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Dragon Age Inquisition Launch Party Post!

madzilla — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 16:24:27 GMT

Finally getting round to putting up a post about the party I had for the release of DAI last week (I've been a bit distracted since launch ;)). It was on Thursday night, the night before the UK launch, and wasn't a huge party - 5 of us in total - but it was still a really good night. :) Lots of pics within!

Decorations!

I companion'd up my cabinet!

'Stained glass' decoration

Red lyrium ... kinda. ;)

Multiplayer character cards!

Main table - party boxes, decorations, free badges and stickers :)

Cabinet in the light of day. I've left it like this for now, until I put up the Xmas decorations -
which I guess is this weekend. D:

The Party Bags!

Because it's not a party without party bags - or boxes, in this case. ;)

It's kind of like a mini Inquisitor's Party Edition. ;)

Inside was...

Map notebooks! ...For notes!

I had 3 energy and one mana potion for the 4 of us, so I kept the mana one
because I'm the only one (as far as I know) playing a mage. ;)

Pay no attention to the currency depicted. ;)

There will be, I suspect, a LOT of wild feels about. I've already run into a few. ;)

YUM-O! ;)

(...and some wasps)

The whole lot! With a sticker and badges thrown in. :)

FOOD!

YAY FOOD!

Joining Goblets! Got a wee bit high off the markers when making these. ;)

(Actually mulled wine, still in my kitchen muahahahaha. ;))

COCKTAILS!
(I can't take credit for the Surely Templar - pretty sure that was from the BSN. ;))

Emergency Inquisition Ports? ;)

pfffff hahahahaha ;)

And then it was time for the party itself! Had to dress accordingly, of course...

Best earrings ever! <3

This is the 'Fade Rift' cocktail. Appropriately, it's very green, very more-ish, and very strong. ;)

We watched my ISS in the DA Keep to get ready for DAI. Cos we're nerds. ;)

And finally, to wrap up the evening, a few of us went down to the midnight launch! Wheee!

And that was it! A good time was had by all, and as an added bonus I've had leftover party food to eat for a week. ;)

See ya again soon for Next Mass Effect launch party. ;)

"We're supposed to be in this together."

madzilla — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 22:27:11 GMT

So I stayed up until after 3am on Thursday finishing Protectors. Hands up who saw that coming? ;) No, but as I saw the end creeping nearer and nearer I just had to know what happened. So here are some thoughts on it. Spoilers, obviously, and if you do intend to read the novel in full I'd recommend waiting until you have to read this, as there were a couple of very cool reveals that I wouldn't have wanted to be spoiled for.

I'll start by saying that I - obviously - am very heavily (over)invested in the Janeway/Chakotay relationship and so went into the novel with that as my 'priority', so to speak. It was the part of the novel I had the highest hopes for, so that inevitably colours my experiences with it. So this isn't exactly an unbiased or balanced review in that sense (well, part of it is, I guess), though I'm sure many of those will pop up online in the days/weeks to come.

So, the tl;dr version is: I didn't enjoy it as much as The Eternal Tide, but I thought it was a better novel. If that makes sense. Obviously I'd been so excited for it for so long that the likelihood of it being disappointing in some ways was quite high, I suppose.

There were three interconnected stories going on throughout the book - Voyager and Demeter in the Delta Quadrant dealing with the wave forms, Ark Planet and Confederacy (more on that later); Galen, the Doctor and Axum (!!!) in the Beta Quadrant, and Janeway back on Earth. Of these, I enjoyed Voyager/Demeter's story the most - I found some of B'Elanna's behaviour a bit OTT but I can also see why she was troubled. I called ages ago that they would end up getting the mahusive Fleet Commander's quarters; but I also assumed that would be because Janeway would be moving in with Chakotay (at least some of the time). :/

I did actually say "NO WAAAAY" out loud when it was revealed that Patient C-1 was Axum, and for a while I assumed that *he* had tampered with the Doctor somehow. I found what the Doctor did troubling; I had thought he'd gotten over that by now, but I guess he never got the chance to do so, really. Seven's relationship with Cambridge must have brought it all to the surface. Geez, everybody wants Seven. ;)

The setup for the next novel is certainly intriguing, with the possible base at the Confederacy and the worrying alliances of old, familiar enemies, which could be reaaaally interesting if they ever encounter Voyager again (and it's almost certain they will). Not to mention Tom, Sharak and Seven being gone, at least for a while.

Kathryn's reunion with Neelix was exactly what I wanted to see, d'awwww. The memorial service was incredibly beautiful, I thought, and had some lovely speeches.

I liked the focus on Glenn, Farkas and O'Donnell, as it was good to get to know them as part of the new Fleet command team along with Chakotay. And to see Harry stepping up made sense now he's going to be Acting First Officer.

I was less keen on the Janeway parts, surprisingly, though some parts I liked - I enjoyed the long-awaited meeting with Picard, though he was a bit jollier than I'm used to seeing him. I guess that's domestic bliss for you, but I almost preferred him more taciturn. ;) (His son's name is utterly ridiculous. ;)) I also loved Kathryn visiting her own memorial; I'd really hoped that would happen and it was a wonderful scene. The scene with the second counsellor where she had her breakthrough was a bit 'new age' for me but having never been in that position I can't say if it is or isn't like that.

I wasn't crazy about the whole part with Kathryn 'hiding' at her mother's house, though that might be because I've seen it about 300 times in fic. (Though, there's *so much* post-Endgame fic that pretty much every scenario has been addressed in one way or another over the years.) It was all just a little too perfect and blissful for me. It did seem to do her good, and I'm happy for her that she found her equilibrium again, but I kept getting the impression that she was avoiding her life more than anything else. I was surprised - not necessarily in a good way - by how easily she could put the fleet, and the people in it, completely out of her mind. She didn't seem to think of them at all, though I loved the conclusion she came to that her blood relations might be on Earth but her family was in the fleet. Made me all warm and fuzzy, that did. ;)

But I found it a bit - much, that she could so quckly and easily go 'meh' to everything in her life and then just as easily go back to it at the end. I don't know. Just something about it was a bit - off. I enjoyed the conflict with Phoebe a lot because it was more realistic.

It was fairly inevitable that she would get command of the Fleet back (though for a while there I was really worried she either wouldn't get it or would turn it down, especially when she reached her state of IDGAF-nirvana-like bliss), and I thought rebuilding the Vesta and sending it out was a neat solution. The second Kathryn mentioned the Vesta I thought, she's going back aboard that ship.

I did like the insight into her feelings about everything that had been piling on her shoulders over the years. One thing this novel did was remind me once again how much I love Kathryn Janeway (as though I needed reminding). I particularly liked that it was brought up how afraid she was of becoming the Endgame Admiral Janeway, and her later realisation that that was now impossible.

Part of what I enjoy the most about these books is how much Kirsten gets the Voyager characters, especially Kathryn and especially Chakotay, who is an underappreciated character in general but she's done him such justice in the relaunch.

OOH and I forgot to talk about Cambridge. He's still brilliant. XD I did feel sorry for him with the whole Axum thing popping up, and can't wait to see where that goes. He's my favourite addition of the new characters to the crew. ("Are you a hundred and fifty years old?" XD)

Okay, so that's the plotty stuff talked about. (I may think of more later so will post again, like I did for The Eternal Tide.) I'm actually really looking forward to finding out where the plotty stuff goes next, some really interesting setups going on.

So now to talk about the J/C stuff.

I'm not going to lie - I found it rather disappointing, for the most part. They spent the majority of the novel apart, and when they did reunite they were immediately in conflict, which wasn't resolved by the end of the book. This left me feeling a bit frustrated, especially after the way The Eternal Tide ended. (However, it's a good setup for the next novel, I suppose.) I'd read a spoiler that the 'M' word was mentioned and I got excited - I really must learn to temper my expectations. ;) It was only mentioned briefly and even then pretty much to confirm it wouldn't be happening any time soon. Aw. However, they don't seem totally averse to the idea; though not terribly enthusiastic either, haha. Except for Chakotay's lovely quote about staying with her.

