Its.... THE ROSIE RAMBLE!!! Calgary. (Well - some of it!)
I was determined to get some of Calgary written before this weekend and everyone's thoughts moved onto Dallas. So fighting a quilt deadline at the same time, I've managed to write up Friday - which despite only being a half a day probably had the most things happen. Will do more on the Saturday and Sunday when I've put in some serious quilt work and beaten my first deadline!
Rosie goes to see James at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment EXPO
Friday
I had to get up horribly early as my flight to Calgary (via San Francisco) was at 6:15 AM. As I was flying from Ontario airport which is only about 20 min drive from Patti's house, it wasn't too bad and I was able to park right outside the terminal and stroll in, though there was only one place selling hot drinks open at that time so there was a bit of a line. Worth it though for a large tea and a toasted bagel.
Easy flight to San Francisco and a simple change so I pretty much walked off one plane, walked down the terminal and onto the next one. Slightly longer flight to Calgary but had a nice view of the various large mountains in the Rockies on the way up. In Calgary it was grey, but not as cold as I had been led to believe. I arrived around midday and so went straight to the bed-and-breakfast I was staying at. They were not really ready for me at this time, so I left my bags with them and walked off to find the BMO centre which was about 15 min walk away. Having found my way in, there was already a long line of people collecting their passes. I had hoped to collect mine quickly go back to the B&B and be able to shower and change my clothes before going back to the opening of the con at 3 PM, but it looked like I might be there for a while. It was a very confusing place, there was very little in the way of signage and everybody seemed to be asking everybody else which way they should go.
It was certainly crowded already and the line did move a bit, and then we were told we could actually collect our passes from where they were selling them rather than wait in the pre-purchased line, so I did that and basically just went in, got my pass and came out again. So I was able to go back and change and make myself look more presentable rather than the sweaty mess I was from my early start and two flights!
Back to the BMO centre and into another line to get in to the actual con. This was where I realised that this con was BIG, much bigger than I had realised. The line went on and on and during that time Lou managed to find me. When I got in I was in the area that was for the autographs and photo ops and it was huge - bigger than some entire cons I've been to! So I got my bearings and of course made my way straight to James's autograph area. As the VIP passes had been let in first and I wasn't that far up the line by the time I made it there, the line was already exceeding the zigzagged area allowed for it. I just got in line and started talking to people whilst we waited for James to arrive. Most people I spoke to were seeing James for the first time or were convention newbies and it was really odd not actually knowing anyone except for Lou. I'm used to seeing so many people I know at cons! (though I did meet someone later I had originally met in Seattle and I finally got to meet Shannon in person - known her online for some time)
Steve arrived at the table so I knew James wasn't going to be far behind. The crowds had been whooping each celebrity as they arrived at the table and with James there was no exception. Even though I had only seen him five days before, I still had a little flutter on my first sight of him - it never seems to grow old! He was wearing a dark blue T-shirt and his hair looked quite curly at the front which was lovely and he was smiling and was very happy and chatty. It seemed none of the normal crew were there, it was just Steve and Mark. So Mark got Post-it duty and was taking everyone's names and it was lovely when he saw me and we were able to have hugs and catch up. As the line snaked around its zigzag when you got to the top of one of the bends you were in a great position to take photographs of James through the gaps. But you had to pick your moment and be quick.
It was a bit of a wait in the line as usual but there are always people to talk to, new friends to make, and a James to look at! And then I was at the table and got to say hi to Steve and have a very brief chat whilst I bought a picture of James in Smallville. He rolled his eyes at me in that patented Steve way when I paid with US dollars and he had to give me change in Canadian - but I did point out then he wouldn't have to change them back! And then James was shaking hands with the person in front and turning to me.
