Weekend away & John in Concert - Birmingham 18th May 2009
saturday night i went to stay with lisa and her parents in preparation for monday nights concert at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham.
Staturday
We started the weekend off with Tonights The Night and played spot Scott and our friends who attended the recording. Managed to spot Scott by the waitresses and then later saw Shar and Liza in the crowd behind the cowgirl ladies sister.
John looked rather fetching in his leather chaps and hat. ;) loved the duet with Russell Watson, it even brought tears to my eyes.
Sunday
saw us staying in and watching dvd's that i'd brought along with me complete with microwavable popcorn. So we watched De-Lovely which i adore cause all the songs are fabulous and well most of them remind me of John. I just love the music of cole porter and i can see why John does too.
We then watched The Dark Is Rising staring Christopher Eccleston. this was very good if a little strange hearing the main character's name being shouted out and it being my own sirname.
I felt the ending could have been done better as it was all over a tad too easilly and quickly for my liking. But oh well its supposed to be a kids movie.
we also listened to John's cd's and just randomly squeed over Dr Who and John related stuff.
Had a lovely roast pork dinner curtesy of Lisa's mum and ended the evening watching the football and then Graham Norton while i waited on my nails drying as i painted them blue with white crosses on them ala the Scottish flag ready for the concert. Lisa having gone to bed early as she had to drive her parents car home from the train station early the next morning.
Monday
Monday morning saw me getting up quite late for me considering how i'd not slept well what with anxiety over the height issue of being seated in the grand tier front row for the concert im not really surprised. That and i had hurt my shoulder and it was giving me trouble trying to get comfortable.
While Lisa was out i watched Tonights the Night again and squeed somemore over the fact that the guy who won the Dr Who monster section was from my hometown of Lincoln. Which is so cool.
When Lisa returned from the trainstation we settled in to have breakfast and then we watched Day Of The Dead with the delectable Matt Rippy. ;)
we then had some lunch before getting ready for our trip to see John. More singing along to the cd's.
Once in Birmingham we ventured to Pizza Hut for lunch and got charged an extortionate £4 for the salad bowl we thought came with the pasta. oh well. was nice though.
We then headed up to the symphony hall to meet up with Debs and Shar and also met a few friends from facebook while their and from the panto.
Had an interesting chat with the guy running the merchandise stall who evidently was also from Glasgow like John.
Was most disapointed that the black t-shirt with John on the front was only in skinny fit ladies sizes so i ended up buying the Music Music Music t-shirt in the white even though im not a fan of the photo. But i had to have a tour shirt and the program which i must add has absolutely goregous pictures of John especially the one in the waistcoat and then the lovely shirtless ones of John and Scott in the programme.
I really love the one of them in the pool with Harris cause he is just the cutest little puppy ever.
I saw Gavin arrive along with Rhys and the cutest little puppy ever. gavin looked right at me as they walked past seemingly unnoticed by all the fans sitting in the foyer waiting to be let into the auditorium.
While waiting there John's dad came right up to the stall and i had to move to let him get to the stall as he was bringing the signed prints of the three john's to the stall holder. so that was quite cool getting to see him even if i didn't say anything other than sorry as i moved out of his way cause i was right in the way where i was standing.
anyways when it came time for the show we went up in the lift and well lets just say im scared of heights and there was much shaking of the nerves. lol lisa thought it was the proximity of john causing the nerves as she has seen how much my hands and stuff shake when being near him.
We ended up litterally in the top of the theatre, right on the front row and i couldnt sit back due to the seats not being very spacious so was perched on the edge of it with my knees against the front railings. God it was so high up i was petrified. There is no way i was looking straight over, it was bad enough looking down to the stage before the show started when there was nothing happening to distract me.
Every time i had to stand to let someone past me was a nightmare but yeah i lived to tell the tale as John did a good job of distracting me from the height issue.
I appologise now as this may be very rambly as i cant really remember what songs came in what order as such.
I know John opened with Don't Stop Me Now which i thought was pretty good way to begin. i like the song anyways so hearing John sing it live i thought it sounded better than when it was on Tonights the Night.
John then had a tom jones song which im sure was Help yourself which was also quite lively.
What about us sounded much better this time as the first time i heard John sing this live was when he had that throat infection last year at the christmas lights switch on in birmingham and he also sounded off when he sang it on the royal variety show.
I made it through the rain one of my favourites from Music Music Music, this was sang beautifully along with a brief dig at the PM's expenses issue including John telling them to pay for their own damn cleaner.
Life is a rollercoaster This i love and i hope he records this one. Very energetic and i love this song anyways but John made it his own.
Daniel Boys opened with the take that classic Could it be magic which i thought was fantastic. But then again i thought all of his songs were brilliant choices to showcase his vocal talents.
