Day 25: Two Gigs in One Day

Selfies with Graeme

Two gigs in one day; not bad going eh!? One in many respects was a work related gig (if that's what you want to call it) and the other was for my own enjoyment but nevertheless two gigs is pretty good! For once I willingly got up at a fairly decent time for a weekend, I think the milder weather has certainly had a positive impact on me and pain wise things have been a little easier hence why it's easier to get up in the morning at the moment. Mum made us buttermilk pancakes for breakfast which is always a good thing if you ask me. Afterwards, I had a mad scramble round the house as I had to be at the local record store for 1pm and well there's only so much you can fit into a short space of time. But I did learn that I'm a pretty decent multitasker and can almost apply makeup and curl my hair at the same time. Close enough anyway!

I was going to be doing an interview for the local record store's website with a musician who was performing in store yesterday (Sunday). Unfortunately, I the timings didn't quite work out as he got held up in traffic as some of the roads were closed but I'm still going to do a wee concert review. Potentially, I could have grabbed a few minutes at the end however, I had tickets for Graeme Clark's gig in Glasgow later in the evening and due to the roads being closed we'd have to leave early in order to get there on time. The gig itself was a fun experience and of course, it's great to support the local music scene and see others doing the same. I must admit that I had a good old time to myself browsing the shelves before the gig even started although for once I left emptied handed which is a surprise!

The local record store

We headed back home for dinner and before long we all set off to good old Glasgow taking an alternative route to avoid disruptions thanks to the road closures. Fortunately, we encountered little traffic and arrived in Glasgow with plenty of time to spare. We even managed to find a parking space in a side street just along from the venue-how often does that happen!?

With it being the West End Festival, the area was absolutely buzzing. All of the surrounding restaurants and cafes within the area were filled to the brim with people, it reminded me a lot of London where I spent a lot of time as a child due to hospital. In fact, that's one thing I really miss about my visits to London; the city buzz and quirky vibe. There's something really special about it!

Siempre Bicycle Café was just a short walk away from where we had parked so we took a leisurely stroll admiring this cute little plant shop on route. The entrance to the café was up this little side lane where a small queue for the gig had already began to form. My Dad ran ahead to check it was the right place before heading off to meet up with a friend who lives in the area. As we waited in the queue we could hear the sound check taking place which sounded amazing! It was  also lovely to chat with everyone in the queue as we waited, everyone was so sweet! That's one of the reasons I love going to gigs, you meet so many lovely people!

A wee glimpse inside the café

Following sound check Graeme popped out to say hello and chat with everyone before heading off to get ready for the gig. Just a short while later, the doors were opened allowing everyone to make their way inside and find a seat. It was such a cute, quirky, little café where you instantly felt at home.

Again, I'll refrain from saying too much about the gig itself as I intend on writing an actual review at some point in future-I have a list of things to do! However, what I will say is that it was an amazing gig! I loved hearing Graeme's new material from his new album 'The Thought Collector'. Honestly, you guys need to go check it out-you'll absolutely love it! The two highlights of the gig for me personally, was Graeme playing a bit of 'A Hard Day's Night' by The Beatles during one of his amazing songs named 'Heart of Stone' and hearing his new song 'Do Those Things To Me'; that song in particular really caught my attention. As soon as I heard it, I instantly loved it! 

Following the gig I waited a little while before going up to briefly speak with Graeme. Graeme has been a really great support to me with my blogging, media & journalism aspirations and is always so encouraging towards everything that I've been doing. Like I said before, it meant a lot that he agreed to let me to interview him for my radio show on 3TFM (which by the way I'm airing the first part of this Thursday evening between 7-8pm). It was a big deal for me as it was my first ever interview. I was pretty nervous but I couldn't have asked for anyone better to chat to! I'm going off track a little but it was really lovely to chat to him after the gig and of course take another selfie!

