Post by garethgemsmum on Jun 9, 2013 22:52:00 GMT
Well my daughter and i went to see Gareth in Blackpool on Saturday 
, we got up at 6am had a cuppa before leaving to get a bus into Manchester to get our train at 9'15am to Blackpool, the platform was crowded with people mostly familes going to Blackpool for the day, i saw on the board that it said that the first 3 coaches were for Glasgow and the back 3 coaches were for Blackpool and it would seperate in Preston, so we quickly moved down the platform so we could get on the train when it arrived and get a seat before everyone rushes to get on as they always do as didn't fancy standing up all the way to Blackpool eek. We finally arrived in Blackpool at 10.35am and made our way to the Winter Gardens,( i had emailed the organisers of Gay Pride a few weeks before deciding to go saying i was thinking of coming with my 2 daughters to see Gareth Gates and would he be performing indoors or outdoors, i got a reply saying "Gareth Gates is performing on stage in the Winter Gardens in a 16+ area. Are you and your daughters massive fans of Gareth Gates? " and i replyed saying my daughters like him but i'm the main fan, got a nice reply asking if i'd met him, if you do come on the Saturday, ask for me. I cannot make any promises, but I understand he is happy to meet and greet after performing. i said yes i had met him on many occasions but can get quite hectic with people pushing to get pics etc but my daughters had'nt but would like to, i also asked him if the venue was free, which it was but they had donation buckets. he said i was to go to the welcome desk when i arrived and ask for a guest pass and if i had any problems to ask for him) So when we got to the Winter Gardens wasn't sure where the welcome desk was but as we were about to walk up some steps i spotted the gentleman who i had emailed as had seen his picture on the Gay Pride website, and i introduced myself and my daughter ( only took one of my daughters because Sophie my youngest is only 15 and wouldn't be fare if she couldn't get in to see Gareth perform)
he said hi and shook my hand and said follow me where her took me to the desk where i signed in and got our guest passes and then another gentleman showed us where the Green room was where Gareth would be going after the performance. Well it was still abit early to go into the theatre area so we decided to go out and about for abit and look around the shops and arcades, finally we made our way back and went into the area where Gareth was to perfrom, there was no seats to sit down on, there was a small stage area with barriers infront of it so we went and stood in the middle part to wait for the show to start which wasn't until 1pm i decided to go get a drink from the bar for us (2 small glasses of coke £3) eek
The show began with local artists performing, first were local drag act dressed in feather head gear and sparkly leotards they were funny, i got picked on by one of them saying something (won't say what as was abit rude, but didn't mind as i wasn't offended as i have sense of humour) these people appeared a few times through out the show, then came some local singers a young lad (can't remember his name sorry) he was a good singer then a young lad called Jamie Mcloud was very good and kept looking at me and my daughter and smiling at us it was at this point as i looked around the room to see if it was getting full which it was, that i saw June and her Sister and acknowledged her and she came to join us at the front where there was still abit of room, we all agreed that the young man mentioned above as quite dishy lol.. there were quite a few local singers one that wasn't all that good ( a lady and her daughter, but the daughter was a good singer she was only 14) then came 2 other guys were also very good, and some other female singers too, too many to mention lol, in between all these came the drag artists again doing various routines, a guy imating Freddie Mercury and another guy being Montserrat Caballe singing Barcelona, the one imatating the woman picked on me again lol pointing at a certain part of me and pointing to a certain part of her costume was funny. Finally Gareth came on stage by this time the place and filled up eek and loud cheers erupted all around, he sang Don't stop me now, Anyone of us, Suspicous minds, Living on a Prayer and finally Spirit in the Sky, while on stage he leaned over and touched peoples hands mine and my daughters included, then at one time he jumped off the stage and ran along the front of the stage where there was a gap for him to do so, and touch peoples hands as he did so, when he did this it caused everyone behind us to surge forward to try and reach him had to hold onto the barrier to stop it from falling over eek. i did throw something at him which he half put on lol but unfortunatly i didn't get a pic of 
