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 | 2002-01-30 |  |
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Brian Wilson - Royal Festival Hall - 30 .01.2002
There were 2 aftershows for each of Brian Wilsons 4 RFH shows as it was celeb city every night . The place to be was the backstage bar where the drinks were free and where all musicians were. There was another aftershow in a room upstairs but you had pay for drinks and this was avoided by the majority of the band and musician guests . On the night I was there in a room that held only about 20 people half were from bands .
Roger Daltry , Eric Clapton , Glen Matlock , Elvis Costello . Members of Pink Floyd, Members of Squeeze etc . A really good night .
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| 2002-03-21 | |
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Iron Maiden - Brixton Academy - 19.03.2002 and 21.03.2002
The first Maiden show was the extra show added when the first 2 sold out . To be honest you would not even call it a party as there was no atmosphere at all . About 20 people there and wisely the band did not turn up for it . The last night was much better with all the band turning up for it and a good mixture of fans and music biz people making it just right although you had to pay for the drinks .
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| 2002-07-25 | |
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Mark Knopfler - Shepherds Bush Empire - 25.07.2002
Well this really was a surprising good aftershow. About 200 family , friends and fans with free drinks and free snacks until 1am . Good one .
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| 2002-07-27 | |
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Sex Pistols - Crystal Palace Sports Arena - 27.07.2002
What a great party this was with a turn out by some of the punk old school including Rat Scabies , Mike Peters , James Stevenson, Mike Rossi , Steve English, John Tiberi. At the venue after the show there were 2 huge fridges full of beer from Carling the sponsors. A great atmosphere wuth loads of friends and family from all four members of the band . This latest until 1am then we moved on to a private party held by John Lydon in Wandsworth . John kindly paid for all of it and I called it a night at 4am . John was still there at 6am.
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| 2002-08-26 | |
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Guns And Roses - London Docklands Arena - 26.08.2002
This should have been a lot better to be honest but of course this a different band to 1990. Bruce Dickenson and Janick Gers from Iron Maiden turned up for it. The singer from Puddle Of Mudd was there. £3.50 for a bottle of warm lager is not much of a rock n roll party for me. All the members of the band turned up for it but Axl stayed in his dressing room and only talked to the special few he invited back to see him.
There was a birthday cake for a member of the road crew .
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| 2002-08-27 | |
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Kerrang 2002 Awards - Hilton Hotel Ballroom , Park Lane , London - 27.08.2002
Just when I thought the standard of rock n roll parties had taken a real dive recently along comes The Kerrang Awards in this mega plush 5 star hotel . The end bill must have been massive. Around 50 tables of 10 people per table and I was one of the 100 or so standing around the edges. 200 competition winners were wheeled in for the stage pit action but they were not allowed to mix with the others but hopefully they got there own food and drink from Kerrang.
6pm to 8pm Champagne reception and other free drinks.
8pm to 9.15pm The Awards Presentation.
9.15pm to 10pm Lovely hot and cold food buffet with desserts and chocolates.
10.30pm Everyone moves to smaller room where there is a full sound system and more drinks.
Those who were there Offspring, A , Hundred Reasons, Garbage, Puddle Of Mudd, Gary Numan, Roger Taylor and Brian May ( Queen ) comedians Ben Elton, Jennifer Saunders , Ade Edmundson .
Rammstein , Tonni Iommi , Brian Molko , Sum 41 ,Muse , Foo Fighters .
Guns And Roses and Slipknot both were not there even though they were in the country previous weekend.
Bruce Dickenson and Janick Gers from Iron Maiden were also there .
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| 2002-09-05 | |
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Primal Scream - Marquee Club Relaunch Night - 05.09.2002
What can I say but another proper party .
Primal Scream did a good 90 mins set and finished at about 10 .30pm.
Then it was free drinks for about 400 people until 1am .
Noisy and chaotic but a great night .
Saw someone accidently drop a beer bottle from the balcony which sadly landed on a girls head on the floor downstairs so they may have to use plastic glasses like others in the future . Those there included Noel Gallagher , Bob Geldof , Cat Deeley , Zoe Ball and Bruce Dickenson from Iron Maiden out on the town yet again.
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| 2002-09-07 | |
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Deep Purple - Hammersmith Apollo - 06.09.2002 and 07.09.2002
Both the aftershows were mainly for family and friends.
Bruce Dickenson , Janick Gers , Nico McBrain from Iron Maiden were there and they came on with Purple for a great "Smoke On The Water "on the Saturday show.
We had to pay for our drinks tonight .
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| 2002-09-08 | |
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David Bowie - HMV Oxford Circus London - 08.09.2002
I was one of the lucky wristband holders ending up about number 120 in queue of 150.
Shook his hand and he seemed quite impressed by raysgigs.com
The only item he would sign was "Heathen" album - nothing else.
He stayed for the allotted hour and would not sign anything for the 200 that turned up without any wristbands . His stay was from 11am to noon in advance of The Mercury Awards next week.
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| 2002-10-21 | |
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Q Mag Music Awards 2002
Noon onwards at Saatchi Gallery ,London NW8
5pm onwards aftershow at Shepherds Bush Pavillion.
i had a proper invite so we were sitting at the
table of Casey Spooner ( Fischerspooner) who was
there to present an award.
As expected loads of bands and musicians were here
Tom Jones, Radiohead,Coldplay ,Gary Numan,Sparks,
The Hives, Sugerbabes, Moby,Tori Amos,Jimmy Cliff,
Depeche Mode and others.
noon to 1pm champagne reception
1pm to 2pm awards presented
2pm to 4pm hot and cold buffet with more drinks
everyone then got into limos to Shepherds Bush
for the aftershow where the free drinks and music
flowed until well after midnight. Superb day .
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| 2002-10-30 | |
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Robert Plant at Hammersmith Apollo 30 October 02
pretty good aftershow for this gig .
free frinks for all for an hour after the show .
Robert Plant was there for most of it and he was
really friendly and cool to everyone .
Also there were Dave Murray , Janick Gers and
Rod Smallwood from the Iron Maiden camp and
comedian Frank Skinner who goes to lots of gigs .
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| 2002-11-01 | |
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ZZ Top at Hammersmith Apollo 01 November 2002.
Not much going on here at this aftershow at all .
Only about 30 people here and no atmosphere .
The band members did not attend .
The only person i saw was guitarist from current
Bad Company line up .No free drinks tonight .
We stayed for 30 mins then left .
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| 2002-11-10 | |
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Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Concert 10 November 2002
at The Royal Opera House .London .
The first rock concert in this beautiful building.
Bryan Adams with Brian May did a mega 45 mins set.
Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros did a mega 20 mins
set with a stunning version of "White Riot "
The aftershow was held in the Vilar Floral Hall
within The Opera House complex and for a couple of hours there as free Moet champagne, wine and
snacks for 500 people .
Bryan Adams and Joe Strummer turned up for it and were really friendly and chatty to everyone.
Tamara Beckworth held a charity auction.
All in all a 5 star event from start to fininh.
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| 2002-11-11 | |
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Ryan Adams at Royal Festival Hall 11 Nov 2002
Mercury Records kindly laid on a free drinks
party for 100 guests after the Ryan Adams show .
It lasted a couple of hours and had some rockin
sounds blasting out like The Vines album .
Ryan Adams was cool and chatty to everyone .
Did not appear to be any other celebs that i could see . Nice way to spend a Monday night .
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| 2002-11-23 | |
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Foo Fighters At Wembley Arena 23 November 2002 .
There was a lot of people at the aftershow at the
venue with a couple of musicians like Rick Parfitt
(Status Quo) and various members of Hundred
Reasons but the band did not turn up to this .
No free drinks and we were there till midnight .
We got invited to the bands small gathering.
The band held a private party at Londons trendy
Met Bar and they were all there 12.30 to 2am .
The Met Bar must be the most overated place in the world with its dodgy 80s disco sounds .
The band all turned up here along with Casey
Chaos (Amen) and Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden)
It was £5 a bottle of lager but a great night and
the Foos were fantastic live at Wembley Arena .
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| 2002-12-01 | |
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Elton John at Royal Opera House , London on
01 December 2002 .
This was a special charity show by Elton .
Ticket prices started at £100 upwards .
Elton did his set and after was a lavish party for 400 guests in the nearby function room .
Guests included Lulu , Glenn Hoddle , Graham
Norton , Elvis Costello , Sir David Frost ,
Paul Gambachini , Micheal Kaman .
Loads of free food and drinks for all for a
couple of hours at this black tie event .