A wee pic of the gig itself

After speaking with Graeme, I went and found Mum and Laurel who were patiently waiting on me (nothing ever changes haha!). Once organised we called Dad to let him know that we were ready to head home. Walking back to the car we couldn't help but stop in our tracks noticing someone's gorgeous house which was filled with twinkling fairy lights and this amazing dreamcatcher hanging on the wall. As you can probably imagine my eyes were absolutely glistening at the sight of it-it was my dream house!

Once we found Dad, Laurel begged him to find a chip shop as she was feeling a little peckish. We've become a bit accustomed to having chips and curry sauce as an after concert snack. We stopped in at a local chip shop and Laurel popped in to pick up the order, I really didn't want anything although I managed to sneak a few chips from Laurel's box as it did look rather delicious!

Well, that brings us to the end of yet another blog I'm afraid. A busy day indeed! But totally worth it! I'll be back very soon with another post so pop back soon to check it out!

Love & Peace,

The Hat Hippie xx

Day 24: Meeting Jake Clemons in The E Street Lounge

Jake Clemons & I

What a day! I've mentioned it on at least a few occasions but yesterday, I went to see Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band at Hamden Park in Glasgow. Hopefully, I'll get round to writing an actual review of the show itself but I'm absolutely run off my feet these days so might take a few days. In the meantime I thought I'd tell you about the day itself, I have vlogged my day as well but again, it'll take some time to edit and upload it so please bear with me!

Firstly, Mum and I headed into the town after dropping Laurel off to pick up something and decided to get some breakfast as due to the time we needed to leave for the gig there wouldn't be a lot of spare time to grab a bite to eat. We headed back home a little while later where I spent quite a bit of time getting ready for the gig. I mean I had my hair to curl, makeup to put on, my bag to organise with everything I needed to take with me and of course a video blog to start-you know how it is!

I waited at home whilst Mum went to pick Laurel up early from school. There was so much to do I thought I better take full advantage of my time before Dad got home. Just after two o'clock, we set off on route stopping at my lovely friend Heather's to pick her up as she was coming to see Bruce with us. It was Heather's first ever Bruce gig and my third time seeing him (my first Bruce gig in Scotland though) so it was pretty exciting! I don't know who was more hyper to be honest.

We arrived at Hamden and Bruce was in the midst of sound check by the sounds of it. It sounded like he was playing 'Girls in Their Summer Clothes' which is one of my Mum's favourites, I don't think she's ever heard him play it live before so that was cool.
I'm not gonna lie though, it was a bit of a nightmare at Hamden to be honest. Firstly, trying to find the disabled paring at Hamden was fun and games and no one really seemed to know exactly where it was. Surprise! Surprise! And when we did find it, the steward didn't really listening to us and was about to send us away saying we couldn't park there until he saw the disabled badge and changed his tune.

Our E Street Lounge passes

We'd all been given passes from Bruce's management for The E Street Lounge; a backstage area for guests of the band to hang before the show so the first mission was to find the box office to pick them up. Whilst my parents and sister picked them up, Heather and I paid a quick visit to the merch stall and just a short while later left with a bag of merch consisting of a T-shirt each, a programme and audio download card for the Glasgow gig. Heather put me to shame only buying a t-shirt hehe! I can't go to a gig and not buy a programme and I love the fact that you can actually buy a live recording of the specific show you attend so it had to be done!

When we met up with my parents again we were given our passes for the E Street Lounger which I stuck on me jeans. It's pretty cool having a pass and they look rather cool on my jeans too-oh I'm so sad aren't I!? The next question was 'how did we access the lounge?' We asked numerous stewards who passed us from pillar to post, none of whom were particularly helpful and never listened to a word we said. One in particular was particularly rude and unhelpful and only showed interest in the situation when he later discovered that Heather had the personal number of the head of security. Funny how that changes things. I'll not go into full details as we could be here all the day but yet again, more wheelchair access issues! Thankfully, one decent steward eventually came to the rescue and got one of the supervisors to come help us and eventually he got us inside the building and to where we needed to be. So a huge thank-you to both gentleman!