Despite that, after everything that happened, they didn't seem particuarly torn up to be separated nor did they seem to particuarly miss each other while they were apart. Chakotay mentioned his intention to stay with Kathryn to B'Elanna but seemed a little indifferent to the realities of it, as did Kathryn. Given everything they said and thought in The Eternal Tide and the beginning of this one ("and then, no matter what happens..."), this rather surprised me. Kathryn didn't seem to be particuarly bothered about a place for him in the life she was trying ot build, beyond a brief mention of him to her mother (which I wish we'd seen more of besides the fact she was 'pleased' about it).

I thought for a moment that Montgomery was building towards some sort of insistence that they marry for the sake of propriety (WTF), but then he discouraged it. Wha? His insistence that she maintain her quarters on the Vesta was rather depressing.

I adore reunion scenes - possibly my favourite trope - but this one was the most disappointing I've ever seen. I knew it wouldn't be plain sailing for them, especially given Chakotay's comments to Cambridge about 'old habits' of theirs etc - I expected something like that to happen but they almost didn't seem to be especially pleased to see each other again after their long separation (though Chakotay notes that Kathryn *seems* pleased to see him with a nod, at least). And with Kathryn on the Vesta they could be even more remote to each other than they were during the show. At least they lived on the same ship then.

Chakotay almost got a sweeter and more intimate scene with *B'Elanna* than he did with his own girlfriend. Harsh. ;) I was also confused by Chakotay's conversation with B'Elanna about marriage. Why did his demeanour change like that, from pleased to not pleased? What does it mean??

I didn't like their goodbye scene much either tbh. ;) The last night they could have had together for at least weeks and potentially years, and she doesn't come to see him at all? WTF, Kathryn. ;)

I don't know, I mean, I know they love each other (they said so) but you almost wouldn't know it from this book. Considering they both said they should make an effort to seize the day/not waste another moment etc after everything they'd been through, I expected more, and was saddened by the way things were left. I'm hoping it's a setup for them finding more of a balance and starting their life together properly in Acts of Contrition, but who knows? I was kind of hoping that would begin in this book, though I get the need for Janeway to establish herself again *on her own* before becoming part of anything else, I suppose.

I did love the scene in Federation Park that I already mentioned, especially the parallel with Chakotay's journey through Full Circle - leaving Starfleet, finding his path and it bringing him back to Voyager. And her realisation that he is her family. (And her reference to him as her 'lover, partner and dearest friend'. :))

Still - at the very least, they're together in the Delta Quadrant, which was never guaranteed, so we're in a good position going forward. At least they don't have 2 quadrants between them any more. ;) And I have faith in Kirsten, and a bit of conflict and distance makes the resolution, the coming together, all the sweeter. :)

So, yeah! Given they were on the cover, even, I'd hoped for more, but perhaps indeed the best is yet to come. I certainly hope so. It was a very enjoyable read apart from that, however, and I did really enjoy the main plots in the DQ and BQ and am looking forward to what's to come.

The next novel, Acts of Contrition, should be out at the end of September according to the author, so it's not a crazy long wait. Yay!

Oh, and I had to channel the way I felt about the lack of resolution for poor ol' J/C at the end (though I'm half expecting it in Acts of Contrition) into a short story, which I've posted here. It's the first thing I've written in several years. Thank you, Kirsten! ;)

January Posting Meme

madzilla — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 21:06:08 GMT

I really like the idea of this meme; and with so few people still on LJ it's unlikely I'll actually have to do it every day. ;) nicked from owlmoose:

The Meme:

Pick a date in January. Pick a topic. On the date you choose I will post something about that topic. It can be fandom-related or not. Pretty much anything you've ever seen me post about, or comment on in other venues, is fair game. If a topic is uncomfortable for me (too personal or potentially identifying) or simply something I know very little about (unfamiliar canon, say), I may ask you to make a second choice. If you want to request more than one topic, pick a different day for each.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. How did you discover Dragon Age and what was it that attracted you first? (ladykleo)
8.
9.
10. One of your best experiences at DragonCon? (grey_wonderer)
11. Your worst DragonCon experience? (grey_wonderer)
12.
13.
14. Your favourite and least favourite Harry Potter characters. Have these changed over time as the books/movies evolved, and as canon has closed? Are there any changes or 'fix-its' you'd like to see applied to the way in which the various characters were left by the author? (purplefluffycat)
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28. Green Wing (sigrundora)
29. If an all-powerful genie could grant you three wishes, what would they be? (purplefluffycat)
30.
31.

keep on sending your love

madzilla — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 11:20:10 GMT

My long and winding review of Paul McCartney's newest solo album, New. (No, I'm not counting Kisses on the Bottom because that wasn't original work. I can't say I even bought it if I'm honest; not really to my taste. I know, I know, what kind of fan am I?? ;))

I actually enjoyed Paul's last album, Memory Almost Full a *lot* when it first came out, though I don't know how well it's held up over the years - inversely, I wasn't a huge fan of Chaos and Creation In the Backyard when it first came out (8 years ago, god damn), but I appreciate it more now. (I'm not sure if the newest Fireman album Electric Arguments from 08 counts either, but that was *excellent*.)

There have been a ton of articles and reviews published about New, but I think my favourite is from stuff.co.nz. The reviewer there has phrased exactly what I want to say perfectly, so I can't help but quote a few of his best bits among my own thoughts.

There were some live clips that suggested, most recently, that Macca was a bit past it. That embarrassing uncle the press loves to paint him as. None of this was helped by the fact that his last album, mostly covers, was called Kisses on the Bottom. It could have been a great record and it still would have been awful. But it was a rather appalling record with a thoroughly awful title.

 Being a McCartney fan in this day and age is being something of a McCartney apologist.

Macca's always his own worst enemy. Either he's out there peace-sign-waving and thumbs-upping as if every day is his first full recovery from a paralysing stroke, or he's making music we all instantly compare to his other music. Including suggestions, now, that a 71-year-old man doesn't sound like he did when he was 28 or 38 or 51 for that matter.

I had no idea what I'd think of New when it finally came out a week ago. I'd heard the title single many times (and enjoyed it just fine), but had deliberately avoided listening to anything else on it until the album was out properly. There was always the risk the album might fall flat for me; just because he's my favourite artist doesn't mean I'm going to love everything he does.

I was delighted to find, then, that I loved New from the very first listen. And not just one or two tracks, either - the majority of the album. There are a couple I'm not bowled over by, but that's always going to be the way - even the greatest Beatles albums have one or two tracks I might skip (shock, horror). I listened to it once through and immediately had a handful of favourite tracks, then on repeated listens that began to shift and change until my favourites were cemented.

And I wanted to give it another listen immediately. In fact, in the week since it came out, I've listened to little else. I haven't been so enamoured of a McCartney album since Flaming Pie, which I discovered late but also listened to endlessly once I had.

It's fabulous, New is. Many reviews say 'McCartney back on form' after his covers album and disappointing live performances over the last few years, and I'd have to agree. This album is full of all the best of him, of the overflowing talent and skill that you should expect from one of the greatest songwriters and performers of all time. If that sounds a bit overblown, well - maybe it is. What can I say, I'm a fan. But - especially in the UK - there's been such a trend over the years to write him off as everybody's embarassing uncle that it's great to see him come out with something like this - at the age of 71, no less! It's great to be able to say 'he's still got it' and mean it.

Sure, he’ll always be Paul and it’s probably evenly split between those who love him for that (and always will) and those who hate him for that (and grew into that without giving the best bits of his post-Beatles career a chance; or simply decided it was unfair that John was the one to go) but the opening brace of songs on New feels like the best kind of victory lap. A guy who can write a pop song in his sleep – and has finally woken up (again) and decided it’s best he not keep doing that. A guy who had a hand in inventing pop music, prepared, now – as always – to be the experimental one even though credit for that was slow and still forthcoming.

So, the tracks themselves. Four different producers worked on the album, including Mark Ronson - whose 2010 album Record Collection is one of my favourite albums of all time - and Giles Martin, son of George (who did some stuff with one of Paul's old bands back in the day). This means that there's quite a bit of variety across the tracks in style and feel, but that's been something that's been consistent throughout McCartney's career including with the Beatles (who pretty much started it).