As soon as he saw me he grinned and sang out loudly "Roooo-sie! Rooooooo-sie!" and we did a high-five grasp and then down to a handshake and I laughed my way through saying hello as that was such a nice greeting. James picked up the picture and I quickly said "just to confuse you, it's not for me! It's for a friend of mine - he's a huge, huge Smallville fan and he said "would you get me a picture of James?" And I said yeah I would"
James laughed and looked up with a mock frown on his face saying mockingly "Yeah - Ithink I could do that!" And I giggled adding "I said "is the Pope Catholic??" cos yeah, it'ssuch a hardship to come and get a picture..."
James started signing and asked me "So how are you liking Calgary Rosie?"
"Haven't really seen much! Only got here at lunchtime today"
"Oh really? Get a steak! Get. A. Steak. Awesome beef around here!" (I didn't. Wish I'd had more time. Food! My favourite!)
As usual I was doing my not really listening to what James was saying as I was thinking too hard about what I had to say to him, so as he handed me the picture I said "Gifties ! Not from me again. From Tracey in Australia"
"Brill!" (How very English James!)
"She sent you a couple of Australian things, but you will see her in Australia in November"
"Right on!" said James as I gave him the gifts which were an Australian key ring and a really nice leather wallet each in a box.
"So she's finally going to get to meet you..."
James opened one of the boxes I handed to him, the one with the wallet and did a wide open-mouthed gawp of amazement and delight at it as I continued "... So I said I would give these to you this time - she sent them to me to give to you" James laughed and gathered the two boxes up "right on man!"
At this point I managed to then do some really geeky burbling with no recognisable words before managing to get out "How was it after the play last week?"
"It's good. You know, I just had to come down from the experience"
"Good!"
"It was so nice; I had such a good time doing that play"
"To me, it was like... Obviously I'm English, don't know the American history so well or about Nixon... but it was riveting!"
"Yeah - it explains itself. You don't have to know to go into it all. It's designed that way. You know, Patricia didn't know anything about it. She's like "now I feel like I've kind of learned a little bit" after"
"Yeah, and like you said to us right at the beginning, the guy playing Richard Nixon wasso good!" and I'm pretty sure I was making hand gestures to emphasise. James nodded in agreement
"Indistinguishable from Richard Nixon. Incredible"
"I love the bit when you two were on the phone, the phone call. That was the best bit"
"Yeah..." James did the machine-gun laugh "I'll have a cheeseburger!"
I laughed at that "yeah the cheeseburgers, it was absolutely fantastic, I loved it"
"The artistic director said that it was her favourite show that she’s ever produced"
We made happy shrugging gestures at each other as I said "Pity more people didn't see it"
"They’ll get it on NPR" replied James as we shook hands (doing our normal hand grasping thing) "I hate to say it but the audience is really just there so that when we do it on radio..." he was waving his hands about in an all encompassing gesture "... as it goes all over the country"
"Yeah but we loved it!"
"You guys were seeing the real thing"
It was time for me to move on so with my normal ear-to-ear smile that I always have in James's presence plastered all over my face I just said "I'll see you again in a bit" and I got the normal "Right on!" with one of those gorgeous James smiles in reply, and I had to drag myself away.
There was a little bit of space as the next table to James wasn't occupied at this point so I did stop and quickly took a few pictures but couldn't linger. The line to see him was still absolutely huge, as it remained all weekend.
Lou wasn't having a photo done so she and her friend Donna went off to start the concert line to make sure we got a choice of seats whilst I went to the photo ops area and joined yet another huge line. They actually had two photo op areas and lots of space to line up people up to an hour before the scheduled time. For this one we were in photo area one which I think was mostly used for the groups as it was actually on a stage area and as they have a fixed camera it was set further back so the pictures had a rather a lot of space around. One thing that did amuse me was after you had dropped off your bags they had a large mirror positioned at the entrance so you could check your appearance and pretty much everybody was using it - including the guys!
As the area was so large I was able to watch quite a few people in front of me having their pictures with James. Everybody was only having one picture so I threw them a bit having two, they weren't used to it. When it was my turn I walked up onto the stage area, calling out to the photographer that I was having two shots, and James's face lit up as he saw me.
