is definitely the best new musical to come to the West End this year. It has already gained the most nominations for a new musical at the What's On Stage Awards and I hope to see it do extremely well at the Oliviers in April. I am going back to see it in January, which is the quickest I have returned to see a show without a cast change. If you haven't seen the show, you must go and see it as it absolutely phenomenal and the best show on the West End! As they say in Memphis, "Hockadoo!"

The Saturdays - Greatest Hits Live Tour - September 2014

I had not originally planned to go and see The Saturdays on this tour, purely as I just could not afford a ticket. But about three days before the concert at Wembley, I spotted a friend's Facebook status stating she had been sent an email with a link to tickets on a reliable site offering ridiculously good tickets at a ridiculously good price! £20 for seats 11 rows from the front - who says no to that?!

I always forget that Wembley arena is much smaller than the O2 arena. And I completely forgot that whenever The Saturdays play Wembley they always have part of their stage that comes out into front middle block. Our seats were in the right hand-side front block and our row lined up with the front of where the stage came into the audience! Definitely worth the £20 I paid for my seat at the last minute!


I have to be honest I have not brought an album of theirs since the debut album, Chasing Lights, but absolutely love their music. So admittedly, some songs were new to me! But as always an amazing show, with so much love from the audience for the girls! And as always the show was fantastic. I constantly see people criticizing them as live act, but they are one of my fave bands to see live!

It truly was a greatest hits tour with them performing many of their singles from across the years (they released the first single back in 2008). They performed fan favourites such as Up and All Fired Up and newer tracks such as 30 Days and Gentleman. The concert was fun and energetic with a fantastic acoustic set as well.

What was fantastic to see was all their friends and family there to support and sat not too far from us! There was support from Frankie and Rochelle's former S Club Juniors band mates, with Aaron as one of back up dancers and Jay sat in audience. Former JLS members, Marvin (Rochelle's husband) and Aston were also there, who I met between the girls' set! Obviously my daughter is very jealous as she loves JLS!

As always the girls put on an amazing show and I got to go with someone I met through social networking sites, meeting Jenni finally for the first time!

National Paralympic Day - August 2014

The end of August saw Rachael and I back at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to attend the National Paralympic Day. I had such an amazing time last year with Matthew, meeting our amazing British Paralympians and enjoying all the activities. This year, the moment tickets were available, I made sure to book two tickets to watch the swimming, the first time the event had been held the park since London 2012. Could not complain when the tickets were £5 each and we had amazing seats!

On arrival at the park, we made our way straight to the signing area and were lucky enough to get there just in time to meet our British skiers, who did an amazing job in Sochi at the beginning of the year. I was even lucky enough to wear the gold medal! We ended generally spending our time around that tent making sure we got to meet as many of the Paralympians appearing that day before we headed over to the Aquatic Centre. I was most excited about meeting Jonnie Peacock and Aled Davies, which we were fortunate to be able to do so!

When we finally got to meet Jonnie, the staff working at the tent told him we had been to every signing session just to make sure we did not meet him! I told him that Mattie had meant to come with me but had changed his mind that morning. Then preceded to tell him we were at the Anniversary Games the year before and that Mattie got all upset when he came third in his race. Jonnie apologised just like he did that day, not wanting to let anyone down. I told him that he did a great job that day!

We met Aled Davies just as he was coming to join the signing area, but as we didn't have time to queue up again, we approached him as he arrived. It was absolute honour to be able to meet him and tell him that me and the kids were in the stadium the day he won his gold medal at London 2012! After we met him, we headed over to the aquatic centre in time for our event.

The swimming was Team GB vs Europe. As we were attending the evening session, we saw the second half of the competition. Being back at the Aquatic Centre was amazing, though it did feel much smaller now that the higher additional seats had been removed. At the start of our session, Team GB were well ahead of Europe and it generally continued that way, with Team GB winning on completion of the event! Definitely a great way to reopen the aquatic centre!

Definitely want to attend again next year and hopefully Matthew will want to come!

Four Nights, Four Musicals - August 2014

Four nights in a row, four different musicals, one very tiring week but absolutely worth it! It was Kids' Week again and this year, I had managed to secure a pair of tickets for me and Rachael, across four nights to see four musicals. Yes, many complained that it was unfair we had secured that many, but we were just two people and tickets for two people are far easier to buy than for four! So between the 18th of August and the 21st of August, we saw: Wicked, The Pajama Game, Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera.