Elton was there with David Furnish and Elton
said hello to most of the tables .
He also gave a nice speech on behalf of the
Royal Academy Of Music .
Great venue and a really good evening .
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| 2002-12-05 | |
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Bob Geldof Live At The Bloomsbury Theatre ,
London 05 December 2002 .
Party after the show to celebrate his first
London gig for 10 years .Free drinks and snacks
in a nice cosy atmosphere with all Bobs kids there
along with Dave Stewart and Bill Wyman.
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| 2002-12-07 | |
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Manic Street Preachers live at Wembley Arena ,
London on 07 December 2002 .
Very busy party at the venue after the show .
Hot and cold buffet and free lagers from the
tour sponsors Carlinglive.com .Did not see anyone
from any other bands but i could not see the room
properly because it was so packed .
All the band turned up and chatted to everyone
and it was all over at 12.30 Good one .
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| 2002-12-10 | |
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Cranberries at Hammersmith Apollo 10 Dec 2002 .
To celebrate their sold out show the band held a
party after for 50 or so people that lasted well
after 1am with loads of free drinks and food .
Although no other celebs could be seen all the
members of the band turned up for it and were
really friendly to everyone . The singer was
telling me how much she missed her kids etc.
Really good little party .
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| 2002-12-11 | |
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Oasis at The Brighton Centre on 11 Dec 2002 .
about 200 people here for the aftershow .
cool atmosphere and free drinks for a couple of
hours . Liam and Noel stayed in their dressing
rooms but Andy Bell and Gem mingled and chatted .
also there was Talvin Singh ( Cornershop )
and Chris from 3 Colours Red . Nice one .
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| 2002-12-18 | |
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Blondie at Wembley Arena 18 December 2002 .
The band had a party in a couple of the dressing
rooms after the show . All the band turned up .
They had free drinks for over an hour .
Guests there were Glen Matlock and Paul Cook
from The Sex Pistols and Zak Starkey from The Who.
really nice atmosphere and it was a good one .
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| 2003-02-05 | |
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Elton John And Kevin Spacey benefit concert for
The Old Vic Theatre in London 05 Feb 2003
aftershow party from 10pm to 2am .
As the tickets for the concert and aftershow
cost a whacking £1000 each i would like to thank
netjets for supplying my website with tickets .
If you have a few bob spare and you fancy renting
out a Lear jet for a special occasion they are
the people to see .
Well here we are in The Billingsgate Fish Market
building and the theme of the evening is airlines.
We have a checking area where you produce your invite and you go thru customs . You are greeted
by an army of air stewardessess who are handing
out the free drinks and food for everyone.
They are all in full uniform and there is seating at the side just like you would find in first
class .The cabarat comes on and its full of
airline in jokes . The celebs who turned for it
included Kevin Spacey , Courtney Love , Lulu ,
Sting And His Wife , Tamara Beckwith , Richard
Branson and a few others . As per usual most of the celebs left the party after one drink and 30
mins so top marks to Kevin Spacey who stayed till
the end and chatted to everyone and had a boogie
on the dancefloor with Tamara Beckwith .
The disco played classic 1960s and 1970s tunes .
Everyone had a great time on the dance floor .
Respect is due Kevin Spacey is a diamond .
An excellent evening .
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| 2003-02-12 | |
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Zwan at Shepherds Bush Empire Wed 12 Feb 2003.
Aftershow party at the venue for around 100 .
Free drinks for all till well after midnight .
The band stayed in their dressing rooms but
Robert Smith of The Cure was there .Enjoyable .
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| 2003-02-13 | |
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NME Awards Party At Hammersmith Palais 13 Feb 2003
Although Coldplay , Sugarbabes , Datsuns , Hives ,
Starsailor , Ash , 3 remaining Clash members ,
Noel from Oasis etc were at the main event during
the afternoon they had all gone by the time the
riff raff turned up at 9pm onwards.
Thanks to carling for our free drinks all night
access .Highlights of the evening were the
buzzing Rough Trade bar and the fantastic sound
system mixing Sex Pistols , Clash , Ramones with
the current garage bands .Also the members of
The Libertines came by tube and were spotted at
Hammersmith Tube station passport photo booth
touching up their rock n roll hair .
A very late night but a real good one .
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| 2003-02-20 | |
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BRIT AWARDS at Earls Court , London 20 Feb 2003 .
Did not start off too well as the pre show
reception tried to charge £10 for a glass of
champagne??.The awards were on fron 5.15pm to
7.45 pm .We had great seats behind Gwyneth Paltrow
who was wearing a black beenie hat and sitting
well away from the Coldplay boys .
In the pit it seemed Will Young easily had
the most loudest fans of the evening .
Tom Jones was the main live act with a 15 mins
set and also playing were Pink , David Gray ,
Justin Timberlake with Kylie Minogue ,Sugarbabes ,
Ms Dynamite , Avril Lavigne with 25 drummers ,
Coldplay with lovely green lasers .
The main event was in Earls Court 2 and the
very lavish free food and free drinks party
aftershow was in Earls Court 1 for a 1000 +
crowd . It was very good with loads of food like
sausage and mash ,roast beef and yorkshire pudding ,
salmon slices , triffles , an amazing glass wall
of strawberries .Gallons of champagne was the
main drink consumed on the night .
We got into the Virgin V2 VIP room which held
about 30 people where we were sitting next to
Tom Jones , Liberty X , Richard Branson ,
Cat Deeley ,Rob Drydon .
We went on the dodgems and had a spell in the
fun casino area as well .I lost every game ??
The party lasted to after midnight then we headed for a crew party nearby at a Earls Court hotel
which lasted until 4am . All in all it was a
fantastic event and a great aftershow .
Apologies to those that saw the first review of
this event which was done while i was p*****.
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| 2003-02-27 | |
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Def Leppard live at Brixton Academy 27 Feb 2003.
Where as Portsmouth show had only 20 guests after
the show and free drinks for all tonight there
is 200+ guests here but it is only free
drinks if you have the correct wristband so
cheers to Mercury Records for sorting mine out .
A bit thin on the ground celeb wise . Most of
Def Leppard stayed in their dressing rooms apart
from singer Joe Elliot who was chatty to all
but his security guy kept a close eye on things .
Headbangers Ball babe Vanessa Warwick was there
with hubby Ricky Warwick .All of support band
The Darkness were beaming with the news they are
to support Iron Maiden at Donington Park.
It finished at 1am and was a pretty good party .
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| 2003-03-03 | |
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Bryan Ferry At Shepherds Bush Empire 03 Feb 2003.
Well the big talking point was although Bryans
new girlfriend sung backing vocals for him on all
last years World Tour dates for this tour she is
not singing but is at the party after the show.
Are they fed up with all the flak they have had
regards their relationship ?Was it the dodgy pics
in the Sunday Papers ? . All the band have turned
up and Bryan Ferry looks amazing for his grand
old age of 57.Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys is
the only celeb here tonight and it finished after midnight and was pretty good even though there
were no free drinks .
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| 2003-03-05 | |
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Linkin Park at Brixton Academy 05 March 2003.
The band did a short 60 mins set that was full of those mega tunes from the last album .It was all
over by 10pm to plenty of drinking time as there
was a free bar for the 200 guests after .Hard to
tell if the band members turned up as Linkin Park,
Papa Roach , Sum 41 etc all look the same to me.
The 2 brothers from the band A were there and it all finished at midnight .
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| 2003-03-06 | |
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Music Week Awards at Le Meridien - Grosvenor
House Hotel , Park Lane , London W.1. 7pm to 2am.
Well it is very nice in here . I have never seen
so many people sitting down having a meal .There
are 120 tables with 10 people on each .1200 guests
from the music biz such as all the main record
companies , pr companies , music retailers all
here to win one of the 24 awards on offer .
The awards are for retailer of the year and best
marketing campaign etc but there were a few that
stood out for me.XFM won best radio station which
i fully agree with . The Complete Jam won best
DVD.Also well deserved was The Strat achievement
award to Rod Smallwood and Andy Taylor for over
30 years in the music business .They have of
course been the managers of rock giants Iron Maiden
since 1979 and have turned Sanctuary into a record company , publishing ,recording studios
and artist management empire .Three members of
Iron Maiden were here tonight Bruce Dickinson,
Yanick Gers and Adrian Smith .We had a great chat
with Bruce about his love of planes . As some of
you know he is a pilot and flies passengers as
much as he can in between Iron Maiden duties .
Tickets for this event were £200 so the record
industry is not in such a bad way after all .
Thanks to Judith for my invitations.
