Post by catwolf on Sept 8, 2013 22:23:33 GMT
Here's my belated fangirl account of PW at Manchester Pride for those of you who are interested (Sorry, I haven't had a spare minute to post on here in a long time - I will start posting again soon, I promise!)
Anyway, I arrived about 10.45am (on a Sunday morning) so of course the place was dead! But I wasn’t taking any chances – I had to make sure I was first in the queue and on Friday and Saturday they’d had bands soundchecking before the gates opened... so I’d estimated the soundchecking might start about 11 or 12 And if you went round the back of the stage you could see people coming on and off the stage – they had to walk out right past you to get to the buses! They’d fenced off the road that led there since Friday though (I had such a panic when I saw!), but luckily if you went round the long way the street was still open at the far side! There were people setting up the stage when I arrived but it all just seemed to be the Manchester Pride crew – there was no sign of Patrick or any of the bands yet. Since there was no queue I waited there because I thought Patrick could turn up at any minute to soundcheck. A couple of other bands came on (but not him), then it started to get busier round by the gates so I thought I’d better go and ensure myself a place at the front of the queue. You could see the stage through the fence so if he did come on and soundcheck I’d be able to run round and see him as he came offstage. The sun came out and it started to get really really hot (I’d thought summer was over a month ago!)… I actually started to feel a bit ill and I was worried I might faint before Patrick came on stage!! I had to go take off my tights, then I sat under my umbrella because there was no other way to shield myself from the sun without leaving the queue... I got some weird looks and a few comments like “It’s not raining!” Luckily it cooled down a little bit after a while though so I didn’t die!
I realised Patrick wasn’t going to soundcheck before the gates opened – the Sugababes (who were headlining) had been soundchecking for about an hour and it was almost time for gates. I was so worried I might not get to the front, I was first in the queue but there were two gates – on Friday for The Feeling they’d opened the other gate five minutes after ours, and I was terrified I’d be at the wrong gate this time! But luckily they let us in first (I’d been chatting to the security guys and they’d realised how desperate I was… maybe that helped!! ) – I sprinted to the barrier and of course I was first there, front-middle!
The show was almost like reliving London, but in a festival context if that makes sense – he had Victoria, Will, Serafina Steer (the harpist who supported him in London) and his sister Jo was singing. I was even more ridiculously excited than usual (4 and a half months was the longest I’d been without seeing him in the past year) and I spent most of the night trying to stop myself crying with happiness! I wouldn’t normally have tried so hard to fight it, but Patrick kept looking at me and he’d think I was crazy if I kept bursting into tears whenever he caught my eye! The atmosphere was wonderful, it was totally different to the seated S&R shows in theatres – at some points he was pointing the microphone at the crowd to let us sing, and he gave some very passionate speeches about equality with lots of swearing – like “I don’t give a fuck!” And he gave a very passionate speech about Russia, telling everyone not to boycott Russia because that was what Putin wanted – he was like “Let’s all go to Russia and get arrested!”, he was saying it was better to go to Russia and get arrested than to ignore what was going on. I’ve forgotten most of the details of all the things he said though and my recording never took so I have nothing to refer back to
He opened with Hard Times – it was a wonderful, passionate extra long version. Next he played The Libertine, this video describes how incredible it was better than I ever could: www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMipgMsC1Ps During The Libertine he was standing on one of the speakers in front of the stage. There was a pink feather boa lying there so he picked it up and threw it into the crowd… and I caught it! So I was going round wearing a pink feather boa for the rest of the night I’ll post the setlist below, but he also played the most beautiful version of Teignmouth in the world (the same as the London QEH version, minus the musical harp) <3 He was like “I don’t think this is the right song to play at Manchester Pride but I don’t give a fuck!”, and he was like “This is the perfect song to be bouncing beach balls and inflated condoms around to” And at the start he asked if anyone was single or if anyone was unhappy in a relationship, and he said it was for all of us lonely people! And here’s a video (thanks to Thomas for uploading it!) www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpS_V5BwUx8 And Patrick kept losing his plectrums all night – every time he was about to start strumming the tenor guitar there was a delay while he looked round everywhere and asked all his band if they’d seen a plectrum! I think in the end he had to start using his fingers instead!