"Hey Rosie!" and held out his hand so we shook and as usual I was grinning away like an idiot. I asked "May I have a hug?" to which he replied "Course you can!" and immediately gathered me into his arms and so the first pic was a lovely huggy one and James was all smiling, almost laughing. I wasn't sure where I was looking as it was a fixed camera so I wasn't sure of my expression when the photograph was taken. And then the photographer tried to get rid of me as it still didn't register that I had more than one shot - but James knew I had two, and said so!
There wasn't really time for any explanations but I said I would go behind him to hide my fat chin. I just put my hands on either side of his waist and James didn't try and make himself shorter at all which was great because it did hide my chin as I was just looking over his shoulder. Again I wasn't sure of the expression that ended up on my face as I wasn't sure when the picture was actually taken but it came out just right. James put his arms out to the sides and had a very wicked open-mouthed smile on his face. This caused a big laugh from the watching line up and the volunteers around as again, I think they were only really used to people having the one basic shot. It meant both James and I were laughing too as we shook hands and I thanked him and said I would be at the concert. One of the volunteers was still laughing as I left the stage and said I had some really great ideas. I replied that that was pretty mild for me!
They actually had a very good pickup system for the photographs - as you left you picked up your bag and filed into another zigzag where you worked your way towards a long table so by the time you got there, your pictures were ready as they were being printed out almost immediately. They didn't always come out in order so sometimes they were being passed back to people. My first picture came out quite quickly, but the second one didn't so I had to go and enquire of its whereabouts. They chased it up and I managed to get a second copy of the first one which wasn't the intention at all, so there was more chasing up and eventually they managed to get a print of the second one which made me laugh when I saw it!
I then had to fight my way through the main vendor hall, which was massive, and out through to the area by the corral which is where all the Q and A's were taking place and then down the side to the Boyce theatre where I found Lou and Donna second in the line. We had about half an hour to wait until they opened the doors at seven o'clock with the concert starting at eight. The line got pretty long (there seems to be a theme developing here!) but Lou was telling me what the theatre was like as she had been in there earlier and apparently it had quite a steep slope so all the seats got a good view. When they opened the doors they had to check us each in individually so there was no mad rush and when I got in I could see what Lou meant, it was a really nice theatre. We actually sat in the second row as the first row was almost below the stage and having a little bit of elevation was better for photographs. I considered the angles and carefully chose my seat - as usual on the right-hand side and off centre. Then I tested to see what the lighting was like as there was a no flash photography allowed and I hoped it wasn't going to be too gloomy. It seemed pretty good but then as we got nearer to the time they put on more spotlights so it was excellent - yay!
The theatre held 400 and was pretty much full by the start, there was only a couple of empty seats that I could see. It turned out that the lead singer of Kirby Krackle was actually on first, doing an acoustic set and I have to say that he was pretty damn funny. He sings all these nerdy/geek songs about videogames and the like - the Mario Kart one particularly sticks in my head! There was a lot of laughter and some audience participation which was great fun but both Lou and I were worried about James following on as his style is quite different and would seem a bit like an anti-climax atmosphere wise. Luckily they had a 15 min break before James was due on so that changed the mood as people moved about, calming it down which was much better.
Emily Expo - the cons mascot - got a little girl up on stage as it was her birthday and she was supposed to introduce James, but she was too shy! So Emily called out the introduction and James came out from behind the curtain and into the shadows before he walked into the spotlight. For a very brief moment, as I saw him in the shadows, I admit I did think "What the hell is that on his head??" And then he stepped into the light and my jaw dropped. OMG - Curls! Lots of curls! Masses of James's natural gorgeous curls tumbling down. It was parted in the middle and there was corkscrew curls falling down over his forehead. Wearing tight black jeans, the black striped button down that wasn't that buttoned - a nice bit of chest on display! - and carrying Chow the blue guitar, he looked like a total rock star, just stunning. Lou and I were just gibbering at each other, not being able to say much more than "OMG! OMG! Guh! Curls!" for about a minute - He just looked so amazing, it was wonderful. The curls made him look so young.