The first single – and title song – is great, infectious. And with both Queenie Eye and Hosanna he shows that rare skill in taking nursery-rhyme derrived lyrics and crafting something magical, something that – frankly – no one else could do. There’s are more tributes here to The Beach Boys than there are The Beatles and there is, again, some wonderful bass playing. Also that guitar-pinch that McCartney added to the best of the late Beatles material is on display.

Not all of New is wonderful, not all of it is a revelation but the revelation, the wonderful part, is simply in McCartney making a record that’s easy to like, okay to be on board with, better than could be expected. And if that’s faint praise it’s not meant to be the case. He suffers so often for comparisons to past work but this is the most energised he’s sounded on record as a solo artist since Flowers In The Dirt – it contains as many good songs as that record did (maybe more?) and it has a small hint of what was great about Flaming Pie too – but where that was wistful and a nostalgia-nod this is something else.

This isn’t the embarrassing uncle having a go at being hip again. This is one of the finest pop songwriters ever standing up and having a go again, making a decent fist of it. Putting it (out) there. And it weighs a (good) ton.

The opening track, Save Us, is very catchy, and having seen it live on 6 Music it's one that goes over well at a concert. I hope he works into his future setlists. The second track, and the first of the 2 Mark Ronson-produced tracks, is Alligator. And if you'll forgive me for sounding pretentious, it really spoke to me. One thing I've always felt about Paul's music over the years is that it's more broad, applicable, less specific to him himself than it is to everybody in general. Not that this is a bad thing - it makes it extremely accessible - but I noticed it as a contrast to John Lennon's solo work which is often extremely specific to him, his situation or feelings. Not that either is better or worse - just different. However, occasionally McCartney touches on the personal-to-him as well, and this happens several times on New. Alligator, actually, is not one of those times - I'll come to those later. But Alligator did feel personal to me.

Everybody else busy doing better than me
And I can see why it is

I also love the melody and the fabulous-yet-unintrusive bass part. There's fantastic bass work throughout this album; not that I'd expect anything else from the man who wrote the book on melodic bass playing.

On My Way To Work is one of those which starts off gently - almost a little bland - but develops into something much more interesting by the time the chorus comes around. The little guitar riff in the chorus is rather wonderful.

The next track is the second single-to-be, Queenie Eye. Oh my god oh my god, what a fabulous song! Immediately catchy and energetic; I was bouncing around the first time I heard it, unable to keep still, and had it stuck in my head for the rest of the evening and much of the next day. Wonderful song. If he doesn't add it to his concerts immediately I just don't know what he's thinking. ;) Might just be the standout of the entire album ... though there are a couple of others that might also qualify.

Next up is Early Days. Almost got tears in my eyes as I listened and realised. Oh. Oh. It's about John. (Partly.) A nostalgic but also slightly angry track, the decision by the producer to keep Paul's vocal 'nude' and keep the frailty that exists in his voice nowadays front and center was a bold one, but it paid off in this very emotional track. I quite enjoy the unspoken 'fuck you' to all the 'Beatles experts' who think they know exactly how it all went down.

Appreciate is next - a huge departure in style but ohh, what a wonderful track. Another definite favourite. Heavy on the bass, leading to a sultry feel to the song - I've listened to this one a lot.

Everybody Out There is one that I imagine will be worked into his concerts - shades of Mrs Vandebilt to it making it one I bet he'll love to do live. Enjoyable enough and catchy, but not one of my solid favourites on the album.

Hosanna is another I wasn't bowled over by but it's certainly a solid song - another that's more complex than it first seems. Really lovely bass, and some lovely twangy guitar stuff. Nice and laid back.

I Can Bet is a fabulous, very Wingsy stormer of a track, which has grown and grown on me every time I've listened to it.

Looking At Her - omg. I think we all know what (or who) this one is about. ;) I love how it starts off a bit twee then suddenly becomes all ragey. ;) But yes, also not a total favourite but still enjoyable.

Road is next, and indeed last if you have the standard edition of the album. What an extraordinary track. Fabulous melody, vocal, bass; well-crafted and unexpected. I don't think it could be a single, it's almost too interesting for that. (True of many of Paul's best.)

I have the deluxe edition so have a few extra tracks, which are well worth the extra couple of quid. The first is Turned Out which is greatly enjoyable; very melodic and catchy, bounces along nicely. The final track is the country-ish, charming Get Me Out of Here, which also contains the 'hidden track'. I always love these. The hidden, instrumental track on Chaos and Creation was one of the highlights of the album for me. This one is also very good, rounding out the album nicely. Beautiful piano work and a nice rich vocal.

So that's New. If you can't tell, I adore it. I'm genuinely excited about it. I've been evangelising about it to everybody, which I can't say I've done with a Paul album for a loooong time. Most people are a bit sceptical. I hope the good reviews rolling in manage to convince a few people to give it a try. It's worth a listen, even if you haven't listened to much of his stuff since the 90s (or even since the Beatles). I'll finish with a final quote from the excellent Stuff reviews.

And though his great crime - in keeping the spirit of The Beatles alive with his shows, in reminding that Wings wasn't just a punchline about a dog that could fly, in charging on and reinventing, innovating, and most importantly in fronting up, turning up, plying his trade - is that it's so easy to take pot-shots (pardon the pun) at the last living Beatle of great importance (sorry Ringo), the last great hero of his generation, when in fact he's still doing the work. And doing a lot of great work too.

But the sad truth is people wrote McCartney off a long time ago and never bothered to keep up with the music; never did the listening.

And that's a shame. Because there's a lot of good stuff and even more really great stuff in and around the small amount of tosh.

New is available now in the usual places - hmv, all the Amazons, iTunes, and can be listened to in full on Spotify.

DA@D*C

madzilla — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 20:43:26 GMT

I wanted to get my pictures from the amazing DA meetup at Dragon*Con online before I go away again, so here they are! With a few bonus Mass Effect at the end.

The full group!

Dragon Age: Origins cosplayers. :)

Everybody loves Duncan. ;)

Dragon Age II cosplayers!

Love interests!

DA2 party selection screen!

Another party selection screen!

Anders and fangirls.

The meetup then moved indoors when we got gatecrashed by Doctor Who cosplayers.
Mages!

Hawke and Isabelas! And a bonus creeper!Anders.

Anders and Hawke (and Ser Pounce-a-lot). ♥

Later on in the bar! Flemeth!

Found some Mass Effect costumers as well!

And to finish, a poster at the Skeptic track's fan table. :)

The meetup was brilliant, and some awesome video was recorded which should be online in a little while. HUGE thanks to the organisers for setting it up, and to BioWare for supporting and sending some swag for the attendees. :)

Paul McCartney at the Roundhouse

madzilla — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 16:40:07 GMT

Apologies for not getting this up yesterday, but I was so tired last night I slept for about 10 hours.

So! Here is my little write up of the concert.

I'll spare you all the details of my journey - I arrived at the hotel at about 11pm on Wednesday and, after watching the brilliant Mark Ronson Electric Proms gig on TV (with Sean Lennon!), went off to sleep. I'd decided not to bother going up to pick up my wristband at arse o'clock the next day, so got up about half nine and headed up on the tube. Despite the fact it was on the other side of London it was only one change, so it was an easy journey.

I got to Chalk Farm and, helpfully, there were directions to the Roundhouse from the tube station itself - also you went to the end of the road and went "...oh. There it is."

So I joined a queue, which I shortly found out was in fact people who already had wristbands. So I left that one and went round to the building - and luckily the queue for wristbands was practically non existent at this point (about 11.30). Got my wristband, which was red with Paul's signature and the logos of the venue and the Electric Proms. On the way in I bumped into Lynda, who I'd been queuing with at the Paul signing last year! Small world! I later found out all my other queue buddies were there too - I saw them in the TV broadcast of the concert, right at the front. \o/

My plan was to go back to the hotel and change for the gig, and then come back and join the queue for the gig later, so it was back onto the tube. I stopped off at Starbucks (YAYYYY) and Tescos on the way back to the hotel to grab some lunch, and so had a pasta thingy and a fresh chocolate croissant and my yummy coffee back at the hotel. After that I showered, changed - about 4 times, as I couldn't decide what to wear and settled for good old comfortable jeans, very good decision as it turned out. At one point I was going to wear a skirt and so had put tights on, and I ended up keeping them on under the jeans, also a good decision.