Here's the setlist:
When the show finished I knew I had to try and get backstage as fast as I could, because I only had as long as it took for Patrick to come off the stage, go down the ramp and leave, if I wanted to meet him. So Patrick was barely off the stage when I called the security guy over and asked for a setlist. He’d just gone to look for one when I saw another guy ripping setlists off the stage, crumpling them up and throwing them away! So we called him back over and he picked one up for me, I was just about to run off when I noticed it wasn’t a PW setlist at all – it was one of the bands that had been on before him! So I picked up another one, opened it, and the second I saw the words Hard Times I turned and ran! Except I couldn’t really run - it was absolutely mobbed so I was having to try and shove my way through the crowds and zig-zag my way past people, everyone was plodding along so slowly!! Finally I made it out of the arena and I could actually move, I sprinted along three streets (because the short way was fenced off), and came to a halt just outside the fences backstage. And I’d made it – I could see Patrick through the gap in the fence talking to people so he hadn’t come out yet! So I shouted him (I really need to stop being so pushy… but it was all very frantic and I was worried he’d go off in the other direction!)
He came out a minute later, I was kind of nervous (I don’t know why I still get nervous!!) so I can’t remember the details too well – I’ll tell you all I can remember though! He came out and said “Hi, how are you?” and as usual I was like “Fine” then thought to myself “Why do I always say fine when I really mean ecstatic??” And I’m pretty sure he gave me a hug There were a few other people asking him for photos and stuff so I was hanging back and talking to him in between all the people coming up to him. I thought I’d better explain why I was carrying a bit of crumpled up paper so I told him about the setlist. And I told him I caught the boa he threw - that was why I was going round in a pink feather boa, and he said it suited me! He asked if I’d been there all weekend (which means he must have been reading his mentions while he was off twitter (and he also told me at one point that he was trying to get back into twitter, that was a few weeks after he went on that “twitter vacation until autumn”)), and I told him about how I was already going to see The Feeling there on the Friday before he was announced! I told him my Feeling friends were seeing him for the first time, and I’d played them his music the night before and they were impressed! I told him they were up in the VIP area and they’d smuggled me in there the night before (they were actually keeping watch for Patrick up there for me because the night before all the bands had been coming in for drinks after they’d played!) I told him I was coming to see him in Braga (he didn’t even seem surprised, haha! )… I can’t remember what he said but we were talking about it and I think we know more about it than he does… he said he was definitely playing there though!
I told him my wolfpack friends all said hi and I listed as many of you as came into my head! I told him how nice it was to have so many wolfpack friends all round the world, and that we all meet up for online parties! He said “You should all meet up one day” and I was like “We want to!!!” (if only it was that easy!) I told him we were kind of trying to do that in Braga! And I told him I was about to move to Ramsgate for my placement year, and I’d seen he was in Margate (which is one of my neighbouring towns) the day before, and he said something like it was beautiful there and I’d like it. That’s just about all I can remember, I think it was mainly me blabbering most of the time because I was nervous! I didn’t ask for any photos or pictures or anything because I feel like I’ve asked for far too many already!!
Patrick had mentioned he was going to be watching the Sugababes so I thought he’d be a lot more likely to be in the VIP area than the crowd. So my friends smuggled me in again after the show (my friend had a slightly large wristband she could slip off so they’d go in, she’d take it off, and her husband would come out and give it to me). On Saturday it hadn’t been too busy and I’m pretty sure 90% of the people there were either minor celebrities (I spotted half the cast of Coronation Street!) or acts who’d been on that day. But on Sunday night we were later so it was absolutely mobbed – I’d have had trouble even spotting Patrick in the crowd! And then my friends decided to go back to the hotel but they told me I should stay in case Patrick came. But I felt so awkward being there all on my own – I went out to the balcony and pretended to be interested in the Sugababes to blend in with the crowd. I was just thinking “what am I doing here??” – I didn’t want to stalk Patrick and he’d already talked to me for long enough, then left, and when that happens I feel it’s really pushy/awkward to try and meet him again (it’s like outstaying your welcome!) So if he came it would be like “Hello, I’m not really supposed to be here, my friends smuggled me in… but they’ve left now…” and it would be totally obvious I was stalking him! And I really didn’t want to stalk him, I respect him! I just thought it’d be cool if I bumped into him there and I could introduce him to my friends and offer to buy him a drink… but if I was all on my own and he was with all his band it’d just be like “Oh hello!”… walk past casually then go and hide so he wouldn’t notice I was by myself… Anyway he never came (for which I was slightly relived), there was no sign of him or his band… so it was all quite ridiculous!!