We all had a full 3 course meal with as much
booze as you could drink thrown in . Angus Deayton gave out the awards . It was great fun
watching record company staff as they went mental
when their company won someting but if a rival
won anything they would not even get a clap .
The DJ started up at 11pm and we stumbled out
at 2am . A much better night than expected .
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| 2003-03-11 | |
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Launch Party for new live DVD by Paul McCartney
" Back In The US " at The BAFTA building HQ in
London on Tuesday 11 March 2003 .
7pm start in this very posh building . There
are between 150 to 200 invited guests here .
There are free drinks ,red wine and white wine
with some canopes ( all veggie of course ).
Paul McCartney is here with Heather who looks
lovely in a shimmery silver blue top .
We have a lovely quick chat to her about her
love for AC/DC and she stated that when they
next tour she will drag Paul along to see them.
George Martin is also here and so are the
members of his current touring band .
8pm The showing of the live DVD starts .Although
it actually lasts 3 hours tonight they have
shown the best 2 hours with some amazing behind
the scenes footage as Paul goes from private jet
to helicopter to limo etc and even though i am
not a big Beatles fan it is hugely enjoyable .
At the end Paul McCartney walks to the front of
the stage and thanks everyone for coming .
At the end we are all given a lovely goodie bag
that incudes a copy of the live DVD and copy of
the double live cd " Back In The World " .
Excellent evening .
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| 2003-03-14 | |
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Cheap Trick live at The Royal Albert Hall on
13 March 2003 . The aftershow in the venues
backstage bar had about 80 guests but no music
celebs . It lasted till midnight . All of Cheap
Trick turned up and it was great to see the singer
and guitarist actually walk around the room just
shaking hands and saying hello and being friendly.
Afterwards we used our invites from our Music
Week Awards gift bag last week to visit
Stringfellows .I was only there a few mins before
i bumped into rock legend Lemmy from Motorhead
who has just been on stage at The 100 Club with
Wayne Kramers MC5 band.We chat about all those
legendary Hammersmith Odeon shows and how i was
at Motorheads second ever show supporting Blue
Oyster Cult at Ham Odeon in the mid 1970s .
He is really looking forward to the UK tour later
in the year when Motorhead play Hammersmith
Apollo (the Odeon ) for the first time in years.
So here i am drinking Jack Daniels with Lemmy in
Stringfellows with 50 girls in various states of
undress purely for music research purposes you
must understand . Stringfellows was superb and i
really would advise anyone to go there at least
once to take in the buzz of the place . Stumbled
out at 3.30am when the place closed .Great night.
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| 2003-03-20 | |
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The Bangles At Shepherds Bush Empire 20-Mar-2003.
The aftershow party is in the venues backstage
bar for about 50 guests . EMI have put £1000
free drinks tab behind the bar .All the girls in
the band turn up for it and are really friendly
and chatty to everyone that wants to say hello .
They are all in champers mood apart from the bass
player . Not many other musicians here but George
Harrisons son Dhani is here . We had a nice chat
with him about the George Harrison tribute show
at The Royal Albert Hall in November 2002 where
he proved to be a decent guitarist .The band
were there a good hour or so until after midnight.
Good one.The following night we were at The
Royal Festival Hall for the Sparks show .
After there was a crowded party for about 100
people with free drinks for a couple of hours .
Only celeb i could see was one of the guys from
the Adam and Joe comedy duo .The band stayed in
their dressing room but their PR gave the site
a 5 mins interview and chat which was really cool
as Sparks were one of my fave bands in the mid
70s when i saw them a couple of times at the
Hammersmith Odeon .London loves The Sparks and
The Sparks love London .We even got a couple of
smiles out of Ron .
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| 2003-05-08 | |
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Virgin Radio 10th Birthday Party at The Poo Na Na
Hammersmith Palais on 08 May 2003.After a month
in Australia this was a great party thats for
sure . So many aftershows have a crowd looking
for celebs and free booze but get neither and are
so boring i don't even mention them on the site.
8pm -3am . There are about 1500 people here and
it is free booze and food all night for everyone.
Loads of drunken dancing on the huge floor.
Stereophonics played a decent 65 mins set and a
DJ after .A bit thin on the ground celeb wise.
I saw model Jodie Kidd but she turns up at
anything these days . A really great night .
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| 2003-05-10 | |
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Blur At The Astoria 10 May 2003(Saturday show).
The gig was all over at 10pm because of the club
night at the venue from 10.30pm.The party was held
at The CC Club ,Coventry Street,near Planet
Hollywood .About 100 people in the roped off
VIP area of the club where it was a normal
DJ night till 3am so you could get on the
dance floor when you felt like it .Loads of
members of up and coming groups paying
their respects .After half the people had gone
Damon turned up there and bassist Alex James had
a few ladies floating around him.Its always
a much better event when the party is held away
from the venue the band have just played.
Free drinks for a couple of hours as well.
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| 2003-05-12 | |
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Whitesnake + Gary Moore + Y n T live at The
Brighton Centre 12 May 2003.It rained all the
way down but it was worth it as we had one of
those great rock n roll moments .Y n T and Gary
Moore had just finished their sets and as we had
backstage passes we went for a wander .There was
no bar until after the show so we sat down in
the catering area for the road crew and had a
coffee and a slice of apple pie . A dark haired
man goes to the coffee machine then turns around
and asks us " Is This Coffee Decaf?" It is Led
Zep guitar legend Jimmy Page . I ask if he plans
to come on stage tonight , he says " No" and then
pulls up a chair and we chat for 10 mins about
Led Zep stuff etc, he is really looking forward to
the DVD that Zep are releasing in a couple of weeks , he of course played with David Coverdale
10 years ago , he said he could not make The
Wembley Arena date as it was his daughters
birthday .It was such a cool chat .
At the aftershow there was Iron Maiden manager
Rod Smallwood , rock photographer Ross Halfin
one of rocks biggest booking agents Rod McSween.
You could say Brighton rocked .
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| 2003-05-16 | |
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Ray Davies Live At The Royal Festival Hall on
16 May 2003.Although the RFH is on the face of it
a fairly conservative venue the aftershows seem
to have a great "we will be giving out free booze until everyone goes home" policy.For a couple of
hours we are here with Ray Davies , Mick Avery
(original Kinks drummer ) and a brief showing
by Paul Weller .A very nice evening.Ray Davies
was in great spirits and chatted with everyone
and he stayed until the end.
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| 2003-05-28 | |
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Radiohead live at Shepherds Bush Empire on Sat
24 May 2003 . The downstairs backstage bar is
very busy and lively with 200 guests. All the
band eventually turn up and Thom Yorke is happy
to chat to everyone. MTV/XFM/Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe tells
me that Radioheads second show here will be shown
in full on MTV
on Sunday 08 June 2003.The free drinks flowed till 1am thanks to
Parlophone/EMI .Did not see any other celebs but
a very enjoyable evening.
Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band live at
Crystal Palace Sports Arena , London 26/27 May 03.
I must say that seeing Bruce Springsteen And The
E Street Band do a 3 hour set at C . Palace was
superb and they made Radiohead look like a very
average band indeed .I was backstage for both
of the Bruce C. Palace shows and both nights the
band went straight from stage to tour bus to their
central London hotel . They have a proper pub
backstage at The Arena which was nice but no
celebs i could see and no free drinks but it was
lovely to spend an hour there while all the
traffic outside died down a bit.
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| 2003-06-03 | |
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Metalhammer Rock Gods Awards Event at The Forum,
London on Tuesday 03 June 2003 7.30pm to 11.30pm.
Downstairs there are 600 fans who have bought
tickets and upstairs there are 600 guests .The
bar upstairs for the guests is free drinks .
We are sitting upstairs a couple of rows in front
of Marilyn Manson and The Murder Dolls .
The awards were hosted by XFM Rock Show DJ
Ian Camfield .
Four bands do short sets Murder Dolls do 40 mins
and play " White Wedding " and are pretty good.
The others Shadowsfall , Raging Speedhorn and
Soil are not my cup of tea at all .There are a
few celebs mainly because most are in town because
of the Download Festival inc The Darkness , John
Paul Jones (Led Zep),Cradle Of Filth , Amem ,
Lemmy but tonight Marilyn Manson is the main
event as the fans go mental when they see him and
he is guarded by 4 security men while here .
There were dwarfs dressed as policeman??
some people on stilts and a girl putting meat
hooks in her back and being pulled upwards .Argh.
The awards were giving out a bit messily and the
bands could have been better but as a party event
it was a great night .