when he'd finished the item i'd thrown he asked who's it was i did put my hand up, but not sure he saw, he mopped his brow with it and then through it into the crowd for someone to catch oh well lol. Finally he left the stage and myself and my daughter made our way through the crowds to follow him, June and her sister came too he was being guarded by security men and police as he made his way out first he went to the stagedoor area where he was seeing his family, but to girls were allowed in to meet him, so me and my daughter headed for the Green room we were shown earlier in the day, where we were told to sit down and wait for Gareth to arrive, of course June and her Sister didn't have passes to get in the the gentleman who got them for us kindly let them in too and so we waited for Gareth, he finally arrived in the room with his Mum,and Dad and Missy and another little girl i presumed was Mia Nicola's daughter his dad acknowledged me and smiled at me, while his mum tried to get MIssy to sit down at a table but she kept on jumping along the floor bless her. June and her sister had a picture with Gareth first then he came over to us he said hi you ok Andrea and gave me a hug and i said this is my daughter and he smiled and said hi, she had a picture with him, then i had one too and then he signed something a picture for me, i forgot to say that the item he threw into the crowd was mine lol oh well. We said bye and then he went into a little room to meet local Dignatries and some college students who did a local paper so they could interview him. Met up with June and her Sister outside and we went to the bar and she kindly bought us all a drink 
Thank you June, was lovely seeing you and your sister hope you managed to get home safely without any delays . Me and my daughter were going to get a later train back home but decided go home there and then, we got to the train station and went to the platform to get our train back to Manchester Piccadilly but decided not to get that train as there was a queue a mile long with families all going home quite a few with prams and buggies and when the train did arrive it only had 2 coaches for all those people eek some didn;t get on, so we got another train going to Manchester Victoria at first there wasn't alot of people for this train either but soon the queue got larger, thnik this train had 2 coaches as well, and when the doors opened for everyone to go onto the platform, we moved along and got to the door but people at the back of the queue with prams etc ended up at the front trying to get though (cheeky lot) but we managed to get through and get onto the train and find some seats before it filled up . We finally arrived at our destination and then had only a short walk to the bus station to get our bus home, we finally arrived home after stopping off at the chippy lol at 10pm. Pictures to follow soon.
I SORT OF CHOPPED GARETHS HEAD OFF ABIT LOL!
ON THIS ONE YOU CAN SEE WHAT I THREW, (ITS ON GARETHS RIGHT FOOT LOL!)
MY PIC (LOOKS A BIT FUZZY EEK)
MY DAUGHTER KATIE
love Andrea xx
, we got up at 6am had a cuppa before leaving to get a bus into Manchester to get our train at 9'15am to Blackpool, the platform was crowded with people mostly familes going to Blackpool for the day, i saw on the board that it said that the first 3 coaches were for Glasgow and the back 3 coaches were for Blackpool and it would seperate in Preston, so we quickly moved down the platform so we could get on the train when it arrived and get a seat before everyone rushes to get on as they always do as didn't fancy standing up all the way to Blackpool eek. We finally arrived in Blackpool at 10.35am and made our way to the Winter Gardens,( i had emailed the organisers of Gay Pride a few weeks before deciding to go saying i was thinking of coming with my 2 daughters to see Gareth Gates and would he be performing indoors or outdoors, i got a reply saying "Gareth Gates is performing on stage in the Winter Gardens in a 16+ area. Are you and your daughters massive fans of Gareth Gates? " and i replyed saying my daughters like him but i'm the main fan, got a nice reply asking if i'd met him, if you do come on the Saturday, ask for me. I cannot make any promises, but I understand he is happy to meet and greet after performing. i said yes i had met him on many occasions but can get quite hectic with people pushing to get pics etc but my daughters had'nt but would like to, i also asked him if the venue was free, which it was but they had donation buckets. he said i was to go to the welcome desk when i arrived and ask for a guest pass and if i had any problems to ask for him) So when we got to the Winter Gardens wasn't sure where the welcome desk was but as we were about to walk up some steps i spotted the gentleman who i had emailed as had seen his picture on the Gay Pride website, and i introduced myself and my daughter ( only took one of my daughters because Sophie my youngest is only 15 and wouldn't be fare if she couldn't get in to see Gareth perform)he said hi and shook my hand and said follow me where her took me to the desk where i signed in and got our guest passes and then another gentleman showed us where the Green room was where Gareth would be going after the performance. Well it was still abit early to go into the theatre area so we decided to go out and about for abit and look around the shops and arcades, finally we made our way back and went into the area where Gareth was to perfrom, there was no seats to sit down on, there was a small stage area with barriers infront of it so we went and stood in the middle part to wait for the show to start which wasn't until 1pm i decided to go get a drink from the bar for us (2 small glasses of coke £3) eek