The E Street Lounge

Once inside the building things were a lot better and the staff in the lounge couldn't have been nicer. The E Street Lounge was empty when we arrived so we had first digs of the tables to sit at. We had an amazing view of the stadium from the lounge and watched as it began to fill up when the doors were opened. It was absolutely scorching outside so it was so nice to sit inside in the cool and have easy access to bar for cans of ice cold cola!

As we were chilling out, taking photos and charging our phones using the sockets in the lounge, Dad noticed a familiar face enter the lounge. It was Jake Clemons, who plays saxophone in The E Street Band for Bruce. We're all big fans of his Uncle Clarence who played sax in The E Street Band up until a few years ago when he sadly passed away. But I love the fact that Bruce asked Clarence's nephew Jake to join the band.

Anyway, I had a quiet moment of excitement as Jake was up there alongside Bruce as members of the band that I'd like to meet one day. Dad went over and did the fatherly duties to ask Jake if he'd come over and say 'hello' to which Jake replied 'yeah, of course'. He shook hands with us all and happily posed for a pic. Somehow, I even managed to ask him if I could take a selfie on my iPod which turned out even better than the photo on the camera so I'm extremely chuffed! Let's face it, I was buzzing! We said goodbye to Jake who had to go as I think they were getting ready to hit stage just a short while later. But seriously, that was so cool! My day was made!

We initially thought once the show started we'd have to leave the lounge and go find our seats/an space in standing area. However, on the staff members who'd been taking care of us appeared just before show time with two tickets for the royal box for Heather and I so she escorted us to our seats just as Bruce was about to take to stage. My parents and Laurel were able to stand at the other side of the box and could have access to any spare seats if they wanted them after half an hour into the show. However, they decided they were quite happy standing at the barrier and dancing-haha!

My amazing friend Heather & I sitting in the royal box

Seriously though, it was so cool to be seated in the royal box! We had a pretty decent view of the stage; no one was in the seats in front of us and the sound was pretty good! Although, we got when we saw how much the seats were worth! Ricky Ross and Lorraine from Deacon Blue passed us in the lounge and were seated in the row in front of the box I believe (so my parents told me anyway). Normally, I'd have wanted to go say 'hello' but they're just normal people there to enjoy a gig so there's no point in pestering them!

The concert itself was absolutely amazing but then again would you really expect anything less from Bruce!? A man of 66 years of age performing for around 3 and a half hours nonstop with no support act is absolutely incredible! His energy is absolutely amazing! We had a great time singing, dancing in our seats and clapping along-didn't we Heather!? One of the stewards we'd spoken to earlier in the evening stopped us both after the gig to say we'd kept the stewards entertained during the show with our antics-hehe!

Jake, Bruce & Steve

After the gig we spent a hour hanging in the lounge to avoid the rush of people leaving the venue and the build up in traffic. So instead we just enjoyed some refreshments from the bar area and watched the stage being dismantled. There was at least four large trucks driven into the stadium after it had been cleared and within the hour so much of the stage had already been dismantled-it's unbelievable to watch!

Once we left the venue we made our way back to the car by which time we all were pretty hungry and the temptation of all the food vans were getting a little too much. So in the end we all ended up munching on a few boxes of chips before heading back home. A great gig and a great night!

Day 13: My First Radio Interview

Borrowed this pic from Graeme

You may have noticed an absence on my blog the past couple as I didn't get round to posting anything because I was up to something. I just so happened to be preparing for my first ever radio interview which took place yesterday (Tuesday). I'm a night owl anyway but I was up until silly o'clock making sure I had everything needed so that in the morning I could just pick it up and go. 

I physically don't know how I managed to leave the house yesterday morning without forgetting something. Yet, somehow I did. We dropped Laurel off at school and made our way to my Grandparent's where I popped in to see the live video stream from inside my Grandad's birdhouse as all the baby birds had hatched. Oh my goodness! They're so cute!

From there we headed up to Glasgow for the second time this week (hmm! I think I was there already this week!) and parked at Kelvingrove Art gallery. We popped inside for a little while in order to pass some time before I had to be somewhere. I felt a little bit nostalgic visiting there as I'm pretty sure the last time I stepped foot in the building was back during my last week of P7 which feels like a lifetime ago now. I miss my primary school days a lot so it's strange going back there and reliving my old memories.