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| 2003-06-12 | |
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Madness play " Our House " starring Suggs at the
Cambridge Theatre, London on 12 June 2003.
We watched the play and after the four of us had
a meal with Suggs and his 2 PR girls at a place
in the West End 5 mins walk from the theatre .
General chat about Madness shows in the early days
and Madness future gigs at Guildford Festival
and Alton Towers,
the musical itself ( he may do another stint later
in the year) , Chelsea FC and other stuff .
It was a great evening and the 90 mins flew past
ever so quickly but Suggs was in great form and
everyone had a great night.
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| 2003-06-24 | |
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REM at Brixton Academy on Tuesday 24 June 2003.
There was a party at the venue after for 200
guests .Carling gave out the free booze for a
couple of hours .Did not see any members of any
other bands there but it was very busy .All of
REM turned up for about an hour . Peter Buck was
telling me how much he enjoyed Brixton as a live
venue and Micheal Stipe was cool and chatty to
everyone .He was wearing a peak cap with a
leather bomber jacket with his name printed on the back?? .He told me how the 2 Brixton shows
and Glastonbury Festival sets would vary by 4 or
5 songs as they had rehearsed 3 hours of songs.
Really good aftershow . REM manager / promoter
put up huge posters 6ft by 4ft in the bar with
each one giving details on REM UK shows this
summer below the photo by Anton .Looked good.
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| 2003-07-15 | |
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The Rolling Stones in Paris , France July 7 to 11
2003.This was an amazing week. Of course The
Stones in Paris is big news . Mon 07 July The
Stones play a fantastic show at Bercy Arena .
2 hours 5 mins set indoors at this great venue.
Tues 08 July 7pm we go to the launch party for the
Ronnie Wood Art Collection . Nice set of drawings
but Ronnie does not turn up even though its a
rest day on the Stones tour and his hotel is just
around the corner , anyway loads of free champers
and food .9pm Stereophonics play a small invite
only show for 400 fans at The Cafe De La Danse
for Qui FM Radio .Much better set tonight too .
Wed 09 July The Stones play to 70,000 at the
Stade De France , tonight was more of a greatest
hits show but not as mega as seeing them indoors.
Afterwards its the party at The Manray Club for
about 300 .Free champers all night and it lasted
from 12.30 am to 3.30am . Ivana Trump is here with
a few well known French actors / actresses etc.
Marilou Regan whose book loveyouliverollingstones
is a must for Stones fans is here . Mick Jagger turns up
with his tall stylist girlfriend L'wren Scott
and his watchful personal security guy .Although
Ronnie ,Keith or Charlie are not here the rest
of The Stones touring band are as well as their
huge touring posse feat children of the band etc.
It also happens to be a big week in Paris for
fashion as its the haute couture period so there
are 100 male and female models everywhere .
Mick Jagger and girlfriend gets on the dancefloor
so everyone now gets on the floor.His security
guy intervenes anytime anyone gets too close
or talks for more than 5 seconds . A great night.
Friday 11 July 2003 The Stones play to 2000 at
The Olympia but i do not manage to get a ticket .
Luckily though the band have another party after
at La Suite for about 500 people .There are a
couple of huge ice versions of The Stones lips
logo.There is loads of free drinks and posh grub.
Mick Jagger and girlfriend turn up and again get
on the floor dancing and Ronnie Wood turns up with
his wife.Keith and Charlie do not turn up .
We left the club at 5am , what a great week.
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| 2003-08-18 | |
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V Festival Chelmsford 16 /17 August 2003.
Well Virgin certainly look after their guests.
On the Saturday i was in the Virgin Mobile tent
along with about 500 guests with free booze and
food all day until 1am which was great fun.
Nipping in there inbetween the bands .
Even better the next day i was in the Virgin Radio
tent where there is about 200 getting stuck into
the free booze and food.They also had a 4ft tower
of warm chocolate cascading downwards and you
stuck your strawberries and marshmallows in and
got them coated in the chocolate.
Bottles of suntan lotion everywhere was a nice
touch.
A few of the bands did 3 song sessions for radio
so i saw David Gray and Tim Burgess play and
Evan Dando walk out complaining about the sound.
Not many celebs here apart from those playing
Rolan Bolan (Marc Bolans son),Kathy Lloyd(page 3
girl from 1980s now trying to look like Pete Burns
in the facial surgery dept) DJs Mark Lamarr and
Zoe Ball were there. Liam G from Oasis and
Ms Paltrow was there hanging by Coldplays trailor.
Excellent weekend with some quality bands.
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| 2003-09-14 | |
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Sex Pistols in America September 2003.
Well i went to the last 5 shows and had passes
for every aftershow as well.
Sept 3 Warfield , San Francisco. John Lydon stayed
in his dressing room tonight but the other 3
members came out to say hello . Billy Duffy from
The Cult and Dead Men Walking was here too .
Some drinks were laid on and The Dropkick Murphys
brought all their drinks out of the dressing
room for everyone which was nice of them.
Sept 5 Hard Rock Hotel , Las Vegas . All the band
came into the balcony for the aftershow to say
hello but the bar had shut down so everyone went
downstairs to the main casino floor.Again Billy
Duffy was here to watch this show.
Sept 6 The Greek Theatre , Los Angeles .
This was the main party for the tour .200 guests
in the VIP garden of the Greek with loads of
food and drink for a couple of hours.Guests
included Billy Duffy , Ian Astbury , Matt Sorom
(All The Cult) ,Morrissey , John Taylor (Duran
Duran) , Mike Rossi (Slaughter And The Dogs),
Casey Choas ( Amen) Annabella (Bow Wow Wow).
A really excellent night and all the Sex Pistols
turned up .
Sept 7 Street Scene Festival , San Diego.
No celebs here but all the band are out by the
tour busses , John Lydon is having a few drinks
and signing stuff etc and is in great form.
Sept 8 Marquee,Tempe,Arizona . The dressing rooms
are too small so there is a small do by the tour
buses but this turns into Lydon mania as fans
all scramble for autographs.
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| 2003-09-15 | |
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Rolling Stones , Wembley Arena ,15 Sept 2003.
Aftershow party at Shepherds Bush Pavillion.
It is funny what rubbish you read in the papers.
Only a couple of days ago they were slagging
Mick Jagger for going to bed early after a gig.
I thought the 2 parties in Paris were lavish but
this really was the full monty. I have
never seen so much food at a bands party ever .
There were tables of it and the waiters were
bringing out fresh stuff every few minutes.
There are about 400 guests here tonight inc
Jeff Beck , Vic Reeves , Bob Geldof , Howard
Marks (Mr Nice ) you are greeted by foot soldiers
and girls dressed as nurses , champers everywhere.
A tunnel of inflatable rubber lips .
A big band play 2 jazz swing sets and a DJ spins
some sounds as well.
People dressed in wacky costumes to entertain.
Mick Jagger is on the dancefloor , his girlfriend
does not seem to be here tonight. All the members
of The Stones backing band are here but Keith,
Ronnie and Charlie are nowhere to be seen .
Mick Jagger left at 2.30am ,we left at 4am and
the party was due to finish at 6am . Bearing in
mind it was a Monday night as well .Superb.
Mick Jagger may be getting on a bit but on stage
and off stage he has more energy than most other
musicians half his age.
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| 2003-09-25 | |
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MOBO Awards At Royal Albert Hall 25 Sept 2003
from 8.15pm to 11.15pm.There are loads of police
and security outside the venue and everyone
including celebs has to go through metal
detectors.The tickets cost a small fortune with
arena table seat with dinner and booze at over
£400 . Upstairs in the balcony the public have
paid £90 for the crap view you get up there
that does not include food, booze or party after .
We are guests of The Evening Standard paper so
there is food and booze in our ground level box.
There was a lot of stop starting tonight but
that happens at a lot of awards shows.Nice to
see oldies like Kool And The Gang and George
Benson get awards . 50 Cent was main winner with
3 awards and he was here to collect before
dashing off to his Wembley Arena show.
A few celebs floating around inc Bob Geldof
and Simon Le Bon who both presented awards . The
party after is miles away in London SE1 at The
Tunnel ,London Bridge. Massive slow queue to get
in as again its a full body search and the police
are everywhere . We get in and stay for only an
hour. Heavy bass and drum i can take only in
small doses and there was no free booze here.
A big crowd but not really my cup of tea.
It just lacked real party atmosphere.
This was the main party but maybe the smaller
events held by a couple of the record companies
would have been a lot better .