I managed to get a couple of really good pictures right at the beginning of a smiley curly James including an incredible tongue shot. I whispered to Lou "I got it! I got the tongue!" as it's the Holy Grail as far as James pictures are concerned.
It was a great set, though James started off by saying he would thought he was on eight o'clock so he was a bit tired - he sang 19 songs which was everything on the set list. He started with Layabout and after that proved to be in quite chatty mood as he talked about Torchwood and the story behind the song. The audience was a bit quiet to start with until he sang For What I Need and that got the them going - giggles and whoops started to be heard. A few songs produced laughs at some of the lines as people had not heard them before. He sang If This Is Love and promoted Ghost of the Robot and Sullivan; sang one of my favourites Dance Slow that really got the audience whooping; and told the Katie story about meeting the guy who was now her husband a couple of years ago on set, but what I didn't know is that he wrote the song as though it was from a (at the time) seven-year-old Sullivan's view - all very sweet and innocent, which was done in antithesis of the Ghost of the Robot stuff of the time!
James sounded great - the sound was clear, his voice was strong and he looked amazing. The spotlights shining in his eyes made them sparkle and he was very smiley for the upbeat songs, but also beautifully sincere in the slower ones, giving him an almost haunted look. As the theatre was steeply sloped it meant that James was looking up a lot which made for wonderful pictures of him being all wistful and angelic looking (the curls helped a lot as they made him look so young, and so like Sullivan!)
He told stories from the Moonshot shoot before he sang it , then also sang This Town, Vandals, Looking at You (asking beforehand "anyone want another song with a lot of double entendres?" which guaranteed a lot of whooping) and Truth Is.
Shaking his left hand like he does when it's getting cramped, he told a detailed version of the ‘should have punched the preacher’ story to explain why it hurts - he does a great voice for the preacher! Then it was Civilised Man which I hadn't heard him do for while, which was great.
At some point I remember him being amazed and delighted that the theatre was full (and it was!) And saying how he liked that doing live stuff was scary and you didn't know what might happen. And then after the next song - I cannot remember which - he said "There you go - live stuff, it's scary. I burped in the middle of the song!" but I didn't hear it so I really don't know which one it was!
Also around now there were a few calls for him to “Get your shirt off!” and "take it off" to which James responded "No, I don't do that. I've gone from whore to call girl!" and that pretty much stamped that down effectively!
The songs slowed down a bit with James singing London City, Goodbye and Best Friend Magic Dance. He did seem to get a little bit emotional in a couple of songs including this one; you could see it in his eyes. He was biting his bottom lip between lines and there was a tiny hitch in his voice that I probably only noticed because I've heard him sing so often, but that was all. He held it together.
Though on the set list the last three songs were written as an encore, he didn't even pretend to go off, just said he had 3 songs to go (he told me the following day he thinks the ‘pretending to go off even though you all know he’s coming back on’ is cheesy !) and so sang Smile - the old way, not with the extra verse - Dangerous (which he said was about Michelle Trachtenberg "but don't tell her!") and Angel. I think this was the one where he got briefly stuck on right at the start - there was a pause and he had to start again as he lost the chord combo. He got it back fine though.
So that was it. James threw a few picks out into the crowd - none our way! - and everybody was on their feet, giving him a well-deserved standing ovation and whooping, hollering and stamping as he left the stage. The applause and yells went on and got louder - we just wanted to get him back on again for another bow, he didn't need to sing again - but despite our best efforts (and we made some serious noise!) we couldn't get him back out.
I got some great photos with the lovely lighting and those amazing curls. Even when James ran his hand through them in his normal fashion, they mostly flopped back over his forehead though the sides stuck out more. Glorious and wonderful!
It took us a while to leave because as usual I had to do some e-mail exchanges with people sitting behind me who could see the pictures I was taking on my camera, and then we went out to eat. Every few minutes either me or Lou would go "OMG! The CURLS!" as neither of us could get over them - I think Donna was getting a bit fed up of us by the end of the evening! We had a lovely meal out though it was much later than we expected, as we thought James would be onstage first and so after good food and better company, they gave me a lift back to the B&B. Even though it was now gone midnight, I had to stay up and post pictures and OMG's to the boards online - those curls had to be seen and I couldn't wait to share them!