I took a couple of photos… the first one was really blurry so I'll just upload the second! (I’ve just discovered my camera can take photos when there isn’t much light if I press and hold the button… so hopefully from now on I won’t need 15 attempts to take one photo at a gig!! )
Anyway, I arrived about 10.45am (on a Sunday morning) so of course the place was dead! But I wasn’t taking any chances – I had to make sure I was first in the queue and on Friday and Saturday they’d had bands soundchecking before the gates opened... so I’d estimated the soundchecking might start about 11 or 12 And if you went round the back of the stage you could see people coming on and off the stage – they had to walk out right past you to get to the buses! They’d fenced off the road that led there since Friday though (I had such a panic when I saw!), but luckily if you went round the long way the street was still open at the far side! There were people setting up the stage when I arrived but it all just seemed to be the Manchester Pride crew – there was no sign of Patrick or any of the bands yet. Since there was no queue I waited there because I thought Patrick could turn up at any minute to soundcheck. A couple of other bands came on (but not him), then it started to get busier round by the gates so I thought I’d better go and ensure myself a place at the front of the queue. You could see the stage through the fence so if he did come on and soundcheck I’d be able to run round and see him as he came offstage. The sun came out and it started to get really really hot (I’d thought summer was over a month ago!)… I actually started to feel a bit ill and I was worried I might faint before Patrick came on stage!! I had to go take off my tights, then I sat under my umbrella because there was no other way to shield myself from the sun without leaving the queue... I got some weird looks and a few comments like “It’s not raining!” Luckily it cooled down a little bit after a while though so I didn’t die!
I realised Patrick wasn’t going to soundcheck before the gates opened – the Sugababes (who were headlining) had been soundchecking for about an hour and it was almost time for gates. I was so worried I might not get to the front, I was first in the queue but there were two gates – on Friday for The Feeling they’d opened the other gate five minutes after ours, and I was terrified I’d be at the wrong gate this time! But luckily they let us in first (I’d been chatting to the security guys and they’d realised how desperate I was… maybe that helped!! ) – I sprinted to the barrier and of course I was first there, front-middle!
The show was almost like reliving London, but in a festival context if that makes sense – he had Victoria, Will, Serafina Steer (the harpist who supported him in London) and his sister Jo was singing. I was even more ridiculously excited than usual (4 and a half months was the longest I’d been without seeing him in the past year) and I spent most of the night trying to stop myself crying with happiness! I wouldn’t normally have tried so hard to fight it, but Patrick kept looking at me and he’d think I was crazy if I kept bursting into tears whenever he caught my eye! The atmosphere was wonderful, it was totally different to the seated S&R shows in theatres – at some points he was pointing the microphone at the crowd to let us sing, and he gave some very passionate speeches about equality with lots of swearing – like “I don’t give a fuck!” And he gave a very passionate speech about Russia, telling everyone not to boycott Russia because that was what Putin wanted – he was like “Let’s all go to Russia and get arrested!”, he was saying it was better to go to Russia and get arrested than to ignore what was going on. I’ve forgotten most of the details of all the things he said though and my recording never took so I have nothing to refer back to
He opened with Hard Times – it was a wonderful, passionate extra long version. Next he played The Libertine, this video describes how incredible it was better than I ever could: www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMipgMsC1Ps During The Libertine he was standing on one of the speakers in front of the stage. There was a pink feather boa lying there so he picked it up and threw it into the crowd… and I caught it! So I was going round wearing a pink feather boa for the rest of the night I’ll post the setlist below, but he also played the most beautiful version of Teignmouth in the world (the same as the London QEH version, minus the musical harp) <3 He was like “I don’t think this is the right song to play at Manchester Pride but I don’t give a fuck!”, and he was like “This is the perfect song to be bouncing beach balls and inflated condoms around to” And at the start he asked if anyone was single or if anyone was unhappy in a relationship, and he said it was for all of us lonely people! And here’s a video (thanks to Thomas for uploading it!) www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpS_V5BwUx8 And Patrick kept losing his plectrums all night – every time he was about to start strumming the tenor guitar there was a delay while he looked round everywhere and asked all his band if they’d seen a plectrum! I think in the end he had to start using his fingers instead!