They had a nice new style Bentley Continental
on display but that was your lot.It was a good
night but compare with the other award shows like
BRITS ,Q or NME it was a bit lacking.
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| 2003-10-02 | |
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Q Awards at Park Lane Hotel ,Piccadilly,London .
Presented by Iain Lee from RISE Chan 4 Breakfast
show who rates KISS as his fave band ever.
Thursday 02 Oct 2003.Last year we had seats on a table but this year we are in the press area .
7pm to 8pm everyone is turning up ,loads of celebs are here like Thrills , Electric Six,
Emma Bunton, Tricky , Trevor Horn , Blur, Nile
Rodgers,Janes Addiction, Lemmy ,Muse, Cure,
Christina Aguilera and a very rare showing
by Scott Walker who was with Jarvis Cocker.
Legends from the past including all 5 original
members of Duran Duran and Kevin Rowland (Dexys)
(one of the girls in the press area despite having
worked for 10 years at Rolling Stone and 2 years
at Q did not know what Kevin Rowland looked like?). Why Five Star and Liberty X were
there i cannot explain. The awards were on from
8.25pm to 9.25pm . Loads of free booze and food
until midnight for the 400 invited guests.
Excellent goodie bag of scarf ,aftershave,books,
Q diary and stuff from the gadget shop on the way out.
Despite having 4 nominations Coldplay did not
win anything this year so were not here tonight.
Some winners like Robbie Williams , Radiohead
and their producer Nigel Godrich all sent in
video clips instead of being here as they have
taken a dislike to recent Q features on them
and even Robbie said" F*** the Editors of Q Mag".
Radiohead won Best Live Act in the world today.
Surprise winner was Christina Aguilera for best
single " Dirty" .
Blur won best album for "Think Tank".
Also on the way out i picked up the gold envelope
that Nile Rodgers presented Duran Duran for
Lifetime Achievement Award .
Really good event in this lovely 5 star hotel .
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| 2004-03-17 | |
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Libertines + Buzzcocks ,Astoria ,16 March 2004.
Big aftershow party at The Borderline Club for
around 200 people .No free booze but a great
atmosphere Libertines are here with a burly minder
and all the Buxzcocks and EMBL Disaster were here.
Mick Jones The Clash was at the gig was not at the party .
Lulu ,Her Majestys Theatre,14 March 2004.
For around an hour after the show there is a free
drinks reception in the first floor bar of this
very posh venue.Lulu is friendly and chatty to all
the 50 people here .Surprisingly not many celebs
apart from Elton Johns partner David Furnish.
Stranglers ,Shepherds Bush Empire ,12 March 2004.
Lively party after the sold out show for about 100 people. Plenty of free booze and cheese rolls for
a couple of hours.Also a nice touch from The
Stranglers manager who brought along a few barrels
of Cheddar Valley cider much to everyones delight.No major celebs but fun talking to Oleg
from Toy Dolls/Dickies about some of his Japanese
tour stories where his bands are still popular.
Really good party. All The Stranglers are here.
David Lee Roth ,Hammersmith Apollo ,28 Feb 2004.
I was really looking forward to this as DLR is
a rock legend .There are about 100 here tonight.
No free booze but a great atmosphere .Support
band The Quireboys are here as is LA Guns singer
Phil Lewis .David Lee Roth turns up with his
minder and PR and chats and smiles to everyone
for about 30 mins then shoots off .I have a chat
with him and get a couple of photos .He thanks me
again for the bottle of Moet champers i gave him
earlier in the day .
Brian Wilson ,Royal Festival Hall ,24 Feb 2004.
The show i saw on Sat may have lacked celebs but
a few were backstage tonight.Paul McCartney with
Beatles producer George Martin. Petite Natalie
Imbruglia was here with her hubby the singer from
Silverchair.Jonathan Ross was with David Baddiel
and surprise surprise Brian McFadden from Westlife
was here too.
Amen + Eighties Matchbox ,Islington Academy ,
23 Feb 2004.Carling dishing out the free lagers
upstairs after the show and it was nice to see
Tv Smith and Gaye from punk band The Adverts.
Brian Wilson,Royal Festival Hall ,21 Feb 2004.
Fantastic show and free booze after for 90 mins.
The 2002 shows had loads of big name celebs but
tonight its only 1970s singer Linda Lewis .Brian
Wilson goes back to hotel straight after each
show but his huge backing are all here and really
enjoying themselves. Good one.
BRIT AWARDS ,Earls Court Arena ,17 Feb 2004.
Always a great evening out . The awards itself
lasted about 3 hours 5.20pm to 8.20pm with a good
mix of fans ,media and music biz execs.Plenty of
free food and booze if you are at a table.
Will Young again had the most fans down the front.
The big aftershow party held about a 1000 people .
We were up in the "platinum" area which had lots
of free booze ,downstairs were the fun casinos
and dance areas.Last year there were lots of
celebs floating around but this year they stayed
in the VIP area backstage or went to record co
parties up the West End or The NERD show .
Spotted a couple of Primal Screams boozing away .
It finished just after midnight and we staggered
home.Excellent evening.
NME Awards ,Hammersmith Palais ,12 Feb 2004.
A massive event for the coolest and hottest new
bands .A great turnout 500 seated at tables
downstairs Libertines,Radiohead, Jet,Kings Of Leon,Datsuns , Josh Homme ,Peaches ,Arthur Lee,
Har Mar Superstar,Ash ,
Kelly Osbourne ,Franz Ferdinand,Funeral For A
Friend ,Micheal Eavis ,Vince Power ,Eighties
Matchbox B Line Disaster ,Dizzie Rascal,DJ Tim
Westwood and a few from Radio 1 and The Office etc
Free booze before and during the show but a pay
bar at 8pm when they let in another 1000 guests
after the awards had finished and they took the
tables away to let everyone on the damce floor.
The Queens Of Noize DJ girls played perfect tunes
for this rock n roll crowd.A great night .
Funk Brothers ,Royal Festival Hall ,Jan 30 .
Free booze and buffet as usual from RFH . Great
turnout Glen Matlock ,Paul Weller ,Nick Lowe ,
Jake Riviera ,Linda Lewis,Steve Winwood,Billy
Preston and some Funk Brothers.Really good.
Primal Scream ,Hammersmith Apollo ,Jan 23 .
A bustling, lively aftershow party for over 200
guests .No free booze but a great atmosphere.
Finlay Quaye and the singer from Ash were there.
Here And Now 1980s Show ,Wembley arena Dec 19 .
As there were 10 acts tonight it was a decent
turn out in the backstage bar .Its lively and
there are over 100 people in here . Martin Fry ,
Howard Jones ,Kim Wilde and Nick Heywood are here.
Everyones friendly .Paul Young must have stayed
in his dressing room .
Doors Of The 21st Century, Wembley Arena, Dec 11.
Ian Astbury is here straight after the show and
very friendly to everyone and signing etc.The
2 members of The Doors have stayed in their
dressing room to watch the telly.!!! A bit odd
when only an hour ago they were telling the crowd
how after the show they would be drinking whisky
and getting high . Surprising there are no celebs
but there are loads of rock chicks here trying
their best to pull Ian Astbury.
Simple Minds at Hammersmith Apollo Dec 05.Free
drinks after for about 100 people .A good mix of
fans ,scottish mates and music biz types .All
the band turn up and mingle .All are friendly and
chatty but do not see any other celebs here.
David Bowie at Wembley Arena Nov 25 and 26 ,2003.
For those of you that do not know the set up here.
There is the aftershow bar where you sometimes
get free booze and sometimes band members turn up.
This is usually the sticky pass area then there
is the dressing room hospitality where its entry
by laminate only where the booze is free and the
band turn up.For Bowie i had sticky pass for the
first show where Ricky Gervais and Frank Skinner
turned up . Next night was much better in the
dressing room hospitalty where there are the SONY
execs giving David a gold disc for Reality sales
and Eno and James Dean Bradfield (Manics)are here.
The booze is flowing and its a good vibe. I shake
DBs hand and spout out some gibberish .We are all
in a semi circle and its like meeting the Queen
at The Royal Variety Show.David Bowie is in a
fun mood and smiling non stop .Very surreal night.
Duran Duran aftershow party to celebrate their
first London show since 1985 with all 5 original
members on Tues 14 Oct 2003.The party was held
at the trendy Noble Rot basement bar /club in
the West End . All the band are here apart from
guitarist Andy Taylor .A bit thin on the ground
celeb wise with only Stephen Fry , Mark Owen ,
Gabrielle and a couple of girls from Eastenders.