The Carpenters Solitaire also made it into his set, and until he started to sing this one i wasnt sure i knew this one off hand but when he got going it was yep i know this one aswell.
he gave a lovely story about John ironing his shirts for him which i thought was cute.
John did a fantasically funny and insane homage to his Scottish heritage and then also Musical Theatre background which included him doing the highliand fling while singing songs from the likes of Phantom of the opera, Joesph and many others which escape me now.
There was the heartbreakingly beautiful tribute to us his fans When you tell me that you love me which brought me to tears. This i thought was a very nice and moving song. One that i wont forget in a long time. Because you could genuinely tell that John meant every word of what he said here. That he got choked up slightly when saying that he would never forget us, for bringing him here and allowing him to do everything that he'd always dreamed of, goes along way to say what it really means to him.
Baby Give it Up from Tonights the Night was also quite cool sung live along with the dancers from the show.
A personal highlight for me was John talking about Scott's party piece at the family get togethers and how he often sits in the corner reading a book and John had convinced him to come and sing the song he sings for him.
And how Scott had appeared wearing leather chaps, hotpants no shirt and a hat and John had told him to go and put some clothes on. ;) lol that is an image i would love to have seen.
Scott apparently returned with jeans on under the chaps and a shirt and then sang Rhinestone Cowboy
John proceeded then to sing this and dedicated it to Scott which was so sweet and for me this was a huge highlight and i have had that song stuck in my head since monday night. All monday night i had it playing in my dreams on a continuos loop. lol.
During the interval they showed a slideshow of beautiful pics of John/Scott aswell as family photos and lots of personal photos of the likes of Scott with two shirtless men. Some nice shots of Gavin too.
The second hald started with a Tonights the Night medley of One Night Only,I'm so excited,Boogie Wonderland and Rhythm of the Night which was absolutely fantastic. I really loved the boogie wonderland and Rhythm of the Night sections of this.
Both Sides Now which was aparently from Priscilla Queen Of The Desert and i believe john said it was a joni mitchell song originally.
Goodbye My Friend was Johns very moving tribute to Penny, Lewis, Tiger and the various dogs his family have lost in the past few years. He got quite emotional during this and understandably so. This made me cry aswell. With lovely pics of the dogs and the guys together to go along with this made for a moving song.
Knock 3 Times was so funny and cool as i love this song from my youth as my parents used to play it all the time.
Daniel returned to the stage to sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow which was done really well and until he got into the song i didnt realise it was this as i hadnt really paid all that much attention to the lyrics before now.
His version of Michael Buble's Everything was brilliant. I really enjoyed that one.
Then came the fantastic duet of I Know him so well Daniel has a cracking set of lungs on him as does John and this song is definately one best suited for live performances. Not that i dont like it on the cd, but live is definately the way to go for this one.
John then sand I won't send roses which apparently is the most requested song he gets asked to sing. And apparently Scott says it describes John to the T.
Can't take my eyes off of you i prefer this live aswell as im not so keen on it on cd. Love the song itself but i have to hold my hands up here and say i prefere Heath Ledger's version in 10 Things I Hate About You. Sorry John.
John then moved on to say that basically we should live life to the fullest and he sang Living La Vida Loca which for me was also a big highlight as i was a huge fan of Ricky Martin the origninal artist and i have seen this song performed by him live granted 9 years ago.
John did a fantastic version and lots of hips shaking and bum wiggling. Definately giving Ricky a run for his money there and well i really really enjoyed this performance.
John then came back for an encore and sang From a Distance after telling us that the number 1 thing on his bucket list. (what u wanna do before you die) was to go into space which for some reason people thought was really funny. I personally dont see what was funny about that dream myself. lol maybe im just weird.
This was beautiful and i loved the video in the background on the projector of the earth from space and the various different landscapes. I love this song and it was sung fantastically.
Then came out the sparkly Jacket which he tried to hide and came on the announcement that if we loved hearing John sing I am what I am which has become his signature song that we could hear him sing it every night from September 14th at the Playhouse Theatre in La Cage Aux Folles.
sods law im gonna be in cardiff as its my birthday opening night but then again were gonna go on the 19th of September.
lots of squeeing was done here and he launched into the classic barrowman number which he changed slightly to his usual routine to be more the role i think from what ive heard of other artists singing this.
we then travelled back to lisa's and we booked front row for La Cage Aux Folles and also the hotel for the evening show on the 19th. I am so excited its unbelieveable.
Tuesday
Saw my return to normality as i had to travel back home as i had work on wednesday. But first it was a trip round the local rag market to look at the 50p per meter fabric stalls and i became very undescisive about some feather boas. lol
We also examined the pics we'd managed to take between us at the show as during the second half the ushers were on us everytime we raised the cameras from our laps despite no announcements being made. Us being in the gods esentially and taking shots without flash and basically not getting such a great shot anyways because my camera isnt fantastic.