Here's the setlist:
When the show finished I knew I had to try and get backstage as fast as I could, because I only had as long as it took for Patrick to come off the stage, go down the ramp and leave, if I wanted to meet him. So Patrick was barely off the stage when I called the security guy over and asked for a setlist. He’d just gone to look for one when I saw another guy ripping setlists off the stage, crumpling them up and throwing them away! So we called him back over and he picked one up for me, I was just about to run off when I noticed it wasn’t a PW setlist at all – it was one of the bands that had been on before him! So I picked up another one, opened it, and the second I saw the words Hard Times I turned and ran! Except I couldn’t really run - it was absolutely mobbed so I was having to try and shove my way through the crowds and zig-zag my way past people, everyone was plodding along so slowly!! Finally I made it out of the arena and I could actually move, I sprinted along three streets (because the short way was fenced off), and came to a halt just outside the fences backstage. And I’d made it – I could see Patrick through the gap in the fence talking to people so he hadn’t come out yet! So I shouted him (I really need to stop being so pushy… but it was all very frantic and I was worried he’d go off in the other direction!)
He came out a minute later, I was kind of nervous (I don’t know why I still get nervous!!) so I can’t remember the details too well – I’ll tell you all I can remember though! He came out and said “Hi, how are you?” and as usual I was like “Fine” then thought to myself “Why do I always say fine when I really mean ecstatic??” And I’m pretty sure he gave me a hug There were a few other people asking him for photos and stuff so I was hanging back and talking to him in between all the people coming up to him. I thought I’d better explain why I was carrying a bit of crumpled up paper so I told him about the setlist. And I told him I caught the boa he threw - that was why I was going round in a pink feather boa, and he said it suited me! He asked if I’d been there all weekend (which means he must have been reading his mentions while he was off twitter (and he also told me at one point that he was trying to get back into twitter, that was a few weeks after he went on that “twitter vacation until autumn”)), and I told him about how I was already going to see The Feeling there on the Friday before he was announced! I told him my Feeling friends were seeing him for the first time, and I’d played them his music the night before and they were impressed! I told him they were up in the VIP area and they’d smuggled me in there the night before (they were actually keeping watch for Patrick up there for me because the night before all the bands had been coming in for drinks after they’d played!) I told him I was coming to see him in Braga (he didn’t even seem surprised, haha! )… I can’t remember what he said but we were talking about it and I think we know more about it than he does… he said he was definitely playing there though!
I told him my wolfpack friends all said hi and I listed as many of you as came into my head! I told him how nice it was to have so many wolfpack friends all round the world, and that we all meet up for online parties! He said “You should all meet up one day” and I was like “We want to!!!” (if only it was that easy!) I told him we were kind of trying to do that in Braga! And I told him I was about to move to Ramsgate for my placement year, and I’d seen he was in Margate (which is one of my neighbouring towns) the day before, and he said something like it was beautiful there and I’d like it. That’s just about all I can remember, I think it was mainly me blabbering most of the time because I was nervous! I didn’t ask for any photos or pictures or anything because I feel like I’ve asked for far too many already!!
Patrick had mentioned he was going to be watching the Sugababes so I thought he’d be a lot more likely to be in the VIP area than the crowd. So my friends smuggled me in again after the show (my friend had a slightly large wristband she could slip off so they’d go in, she’d take it off, and her husband would come out and give it to me). On Saturday it hadn’t been too busy and I’m pretty sure 90% of the people there were either minor celebrities (I spotted half the cast of Coronation Street!) or acts who’d been on that day. But on Sunday night we were later so it was absolutely mobbed – I’d have had trouble even spotting Patrick in the crowd! And then my friends decided to go back to the hotel but they told me I should stay in case Patrick came. But I felt so awkward being there all on my own – I went out to the balcony and pretended to be interested in the Sugababes to blend in with the crowd. I was just thinking “what am I doing here??” – I didn’t want to stalk Patrick and he’d already talked to me for long enough, then left, and when that happens I feel it’s really pushy/awkward to try and meet him again (it’s like outstaying your welcome!) So if he came it would be like “Hello, I’m not really supposed to be here, my friends smuggled me in… but they’ve left now…” and it would be totally obvious I was stalking him! And I really didn’t want to stalk him, I respect him! I just thought it’d be cool if I bumped into him there and I could introduce him to my friends and offer to buy him a drink… but if I was all on my own and he was with all his band it’d just be like “Oh hello!”… walk past casually then go and hide so he wouldn’t notice I was by myself… Anyway he never came (for which I was slightly relived), there was no sign of him or his band… so it was all quite ridiculous!!
I took a couple of photos… the first one was really blurry so I'll just upload the second! (I’ve just discovered my camera can take photos when there isn’t much light if I press and hold the button… so hopefully from now on I won’t need 15 attempts to take one photo at a gig!! )