My Grandparents and Mum wanted a cake and coffee so we nipped into the café whilst I nervously sipped on a bottle of juice admiring the building. I don't think I fully appreciated just how beautiful a building it was up until then. Above the lobby area (pictured in the photograph) is the most beautiful organ which as far as I know is played at least once a day but unfortunately, I was there too early in the day to hear it. 

A little while we left the art gallery and headed in direction of Kelvingrove Park which is just over the road really. It's a really quaint and peacful park which is reminiscent of the parks I enjoyed visiting during my many hospital stays in London when I was younger. We took a leisurely stroll through the park to a familiar place that I visited last year for a certain gig. It was a little café called 'An Clachan' hidden in the park where I saw Graeme Clark from the Scottish band Wet Wet Wet perform live last June. And funnily enough, that just so happened to be who I was meeting up with.

Graeme kindly agreed to sit down with me for my first ever radio interview which was pretty exciting and a little nerve-wracking all at the same time. I'm not going to give too much away because it was an interview after all and obviously, it's still to be aired on live radio (more details to come). However, it was great to sit down and chat with Graeme about music and his career. It was also great to chat a bit about bass as we both play the instrument. For me, it was pretty inspiring to talk someone who's had an amazing career thanks to playing the same instrument as me and ask him about it. He even signed some of my Wet Wet Wet vinyl for me addressing it to 'The Hat Hippie'!

I'd been wanting to do my first radio interview for a while now and in true Robyn style had to start big so I'm ever so grateful to Graeme for firstly agreeing to it in the first place and being so supportive and sweet during the interview itself. I'm not going to lie, I was rather nervous and probably sound it during the recording but you know what? I'm proud of it and can't wait to go out there and do more interviews in future! And I'll always have a great story to tell about my very first one!

On route back home following the interview we stopped in Dalry to pay a visit to The Factory Shop which I've not been to in ages and can't believe how much it had changed! They have ALOT of cute knickknacks which was right up my Mum's street in particular. The décor is really quite quirky and colourful now; I seriously can't get over how different it is now!

We dropped Gran and Grandad off at their house and popped in for a little while so I could use their internet to show them the selfie Graeme had posted online of us both. My Mum and Gran ended up watching something on TV (couldn't tell you what as I wasn't paying much attention) whilst I nodded off on the sofa due to being absolutely exhausted from the exciting events of the day. Mum woke me up a short while later so we could head home and I could get some much needed rest.

Back home I managed to keep myself awake long enough to eat dinner and tell my Dad about how everything went before settling down in my room to update my blog. As you can see, I never quite got that far! I think I must have typed a couple of words before nodding off in mid sentence-oops! I stirred a couple of times thanks to my hamster creating havoc in her cage before waking up later on to find that it was dark outside and that everyone besides Mum had headed off to bed-I must have been asleep for a while!

So that's the story of my first ever interview in as short and as brief a description as possible and what a cool interview it was! Again, I owe a huge thanks to Graeme for putting up with me and being so enthusiastic about everything! It really was a pleasure to chat to him! Really, looking forward to his gig at Siempre Café in a couple of weeks time, I think it'll be a great evening!

Anyway, I'll go for now. Thanks for stopping by, I really hope you enjoyed reading about my day! I'll be back soon with the next post!
Love & Peace,

The Hat Hippie xx

The Day I Met Joe Sugg!

Hello!

Last Saturday, the 24th October I finally met one of my all-time favourite YouTubers, Joe Sugg also known as Thatcher Joe. Joe has recently published his very first book Username: Evie and has embarked on a UK tour to promote it and meet some of his millions of subscribers in a range of cities up and down the country. Last month, I was one of the lucky few to fight my way through the mad internet rush in hope of getting tickets for my sister and I to meet Joe during his tour. Somehow, I managed to get on to Ticketmaster and before I knew it; I had received an email notification to confirm that I'd successfully managed to book tickets to meet Joe Sugg-brilliant!