Rosie goes to see James at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment EXPO
Friday
I had to get up horribly early as my flight to Calgary (via San Francisco) was at 6:15 AM. As I was flying from Ontario airport which is only about 20 min drive from Patti's house, it wasn't too bad and I was able to park right outside the terminal and stroll in, though there was only one place selling hot drinks open at that time so there was a bit of a line. Worth it though for a large tea and a toasted bagel.
Easy flight to San Francisco and a simple change so I pretty much walked off one plane, walked down the terminal and onto the next one. Slightly longer flight to Calgary but had a nice view of the various large mountains in the Rockies on the way up. In Calgary it was grey, but not as cold as I had been led to believe. I arrived around midday and so went straight to the bed-and-breakfast I was staying at. They were not really ready for me at this time, so I left my bags with them and walked off to find the BMO centre which was about 15 min walk away. Having found my way in, there was already a long line of people collecting their passes. I had hoped to collect mine quickly go back to the B&B and be able to shower and change my clothes before going back to the opening of the con at 3 PM, but it looked like I might be there for a while. It was a very confusing place, there was very little in the way of signage and everybody seemed to be asking everybody else which way they should go.
It was certainly crowded already and the line did move a bit, and then we were told we could actually collect our passes from where they were selling them rather than wait in the pre-purchased line, so I did that and basically just went in, got my pass and came out again. So I was able to go back and change and make myself look more presentable rather than the sweaty mess I was from my early start and two flights!
Back to the BMO centre and into another line to get in to the actual con. This was where I realised that this con was BIG, much bigger than I had realised. The line went on and on and during that time Lou managed to find me. When I got in I was in the area that was for the autographs and photo ops and it was huge - bigger than some entire cons I've been to! So I got my bearings and of course made my way straight to James's autograph area. As the VIP passes had been let in first and I wasn't that far up the line by the time I made it there, the line was already exceeding the zigzagged area allowed for it. I just got in line and started talking to people whilst we waited for James to arrive. Most people I spoke to were seeing James for the first time or were convention newbies and it was really odd not actually knowing anyone except for Lou. I'm used to seeing so many people I know at cons! (though I did meet someone later I had originally met in Seattle and I finally got to meet Shannon in person - known her online for some time)
Steve arrived at the table so I knew James wasn't going to be far behind. The crowds had been whooping each celebrity as they arrived at the table and with James there was no exception. Even though I had only seen him five days before, I still had a little flutter on my first sight of him - it never seems to grow old! He was wearing a dark blue T-shirt and his hair looked quite curly at the front which was lovely and he was smiling and was very happy and chatty. It seemed none of the normal crew were there, it was just Steve and Mark. So Mark got Post-it duty and was taking everyone's names and it was lovely when he saw me and we were able to have hugs and catch up. As the line snaked around its zigzag when you got to the top of one of the bends you were in a great position to take photographs of James through the gaps. But you had to pick your moment and be quick.
It was a bit of a wait in the line as usual but there are always people to talk to, new friends to make, and a James to look at! And then I was at the table and got to say hi to Steve and have a very brief chat whilst I bought a picture of James in Smallville. He rolled his eyes at me in that patented Steve way when I paid with US dollars and he had to give me change in Canadian - but I did point out then he wouldn't have to change them back! And then James was shaking hands with the person in front and turning to me.
As soon as he saw me he grinned and sang out loudly "Roooo-sie! Rooooooo-sie!" and we did a high-five grasp and then down to a handshake and I laughed my way through saying hello as that was such a nice greeting. James picked up the picture and I quickly said "just to confuse you, it's not for me! It's for a friend of mine - he's a huge, huge Smallville fan and he said "would you get me a picture of James?" And I said yeah I would"
James laughed and looked up with a mock frown on his face saying mockingly "Yeah - Ithink I could do that!" And I giggled adding "I said "is the Pope Catholic??" cos yeah, it'ssuch a hardship to come and get a picture..."