The show began with local artists performing, first were local drag act dressed in feather head gear and sparkly leotards they were funny, i got picked on by one of them saying something (won't say what as was abit rude, but didn't mind as i wasn't offended as i have sense of humour) these people appeared a few times through out the show, then came some local singers a young lad (can't remember his name sorry) he was a good singer then a young lad called Jamie Mcloud was very good and kept looking at me and my daughter and smiling at us
it was at this point as i looked around the room to see if it was getting full which it was, that i saw June and her Sister and acknowledged her and she came to join us at the front where there was still abit of room, we all agreed that the young man mentioned above as quite dishy lol.. there were quite a few local singers one that wasn't all that good ( a lady and her daughter, but the daughter was a good singer she was only 14) then came 2 other guys were also very good, and some other female singers too, too many to mention lol, in between all these came the drag artists again doing various routines, a guy imating Freddie Mercury and another guy being Montserrat Caballe singing Barcelona, the one imatating the woman picked on me again lol pointing at a certain part of me and pointing to a certain part of her costume was funny. Finally Gareth came on stage by this time the place and filled up eek and loud cheers erupted all around, he sang Don't stop me now, Anyone of us, Suspicous minds, Living on a Prayer and finally Spirit in the Sky, while on stage he leaned over and touched peoples hands mine and my daughters included, then at one time he jumped off the stage and ran along the front of the stage where there was a gap for him to do so, and touch peoples hands as he did so, when he did this it caused everyone behind us to surge forward to try and reach him had to hold onto the barrier to stop it from falling over eek. i did throw something at him which he half put on lol but unfortunatly i didn't get a pic of 
when he'd finished the item i'd thrown he asked who's it was i did put my hand up, but not sure he saw, he mopped his brow with it and then through it into the crowd for someone to catch oh well lol. Finally he left the stage and myself and my daughter made our way through the crowds to follow him, June and her sister came too he was being guarded by security men and police as he made his way out first he went to the stagedoor area where he was seeing his family, but to girls were allowed in to meet him, so me and my daughter headed for the Green room we were shown earlier in the day, where we were told to sit down and wait for Gareth to arrive, of course June and her Sister didn't have passes to get in the the gentleman who got them for us kindly let them in too and so we waited for Gareth, he finally arrived in the room with his Mum,and Dad and Missy and another little girl i presumed was Mia Nicola's daughter his dad acknowledged me and smiled at me, while his mum tried to get MIssy to sit down at a table but she kept on jumping along the floor bless her. June and her sister had a picture with Gareth first then he came over to us he said hi you ok Andrea and gave me a hug and i said this is my daughter and he smiled and said hi, she had a picture with him, then i had one too and then he signed something a picture for me, i forgot to say that the item he threw into the crowd was mine lol oh well. We said bye and then he went into a little room to meet local Dignatries and some college students who did a local paper so they could interview him. Met up with June and her Sister outside and we went to the bar and she kindly bought us all a drink 
Thank you June, was lovely seeing you and your sister hope you managed to get home safely without any delays . Me and my daughter were going to get a later train back home but decided go home there and then, we got to the train station and went to the platform to get our train back to Manchester Piccadilly but decided not to get that train as there was a queue a mile long with families all going home quite a few with prams and buggies and when the train did arrive it only had 2 coaches for all those people eek some didn;t get on, so we got another train going to Manchester Victoria at first there wasn't alot of people for this train either but soon the queue got larger, thnik this train had 2 coaches as well, and when the doors opened for everyone to go onto the platform, we moved along and got to the door but people at the back of the queue with prams etc ended up at the front trying to get though (cheeky lot) but we managed to get through and get onto the train and find some seats before it filled up . We finally arrived at our destination and then had only a short walk to the bus station to get our bus home, we finally arrived home after stopping off at the chippy lol at 10pm. Pictures to follow soon.I SORT OF CHOPPED GARETHS HEAD OFF ABIT LOL!
ON THIS ONE YOU CAN SEE WHAT I THREW, (ITS ON GARETHS RIGHT FOOT LOL!)
MY PIC (LOOKS A BIT FUZZY EEK)
MY DAUGHTER KATIE
love Andrea xx
I looked up and Gareth was there did they come in behind him and head your way?