The month flew in pretty quickly and before I know it the day had arrived! We were going to meet Joe Sugg! Despite it being the weekend, it was a fairly early morning for us so that we could pick up my Grandparents who were accompanying us on the journey to Glasgow and get there in time for the signing to begin as we didn't fancy being at the very end of it to be completely honest! So I flung a mug of chicken noodle soup down my throat, (strange breakfast, I know) got dressed, covered up my ghostly face with a layer of makeup before flinging on my Dr Martens and one of my many hats. And I was ready to rock and roll!

I've created a short vlog which I've posted on my YouTube channel which you can view via the link at the bottom of this page and see more of what happened, but I thought I'd give you a brief account of the event anyway. The video is nowhere near perfect as I have so much to learn but I certainly enjoyed creating it and I hope you enjoy watching it!

We arrived at the St. Enoch Centre where the signing was being held and already, there was a large queue of people waiting despite the fact that there was still around a hour and twenty minutes (something like that) until the event was due to begin. So we followed the line down the shopping centre until we reached the end which constantly seemed to be growing longer as more and more people joined it. Around ten or twenty minutes later, we were approached by a member of security who asked us to come with him. So we followed him to the very front of the queue where he opened up a separate area designated to people with mobility/or health problems and cannot stand for any length of time in a long queue.

As we stood waiting, I kept refreshing my social media pages in hope of any updates from Joe to pass time as we waited. After a while, my iPod decided that it no longer wanted to cooperate with me and that it didn't want to connect to the WiFi. Thanks mate! It was around this time that I heard people in front of me mention that Joe had just posted a video of the queue from the floor above us on Snapchat. Surprisingly, no one seemed to have spotted him but word spread like wildfire and it became a little trickier for Joe to film sneaky videos of the crowd.

Our tickets were soon scanned and each ticketholder was finally handed a pre-signed copy of Joe's book Username: Evie. Seconds later, one of the security guards began ushering some of us into a room which was set up for Joe's meet n' greet. This was probably the first Youtuber even that I've attended that actually went smoothly. On previous occassions, there was always a problem in some shape or form because of my wheelchair. So I was impressed with how this was handled at this particular event. Aproaching one o'clock, Joe showed face, again from the balcony vlogging everyone waiting downstairs. As you can imagine and will be able to hear in my video, the room was filled with loud screams of excitement. So, a word of warning to you in advance; don't put your volume up too high whilst watching the video!

Seconds later, a door on the left hand side of the room opened as a few people stepped out into the room followed by Joe Sugg with his camera in hand, vlogging us as he entered. I'm extremely excited to watch his Glasgow vlog in hope that I might be able to spot myself. I mean, how cool would that be?! As soon as everyone caught glimpse of Joe, the room erupted in excited screams-what a welcome!

No sooner than Joe was standing behind the screen, the first girl was called up to meet him followed by her friend and then me. I stood beside the screen waiting for my turn and was then waved over by one of the security guards to let me know that it was my turn to meet Joe. So I followed his lead and walked behind the screen where Joe was standing right there in front of me. It all happened pretty quickly as they was a thousand people waiting to meet Joe. I said hello to Joe, got a wee hug and one of the many security guards offered to take a photograph for me which made life so much easier for me as I have the world's shakiest hand thanks to my CRPS. So Joe and I posed for a photo which actually turned out pretty well I have to say and the security guard handed me iPod with an image of Joe and I showing on the screen. I thanked him for doing the honours and of course said thanks to Joe as well. Just as I was heading out to find my Mum, it hit me that I hadn't said goodbye. So quickly I turned round and said goodbye to Joe before making my way back over to Mum. And the moment was over. Obviously, I didn't get to chat with Joe for too long but he came across as very sweet and genuine person.