There are about 250 people here and the free
booze is running nicely. All the band are
friendly and chatty and Nick Rhodes was last to
leave at 2am . Party went on until 3am .
The 1980s soul disco sounds went down a treat.
On Sunday 19 Oct 2003 Dead Men Walking had their
Shepherds Bush Empire aftershow party in the
venue.A packed room included all the members
of the band Glen Matlock(Sex Pistols),Mike Peters
(Alarm) ,Slim Jim(Stray Cats) ,Billy Duffy(Cult)
Kirk Brandon (Spear Of Destiny ), Bruce Watson(Big
Country), and other guests inc punk rock legends
Paul Cook(Sex Pistols )and Mick Jones(Clash).
A great gig and a great aftershow.
AC/DC had their aftershow at the venue.A huge
event for around 300 mainly media type guests.
Carling provided the free booze till just after
midnight.Only AC/DC bass player turned up for a
few mins then went back to dressing rooms.
A lot of the bands teenage children were here.
Also Brian May(Queen)and a couple of the girls
from S Club 7 .The AC/DC show was just superb.
Darkness aftershow party at Hammersmith Apollo
was pretty crap with only Ginger from Wildhearts
and no atmosphere but at The Astoria the sponsors
carlinglive were dishing out the free booze
before and during the show to everyone upstairs.
Usual suspects out again Brian May, Mark Owen,
Cat Deeley, Edith Bowman but a great night it was.
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| 2004-06-15 | |
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14 June 2004 Blondie ,Hammersmith Apollo ,London.
About 50 back here and Sony Music have kindly laid on the free booze for 90 mins or so .All
of Blondie are here and are friendly and chatty
also here Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols ) and Chris
Spedding and Paul Thompson (Roxy Music and Bryan
Ferry ) and a Debbie Harry lookalike from a
Blondie tribute band who did look like Debbie.
11 June 2004 Morrissey ,Royal Festival Hall ,
London.As usual Royal Festival Hall have laid on
a free booze bar backstage .A cool mix of people
inc Gem from Oasis ,Frank Skinner and Stephen
Merchant (writing buddy of Ricky Gervais ) .
The band are here although Morrissey himself stays in his dressing room. Good fun.
09 June 2004 Brides Of Destruction ,Electric
Ballroom, London .Only about 30 people back after
the show with a few dressed up rock chicks trying
to get ex Motley Crue Nikki Sixx attention . The
singer from up and coming HIM is here .Some free
drinks for an hour or so ,all the band are chatty
and friendly .As Nikkis an LA resident every time
he lights up a ciggie he goes outside in the
fresh air to smoke it.Very polite but hardly the
rock n roll mayhem of Motley Crue days.
28 May 2004 .Ian Hunter And The Rant Band ,
Astoria ,London. Aftershow in the dressing rooms
for an hour after the show .Nice atmosphere with
a good mix of family and friends and musicians .
Musicians here Ian Hunter ,Mick Ralphs ,the other
Rant Band members ,Joe Elliot (Def Leppard),
Brian May (Queen)and ex Mott guitarist Ariel
Bender .Everyone is friendly and chatty .Joe and
Def Lep are recording new album and Brian May
wants to go out with his own band but does not
fancy the singing side of it . Good one.
22 May 2004 . Cher ,Wembley Arena ,London.
Most of the band are here but Cher has gone
straight back to the hotel after the show .
They have laid on some free booze too .Odd mix
of faces here .Ex Spice Girl Geri Halliwell is
here with her mum and a burly minder . Dorian from Birds Of A Feather is here ,also Ozzys
hairdresser cousin fron Chan 4 Salon tv prog.
Geri told me she had chatted to Cher before the
show .
24 April 2004 Duran Duran ,Wembley Arena ,London.
All the band are here in the dressing rooms
hospitality area .Mainly family and friends with a
few kids running around .Plenty of free booze and
Neil Tennant from Pet Shop Boys is here .The band
stay for 45 mins then we go into the aftershow bar
area where all the PR girls are hanging out.
08 April 2004 Ronnie Lane Memorial Concert at
Royal Albert Hall, London .Massive party after
this show in the downstairs arena bar for 300
guests with free booze and food for all until
1am with a couple of djs playing cool mod and soul
tunes from the 1960s.Pete Townshend ,Ronnie
Wood and Paul Weller stayed in the dressing room
area but everyone else is here Glen Matlock ,
Mick Jones ,Patti Paladin,Kenny Jones ,Henry
McCulloch ,DJ Gary Crowley ,Steve Diggle etc
Really good lively party and despite the no
ventilation down there it was great fun.
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| 2004-08-20 | |
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19 August 2004 Madonna ,Earls Court Arena ,
London.There are 2 rooms catering for about 200 people .Madonna does not show up but her
band and dancers are here .Will Young is in the
corner hiding underneath his hat .Lots of free
booze and a nice lively atmosphere .
14 August 2004 Dio ,Astoria ,London.
Drinks party in the dressing rooms for over
an hour after this sold out show . A couple
of members of Girlschool are here as is an ex
member of Rainbow .The band are all friendly
and in good spirits .Ronnie James Dio himself
is polite and chatty. The keyboard player Scott
told me he went to audition for punk rock
legend John Lydon in 1997 for his last ill fated
solo American tour.The reason he did not get it ?
They were looking for someone who looked
"middle eastern" .There were four German girls
who come over just to follow the band around on
their week long UK tour .Overall a great night.
08 August 2004 Finn Brothers ,Open Air Theatre ,
Regents Park ,London.
Lots of media here so everyone was kinda
expecting something pretty good .It was held in
a room near the Open Air Theatre but half the
guests arrive and leave pronto as there is
no free booze . When the band turn up there are
only about 30 of us left .Band are friendly .Noel
G from Oasis pops his head in and Chris Difford
from Squeeze is here .Ok party but should have
been a lot better really.
01 August 2004 Twisted Sister ,Astoria ,London.
This was more of a meet and greet than a proper
aftershow .The bar had shut and most of the band
are teetotal anyway .Old rocker Bernie Torme
was here in the small crowd of maybe 30 people
held in the balcony some 30 mins after the end
of the show .The band are all friendly and over
the moon with the reception they got tonight in
London and last nights show in Derbyshire
where AC/DC singer Brian Johnson had come on
for the encore .Tonight there was a girl fan from
Torquay who had got singer Dee Sniders autograph
on Saturday in Derbyshire and this afternoon had
gone to a tattoo place in London to go over it
to make permanant on her arm ,dedication eh ??
The band were mighty impressed .
18 July 2004 The Stray Cats ,Shepherds Bush
Empire ,London. Here tonight are Glen Matlock
and Paul Cook from The Sex Pistols ,rock legend
Robert Plant and Gem from Oasis . Cool stuff
but why is everyone smoking so much ??
Robert Plant told me he is a massive Stray Cats
fan and had been to all 3 Stray Cats UK shows on this tour and joined them on stage in Manchester.
11 July 2004 Beach Boys ,Silverstone Formula 1
Grand Prix after event party .This was great
fun.Promoters CMP have laid on a massive BBQ and
booze fest from 4pm to 10pm . Beach Boys are here
along with Kerry and Bryan McFadden (He was
really getting stuck into the free booze now he
is free from Westlife shackles ).Racing drivers
here are mainly the UK ones , Jenson Button ,
David Coulthard ,Johnny Herbert ,Jackie Stewart
also Murray Walker ,Sato, Kerry and Bryan
McFadden .Everyone is chatty and friendly and the
300 guests here really enjoyed themselves .
07 July 2004 Lenny Kravitz ,Wembley Arena ,
London. When Lenny comes to town you are sure
to get loads of lovely looking women backstage
and there are plenty here tonight ,most look like
they are models ,all the band are here ,Lenny
turns up for 5 mins then goes back to his
dressing room with some girls and we are left
with one of the white boys from Eastenders.
Great aftershow atmosphere though.
25 June 2004 Red Hot Chilli Peppers ,Hyde Park ,
London . For these big outdoor shows there are
usually a few different backstage areas for band , promoter, record company etc so there may
have been a few celebs in the bands hospitality
tent but we are in promoters Clear Channel tent
where they have laid on lots of food and booze
before and after the RHCP with nice comfy sofas
but the only face here is pop idol Darius .
Great to come out an hour after the show and all
the crowds and traffic has gone though.
22 June 2004 MOJO Awards,Noon, Banqueting House ,
London SW1 . To celebrate 10 years as a music mag
MOJO hold their first ever awards show in this
lovely 300 year old building in Whitehall .