To finish off I wore my black t-shirt with Paul's signature on in diamante. I didn't take my camera, which was probably just as well as it doesn't take very good pictures without the flash and with the flash it probably wouldn't have worked at all in there (too far away - anything's too far away unless it's 10 feet in front of you). I did take my phone though and took a few snaps on that - they turned out a bit crap, but I still love them because I took them. :)

I put off going outside as long as possible, because it was raining by this point and was pretty cold, but at about 3.45 I thought I'd better head over before everyone got out of work and joined the queue, so I arrived about 4.15, I think. The queue by this point was round the corner and up the back entrance of the venue. Not long after I joined they moved the next bit of the queue across the road and squished us down a bit.

About 4.45 Paul and his band arrived for soundcheck in three cars with blacked out windows. (As such, we assume it was them, anyway. LOL.) The queue was squished down a bit more until I ended up on the road rather than on the hill, hurrah.

And the wait went on. I didn't really have anyone to talk to because the people in front of and behind me in the queue were French. It got colder and darker and I got to add a couple more to the tally of 'hours spent standing in the freezing cold to see Paul'. I was also desperate for the loo but as I was queuing alone I couldn't slip out. By 7 the queue was halfway to Belsize Park.

Aaaaanyway, time went on, and on, and on, but eventually 6.45 rolled around and they started letting people in. I got in about 7, relieved to be in the warm, and immediately made a beeline for the loos. I also bought a couple of exclusive show t-shirts (one is white and has the eye from the cover of the McCartney Years DVD, the other is black and pink and has the chair from the cover of Memory Almost Full, both have the date and venue on the back), before heading into the Main Space.

Finding a spot was tricky. Obviously people were grouping more in the middle, so I went slightly to the right of centre and of course found myself behind the attendees of the Annual Tall Person's Concert and Beer Social Night, apparently. So I moved a bit further round and hurrah! Normal height people. I knew I would have problems seeing from anywhere other than the first three rows (which I wouldn't have made anyway, as I hadn't been there from the day before, lol), so this was pretty good, really. If I'd been any further back I might have been in trouble, though. I couldn't see Paul at all at the piano except for one brief moment, but I could see him pretty well at his mike stand, so hurrah.

As we were waiting for the show to start they were playing some weird music in the main space, and I briefly wondered if Paul had decided to go with the Radio Times's idea of playing the infamous Carnival of Light before the show started (as it was written for the venue back in the 60s). Who knows? We were never told what it was.

The time passed surprisingly quickly and soon Paul and band took the stage! By keeping on my toes I was able to see surprisingly well for how far back I was as he launched into Magical Mystery Tour. He was wearing a dark suit and tie and was playing his Hofner; very Beatle-esque. *squee*

After this he welcomed everyone and mentioned it had been a long time since he was last in the Roundhouse - 40 years exactly, to be precise. And as a bit of trivia, Thursday's gig was exactly 50 years and one week after Paul's debut gig with the Quarrymen.

The next song was Flaming Pie, which was exactly the same running order as Paul's 2005 tour, lol. Great song, though. Then it was Got To Get You Into My Life, which he messed up the words to, hehe. Then out came the mandolin, and Dance Tonight, which went down brilliantly. Everyone was singing along with everything at the top of their lungs, it was great. I was a lot more bouncy than I had been at the 2005 show probably because that was the first one I'd ever been to and I was a bit "...whoa!" at the time. I'd never been to a show where it was been free standing on the floor either.

Then Paul introduced the 'stringies' - the string seciotn behind the screen behind the stage, and launched into Only Mama Knows. This is one of my favourites from the new album so I was delighted to hear it.

After this Paul went to the piano and disappeared from my view - before doing C Moon! I LOVE C MOON. Honestly! It's been in my favourite list for years, despite everyone saying it's one of the weakest Wings songs. I LOVE IT. I was so chuffed he played it, it was so good. I remember thinking 'if he plays I've Got A Feeling, I'll just be done in'. Next up, still at the piano, was The Long and Winding Road.

Then it was back to the centre (yay!), and Paul read some of the signs. "Two California girls love you," he read off one. "Only two?" he said. "Oh dear."

Then he pointed out it was a full moon over the Roundhouse, and got everybody howling.

The next song he announced as "a very old one", which made everybody cheer. "Don't cheer it just because it's old!" said Paul, and went into I'll Follow The Sun, which he gave a little extended ending to, "because it's just too short."

Everyone was still singing along raucously with every song, and next up was That Was Me, also from the new album. Next Paul took off his jacket and some girls down the front got a bit over-excited. "It's only the jacket," said Paul, amused. He was handed his acoustic guitar.

"This is a song I wrote for John, after he passed away," he said. "Let's hear it for John!" Then followed one of the biggest cheers of the night, which just went on and on.
"This is in the form of a conversation," he continued. "A conversation - that I never had."

As I've mentioned, everyone was singing along with every song, but when Paul sang Here Today everyone went silent and listened. It gave me shivers. He did it wonderfully and got a huge cheer at the end, and then followed this up with Blackbird and everyone started singing again.

He then did Calico Skies, which went down very well and sounded wonderful with the strings behind it, and then Eleanor Rigby, during which Abe, who had nothing else to do, was up and dad-dancing at the back. :D After this the string section took a bow and Paul thanked them. During this bit he looked at the audience and said, "let's have a wave." And he waved at us and we all waved back.
"I don't know why, I just wanted to do that," he said.

Next up was Band On The Run - the room went wild when it started and it was AWESOME, one of my favourites of the night. After that, to keep the tempo up, was Back In The USSR! ROCK. \m/

Then it was back to the piano for House of Wax, another of my favourites from MAF. Not quite as strong as his performance of it at the iTunes festival (which was INCREDIBLE), but still great. And then - THEY PLAYED I'VE GOT A FEELING!! AHHHHHH. I made such a sort of "AHHHHHH" noise when it started that the man next to me looked at me very strangely. I was dancing and singing along to everything and I haven't had such a good time for ages. :D

Next up was Live and Let Die, another brilliant one, with Paul rocking out on the piano. And pyrotechnics! Wix jumped about six feet in the air when they went off behind him, and the crowd screamed, and Paul had this impish smile on his face, bless him. I couldn't see him very well so ended up watching Abe, who I could see, who was clearly having the time of his life, rocking out on the drums. He's practically a show by himself!

But yes! There were the usual big explosions after the 'live and let die' line, and also golden sparks showered on the stage. Awesome.

Then Paul said he'd like us to join in for the next number (that's Hey Jude then) - and launched into a cockney knees-up round the piano style song called Babyface, LOL. Then it was Hey Jude, and he did the usual thing of splitting the audience into boys and girls to sing, and we girls got to do it twice because we sounded so nice. :D

This was the official end of the hsow, and where the TV broadcast ended, but there were two encores. The first was Let It Be and Lady Madonna (eee!) at the piano, and then Paul, now tieless, took up his bass again and ripped through I Saw Her Standing There like a 22-year-old. As someone else said, close your eyes and you could almost be in the Cavern.

They took another bow and left - and the crowd kept cheering. It just went on and on solidly for minutes before they came on for a second encore of Get Back. And that was it! Paul lifted his bass into the air before leaving the stage with a stuffed toy and bunch of flowers.

Brilliant show, fantastic atmosphere and everyone left on a high. Outside they handed out souvenir tickets and an impromptu singalong of Hey Jude broke out in the hallway.

I was parched and so went into a corner shop for some drinks, before getting back on the tube again and heading back to the hotel, where I watched the gig on TV when it was broadcast an hour later. It was edited, so there were songs missing, but it was still great to see, especially the bits on the piano I hadn't managed to see. The mix was - interesting, in that obviously you could hear Paul and band very clearly and the crowd less so, whereas obviously if you were in the crowd you could hear them (us?) more clearly. But yeah, it was interesting looking at the big crowd, and knowing I was in it. I didn't see myself but I know roughly where I was standing, hee. I also saw my friends in the front, yay!