After my sister, Laurel had met with Joe we made our way out of the ST. Enoch Centre and met back up with my Grandparents. Mum and Laurel popped into Lush in Buchannan Street to pick up a few bits n' bobs whilst I waited outside with my Gran and Grandad trying to conncet to the city Wi-Fi to post up my photo. As I scrolled through my social media accounts I noticed that there was still wristbands left for another meet n greet with Joe and his friend, roommate and fellow YouTuber Caspar Lee in December when they are visiting Glasgow to sign copies of their new DVD "Joe and Caspar Hit The Road". Now, I don't have the world's best sense of direction but I was pretty sure that Argyle Street wasn't too far away and it turns out I was right. After asking my Gran where exactly it was, I realised it was literally just a little further down the path from where we were standing. 'Perfect!' I thought, that would make the perfect Christmas gift for Laurel. So after a bite to eat and a refreshment from Costa, Mum and Laurel popped round to HMV in hope that the wristbands wouldn't have sold out. During this time I sat in Costa with my Grandparents, constantly refreshing the HMV Argyle Street twitter feed keeping up to date with just how many were left. A little while later Mum and Laurel reappeared with the good news that they'd managed to get hold of two tickets/wristbands despite the fact that all of Joe and Caspar's fans were beginning to flock the store after Joe's signing. So we were pretty fortunate I must say! And of course, that's one Christmas gift off the list!

It was absolutely freezing in Glasgow and the sky was filled with icy rain so it was fair to say that we didn't hang around for too long. Instead, we headed back home to my Grandparent's house and tucked into some delicious Chinese takeout before we made our way back home to watch the X Factor on TV. I had a brilliant day and am very excited to meet Joe again and of course meet Caspar for the first time in December, perhaps I might even vlog the occasion again! But in the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this post and the vlog I filmed to go along with it. It is nowhere near perfect but I certainly had a lot of fun creating and will enjoy watching it in future!

 

Life Update: Dreams Do Come True

Hello Lovely People!