Wicked has long been our favourite show and every year, we go and see it. This year, we were more excited as Kerry Ellis had been announced as doing a short run back in the show. For me, it was a chance to see my first ever Elphaba again, for Rachael, it was a chance to see Kerry in the role. Sadly, on arrival, we discovered she was not appearing that night and instead we were seeing Emma Hatton in the role. She was outstanding in the role and next year we get to see her again as she has been offered the principal role from January 2015! We also thoroughly impressed with Savannah Stephenson and Jeremy Taylor as Glinda and Fiyero! As always we stage-doored and were so happy to finally meet Savannah as throughout the year we had kept missing her at events, only realising it was her when it was too late! She was so touched by the story, she came out from behind the barrier and gave us an extra photo to make up for the lost opportunities!

Our next show was The Pajama Game. I took a risk in booking these tickets as it is an unknown show for me, but as it was on a limited season, I thought we should give a try! To be honest I had been wanting to see the show's lead, Michael Xavier for a while after hearing great things about him and having seen him present West End Live the year before. On arrival, we ended up having our seats upgraded to much better seats, though I never did check what the difference in price was! The show was fantastic and had an amazing cast. It was definitely worth me booking it and everything I heard about Michael was right, he is amazing leading man. At the stage door after the show, Rachael got chatting to another little girl and Joanna Riding mistakened them for sisters or long time friends!

Les Miserables is the World's longest running musical and it is only this year that I have finally been to see it. Rachael has been asking for a while so this year I thought it was about time we did. And I am so glad I did, despite having a nasty headache all day and throughout the show! The show is most definitely phenomenal with one of the best ensembles on the West End. It is worth going to see just for the Barricade scene alone, which is spectacular! Admittedly, I preferred some actors from the movie over those in the show, but this is why you should always see the show before the movie! My biggest praise has to go to the theatre for the way they handled the stage door, which is located on a busy side street. Even with loads of fans stood outside, they had someone on the door making sure every cast member who plays a named character stopped for those waiting. This left us with the most autographs and photos we have gotten at any stage door and we definitely appreciate the time they all took!

Phantom of the Opera is another long running show I had yet to see and movie I had seen. It is the most spectacular show I have ever seen. The costumes, the staging, the ballet and the sets are just wow! The scene when the candles rise from the stage floor just amazed me and the ending when the phantom disappears right before your eyes, astounded me! After the show, after a long climb for the top of the theatre, we rushed to the stage door as I had been warned that many cast members were fast to change and fast to leave! Luckily we didn't miss them! We nearly missed the guy playing the phantom as the alternate had been on that night and obviously he was not used to stopping but a regular at the stage door called him back before he got too far!

Four nights in a row was worth the money and how tired we were but next year, I think I will try and spread out the shows a bit more!

Glasgow 2014 - July 2014

After the success of London 2012, I absolutely could not miss out on attending the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. I was able to secure two tickets to see the hockey, but missed out on gymnastics and athletics. Originally I planned and booked to stay for one night in Glasgow, but decided that with such a long train journey, we would probably be too tired to want to even attend our event. So after constantly checking for months, I managed to get us booked into our preferred hotel in Edinburgh for two nights, allowing to make more of our visit.

After a four hour train journey, we enjoyed our first evening exploring Edinburgh. The next morning, the day of our event, we spent the morning at Edinburgh Castle, which has the most stunning views. Despite our event not being till the evening, we spent the afternoon in Glasgow, exploring the city. With the upcoming referendum on Scotland and independence, there had been a worry and rumours of English people receiving abuse from Scottish people, but we found none of that and found the Scots to be very welcoming of everyone to their city.

By the time we got to the Hockey Arena for our session, Mattie was very tired and had a huge meltdown, so our time there ended up being very short, but luckily we got our money's worth. The first match was India vs Trinidad and Tobago and by half time, it was something like 10-0 to India! We were sat behind one of the goals, where India happened to be scoring all these goals! Despite being tired, this made Mattie very happy and made the cost of tickets more than worth it!

In the end, we ended doing what we did when we to see the Hockey at London 2012! The mini hockey courts had been set up outside for the kids and Mattie ended having so much fun trying it out! I ended up letting him continue playing rather than dragging him back to our seats for the rest of the hockey session! We left before the end of the second match to avoid the crowds and to give us plenty of time to head back to Edinburgh. We had a fab time, though we do wish we had had more time to explore Glasgow and been able to see more events!