S Club 7!

Never had a dream come true...

Until yesterday, when the day finally arrived for me to see my favourite childhood band. Brandon had bought me tickets for Christmas and I was so excited to see them, ever since the last show I saw at Docklands! But before I tell you all about the gig, I'll let you know what I did before the performance in London.

Brandon and I travelled into Liverpool Street earlier in the day to have a walk around as the weather was so lovely. From the station we walked to my ever favourite cake shop: Hummingbird Bakery to pick up two cupcakes, one for me and one for my mother. I got a #RHSChelsea themed cupcake as I am taking her to the Chelsea Flower show on Wednesday, which I bought for her as a Christmas present! 

We then walked towards Spitalfields Market and, once inside, we were asked whether we wanted to make a Mojito. Of course we said yes and got in line to make our mouth-watering Mojito. We had to do everything ourselves and even got to keep the cup!

Brandon's tasted better than mine... unfortunately :(

We then walked further towards Brick Lane. I found some AMAZING bargains in a pop up shop with the brand called Oh My Love London. The prices were slashed and I purchased some beautiful clothes for summer. On the way back to the station, Brandon wanted to try coffee from this place called Department of Coffee and Social Affairs. I had a Latte and it was truly amazing. Brandon ordered a Flat White and we sipped these on the overground as we made our way to the O2.

The two cute cups of coffee!

Once arriving at the O2, we had a bite to eat and then went to Sky Backstage to get a drink before heading into the arena!

We felt as though we were on the red carpet.

The performance was phenomenal, S Club performed all the songs I expected them too and each of the artists in the band were given 5-10 minutes to show the audience their worth within the band. I found that Jo O'Meara was the lead singer and held the band together throughout the show. I was disappointed at first to hear that Paul Cattermole would be singing the acoustic version of 'Reach', until rest assured, the gang sang the 'true' song at the end of their gig, along with 'Never Had a Dream Come True' and 'Don't Stop Movin'. The seats were brilliant and I was able to take some brilliant photos and videos!

The band popping up at the start of the gig.

Rachel Stevens even performed her solo songs which was very exciting and brought back lots of memories! Unfortunately, Tina Barrett didn't do it for me, and I believe that she performed very poorly. Despite this, it did not drag down the quality of the show, as they quickly pushed back into the hits they shared in the 2000's!

Dance, Dance, Dance.

Here's a video I took of one of my most favourite songs:

Overall, I had a lovely day and an even better evening. I'm so sorry to Brandon who was sitting next to me to hear the ordeal of me singing along to every song. 

However, I would definitely recommend this to anyone who was and is a fan to go and see them, they sing so well and entertained me the whole hour and forty five they were on stage! As ever with all trips to the O2, it was a very easy train ride home, which makes the gig a lot more accessible to get to!

Kirsty

xxx

Day in London with Lucy

On Saturday my sister and I headed into the city for the day. With our parents currently away and the freedom to make our own plans, we decided to go into town early before seeing McBusted later that evening.

We got the C2C into West Ham and headed towards EC1 (Brick Lane, Hoxton, Spitalfields) and arrived within good time to look around. The first place we went to was the Beigel Bar on Brick Lane. This brings back so many fond memories as a child. Our parents always used to take us here to get a smoked salmon bagel or hot salt beef. We also got two doughnuts, filled always with lots of jam!

The Bagel bar

Once stopping by here to buy a dozen bagels to take home, we carried along the high street. We found alcoves of thrift shops and cubby holes of warehouses FULL of unique clothing lines and international foods. We then went to look for the Hummingbird Bakery to get cupcakes for our dessert later that evening!

The entrance in Shoreditch

One of the lovely cakes inside.

Before entering the arena, Lucy and I went to Pizza Express, where we devoured a pizza!

How beautiful does it look!

We had a cocktail at All Bar One, then made our way to our seats in the arena. We did not have to wait too long for the band to come on as we did not see the supports. They played some of their new songs but their old songs were best!

This was their set:

And this was at the end of the night:

It was a great day and I will definitely be going back to Brick Lane when I have money to spend!

Have you had a day out recently?

Kirsty

xxx

An Evening with Hobbie Stuart

The long awaited day came on Sunday, Hobbie Stuart had finally decided to take a break from YouTube and go on his first tour. He has visited places like Leeds and Manchester already and is yet to visit London and Bristol. He headed north, past Hadrian's Wall to visit Glasgow, and I could not wait for the show!

Despite his popularity on YouTube, I was surprised to see that the gig was not full, in fact, at a push only half full. It took place at the Garage, in a room round the corner. It was small and intimate and it felt cosy to be there.

Due to other commitments, I did not see the support act, although, I don't feel as though I missed much, as I had paid £8 to see Hobbie really and it was only really a bonus that someone else would be performing. I met my friend Laura at the venue and we went inside and got ourselves a drink, before heading the floor where Hobbie would be taking the stage.

How close to the front we were.

When he arrived, the audience were awkward, and as my friend and I clapped, many others did not and so we stopped rather abruptly, without too many people noticing we were excited to see him there! He played a few songs, some I knew and some I did not. He introduced a few of his new songs.

Hobbie with his beloved guitar!

 In between each song, Hobbie spoke to audience, but something about him made me feel that he wasn't really connecting with the Glaswegian's and in his last efforts, he even told the story of how he once visit Scotland and saw a football match there, when he was four or five years old to soothe the somewhat tension in the room only half full.

I was somewhat disappointed, he did not play any of the songs I love, and he did not sing the songs that made him famous on YouTube, such as Diamonds and Payphone. Furthermore, he sang some of his original songs, but not the first song he wrote; When you Wake. This song, especially, I felt had a good sense of rhythm and the lyrics were good. Another song he chose to sing in the Garage titled Put a Movie On, to be frank did not really appeal to me. It was funny but this was a gig to showcase his talent.

For the new fans who have just subscribed to him on YouTube, I believe they were impressed, as they sang along to the covers he sang by Drake and Ed Sheeran, but for me, I always knew him for his unique song choice and originality. Thus, it was somewhat convoluted by the current pop songs of the day. One of the only songs he chose to sing that I enjoyed was a cover of Fast Car.

For this show, I believe he chose to sing songs that the audience would want to hear, and while it's good he is thinking of them, I would like to hear the songs he loves the most, rather than hearing he chose them because they were popular with the stars he covered.

After the show Hobbie announced he would be doing a Meet and Greet. This was a nice idea, but Laura and I chose to go to Nandos instead. I think we were somewhat disappointed, but still glad we went as we got to see him off the screen on our laptops. It was also an evening out!

Waiting for our food to arrive!

Have you ever been somewhere that did not live up to your expectations?


Kirsty
xxx