Photos to follow in a seperate post once ive sorted them out.
Staturday
We started the weekend off with Tonights The Night and played spot Scott and our friends who attended the recording. Managed to spot Scott by the waitresses and then later saw Shar and Liza in the crowd behind the cowgirl ladies sister.
John looked rather fetching in his leather chaps and hat. ;) loved the duet with Russell Watson, it even brought tears to my eyes.
Sunday
saw us staying in and watching dvd's that i'd brought along with me complete with microwavable popcorn. So we watched De-Lovely which i adore cause all the songs are fabulous and well most of them remind me of John. I just love the music of cole porter and i can see why John does too.
We then watched The Dark Is Rising staring Christopher Eccleston. this was very good if a little strange hearing the main character's name being shouted out and it being my own sirname.
I felt the ending could have been done better as it was all over a tad too easilly and quickly for my liking. But oh well its supposed to be a kids movie.
we also listened to John's cd's and just randomly squeed over Dr Who and John related stuff.
Had a lovely roast pork dinner curtesy of Lisa's mum and ended the evening watching the football and then Graham Norton while i waited on my nails drying as i painted them blue with white crosses on them ala the Scottish flag ready for the concert. Lisa having gone to bed early as she had to drive her parents car home from the train station early the next morning.
Monday
Monday morning saw me getting up quite late for me considering how i'd not slept well what with anxiety over the height issue of being seated in the grand tier front row for the concert im not really surprised. That and i had hurt my shoulder and it was giving me trouble trying to get comfortable.
While Lisa was out i watched Tonights the Night again and squeed somemore over the fact that the guy who won the Dr Who monster section was from my hometown of Lincoln. Which is so cool.
When Lisa returned from the trainstation we settled in to have breakfast and then we watched Day Of The Dead with the delectable Matt Rippy. ;)
we then had some lunch before getting ready for our trip to see John. More singing along to the cd's.
Once in Birmingham we ventured to Pizza Hut for lunch and got charged an extortionate £4 for the salad bowl we thought came with the pasta. oh well. was nice though.
We then headed up to the symphony hall to meet up with Debs and Shar and also met a few friends from facebook while their and from the panto.
Had an interesting chat with the guy running the merchandise stall who evidently was also from Glasgow like John.
Was most disapointed that the black t-shirt with John on the front was only in skinny fit ladies sizes so i ended up buying the Music Music Music t-shirt in the white even though im not a fan of the photo. But i had to have a tour shirt and the program which i must add has absolutely goregous pictures of John especially the one in the waistcoat and then the lovely shirtless ones of John and Scott in the programme.
I really love the one of them in the pool with Harris cause he is just the cutest little puppy ever.
I saw Gavin arrive along with Rhys and the cutest little puppy ever. gavin looked right at me as they walked past seemingly unnoticed by all the fans sitting in the foyer waiting to be let into the auditorium.
While waiting there John's dad came right up to the stall and i had to move to let him get to the stall as he was bringing the signed prints of the three john's to the stall holder. so that was quite cool getting to see him even if i didn't say anything other than sorry as i moved out of his way cause i was right in the way where i was standing.
anyways when it came time for the show we went up in the lift and well lets just say im scared of heights and there was much shaking of the nerves. lol lisa thought it was the proximity of john causing the nerves as she has seen how much my hands and stuff shake when being near him.
We ended up litterally in the top of the theatre, right on the front row and i couldnt sit back due to the seats not being very spacious so was perched on the edge of it with my knees against the front railings. God it was so high up i was petrified. There is no way i was looking straight over, it was bad enough looking down to the stage before the show started when there was nothing happening to distract me.
Every time i had to stand to let someone past me was a nightmare but yeah i lived to tell the tale as John did a good job of distracting me from the height issue.
I appologise now as this may be very rambly as i cant really remember what songs came in what order as such.
I know John opened with Don't Stop Me Now which i thought was pretty good way to begin. i like the song anyways so hearing John sing it live i thought it sounded better than when it was on Tonights the Night.
John then had a tom jones song which im sure was Help yourself which was also quite lively.
What about us sounded much better this time as the first time i heard John sing this live was when he had that throat infection last year at the christmas lights switch on in birmingham and he also sounded off when he sang it on the royal variety show.
I made it through the rain one of my favourites from Music Music Music, this was sang beautifully along with a brief dig at the PM's expenses issue including John telling them to pay for their own damn cleaner.
Life is a rollercoaster This i love and i hope he records this one. Very energetic and i love this song anyways but John made it his own.
Daniel Boys opened with the take that classic Could it be magic which i thought was fantastic. But then again i thought all of his songs were brilliant choices to showcase his vocal talents.
The Carpenters Solitaire also made it into his set, and until he started to sing this one i wasnt sure i knew this one off hand but when he got going it was yep i know this one aswell.
he gave a lovely story about John ironing his shirts for him which i thought was cute.