I was way too excited to sleep after that, despite my early start the next day, but I packed and eventually forced myself to go to bed, and the next day I got up and made the tube-train-plane journey home. Despite an unscheduled stopover in Guernsey I got to work okay (though late) and not too exhausted, hurrah. It was a fantastic night and I had the sore feet and hoarse throat the next day to prove it. :D

So, to summarise - the set list:

Magical Mystery Tour
Flaming Pie
Got To Get You Into My Life
Dance Tonight
Only Mama Knows
C Moon
The Long And Winding Road
I'll Follow The Sun
That Was Me
Here Today
Blackbird
Calico Skies
Eleanor Rigby
Band On The Run
Back in the USSR
House Of Wax
I've Got A Feeling
Live And Let Die
Hey Jude

Encore: Let It Be
Lady Madonna
I Saw Her Standing There

Second Encore: Get Back

And - that's it! I had the longest lie-in ever today and I think I've recovered now. Tell you what, to finish, here are some of my crappy pictures from my camera phone. As I said, they're not much, but they have a nice 'I was there!'-ness about them. And I like the colours.

Haha yeeeeaaah. Told you they weren't great! But still. :D

Right, I'm off to make hot chocolate. It's a bit cold in here.

Paul signing, 22nd Nov. :)

madzilla — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 17:46:49 GMT

I am back. Sorry I haven't had a chance to write yet, but all the times I started typing I literally fell asleep straight away over the keyboard, jerking awake an hour later like 'bzuh?' So it was off to bed for me. SO TIRED.

Anyway. Wednesday night, when I got back, I was exhausted, aching, hungry and just generally worn out, but I shall never be able to stop myself from smiling when I think of that day.

Here be the full details. Possibly too many. I am very long-winded.

So. About ten days ago, I got an e-mail advising me of this:

Haha, I thought. Hahaha. I should go. Thinking about my adventures at the Green Wing signing (I know, not even close to the same scale, but still), I thought and thought for days about it. I really did have a hard time deciding, until I told myself I might never get a chance like this again, and finally one night last week at about midnight I went on and booked a flight and a hotel. ...Couldn't quite believe I'd done it, to be honest. I decided to keep it reasonably quiet, as I felt - I don't know, that it might jinx it if I went and told everyone.

After that I kept an eye on the paulmccartney.com forums to see when people were planning on turning up to join the queue, and eventually formulated a plan based on this information. The Plan was to go to sleep in the hotel between 6 and 8pm Tuesday (I'd be arriving in London around lunchtime), get up about 3 or 4am, and join the queue about 5am. That was 3 or 4 hours before the store opened. That would be plenty of time, I thought, surely. It looked like other people were planning to turn up at about the same sort of time, so I went with that. 4am! Haha. How nuts! Oh, if only she knew what was to come, you all giggle into your popcorn.

It was in my head that going to London, queueing etc didn't guarantee me meeting Paul, so I tried not to get my hopes up too much, though I couldn't stop myself from thinking about what I'd say to him if I did meet him. The main reason I wanted to meet him was to thank him for everything he's given me (and, y'know, the world, but it might sound a bit mad to go up and say "on behalf of the world..."), so I was trying to come up with something along those lines. I have quite a vivid imagination about these things, though, and every time I tried to imagine me actually standing in front of the actual Paul and actually saying words, my insides would shrivel in terror.

So anyway. Booked Monday to Wednesday off work (Monday being that all important grooming/shopping/packing day). Monday night, as usual before I travel, I got no sleep - well, I lie. Two hours. Pfft. Flight and travel went fine and I arrived in London around 12.30pm Tuesday.

I headed straight to Piccadilly as my hotel was right across the street from the Virgin Megastore, and I thought as I was passing I would see if there was a queue, just out of interest. The store backs into the tube station, so I went in the back way and got a bit lost, finally finding the front doors and heading out onto the street. To my astonishment, there were people queued already! They looked like they'd been there ages, with airbeds, rugs, space blankets, sleeping bags, pillows, the full works. The queue was already round the corner and a little bit down the street.

I checked into the hotel and sat on my bed, angsting. Really, by the looks of things, I should join the queue ASAP. I totted up in my head how many hours this would be in the queue and realised I'd need, at at the very least, a blanket or two. I was exhausted and had really hoped to get a few hours sleep before joining the queue. But, if I waited and missed out, would I be kicking myself forever?

So after girding my loins I set straight off and walked back into Tottenham Court Road, where the queue was, and quickly went round the shops to try and find a sleeping bag or something. And could I find anything suitable? No. (For the record, I didn't know that the huge Lillywhites shop was a sports shop at the time. We don't have one at home. So - yeah. I found out later, as you will see.)

Eventually I found a Scottish woollen goods shop which had rugs on sale, so I bought a huge wool blanket from there for fifteen quid. I then went into Boots and bought TONS of food, including loads of Diet Coke and snacks/sandwiches/chocolates. After that I headed back to the hotel for what I believed would be the last time, and showered, changed (into what I would actually wear to meet Paul were such a thing to happen), did my hair and make-up, etc. Then I packed up, grabbed my lone rug and food and headed over.

The queue was slightly longer than when I had last passed it, but not by much. I got in behind a bunch of guys, next to a little doorway alcove. Brilliant, I thought, this will keep me warm.

The guys didn't really talk to me, but soon two ladies joined the queue and after a little while we ended up chatting away. We ended up being big queue buddies and, I hope, friends thereafter. Coincidentally they were staying in the same hotel! And they'd had exactly the same plan, to start queueing after midnight and get some sleep before then, but like me they'd seen the queue and decided to join straight away.

A little later their friends (Maureen and Elena) came and joined them, and behind them two guys (Larry and Adrian) and a lady who'd come up from Portsmouth at the last minute and totally unprepared, leaving her husband a note! We all got chatting and Larry told us how he'd come to the signing at Waterstones but hadn't realised the queue had gone round a corner so had left and come back later, and missed out! Adrian had had the same plan as us, but had spotted the queue and also joined early. It seemed that was the case with everyone!

The two ladies who'd joined the queue behind me (Carole and Lynda) told me to go and give my name to a lady up the front who was making a list, ostentibly to prevent pushing in, so I went up and was no. 71. Carole and Lynda were 64 and 65, but they knew I was in front of them, and 71 was a pretty good number, so whatever. The only concern we had was that the list was not official in any way, but stil, 60-70 was a great number and looked very likely to get to meet Paul, so I was quite excited.

A woman from the office we were queueing in front of came out and told us not to stand in their doorway, so we shuffled down a bit to the other side of their office, hoping that once the office closed up for the night we could move into the doorway, to have some shelter from the cold.

And then - we played the waiting game.

Luckily, we were camped about 5 yards away from a Starbucks (\o/), so I went and got a peppermint mocha almost straight away. Unfortunately, it was so cold out it went cold very quickly. Also unfortunately, the Starbucks closed at 7.30 so their would be no coffee into the night, unless we fancied a bit of a walk.

Soon enough it started to get dark, and my feet began to ache. We noticed that quite a lot of people further up the queue had folding chairs - all identical, with England flags on them (presumably made for the World Cup). After a while one of our party went off to ask them where they were from and they told us Lillywhites (which is practically across the street)!

Carole and Lynda had gone back to the hotel to use the loo and such, so myself and the lady from Portsmouth headed across to buy chairs while the others watched our stuff. On the way she told me she'd been very ill recently, and was queueing when she really shouldn't be. Which was a little worrying. :/

We found the chairs eventually, all neatly folded in bags saying "ENGLAND CHAIR" on. They were half price, too, so that was a plus. We also bumped into Carole and Lynda in the store, who were the next 'shift' to come and get chairs. When we all got back, Adrian and Elena went. All good fun. :)

We were starting to form quite a tightly-knit little group, and once the office had shut and we'd OKed it with the night watchman we set up our chairs in a little circle outside the door, with Adrian, the lady from Portsmouth (damn, I can't remember her name!) and Larry behind us. Larry was off taking loads of photos, as he's a photographer. We looked like a huge mob of England fans camping out for something in our matching chairs. XD

Behind our group some young lads joined, already drunk and each waving a bottle of wine. One way to keep out the cold, I suppose. We half expected them to be a bit obnoxious but they were actually really good fun. :)

It soon began to get bitterly cold, and I pulled out my scarf and gloves. I'd checked the weather report before I'd come and while it was supposed to be dry (thank god), it was also supposed to be the coldest night of the year so far. Great. The rug followed soon after, but unfortunately, one thing I hadn't even considered was what the rug would do to my coat. My coat is black wool, and the rug was light wool, and soon what I like to call the 'Cat Hair Effect' took place, whereby my coat was instantly covered with a coating of pale lint. It looked ridiculous. By this point, I was past caring because I was so damn cold. At one point another trip to Lillywhites was made by some of the others to buy sleeping bags, but I felt I'd already bought my chair and blanket and couldn't really buy more stuff - I really wish I had, though.

