B.P.

Lyn's rushing me out, so I've just quickly edited my first few pics to give you a snapshot of his first few minutes on stage. I do have some slightly better shots to post later(I think). http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/PaulHardy/Darius%20At%20Crewe%2028-8-2010/01.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/PaulHardy/Darius%20At%20Crewe%2028-8-2010/02.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/PaulHardy/Darius%20At%20Crewe%2028-8-2010/03.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/PaulHardy/Darius%20At%20Crewe%2028-8-2010/04.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/PaulHardy/Darius%20At%20Crewe%2028-8-2010/05.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/PaulHardy/Darius%20At%20Crewe%2028-8-2010/06.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/PaulHardy/Darius%20At%20Crewe%2028-8-2010/07.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/PaulHardy/Darius%20At%20Crewe%2028-8-2010/08.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/PaulHardy/Darius%20At%20Crewe%2028-8-2010/09.jpg

I did get some videos Meg, and though none are amazing, there's one or two that aren't too embarrasing, so I'll post them on my Youtube account and send you the links :)

Copied from the interchange thread :) No videos from Crewe unfortunately Nina, as wih the heavy showers, I couldn't risk my neice's camera getting damaged, as she's away on safari in a few days. There was a professional crew filming though, and the picture and sound quality will be far superior to anything I could have managed. Just a case of waiting for them to feature it online. I did manage to snap a couple of pictures though, around 600 :D I think I got some nice shots too :) Report first pics to follow. Had a bit of trouble fiding the venue. Satnav got me close, but with no signage I took a wrong turn and spent a very frustrating 25 minutes driving in and around Crewe :angry: Managed to get there in plenty of time in the end though, as D wasn't on stage until 9.30pm. Darius flew down from Scotland and was picked up from Manchester Airport. He gave a consummate performance and had a real swagger on stage, constantly smiling. He moved from side to side as usual, as well as centre stage, but I can't get over how relaxed and comfortable he appeared. I missed how he got off the stage, but he came down to the fencing for his final song and performed it whilst shaking hands etc! The three new songs of his were the same three as Glasgow Green, Bada Bing Badda Boom, Everyone Wants To Be Jack and Crazy Love. He announced that it was the first time he'd performed them to such a large audience, but Glasgow Green would have been a much bigger gig than Crewe. Not really sure why he does this, as it's not the first time he's made inaccurate comments like this about performance of his material :???: The setlist, which lasted about 30 minutes, in order was:- I Get A Kick Out Of You , , , , I've Got You Under My Skin Let There Be Love When I Fall In Love They Can't Take That Away From Me Bada Bing Badda Boom Everyone Wants To Be Jack Crazy Love He mentioned that his song Everyone Wants To Be Jack was written about Jack Nicholson, whom he'd met in LA. He said that when Jack was in the room, all the ladies wanted to be close to him and all the guys wanted to be him. He also congratulated the hardy folk of Crewe for being able to endure the heavy showers. He must have known I was there :D He also said he was still wearing his neckbrace 20 hours a day. I just wish he would keep it on all the time :unsure: He promoted his History Of The Big Band Tour a couple of times and mentioned his official website as well as historyofthebigbands.com All too soon, he announced that the fireworks were about to start and left the stage. The compare pointed people over to the fireworks and they started to drift over. Just as they'd begun, D came back out for piccies and autographs, and I got a quick hand grasp and asked him how his neck was. I also asked him to put his neck brace on! It started to rain, and after about 5 minutes D left, so I snapped a few quick pics of the fireworks and jumped in my car to shoot off home whilst they were still going off, so I'd miss the crowds leaving. I'm going to post this in the Crewe thread and will put some pics in there when I've uploaded them :)