John did a fantasically funny and insane homage to his Scottish heritage and then also Musical Theatre background which included him doing the highliand fling while singing songs from the likes of Phantom of the opera, Joesph and many others which escape me now.
There was the heartbreakingly beautiful tribute to us his fans When you tell me that you love me which brought me to tears. This i thought was a very nice and moving song. One that i wont forget in a long time. Because you could genuinely tell that John meant every word of what he said here. That he got choked up slightly when saying that he would never forget us, for bringing him here and allowing him to do everything that he'd always dreamed of, goes along way to say what it really means to him.
Baby Give it Up from Tonights the Night was also quite cool sung live along with the dancers from the show.
A personal highlight for me was John talking about Scott's party piece at the family get togethers and how he often sits in the corner reading a book and John had convinced him to come and sing the song he sings for him.
And how Scott had appeared wearing leather chaps, hotpants no shirt and a hat and John had told him to go and put some clothes on. ;) lol that is an image i would love to have seen.
Scott apparently returned with jeans on under the chaps and a shirt and then sang Rhinestone Cowboy
John proceeded then to sing this and dedicated it to Scott which was so sweet and for me this was a huge highlight and i have had that song stuck in my head since monday night. All monday night i had it playing in my dreams on a continuos loop. lol.
During the interval they showed a slideshow of beautiful pics of John/Scott aswell as family photos and lots of personal photos of the likes of Scott with two shirtless men. Some nice shots of Gavin too.
The second hald started with a Tonights the Night medley of One Night Only,I'm so excited,Boogie Wonderland and Rhythm of the Night which was absolutely fantastic. I really loved the boogie wonderland and Rhythm of the Night sections of this.
Both Sides Now which was aparently from Priscilla Queen Of The Desert and i believe john said it was a joni mitchell song originally.
Goodbye My Friend was Johns very moving tribute to Penny, Lewis, Tiger and the various dogs his family have lost in the past few years. He got quite emotional during this and understandably so. This made me cry aswell. With lovely pics of the dogs and the guys together to go along with this made for a moving song.
Knock 3 Times was so funny and cool as i love this song from my youth as my parents used to play it all the time.
Daniel returned to the stage to sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow which was done really well and until he got into the song i didnt realise it was this as i hadnt really paid all that much attention to the lyrics before now.
His version of Michael Buble's Everything was brilliant. I really enjoyed that one.
Then came the fantastic duet of I Know him so well Daniel has a cracking set of lungs on him as does John and this song is definately one best suited for live performances. Not that i dont like it on the cd, but live is definately the way to go for this one.
John then sand I won't send roses which apparently is the most requested song he gets asked to sing. And apparently Scott says it describes John to the T.
Can't take my eyes off of you i prefer this live aswell as im not so keen on it on cd. Love the song itself but i have to hold my hands up here and say i prefere Heath Ledger's version in 10 Things I Hate About You. Sorry John.
John then moved on to say that basically we should live life to the fullest and he sang Living La Vida Loca which for me was also a big highlight as i was a huge fan of Ricky Martin the origninal artist and i have seen this song performed by him live granted 9 years ago.
John did a fantastic version and lots of hips shaking and bum wiggling. Definately giving Ricky a run for his money there and well i really really enjoyed this performance.
John then came back for an encore and sang From a Distance after telling us that the number 1 thing on his bucket list. (what u wanna do before you die) was to go into space which for some reason people thought was really funny. I personally dont see what was funny about that dream myself. lol maybe im just weird.
This was beautiful and i loved the video in the background on the projector of the earth from space and the various different landscapes. I love this song and it was sung fantastically.
Then came out the sparkly Jacket which he tried to hide and came on the announcement that if we loved hearing John sing I am what I am which has become his signature song that we could hear him sing it every night from September 14th at the Playhouse Theatre in La Cage Aux Folles.
sods law im gonna be in cardiff as its my birthday opening night but then again were gonna go on the 19th of September.
lots of squeeing was done here and he launched into the classic barrowman number which he changed slightly to his usual routine to be more the role i think from what ive heard of other artists singing this.
we then travelled back to lisa's and we booked front row for La Cage Aux Folles and also the hotel for the evening show on the 19th. I am so excited its unbelieveable.
Tuesday
Saw my return to normality as i had to travel back home as i had work on wednesday. But first it was a trip round the local rag market to look at the 50p per meter fabric stalls and i became very undescisive about some feather boas. lol
We also examined the pics we'd managed to take between us at the show as during the second half the ushers were on us everytime we raised the cameras from our laps despite no announcements being made. Us being in the gods esentially and taking shots without flash and basically not getting such a great shot anyways because my camera isnt fantastic.
Photos to follow in a seperate post once ive sorted them out.