It got colder and colder and I started to shiver. I couldn't feel my toes inside my boots any more and was convinced that when I took my shoes off my toes would come with them. (Ew.) I even took off my boots, added my bedsocks and put the boots back on, and it still didn't help. I even had to resort to my fugly wooly hat, which did help a little, but not much.

The night dragged on, and countless buses and taxis thundered past us. We were actually right next to a bus stop, so every time a bus pulled in (approximately every 30 seconds), everyone on it would turn and stare. The people getting off would regularly come over and ask what we were doing/waiting for. I must have said "Paul McCartney" about 30 times. Reactions ranged from "oh, OK," to "oh my God, why??" to "you're crazy!" to "I think it's a beautiful thing you're all doing." (And thank you for that last one, anonymous stranger.)

But we soon got bored, so the next time someone asked, Elena said "Michael Jackson," with a completely straight face. And the guy believed her that all these people were queueing for Michael Jackson's new album. Bwaha! At one point we also told people David Hasselhoff, and I decided to tell the next person that asked I was waiting for a Nintendo Wii (despite them not coming out for another 3 weeks). Some people formed this conclusion on their own, as I heard one guy say to his friend "...what some people will do for a PlayStation 3" as he walked past.

One other guy told us we looked like the biggest homeless protest ever seen.

At around nine o clock, we all started to get damn hungry, as none of us had had any dinner and most hadn't had lunch, either. (I hadn't even had breakfast.) So Adrian, Larry and the lady said they'd watch our chairs/rugs etc while we went across the street to Garfunkel's to get a hot meal. By this point I felt almost frozen solid and so was ecstatic to be getting in the warm.

We are warm! Yay! L-R: Me, Carole, Elena, Lynda, Maureen.

We had a really fun meal and Lynda, Maureen and Carole were telling us all these amazing stories. It turns out they were Apple Scruffs, back in the day! No, really. Elena wasn't old enough to have been so and obviously neither am I, so we were enthralled, even though she'd heard the stories before. All sorts of stories about meeting the group back in the day, sneaking into Abbey Road Studios, getting lifts in their cars when they weren't supposed to, crying and chatting with Paul outside his house the night before he married Linda (he opened his door to see them all crying and said "what's this, heartbreak hotel?", before fetching a jumper from his house and coming down to the gate to talk to them), being invited into the studio to listen to Magical Mystery Tour being edited, following John and Paul to the airport when they were off to New York to promote Apple and J&P being Not Best Pleased, travelling in John's psychedelic Rolls Royce, being arrested by Paul's neighbour (Maureen waving out of the back of the police car), playing pranks on Paul, and all sorts! Absolutely amazing. Elena and I said they should write a book or make a movie or something.

The meal was nice, I had pasta and chicken, and being in the warm was wonderful. I didn't want to go back outside, but we had to, so about an hour later we donned hats/coats/scarves/gloves again and headed back over, so the boys and the lady could go and get food. Adrian kindly brought back Burger King for himself and the lady, while Larry went off to get Chinese.

Now we'd been inside in the warm it was even more torturous sitting out in the cold. It was late now, about 11pm, and we were starting to get people who were out for the evening walking past. There was one group of girls who were all giggly and tipsy, they looked about 16, and they all came up and were asking us about it - they thought it was very cool and were quite sweet and mad.

I was getting even colder than I had been earlier, and tried to drape my rug in new and exciting ways to keep as much of me covered as possible. I took a few photos around this time, too.

That's the door of the office we were outside of. So cold omf.

I'M TOO SEXY FOR MY HAT.
Seriously, I know I look like a wanker in it but it did help me feel a teeny bit warmer.

Around this time the security from Virgin started handing out numbered tickets to those queueing. This was an excellent idea, as this would be the order they'd be letting us in in the next morning. Obviously some people had joined their friends in the queue since the afternoon, with the result that I was now number 84. But that was my official number now, and would remain so, and I was quite happy because that's my year of birth. :)

So we were chuffed with them for doing that, as it saved a lot of grief the next day. We carried on chatting and, in my case, trying not to die from hypothermia.

The hours ticked by, and we decided to go back to the hotel in shifts, to use the loo, freshen up, whatever. Two would go for an hour or so, then come back, and then the next two, and so on.

I seemed to be suffering with the cold the worst, probably because I was stupid and didn't have a sleeping bag, and finally aorund 2am, reached my breaking point. I was almost passing out from cold and tiredness, so when Elena and Maureen headed back to the hotel for a bit I went with them, and told them I would try and get my head down for two hours or so. We exchanged phone numbers so Maureen could ring me at 4 to get me up.

I fell into the room, which was warm and had a heater and nearly cried with joy. My getting made up had clearly been highly pointless, but I took off my top I'd chosen to see Paul in and put on the t-shirt I'd brought to sleep in. I fell into the bed and slept for two hours. When Maureen rang, she suggested I have another hour, as it was only 4am, and I gladly agreed.

At about 5.10 I dragged myself reluctantly out of the warm bed and, shivering, got dressed again. While I was asleep my makeup had all moved approximately half an inch down my face, so I reapplied and sorted it, and redid my hair. I donned the ridiculously linty coat and the scarf/gloves etc - I had even put all four of the socks I was wearing on the radiator for a bit before putting them on - and headed back out.

When I arrived they told me the lady from Portsmouth had gone! Apparently her ill health had caught up with her and she'd started to feel really bad, so she'd just jumped in a taxi and left. Shame, to have queued for all that time too. And she'd seemed OK when I left, quite lively - in fact, at one point she was holding forth, loudly, on how John Lennon had been very obviously gay. "He was a poofter!" she screeched. "Gay as a donkey!"

Not an expression I'd heard before, I must admit.

We were all smirking but hiding our faces by this point, in a display of "Look, We're Not With Her". It was hilarious. It just came out of nowhere! "He was always on Brian Epstein's yacht!!"

Dead God, I hope that's not a euphemism.

It was hilarious, anyway, if not slightly bizarre. And weirdly, some drunk guy had wandered past earlier and shouted "who's coming? Gay Paul?" It was so In And Out. "Is everybody gay??"

While I was no longer as tired, it was now even colder than before and I was shivering within all of 10 seconds after settling back into my chair. The rug and my hat, which I'd left out, felt like they'd been stored in a fridge as I put them back on. Oh, well. SHIIIIVERRRRRRRRRR.

It was around 5.45 by this point and after a while it started to get light. We'd made it through the night!

(In case I haven't quite impressed it upon you, I have never been colder in my entire life. And while I did get 3 hours sleep in a warm room, that still left 13 outside, so - yeah. Brrrrrrrr.)

Anyway, we sat around for another two hours, when the people who'd been coming home from work the day before were now going back to work and saw us still sitting there. Soon enough the security staff came to tell us to start packing up. The guys next to us had constructed a sort of tiny shanty town out of boxes and tape, so they started dismantling it. We had boxes too, whch had been given to us by the kind security staff in the office we were otuside (and Larry had gone to find some too). Putting them on the ground stopped our feet from getting so cold as it insulated them - an old market trader's trick, apparently.

So we folded up the chairs and sleeping bags and rugs and boxes and collected all our rubbish, and it became clear what they were trying to do was get the queue all stood and compressed, as we were all spread out. One girl, passing before Starbucks had opened, asked the guys next to us "why are you all queueing for Starbucks?" "We REALLY WANT COFFEE," they replied. "WE'VE BEEN HERE 12 HOURS." She looked a bit stunned and wandered off.