No videos from Crewe unfortunately Nina, as wih the heavy showers, I couldn't risk my neice's camera getting damaged, as she's away on safari in a few days. There was a professional crew filming though, and the picture and sound quality will be far superior to anything I could have managed. Just a case of waiting for them to feature it online. I did manage to snap a couple of pictures though, around 600 :D I think I got some nice shots too :) Report first pics to follow. Had a bit of trouble fiding the venue. Satnav got me close, but with no signage I took a wrong turn and spent a very frustrating 25 minutes driving in and around Crewe :angry: Managed to get there in plenty of time in the end though, as D wasn't on stage until 9.30pm. Darius flew down from Scotland and was picked up from Manchester Airport. He gave a consummate performance and had a real swagger on stage, constantly smiling. He moved from side to side as usual, as well as centre stage, but I can't get over how relaxed and comfortable he appeared. I missed how he got off the stage, but he came down to the fencing for his final song and performed it whilst shaking hands etc! The three new songs of his were the same three as Glasgow Green, Bada Bing Badda Boom, Everyone Wants To Be Jack and Crazy Love. He announced that it was the first time he'd performed them to such a large audience, but Glasgow Green would have been a much bigger gig than Crewe. Not really sure why he does this, as it's not the first time he's made inaccurate comments like this about performance of his material :???: The setlist, which lasted about 30 minutes, in order was:- I Get A Kick Out Of You , , , , I've Got You Under My Skin Let There Be Love When I Fall In Love They Can't Take That Away From Me Bada Bing Badda Boom Everyone Wants To Be Jack Crazy Love He mentioned that his song Everyone Wants To Be Jack was written about Jack Nicholson, whom he'd met in LA. He said that when Jack was in the room, all the ladies wanted to be close to him and all the guys wanted to be him. He also congratulated the hardy folk of Crewe for being able to endure the heavy showers. He must have known I was there :D He also said he was still wearing his neckbrace 20 hours a day. I just wish he would keep it on all the time :unsure: He promoted his History Of The Big Band Tour a couple of times and mentioned his official website as well as historyofthebigbands.com All too soon, he announced that the fireworks were about to start and left the stage. The compare pointed people over to the fireworks and they started to drift over. Just as they'd begun, D came back out for piccies and autographs, and I got a quick hand grasp and asked him how his neck was. I also asked him to put his neck brace on! It started to rain, and after about 5 minutes D left, so I snapped a few quick pics of the fireworks and jumped in my car to shoot off home whilst they were still going off, so I'd miss the crowds leaving. I'm going to post this in the Crewe thread and will put some pics in there when I've uploaded them :)

Just back from the busk and it went very well :) Remarkably, it was my experienced friend who was nervous for the first half hour, and it was me who started well and wasn't nervous at all :o I know we've collected quite a bit for charity too, there were some lovely and very generous people, so should be good all round :) Right, it's off for a shower and then shoot over to Crewe. Really hope I don't miss D's performance, but I shouldn't if I have no travel issues. Not sure how close I'll get either, but I'll do my best for pics and we'll have to watch the videos on the site as above.

I've found the BBC's forecast to be wrong more than they are right especially for local weather. Clear skies at night invariably means I'll have 90 to 100% cloud cover, which isn't great for astronomy :angry: Let's hope they keep to their usual standard and that we get a lovely clear night in Crewe. I had borrowed my neice's compact camera to shoot video, but I daren't risk it if it's possible it might be wet, so I might have to get out my weather sealed DSLR. It means I won't be able to get video though, but that shouldn't matter now as he's appearing online :) Got a busy day tomorrow, up at six to get my stuff together and go setup for the busk from 9am until 2pm, then it's home, shower and change and off to Crewe for D's gig. Had a poor rehearsal this afternoon and my mood wasn't helped when I discovered the local paper had printed a snippet about our venture, and that I had aged 2 years according to them :o Really hope we don't stink tomorrow, especially as our big boss is supposed to live in the town we're performing in and will be in attendance. My friend, who's been in his own band and has busked many times before hasn't as much as batted an eyelid about tomorrow. Wish I could be so nonchalant about the whole thing :unsure: Even if I do poorly, the charity will be receiving a decent amount of money, as our firm and one or two others are making contributions, as well as what we collect on the day, so I guess I can put up with the hassle for a good cause and it could even turn out to be a wonderful experience, fingers crossed :)

I really must try and pay more attention. That's the 2nd time I've mis-interpreted one of Polly's posts, sorry :blush:

I've been told that he will finish just before 10pm with fireworks after Polly, I can't gaurantee it but I would guess he'll be on from between 8-9pm :)

Thanks guys :wub: Truth be told Spam, it's because it's for the local charity that my firm are wanting to contribute, but it's still nice of them and nice to be a part of it, even if it's not what I would have chosen originally. Just had a good rehearsal microphoned up. If we can do 80% as well in public we should be fine, though it's 100% easier to sing in the privacy of your own home.