About 300 seated for lunch and a few standing
for the buffet with plenty of booze . Loads of
bonafide rock stars here tonight who have had
proper careers in music over the last 40 years ,
James Brown ,Morrissey ,The Shadows ,Mick Jones
(Clash), Tony James ( Gen X ),Noel Gallagher ,
Red Hot Chilli Peppers ,Sting ,Libertines ,Beth
Orton, Ray Davies ,Arthur Lee ,Black Eyed Peas,
Lemmy (Motorhead) ,James Dean Bradfield (Manics),Melissa Auf De Mar ,Roger McGuinn (Byrds ),Tom Verlaine ( Television) ,Jimmy Page
from Led Zep who won 2 awards ,Marianne Faithful,Roger Daltrey . Excellent event .
Funniest sights were James Brown turning up in
a tacky white stretch limo with a young blonde
at least a foot taller than he was .
Lemmy and Sting all loved up
with their arms around each other and M .Faithful
still oozing sex appeal by sexily drawing on her
ciggies for the photographers.No real rowdiness
as it was a lunchtime do which probably feels
like the crack of dawn for the likes of Lemmy.
16 June 2004 New York Dolls ,Royal Festival Hall,
London. Excellent aftershow party for the Dolls
first show anywhere for over 25 years .Morrissey
pops his head in for a few mins also Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols) Bobby Gillespie (Primal
Scream ) Patti Palladin, Bob Gruen , Andy who
owned punk rock club The Roxy in 1977 .All the
Dolls are here and are friendly and chatty even
though David Johansen is well out of it .Plenty
of free booze for the 50 or so people here.Mega.
It was the same a couple of nights later for the
second New York Dolls show with Paul Cook (Sex
Pistols ) Mick Jones ( Clash + C Silicon )Tony
James (Gen X + C Silicon ) Bob Geldof ,Don Letts,
Shane McGowan and Primal Screams Bobby Gillespie
all here.
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| 2005-01-26 | |
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09/10/21/22/23 Jan 2005 .Velvet Revolver ,
Hammersmith Apollo and Brixton Academy .
Blimey due to their reputations this is one band
everyone wants to party with .Every night there
is an aftershow at the venue for 150 people but
the band stay in their dressing rooms for an hour
after the show and only a few each night are
escorted back to meet the band .We get a prized
invite for The Brixton show and also backstage
are Glen Matlock from The Sex Pistols and Chris
from Three Colours Red . I bump into a friend
who is a photographer who said he saw Jimmy Page
backstage before the band came on but i did not
see him myself .We spent a few mins chatting to
Duff the bassist and Matt the drummer .Did not
hear of a big party like there was at Rouge after
the September 2004 show but there you go....
15 December 2004 .Buzzcocks ,Kentish Town Forum ,London.
Very enjoyable aftershow at the venue for around 80 people
for an hour after the show .Great atmosphere as everyone
knows each other and its like an old punks xmas party .
All the band turn up and are as friendly as usual . A
couple of members from the bands The Parkinsons and the
all girl act The Priscillas are here . Good one .
27 November 2004 . Motorhead , Hammersmith Apollo ,
London. Great rock n roll atmosphere in the upstairs bar
for 90 mins after Motorheads sell out London show . The
band spend most of the time in their dressing after but pop
up for a few mins on their way to the proper party at the
Embassy Club in the West End . Support band Sepultura are
here along with ex Motorhead guitarists Wurzel and Eddie
Clarke .
13 November 2004 .Deep Purple ,Wembley Arena ,
London. Busy aftershow for about 100 people at
the Wembley Arena backstage bar. Looks like a
good mix of family and friends and hardcore fans
from their fan club or website . We got 4 of the 6
Deep Purple turn up here . Ian Gillan ,Roger Glover ,
Don Airy and Steve Morse . All are friendly and chatty
although Ian Gillan upset a few of the fans here as he
refused all requests for autographs . Ian Paice and
Jon Lord stayed in the dressing room area. Funny
how members of Peter Frampton and Thunder along
with their guests were not allowed in here and had to
have their aftershow in their own dressing rooms.
22 October 2004 Dead Men Walking ,Mean Fiddler ,London.
Aftershow at the venue for around 50 people .No free booze
but a great atmosphere for an hour or so . Glen Matlock ,
Slim Jim ,Kirk Brandon and Bruce Watson from DMW are all
here but Mike Peters leaves straight after each show to be
back with his wife and 6 month old baby . Also here are
Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks ) and James Stevenson (The Alarm )
and Steve Grantley (The Alarm and Stiff Little Fingers )
20 October 2004 Whitesnake + Quireboys ,
Hammersmith Apollo ,London. Aftershow at the
venue for around 150 people . No free booze but
a great atmosphere for 90 mins or so. David
Coverdale showed his face for a few mins along
with Jimmy Page (Led Zep) and Brian Johnson(AC/DC). The remaining members of Whitesnake and
Quireboys all stayed until the end which was more
down to all the pretty woman showing an interest
in hanging out with them me thinks.
These included The Suns Top Page 3 Girl Zoe and
a couple of her model mates who all had a sherbet
too many .Also here was Luke Morley from Thunder
and rock n roll photographer Ross Halfin . A couple of
nice quotes were given .Asking the drummer "Why
He Does Not Bother With Gloves Like Some Rock
Drummers Do?? Answer was " Gloves Are For
Homosexuals " also Brian Johnson could not confirm
whether the rumours of AC/DC playing Brixton
Academy just before or after Christmas are true.
Could be another Carling Live one off show??
All in all a proper rock n roll night really.
17 October 2004 Scissor Sisters ,Royal Albert Hall ,
London. Only right and fitting that Londons fave new
party band have a monster aftershow party after
playing this famous venue .Polydor Records really
pulled out the stops on this one . They flew all the
bands parents over for the gig from NY as well as music
industry bods from Holland and Germany . Yet again
The Rouge Club in Tottenham Court Road was the
venue . A cute invite in the shap of a cardboard pair
of scissors and Polydor laid on four coaches from
venue to party for those that wanted it . At the club
there are about 300 people with free booze .There
are a dozen scantily clad promo girls dancing
along with girls with snakes and doing magic tricks .
A lot of these parties have drinkers but not dancers
but Scissor Sisters fans are party animals and its a
full on dancing on tables and shakin ya booty bash.
The band turned up with their parents .Only face i
saw was Marc Bolans son Rolan . We were there till
gone 2am and the party was due to finsih at 4am .
Loads still there having fun when we left and bear in
mind this was a Sunday night bash as well .Superb.
24 September 2004 Fender Strat 50th Birthday
Concert ,Wembley Arena ,London . A lively bash
for around 100 people in the backstage bar where
Miller beer are dishing out the free booze and food for an hour . About half the stars are here
Dave Gilmour ,Gary Moore ,Paul Carrack ,Hank
Marvin, Phil Manzernera and the bass player from
Status Quo are all here but Ronnie Wood ,Joe
Walsh ,Brian May ,Paul Rodgers have either left
the venue or stayed in the dressing room area.
07 September 2004 Mike And The Mechanics ,Shepherds
Bush Empire ,London. An older crowd here in the nicely
refurbished and extended level 1 bar for about 50 people.
All the band are ,all are friendly inc Mike Rutherford and
Paul Carrack(without his cap) .No free booze and no music
celebs but Tony Smith is here(manager of MATM and
Genisis)and a couple of Virgin Records execs and top
rock n roll photographer dannyclifford.com is here.
check his website out for some amazing rock n roll pix.
02 September 2004 Velvet Revolver ,Hammersmith Apollo ,London.A lot was expected for
Velvet Revolvers first show in London party wise and they delivered .How it works is
you go to 10 aftershows ,8 will be ok ,another will be very good and one of out 10
will be mega .This was mega. First off the aftershow at the venue .There is at least
100 people here inc the bass player and drummer from The Darkness and Carling are
dishing out the free booze but the band do not turn up here as they go direct to
the big bash arranged by BMG records at Rouge Nightclub,Tottenham Court Road .This was
from midnight to 3am held over 2 floors with about 400 invited guests and free booze
and a couple of pole dancers with the DJ playing a perfect batch of classic rock anthems.
The band are all in the VIP room upstairs although Duff is not here (i think because
he does not drink anymore he avoids the temptation)we get in and there is only about
30 people in the VIP area .Funniest sight of the night is Slash and Scott headbanging and
playing air guitar to Bon Jovi " Livin On A Prayer" and Europe "Final Countdown" .
The band along with wives,girlfriends and security leave the party at 2.15am.
