Busy old day. I was pleased to be heading off to the crop in the morning, I had planned what I was going to do so only took what was necessary. I was keeping my fingers crossed that some of lovely gals at the crop might have one or two bits for school and they didn't disappoint, in fact they far exceeded anything I was expecting and I had tons of stuff to take into school the following week. A very big thank you to all of them. I wasn't able to stay until the end as I had to head home, get changed and then Mike and I had to collect Jamie on our way to Oxford to see John Barrowman.
We collected Jamie from Mike's Mums and then headed off to Oxford, hoping we would be in time to have a bite to eat before settling down to watch the wonderful Johnny B, as we call him! We managed to get a table in Zizzi's which was less than 2 minutes walk from Oxford New Theatre. So we all enjoyed a lovely meal there, Jamie has pepperoni pizza, I had chicken in a tomato sauce and pasta and Mike had meatballs. It was all totally delicious!
We then headed over the road, to realise there was still a queue waiting to go in so either things were running very late or there was a problem. It turned out that there had been some technical difficulties which meant the start of the show was delayed by 20 minutes. Once in, we headed off to find out seats, and we were not to be disappointed with them. We were about 8 rows from the front and had a walkway in front of our row, so not only did we have fantastic leg room but had an amazing view of the stage.
Jamie and I are (as you know) mad about John Barrowman, he is so fun, enthusiastic and energetic, he just makes me smile and I guess my view on life is to try to do as much of the things that make you smile and I've found it makes the rest of life easier.
We were expecting a good show and we were far from disappointed, smiles, laughter and some tears too. This was John Barrowman showman and he was going to have a great time and he was going to make sure we did too. The audience was pretty full of woman of a certain age, a good few younger ones too and some others around Jamie's age, not so many men, but enough so they didn't feel out of place (it wasn't quite Daniel, Cliff or Barry audience thankfully). Quite a bit of audience chat to him and a fair bit of innuendo from JB too, especially with one of the band!
He bounded onto stage with his dancers (the same ones from his Saturday night show) and his shiny suit (it looked like the same on from his Saturday night show too!!) to Queen's Don't Stop Me Now and no-one in that audience was going to! I said to Mike that he didn't have to come if he didn't want, but despite protestations, he came along (I think there is something of the man protests too much and secretly really likes Barrowbum as we also call him!) The show was cheesy, very cheesy, but it was fun, it made us all smile, laugh and sing along and what more do you want from a show than that!
The songs were a trip through some of JB's own favourites, classics and standards that we all know and love, some of the highlights songwise were Solitaire, Just Help Yourself, Rhinestone Cowboy and of course I Am What I Am (which I am very much looking forward to hearing again when we see him in La Cage Aux Folles on Halloween). And the very best, well his duet with the lovely Daniel Boys - I Know Him So Well, because they can both sing beautifully.
For me I think JB gets away with a lot - because he can sing so well, he is full of charm and fun and he can take the mickey out of himself too. I love him too because a couple of years ago when I lost my boys ( my dogs Mika and Nelson) I spent a lot of time watching Torchwood, hiding from the world and getting through it and along with Mike and Jamie JB's humour, fun and charm got me through it. He did make me cry at this gig too, around the time I lost my dogs, he too lost a couple of his dogs and he sang a song about loss and had some piccies of his dogs, for a few minutes I was a blubbering wreck again, but I am not averse to using events like that for a catharsis and I'm never ashamed for doing it either, we all need to listen to our emotions and let them happen. We spend so much time looking after our physical well being I also think it is so important to look after our psychological well being too - its a lesson it took me a long time to learn, but boy am I glad I did.
It was great to hear a couple of tracks of his album too including the single What About Us and my favourite of the whole show is his version of I Won't Send Roses, which I think he sings to perfection in fact his version is THE best ever. A wonderful evening.
Ciao
Sue
XX
Ciao
Sue
XX
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