James started signing and asked me "So how are you liking Calgary Rosie?"
"Haven't really seen much! Only got here at lunchtime today"
"Oh really? Get a steak! Get. A. Steak. Awesome beef around here!" (I didn't. Wish I'd had more time. Food! My favourite!)
As usual I was doing my not really listening to what James was saying as I was thinking too hard about what I had to say to him, so as he handed me the picture I said "Gifties ! Not from me again. From Tracey in Australia"
"Brill!" (How very English James!)
"She sent you a couple of Australian things, but you will see her in Australia in November"
"Right on!" said James as I gave him the gifts which were an Australian key ring and a really nice leather wallet each in a box.
"So she's finally going to get to meet you..."
James opened one of the boxes I handed to him, the one with the wallet and did a wide open-mouthed gawp of amazement and delight at it as I continued "... So I said I would give these to you this time - she sent them to me to give to you" James laughed and gathered the two boxes up "right on man!"
At this point I managed to then do some really geeky burbling with no recognisable words before managing to get out "How was it after the play last week?"
"It's good. You know, I just had to come down from the experience"
"Good!"
"It was so nice; I had such a good time doing that play"
"To me, it was like... Obviously I'm English, don't know the American history so well or about Nixon... but it was riveting!"
"Yeah - it explains itself. You don't have to know to go into it all. It's designed that way. You know, Patricia didn't know anything about it. She's like "now I feel like I've kind of learned a little bit" after"
"Yeah, and like you said to us right at the beginning, the guy playing Richard Nixon wasso good!" and I'm pretty sure I was making hand gestures to emphasise. James nodded in agreement
"Indistinguishable from Richard Nixon. Incredible"
"I love the bit when you two were on the phone, the phone call. That was the best bit"
"Yeah..." James did the machine-gun laugh "I'll have a cheeseburger!"
I laughed at that "yeah the cheeseburgers, it was absolutely fantastic, I loved it"
"The artistic director said that it was her favourite show that she’s ever produced"
We made happy shrugging gestures at each other as I said "Pity more people didn't see it"
"They’ll get it on NPR" replied James as we shook hands (doing our normal hand grasping thing) "I hate to say it but the audience is really just there so that when we do it on radio..." he was waving his hands about in an all encompassing gesture "... as it goes all over the country"
"Yeah but we loved it!"
"You guys were seeing the real thing"
It was time for me to move on so with my normal ear-to-ear smile that I always have in James's presence plastered all over my face I just said "I'll see you again in a bit" and I got the normal "Right on!" with one of those gorgeous James smiles in reply, and I had to drag myself away.
There was a little bit of space as the next table to James wasn't occupied at this point so I did stop and quickly took a few pictures but couldn't linger. The line to see him was still absolutely huge, as it remained all weekend.
Lou wasn't having a photo done so she and her friend Donna went off to start the concert line to make sure we got a choice of seats whilst I went to the photo ops area and joined yet another huge line. They actually had two photo op areas and lots of space to line up people up to an hour before the scheduled time. For this one we were in photo area one which I think was mostly used for the groups as it was actually on a stage area and as they have a fixed camera it was set further back so the pictures had a rather a lot of space around. One thing that did amuse me was after you had dropped off your bags they had a large mirror positioned at the entrance so you could check your appearance and pretty much everybody was using it - including the guys!
As the area was so large I was able to watch quite a few people in front of me having their pictures with James. Everybody was only having one picture so I threw them a bit having two, they weren't used to it. When it was my turn I walked up onto the stage area, calling out to the photographer that I was having two shots, and James's face lit up as he saw me.
"Hey Rosie!" and held out his hand so we shook and as usual I was grinning away like an idiot. I asked "May I have a hug?" to which he replied "Course you can!" and immediately gathered me into his arms and so the first pic was a lovely huggy one and James was all smiling, almost laughing. I wasn't sure where I was looking as it was a fixed camera so I wasn't sure of my expression when the photograph was taken. And then the photographer tried to get rid of me as it still didn't register that I had more than one shot - but James knew I had two, and said so!