Soon the queue was much shorter as everyone had been moved down, and we were a bit warmer now we were (sort of) moving. The press arrived and started to take pictures of the queue at around 7.45, and just after 8 they opened the store and started letting people in to buy the CD and DVD.

By this point, our group were all firm friends, and we were chatitng away. I started chatting with Adrian, who was really funny. We decided to dump our England chairs, as I couldn't really take mine on the plane and he coouldn't carry his around London all day, so we left them propped against the wall with about 5 others. We also had a laugh at Larry's gloves - he'd just found them around places and kept them, and one was a huge, brown leather boxing-glove-style mitten (which he says he found and it was a bit battered so he put leather polish on it), and the other was a navy blue, fluffy-edged, ladies' glove. We were in stitches when we noticed them.

Soon enough it was our turn to go in - we were let in in groups of about 8 or so, and were processed really quickly at the tills. You'd ask for 'one of each' or just one or two of one or whatever you wanted, but you could only buy those two items. (Well, you could also buy 'Love' as it was next to the till - they obviously realised they had a captive audience - but you couldn't get it signed.)

Once you'd bought your things you were given a little slip of paper with instructions on as to what would be happening and The Rules, which said by having a blue wristband you were in a 'priority' queue to meet Paul, i.e. he would definitely get through those and then start on the reserves (I think about nos. 200 upwards) if there was time/he felt like it/etc. Finally your shiny blue wristband was clipped on, and you were pointed up the stairs and guided to the queueing area. They were playing Paul's DVD loudly throughout the store.

Welcome banner.

The signing area - on the left, behind the glass, is the queueing area (this was taken from the top of the stairs).

Once we got into position we were ecstatic, because - it was real, we were in the store and had our wristbands and were in the first 100 people. We were allowed to leave the store briefly to find a toilet and so on, because there wasn't one in the shop, and once you had your wristband you could pretty much do as you liked, as long as you had someone to hold your place in the queue for you - they wouldn't do it for you.

Once we arrived we took some pictures of ourselves filled to the brim with girlish glee.

(That's Adrian on the right.)

(And one with Larry!)

Elena, Maureen and I decided to head back to the hotel to check out and dump our luggage. We did so, and I also re-did my make up and hair (yes, again), and left my linty coat with the bags. (Seeing as I would only be inside now, I no longer needed it, and it looked awful all covered in fluff.)

We finally headed back over and settled onto the floor to begin Queueing 2: Electric Boogaloo.

Truth be told, this was more uncomfortable than outside, because the floor was hard and we had nothing to sit on. There was also a mad draught coming in from somewhere, under the display cabinet. (We were camped out in World Music and Jazz.) This queue would be about 3.5 or 4 hours, though, compared to 16 outside, so, y'know. Not too bad.

The morning passed, and Adrian and I had a long, long chat about all things Beatles. He's been to all the Beatles sites in the UK (well, nearly all), and showed me the picture of the Woolton Church Hall on his camera. We talked about the new album, and the Concert for George (he and Elena were actually there, though they didn't know each other then, as they only met in the queue for this), and lots about John and Paul. It was so much fun to chat with a fellow massive fan with Beatles music playing, not something I get to do in RL - well, ever.

We also started getting the mad giggles, mainly out of nerves, and were practically hysterical. We were trying to think of things to say to Paul and the ideas just got madder and madder. "So. Was John gay as a donkey?" was one that was rejected early on. XD But it was such a laugh, and badly needed too, as I was starting to feel faint with nerves (and possibly hunger). I still wasn't sure what I'd say to Paul, but way back when I first decided I'd go, what had popped into my head was that I wanted to think him, and how much it would mean to thank him in person. So that was floating around my head.

At about 11.20 people started getting to their feet, and we followed suit, getting excited. The Vrgin staff all started appearing on our floor and the press started to arrive. Some people started milling about in the signing area and that got us all excited too. But Paul wasn't early, in fact, and the anticipation was torturous. For nearly an hour we stood there, looking around, as the atmosphere built and built and you could feel the excitement and nervousness in the air. Just as Adrian and I thought we might actually go insane from the tension, a few people started to clap and shout and - he was there!

There were quite a few screams, with teenage girls bouncing up and down and clutching each other, and I was all "dude. He's 64 and he's still doing that to young girls. I mean, that's something." He really is still The Cute One.

Paul came up the stairs and round through the classical section (I knew something would be happening in there, no one ever goes in there), and through a small curtain into the signing area. The press went mad, there were hundreds of flashes and calls - I'd never been anywhere that had had major press attention like that before, so it was an eye-opener. I couldn't see Paul, but had caught a glimpse of him through the crowd as he'd come up the stairs. Just like the concert I went to last year, it was totally surreal. His face is so familiar to me that it was quite a shock to see him really there in front of me, and so I didn't start leaping about and squeeing yet, as the sense of "oh - my - god..." ness washed over me. Heavy, man. He was wearing a dark suit, white shirt and tie, and looked happy to see everyone squealing and waving and smiling and clapping and that.

Soon after the queue began to move - and quickly! I applied my lippy and the queue began to shuffle forward. Oddly, now Paul was here and we'd actually seen him, an odd sense of calm had settled over us - we no longer felt hysterical or terrified - I can't even describe how I felt. Oddly relaxed and happy, rather than "ohmygodohmygodwhatdoIdoooo?"

The DVD was playing here too, quite loudly at first, and I wondered if I would have to shout "sorry, what? I can't hear you over yourself," to Paul. They turned it down soon after.

The Queue Nazis were keeping everyone in line, screaming in our ears, and it did begin to feel a bit like a military operation. The only point I got a bit irritated was when we had all squashed right down, and the woman was still bellowing "MOVE RIGHT UP, PLEASE! MOVE RIGHT UP!" in a really arsey tone. I was all "DUDE, WE ARE ALMOST ON TOP OF EACH OTHER DOWN HERE."

We were instructed to pull out our CD books and DVD inserts while queueing - Virgin's plan had been to remove all of your bags from you before you reached the signing area, put them in a box, and then give them back to you at the foot of the stairs. However, the queue was moving so quickly that they didn't have time to get the bags back down before the people were there, and the stairwell was full of people waiting for bags and blocking the exits. So they gave up and told us all to keep our bags, we just weren't allowed to get anything out of them. The DVD and CD you were holding were searched before you reached the signing area, in case you'd slipped a birthday card/other CD booklet/whatever in there. I was glad I'd dumped my bags at the hotel and just had my small handbag, other people had chairs/suitcases/sleeping bags and all sorts.

I was at the front of our group, and before I knew I was in the signing area. The security man asked me what the number on my ticket was, and I thought "oh god, does he want to see it?" because I thought it was in my bag back at the hotel. But he only wanted to know the number because Paul wanted to know how far through the line we were. So I told the man 84, and the girl in front of me turned and whispered "I'm 61,". Haha, oops.

At one point, as one guy grabbed his signed things and the next person hadn't stepped up yet, Paul sort of looked around the room and his eyes met mine for a second. I was so surprised I immediately looked away, hee. Adrian had told me I'd practically gone scarlet in the queue after Paul had arrived. Probably true. Flustered, and all that.

But yes, suddenly the girl in front of me was thanking Paul and stepping away, and there was no one in front of me. It was my turn to step up. By this point he had taken off his jacket and so was in a shirt and tie.

So I stepped up to the table, and Paul said hello, and I think I did, and put my CD booklet and DVD cover down. He signed the CD, and as he was doing so, looking down at it, I started talking, saying my little bit which I had only kind of rehearsed in my head. It seemed to come out reasonably easily once I was there, because it came from the heart. (You at the back, stop making vomit noises.)

But really, I probably should have waited for him to finish signing, because he was concentrating on writing and looking down and it was noisy, so he clearly didn't hear me. Once he'd finished the CD he looked up at me and said "what was that, darlin'?"