Thanks for the encouragement ladies :) I'm going to try and get a few on video Meg, so if they're good I'll post them and send you the link. If you don't hear from me I'm sure you'll understand :rolleyes:

Have you ever started something, thinking it will turn out a certain way, only for it to evolve into something much bigger than you wanted or planned? :( For a long time I've wanted to have a go at busking, just for the fun of it, but I've never plucked up the courage. After finding out a friend played guitar, we've been rehearsing for the last few months, and I thought it would give me extra impetus if we went out and busked on behalf of a local charity. To cut a long story short, my firm are now involved making a donation and are supplying t-shirts and some signage for us to use whilst out. I've also been told that our main boss will be in attendance. Whilst it's great of my firm to make a donation and the charity will benefit, it's not what I wanted for my first ever busking gig :unsure: If I'd done a few previously that had gone well, then I'd probably be quite happy, but it's gone from being what I hoped would be a happy-go-lucky, fun and pleasant experience into a much more structured and pressurised event than I wanted. I think we will do ok, but I'd sooner have known that was going to be the case before this thing escalated as it has.

Takes the pressure off me though, PHEW!!!!! I'll still try and get some pics and vid, but can probably relax and enjoy the show a lot more now knowing D's performance will be shown elsewhere :) I've discovered tickets are like busses as I've received Sue's and my own, both in this morning's post :rolleyes: Big thanks to you though Sue much appreciated :)

I have offered twice and on both occasions was told it wasn't neccessary. Tickets still not arrived :( I'm happy to send a stamped addressed envelope, but it looks like I've been let down by the chap I contacted :( What's really frustrating is that he volunteered to post them without me even requesting. If he'd not wanted to send them he could have simply said so and I'd have made other enquiries. Sue could you pm me with details of where you got your tickets please?

Thanks Sue, that's great to know Hopefully mine will arrive soon. The chap has been very friendly online and volunteered to post me some tickets, so I can't think he wouldn't send them. Forgot to check the post today too(we have an external box), so they might be there fingers crossed.

Yes I still want to go. Still haven't received my tickets yet though which is a little frustrating! The chap I've contacted seems like a really nice guy, so I guess I'll just have to be patient. Sue are you definately not going to this? If not and you're sure you don't need them, perhaps I could beg your tickets if mine fail to arrive? If I get a ticket, barring a major incident, I will attend this and try and get some video and pics, though I can't gaurantee what quality they'll be as I'll be arriving late and I'm having to borrow a compact camera for videoing. As always I'll try my best though :)

It's similar here Meg, streetlights are a TOTAL pain <_< I made a little animation of some of my exposures. You can see around 10 satelites crossing in total and the meteor at the end. Not great quality, but interesting :)

We had some clear skies with cloud coming and going. We probably saw around 20-30 in total before the cloud came in completely. I set my camera up but when I pointed it towards Cassiopeia they'd shoot past Delphinus and vice versa :banghead: I haven't even downloaded the images yet though, so will check and let you know. I did manage to capture one from my back garden on Tuesday evening. Jupiter is the bright object on the left. http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/PaulHardy/Astrophotography/IMG_7166a_filtered.jpg

Just in case anyone is inerested and doesn't know, the Perseid meteor shower is at it's peak tonight, so if you have clear skies after dark, nip out and check them out. Lyn and I are travelling to a slightly darker sky area and I'm attempting to photograph some, but as always seems to be the case, the weather's not looking good! :angry:

Sorry to hear that Sue. It's a shame it's as disorganised as this. Very odd for a big public event like this not to cater for disable people at all :o At the moment I've still not received any tickets and as much as I love D, I'm not going without one! Hope they come soon :unsure:

It's just with it being 146 miles each way, I'd like to have the ticket in hand just to be sure if you see what I mean. I'm planning on being there sometime between 4.30pm to 6pm Sue, if you'd like to meet up :)

I'm hoping to go to this(though I'm still waiting for my tickets to arrive :unsure:) but I've managed to get double booked for the day. My charity busk is setup for the same day :rolleyes: Hopefully I'll manage to busk in the morning and drive over in the afternoon to catch D's performance in the evening. I'm hoping to get some images and possibly video of D, but hope many others can shoot some just in case!

Do you know, I think I would too! :D

Still showing him on the website Meg! I hadn't realised that any profit from the tour was going to charity :o

Surely he must mean after the panto has finished.

Hey do you think they might sample his new album?