There wasn't really time for any explanations but I said I would go behind him to hide my fat chin. I just put my hands on either side of his waist and James didn't try and make himself shorter at all which was great because it did hide my chin as I was just looking over his shoulder. Again I wasn't sure of the expression that ended up on my face as I wasn't sure when the picture was actually taken but it came out just right. James put his arms out to the sides and had a very wicked open-mouthed smile on his face. This caused a big laugh from the watching line up and the volunteers around as again, I think they were only really used to people having the one basic shot. It meant both James and I were laughing too as we shook hands and I thanked him and said I would be at the concert. One of the volunteers was still laughing as I left the stage and said I had some really great ideas. I replied that that was pretty mild for me!
They actually had a very good pickup system for the photographs - as you left you picked up your bag and filed into another zigzag where you worked your way towards a long table so by the time you got there, your pictures were ready as they were being printed out almost immediately. They didn't always come out in order so sometimes they were being passed back to people. My first picture came out quite quickly, but the second one didn't so I had to go and enquire of its whereabouts. They chased it up and I managed to get a second copy of the first one which wasn't the intention at all, so there was more chasing up and eventually they managed to get a print of the second one which made me laugh when I saw it!
I then had to fight my way through the main vendor hall, which was massive, and out through to the area by the corral which is where all the Q and A's were taking place and then down the side to the Boyce theatre where I found Lou and Donna second in the line. We had about half an hour to wait until they opened the doors at seven o'clock with the concert starting at eight. The line got pretty long (there seems to be a theme developing here!) but Lou was telling me what the theatre was like as she had been in there earlier and apparently it had quite a steep slope so all the seats got a good view. When they opened the doors they had to check us each in individually so there was no mad rush and when I got in I could see what Lou meant, it was a really nice theatre. We actually sat in the second row as the first row was almost below the stage and having a little bit of elevation was better for photographs. I considered the angles and carefully chose my seat - as usual on the right-hand side and off centre. Then I tested to see what the lighting was like as there was a no flash photography allowed and I hoped it wasn't going to be too gloomy. It seemed pretty good but then as we got nearer to the time they put on more spotlights so it was excellent - yay!
The theatre held 400 and was pretty much full by the start, there was only a couple of empty seats that I could see. It turned out that the lead singer of Kirby Krackle was actually on first, doing an acoustic set and I have to say that he was pretty damn funny. He sings all these nerdy/geek songs about videogames and the like - the Mario Kart one particularly sticks in my head! There was a lot of laughter and some audience participation which was great fun but both Lou and I were worried about James following on as his style is quite different and would seem a bit like an anti-climax atmosphere wise. Luckily they had a 15 min break before James was due on so that changed the mood as people moved about, calming it down which was much better.
Emily Expo - the cons mascot - got a little girl up on stage as it was her birthday and she was supposed to introduce James, but she was too shy! So Emily called out the introduction and James came out from behind the curtain and into the shadows before he walked into the spotlight. For a very brief moment, as I saw him in the shadows, I admit I did think "What the hell is that on his head??" And then he stepped into the light and my jaw dropped. OMG - Curls! Lots of curls! Masses of James's natural gorgeous curls tumbling down. It was parted in the middle and there was corkscrew curls falling down over his forehead. Wearing tight black jeans, the black striped button down that wasn't that buttoned - a nice bit of chest on display! - and carrying Chow the blue guitar, he looked like a total rock star, just stunning. Lou and I were just gibbering at each other, not being able to say much more than "OMG! OMG! Guh! Curls!" for about a minute - He just looked so amazing, it was wonderful. The curls made him look so young.
I managed to get a couple of really good pictures right at the beginning of a smiley curly James including an incredible tongue shot. I whispered to Lou "I got it! I got the tongue!" as it's the Holy Grail as far as James pictures are concerned.