At which point I nearly died, but pushed the 'Paul McCartney is talking to meeeeeeeeeee" feelings down a bit and told him again, this time looking him straight in the eyes. He listened attentively and interestedly and really, I felt like there wasn't anyone else in the room. It was quite intense, talking to him and holding his gaze as I did so, but I said my little bit, and he made this little face which I can't really describe, but it was sort of a "n'aww," expression, if that makes any sense. It was very cute. He pulled over the DVD cover to sign that too and as he did so, said "thank you, for your kind words." Once he'd done that he smiled up at me once more and I smiled back and that was it! The next person (Lynda) stepped up, I grabbed my things and scarpered, Britain's Biggest Grin plastered across my face. It must have been all of 15 or 20 seconds, but still.

Someone asked me what colour his eyes were, as they look different colours in different photos, and to them I'd say - that's because they are. They're very big and all sorts of different shades of brown and green. As abromeds once said, even - dun dun dunnnn - kaleidoscope eyes?? :P

So, to answer that question - um. Hazel! Yes.

If you're wondering what Paul looked like at the signing, here are a couple of press pictures - I didn't get any and neither did my friends because it wasn't allowed, but you get the idea.

I'll post if any more nice ones turn up. :)

I bounded down the stairs and the lady stopped me to cut off my wristband. I was allowed to keep it, though. As I headed down I noticed a queue in a sort of holding area at the back - these must have been the 'reserve' wristbands they had handed out. I think they actually had time to get through those too, or at least some of them!

I got outside, and found myself at the side door at the top of Regent Street. Lots of people were congregated around there, many of whom had obviously tried to get in and not been able to. I got a few Looks. As I stood, I noticed it was just starting to rain, as I saw a few tiny drops on my DVD cover. I very quickly put it and the CD away in my bag, and noticed that as well as all the fans, there were a lot of press around. I stood, waiting for the others, when a lady from Virgin Radio came up and asked to interview me. Hee. :)

After that, a photographer from the Daily Mail asked if he could take my picture and do an interview, so he took a few pictures of me holding up the CD in the cheesiest way possible, I imagine, in front of the big poster. We then went to find the reporter, who was actually talking to the rest of my group! I also noticed Adrian being interviewed for BBC Radio 2 and the telly!

So all very exciting.

By the time the interviews were over it was starting to rain very heavily. This was at about 1.30, so if you think about it, we were about nos. 84-90, and we had all got through the queue and outside by half one, so Paul was getting through the queue quickly! And it hadn't felt rushed to me, really. Adrian had asked him a question about his most memorable gig, which took a bit longer, and he says he was gently moved along, but not unreasonably so.

So we went across the road to Garfunkel's again, for a celebratory lunch, as none of us had eaten yet that day. (My food from Boots had remained untouched, as it was too cold to eat it. Seriously.) We sat around, a bit dazed, and Lynda told us that Paul had remembered her and the others! "I could never forget you lot," he'd said to them. Bless!

So we were all sending texts to everyone we'd ever met, and Adrian rang his wife - he hadn't told her he'd camped out all night, haha, but she didn't seem to mind too much, and we all ordered some lunch and coffee. Now was the comedown, the adrenaline finally disappearing and being replaced with bone-tiredness but massive happiness.

Adrian left first, as he wanted to go off and see the Apple offices in Savile Row where the Rooftop Concert was held and find Brian Epstein's flat in Belgravia. I was quite tempted to come along, but I'm happy to do these things alone, and it seemed he was too, so we said goodbye there. I made sure to collect everybody's e-mail addresses first so I could send them the few, fairly crap, pictures I'd got, and we could keep in touch. Once we'd finished and paid we said goodbye outside and went our separate ways, and I headed straight onto the Tube and over to the Beatles Store - I'd hoped to get there the day before but obviously had had to start queueing straight away.

The rain stopped by the time I got there, and nothing could put a dent in my good mood, even though I was tired. It was also a bit warmer (probably because of the rain), so I didn't need my coat while running around. At the store I bought a great new bag, a J/P keyring, a matching glass and mug (with the 'Love, The Beatles' design from the drum in the I Am The Walrus video on), and a cute Sgt Pepper blue teddy. Showed considerable restraint, I thought. :)

Once I'd finished there I thought, well, I might as well start the end of this journey - I have nothing I especially want to do in London, I'm tired, I might as well get to the airport and chill out in the departures hall for a bit. So I headed back to the hotel and got my bags and sorted them, which was a mammoth task in itself - I ended up throwing a lot of the food out because one of the pasta salads had burst and got on the other things. Though not on any of my other stuff, hurrah. I had also bought 4 bottles of Diet Coke (why??), so had to get rid of some of those, too (can't take them through customs). And I also dumped my rug. I rearranged things in various bags, changed my top, and was finally ready. I got back on the tube for the last time and headed to Victoria, then onto the Gatwick Express (which was mobbed! Bloody hell), and then was at the airport nice and early.

But just as I got off the train I spotted someone holding the late edition of the Evening Standard, which had a picture of Paul on the front and an article about the signing! You got them for free on the 1st Class carriage of the train. Once I'd checked in and got rid of my bag I raced over to WH Smith in arrivals and looked for it - no sign, they still had the early edition. Bugger. So, um - I headed back down to the Gatwick Express platform and wandered along, wondering if there was a spare copy on a table in First Class I could pilfer. *blush* Anyway, there wasn't. But I knew there were two WH Smiths in the departures hall, so I went through Customs/Security (a joy as always) and then headed over there. By this time I could barely walk I was so tired (yay for 5 hours sleep in 3 days!), but was determined to find one. I asked the lady in WH Smith, and they also only had the early edition, but she very kindly walked all the way over to the warehouse to pick up some copies of the late edition for me! That was so nice of her. :) I bought two and read the article, which was lovely, talking about how, despite the recent 'unpleasantness', Paul's fans are still supporting him, more strongly than ever, and the turnout and big overnight queues proves it. Most of the articles I've seen have been along the same lines. For once, it seems the tabloids are actually supporting Paul rather than bashing him. (I suspect it won't last, but it was nice anyway.)

So then I went online for a bit, made the entry you all saw the other day, and before I knew it my flight was boarding! I was ready to go home, truth be told, because I wanted my beeeeeed. Soon enough, I was home, and tried to come on and write an entry on here but just fell asleep over my laptop. So. Effing. Tired.

The next day I had work, so I took in the CD and DVD to show the guys, and on the way in bought the Daily Mail, lol. I wasn't in it (woe), but there was a nice article. At lunchtime I bought all of the day's papers and clipped out all the articles on the signing to keep.

I hadn't told my colleagues where I was going, so they were a bit surprised, lol. None of them are big fans so they were sort of "huh! OK, well, good for you, I suppose! YOU NUTTER." I told my boss I slept on the street the night before and she said "why, were you skint?" Ah, touche, Margaret.

The person who was the most excited was Darran, who is a massive Beatles fan. He briefly forgot where I'd been when I came in and then remembered, and he was all "OH! Did you see him??" and so he was all excited, which was nice. He wants me to post about it on his rock website's forum, aww. So I probably will at some point. I told him what Paul had said, and so every time I went up to the printer (which is next to his desk) he would sing "Oh! Darling" very badly. Har har.

So that was it - that night (Thursday) was the work quiz night, which was straight after work - we didn't win, but it was good fun and we won 2 things in the raffle - white chocolate and vanilla cream liqueur and biscuits, OH HELL YES. I've just been so tired every day since I got back until today, when I had the chance to sleep in until lunchtime, and so have been able to get all this down without conking out over the keyboard and waking up with QWERTY tattooed across my cheek.

And now, I have a weekend of nothing ahead of me (yay), which is good because December starts on Friday and it's gonna be mad! Friday and Saturday next week is the big company trip to Guernsey, then the Friday after is the department Christmas party, then the Friday after that is the company's Christmas ball, and the weekend after that is - oh yeah. Christmas! So hopefully it's not going to be too mad. Work has been mental, though - honestly, you go off for 3 days and it takes you 10 to catch up.

And I just remembered that today is one year to the day that I saw Paul's concert in Las Vegas. *tear* Ah, memories.

I don't know what I'm going to do today. Probably nothing. Woo! \o/ There is a Carry On movie on tonight yaye. :) I love them. We decided yesterday that sometimes our workplace is like Carry On Helpdesk. Oooh, matron.

...I can't possibly have pizza for dinner 2 nights in a row, can I? ;)

madzilla — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 05:22:48 GMT

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