One of those perfect rock n roll nights i suppose.
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| 2007-11-08 | |
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07 Nov 2007.Sex Pistols Press Conference At The
Hoxton Bar And Grill ,London N.1.After John Lydons press conference here we are invited into
the VIP room which has an outdoor garden area
for smokers.John Lydon is with his good friend
and minder John "Rambo" Stevens and
a few of us are all sat around a table having
a chat with him.Despite what you might John is
always up for a friendly chat and drinks and for
about an hour this was the case.Still very much
in love with Arsenal F.C.i have met loads of
rock stars over the years but meeting and chatting to members of The Sex Pistols really
does mean a lot to me.There was a couple of bands playing (Funeral For A Friend and Maximo
Park)30 mins sets but as you can imagine watching them was the last thing on my mind so had to miss them tonight.........................
05 Nov 2007.3rd Classic Rock Awards At The
Landmark Hotel,London.The awards finished at
11.20pm then there was an hour of drinks at the venue.Before we picked up some goodie bags with Led Zep DVDs and Ian Hunter cds in them.Some
faces are still here inc Duff,Ian Hunter,Thunder,
Killing Joke,Joe Elliot,Anthrax,Black Stone Cherry,Porcupine Tree then after this its off to
The Grill Room at The Cafe Royal where the free
booze is flowing 1am to 2.30am.A few have made it
here inc Black Stone Cherry,Glenn Hughes,Chris
Squire,the singer from The Answer,Anthrax,Fish,
Thunder ,Porcupine Tree,Meat Loafs daughter and John Giddings.What a superb night................
20 Sept 2007.www.sunflowerjam.com live at The
Porchester Hall,Queensway,London.Nice party for
90 mins after the show.Sadly Status Quo left
straight after their set.The booze and food is
flowing and Deep Purple members are here inc
Ian Paice,Roger Glover and Jon Lord(although he
left the band recently)also Gary Moore,Linda
Lewis,Paul McCartneys keyboard player.All are
really friendly all have their wives with them.
Security kept popping in every 10 mins to ask
people to stop smoking.A good one................
06 Sept 2007.David Gilmour DVD launch party at
The Odeon,Leicester Square,London.Excellent
party for around 100 guests in the venues first
floor bar area.Lots of tasty treats like duck wraps etc and the booze is flowing.David and all
the band are here.Led Zeps Robert Plant is here.
Had to ask him about the rumours of a special
show (The New Led Zeppelin live at The 02 Arena
on Nov 26 with the 3 remaining members)he said
"He does not know anything about it".We shall see.Probably keeping it secret for a big press
announcement.1970s singer Linda Lewis is here with hubby Neil Warnock who is David Gilmours
booking agent.Also here was Paul McCartneys
keyboard player.Lovely atmosphere and all the
celebs stayed for the entire 90 mins.David Gilmour happy to chat and pose for photos but
would not sign anything for anyone inside or
outside the venue.A great night..................
11 July 2007.Blondie live at Hammersmith Apollo,
London.Aftershow in one of the venues rooms for an hour for about 50 people.All the band are here and Debbie Harry and Chris Stein stay for
about 15 mins.Clem Burke is chatty and friendly to all.Also here was Glen Matlock(Sex Pistols) and Brian James(Damned).Good one and when we came out there was still over 100 fans waiting
for the band.....................................
07 July 2007.LIVE EARTH Concert At Wembley Stadium.The aftershow for this event was at The
Hospital Members Club in Covent Garden.Nice and
lively with some 300 people enjoying the freebie
cocktails and food for a couple of hours.Bit of a trek for the musicians so only spotted Nick Rhodes and Roger Talyor from Duran Duran also Corinne Bailey Rae.Pretty good .................
20 June 2007.Iggy Pop And The Stooges live at
The Royal Festival Hall,London.Aftershow party for about 150 people in one of the large rooms
at this venue.Did not see Iggy and band members so they may have stayed in their dressing rooms.
Lots of faces here like Chrissie Hynde,Jarvis Cocker,Jude Law(actor),Don Letts(punk dj),Noel
Fielding(rock n roll stand up comic),Geoff Travis
(Rough Trade Records supremo),Mick Rock(famous
photographer who took Iggy pics in the 1970s),
Tim Booth singer with the band James.A lively 2
hours of free booze and overall very good.......
14 May 2007.We Will Rock You live at The Dominion
Theatre,London.This was a party to celebrate its
5th birthday.Over 200 people at The All Bar One
around the corner from the venue from 11pm to 1.30am.Surprise that both Brian May and Roger Taylor both stayed until the very end.Brian was
very nice and chatty to everyone as usual under
the watchful eye of his personal security guy.
Roger stayed at a table with family and friends.
Ben Elton and Al Murray were both here.All the
cast were here and the house band that still
includes Neil Murray from the 1980s line up of
Whitesnake.Had a nice chat with the lead singer
of Lostprophets who was here with Alexa Chung
his TV presenter girlfriend.Free booze and food
until the very end.An excellent bash..........
28 Mar 2007.Russell Brand + Noel Fielding live at
The Royal Albert Hall,London.This is more like it.Back to Noels dressing room for an hour after
the show.(i know Noel and his parents who are also here).About 20 people here popping in inc
Paul Weller,Noel Gallagher,Sadie Frost and The
Towers Of London then over to a bigger party at
trendy Maddox club nr Regent Street until 3am for
400 people where the free booze is flowing all
night.Very lively with girls dancing on tables etc and Noels brother Michael spinning the tunes
from AC/DC to Van Halen and some newer
stuff as well.Both Russell and Noel swamped with
women.Also here Amy Winehouse,Kate Moss and Carl
Barat(Dirty Pretty Things) and The Towers Of
London.Excellent party and evening..............
02 Mar 2007.Kaiser Chiefs + The Twang live at
Shepherds Bush Empire, London. Aftershow for 60 or 70 people in the level 1 bar.Nice buzzy bash
for an hour after the gig.Members of both bands
are here and all are chatty and friendly.Surprise
for me was with so many acts in London for NME
Awards last night there are no faces from any
other bands even though tonight is a NME promoted
show as well.A pretty average do overall......
25 Feb 2007.Rufus Wainwright live at The Palladium,London.Excellent aftershow party in
The Cinderella Bar at the Palladium for 150 folks
for some 90 mins after the show.Free wines and lagers (but no spirits) are being
dished out and a great number of well known faces
are here from music,theatre,film and tv like
both Pet Shop Boys,Jamie Cullum,Sir Ian McKellen,
Richard Wilson,Alan Rickman,Janet Street Porter,
Kim Cattrell(Sex And The City),Sian Phillips,
Jeremy Irons,Dawn French,Jennifer Saunders,
Anita Dobson,that presenter bloke from NMTB,
Lorna Luft(Judy Garlands daughter).Rufus along
with sister Martha and mum Kate stayed for a
few mins then left for their hotel.A very good
aftershow event ................................
14 Feb 2007.BRIT Awards at Earls Court Arena,
London.The aftershow in the venue was the same as
last year dodgem cars,djs and disco,interactive
game consoles,burlesque dancing,girls taking
momento photos of the night,fortune telling etc.
Over 2000 here so no free booze and no artists.
Good fun but too busy and too many long queues.
Just after 1am we arrived at the SONY BMG invite
only party at Tamarai in Drury Lane.We had a sit
down Indian meal and the free booze was flowing.
Also great to see Steven Tyler (Aerosmith )here,
Sharon Osbourne,Faithless and Lil Chris.Oasis are
on SONY but held their own party at Cuckoo Club.
Left the party at 2.45.What a great day.........
28 Dec 2006.David Gest All Star Soul Spectacular
live at Cadogan Hall, Chelsea, London.This was a
great bash.11.30pm to 2am the afterparty was a
few mins away at Traders Vic Bar,Hilton Hotel,
Park Lane which is a full monty 5 star venue.
Only about 50 or 60 people here in the vip area
but half are from tv or soul legends.From the
recent series of "Im A Celebrity Get Me Out Of
Here" we had David Gest,Matt Willis,Jason Donovan,Myleene Klass,Faith Brown and a couple of
others and we had all the acts that were on the
show Billy Paul,Martha Reeves And The Vandellas,
Candi Staton,Stylistics,Freda Payne,William Bell,
Dorothy Moore,Carl Carlton,Bonnie Tyler,Deniece
Williams and Peabo Bryson.The free booze and
posh canopes are flowing all night.The cocktails
are the best in London(at 15 quid a pop normally
i suppose they should be).Everyone is friendly
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