It was a great set, though James started off by saying he would thought he was on eight o'clock so he was a bit tired - he sang 19 songs which was everything on the set list. He started with Layabout and after that proved to be in quite chatty mood as he talked about Torchwood and the story behind the song. The audience was a bit quiet to start with until he sang For What I Need and that got the them going - giggles and whoops started to be heard. A few songs produced laughs at some of the lines as people had not heard them before. He sang If This Is Love and promoted Ghost of the Robot and Sullivan; sang one of my favourites Dance Slow that really got the audience whooping; and told the Katie story about meeting the guy who was now her husband a couple of years ago on set, but what I didn't know is that he wrote the song as though it was from a (at the time) seven-year-old Sullivan's view - all very sweet and innocent, which was done in antithesis of the Ghost of the Robot stuff of the time!
James sounded great - the sound was clear, his voice was strong and he looked amazing. The spotlights shining in his eyes made them sparkle and he was very smiley for the upbeat songs, but also beautifully sincere in the slower ones, giving him an almost haunted look. As the theatre was steeply sloped it meant that James was looking up a lot which made for wonderful pictures of him being all wistful and angelic looking (the curls helped a lot as they made him look so young, and so like Sullivan!)
He told stories from the Moonshot shoot before he sang it , then also sang This Town, Vandals, Looking at You (asking beforehand "anyone want another song with a lot of double entendres?" which guaranteed a lot of whooping) and Truth Is.
Shaking his left hand like he does when it's getting cramped, he told a detailed version of the ‘should have punched the preacher’ story to explain why it hurts - he does a great voice for the preacher! Then it was Civilised Man which I hadn't heard him do for while, which was great.
At some point I remember him being amazed and delighted that the theatre was full (and it was!) And saying how he liked that doing live stuff was scary and you didn't know what might happen. And then after the next song - I cannot remember which - he said "There you go - live stuff, it's scary. I burped in the middle of the song!" but I didn't hear it so I really don't know which one it was!
Also around now there were a few calls for him to “Get your shirt off!” and "take it off" to which James responded "No, I don't do that. I've gone from whore to call girl!" and that pretty much stamped that down effectively!
The songs slowed down a bit with James singing London City, Goodbye and Best Friend Magic Dance. He did seem to get a little bit emotional in a couple of songs including this one; you could see it in his eyes. He was biting his bottom lip between lines and there was a tiny hitch in his voice that I probably only noticed because I've heard him sing so often, but that was all. He held it together.
Though on the set list the last three songs were written as an encore, he didn't even pretend to go off, just said he had 3 songs to go (he told me the following day he thinks the ‘pretending to go off even though you all know he’s coming back on’ is cheesy !) and so sang Smile - the old way, not with the extra verse - Dangerous (which he said was about Michelle Trachtenberg "but don't tell her!") and Angel. I think this was the one where he got briefly stuck on right at the start - there was a pause and he had to start again as he lost the chord combo. He got it back fine though.
So that was it. James threw a few picks out into the crowd - none our way! - and everybody was on their feet, giving him a well-deserved standing ovation and whooping, hollering and stamping as he left the stage. The applause and yells went on and got louder - we just wanted to get him back on again for another bow, he didn't need to sing again - but despite our best efforts (and we made some serious noise!) we couldn't get him back out.
I got some great photos with the lovely lighting and those amazing curls. Even when James ran his hand through them in his normal fashion, they mostly flopped back over his forehead though the sides stuck out more. Glorious and wonderful!
It took us a while to leave because as usual I had to do some e-mail exchanges with people sitting behind me who could see the pictures I was taking on my camera, and then we went out to eat. Every few minutes either me or Lou would go "OMG! The CURLS!" as neither of us could get over them - I think Donna was getting a bit fed up of us by the end of the evening! We had a lovely meal out though it was much later than we expected, as we thought James would be onstage first and so after good food and better company, they gave me a lift back to the B&B. Even though it was now gone midnight, I had to stay up and post pictures and OMG's to the boards online - those curls had to be seen and I couldn't wait to share them!