How are you all doing? I hope that wherever you live has been blessed with some much needed sunshine. Certainly, where I live we've had a decent amount of sunshine however, it is Scotland after all and unfortunately the rain is never too far away but any sunshine is better than none I suppose! If you've been keeping up to date with my blog posts over the past four or five weeks you'll know it's been a pretty crazy but exciting few weeks for me! So much has happened and to be honest it's went by like a whirlwind! How is it that all the good things in life go by within a blink of an eye?
In just the space of a few weeks some of my biggest dreams have come true. Some of which I've waited years for to actually happen. If I were to go back in time to this time last year and tell myself what the up and coming year would hold; I don't think I'd actually believe it. The strange thing was that I was out and about today when I came across a framed picture of a dream catcher with the words "If you really want to catch you dreams you have to chase them" underneath. It was really appropriate considering everything that's happened during the past little while so of course it came home with me. So from now on, every time I look at that picture up on my bedroom wall, I'll fondly remember all of those precious memories and more importantly that dreams really do come true!
Like I said above, all my dreams that came true during the past couple of months have taken a long time to happen! I've had to overcome a lot of diversity and challenges throughout my entire life but the past four years since my knee surgery has been the toughest of them all. I'm sure at some point I'll write in more depth about all that has happened perhaps in a book (if I can actually make that dream a reality!) or even in this blog and explain in more detail just how difficult it's been. I feel really proud of everything I've overcome and the dreams I've achieved by doing just that. More now than ever, I feel extremely inspired to go out there and make every single one of my dreams come true.
As you'll know my radio dream has become a reality and I owe a lot of thanks every single person that helped me get there! I honestly mean this when I say that I love every single second I spend at the station, live on air hosting my very own show! I get such a buzz from it; I love learning new things, improving my skills and techniques and meeting such lovely people in the process. Having this amazing opportunity means the world to me and I'm cannot begin to express just how grateful I am for being given a chance.
Another of my biggest dreams was to meet Stevie Nicks from the legendary rock band Fleetwood Mac and thanks to an amazing charity named Rays of Sunshine my dream finally came true! I don't think I've ever met anyone quite like Stevie, she is truly a wonderful woman and a huge inspiration to me. Everything she said to me that night; the advice and the encouragement really meant a lot and will inspire me for the rest of my life. A short time after my wish was granted, Rays of Sunshine sent out a press release about my wish to some of the newspapers and the story was published in my town's local newspaper which was pretty exciting! We received the news that it had been printed whilst I was on air at the radio station so Mum and I popped into the supermarket on route home to pick up a copy. I quickly flicked through the pages in the shop to find the article but didn't properly read it until we got back into the car. I remember scanning through the article and having to double take when I noticed that Stevie herself had made a comment! Never in a million years did I expect to read the words "It was truly a pleasure to spend time with Robyn. She is definitely a girl with a plan, and she is not letting this get her down. She may actually save the world. I wrote her story in my journal where it will live on. Rock on Robyn! Love, Stevie Nicks." I was completely and utterly shocked but incredibly touched that Stevie had taken the time out of her day to contribute to the article and say such sweet things about me. Those words mean the absolute world to me and I can't thank Stevie enough for her words of wisdom and encouragement!
I sincerely hope that one day in the not so distant future I will find a way to help Rays of Sunshine for making my dream come true. That evening made such a big impact in my life and without Rays of Sunshine it would never have happened. I am going to have a good brainstorm about what I can do to say Thank-you them for granting my wish and hopefully find a way to help them make other young people's greatest wishes come true!
No doubt, you'll have come across my previous blog posts about my trip to Liverpool and seeing Sir Paul McCartney in concert. I've wanted to visit Liverpool for such a long time anyway, but combining it with another of my greatest wishes to see Paul McCartney in concert was something I'd never have even expected to happen! Liverpool is such a beautiful city and the people who live there couldn't have been friendlier! I instantly felt at home there and cannot wait to go back! Seeing Paul McCartney was for me one of those "pinch me" moments. I'd missed out on seeing him live on a couple occasions so this was as you can imagine an extremely special experience! I know some people would argue otherwise but in my opinion alongside so many others Paul's still go it! To see a gentlemen of his age play for as long as he did and not once show an sign of exhaustion was incredible! The music of course, speaks for itself and to actually hear those legendary songs performed right there in front of me was mind-blowing! I still can't believe I saw Paul live and have promised myself it certainly won't be the last time!
I could quite literally go on forever about the amazing few weeks I've but getting to the long and the short of it is that dreams do come true so never give up trying! If they don't work out for you the first time there's a good reason why it wasn't meant to be. Please just don't give up hope because when it finally does happen it'll be extremely special and completely worth it-I can assure you of that!
I shall love you and leave you for now, so if you haven't already make sure to catch up on all my latest blog posts here at www.thehathippie.blogspot.co.uk and also on my music blog www.jukeboxrhapsody.blogspot.co.uk! I'm planning on compiling a list of ideas for future blog posts to keep me busy over the coming weeks and months so if any of you would like to see me write about something in particular make sure to leave a comment below, on one of my social media accounts or by email through the contact form. Any ideas will of course be greatly appreciated and I'll do my absolute upmost to write about them here on my blog.

Thank-you so much for stopping by! I really appreciate all your love and support! It means the absolute world to me!

Lots of Love & Best Wishes,

Rob (The Hat Hippie) xx

Louise LIVE in Edinburgh

 

I haven't had the opportunity to write about this until now as the past few weeks for me, have been extremely crazy! Thankfully, I've finally had the chance to sit down and write about Louise's event so I do hope you enjoy!

A couple of weeks ago, Saturday 13th June 2015 to be exact I accompanied my younger sister to see Louise LIVE in Edinburgh. As I'm sure you already know, Youtube is an extremely popular platform that young people in particular use on a daily basis. Louise Pentland, known as Sprinkles of Glitter on Youtube has grown to fame by filming beauty, fashion and lifestyle videos and posting them on the internet. Youtubers like Louise are a major influence in the lives of literally thousands of young people all over the world. Being a blogger myself, I find their stories extremely inspiring and encouraging within my own work that I produce for you my lovely readers to enjoy. Seeing just how successful they've become inspires me to work hard as it evidently pays off.

Anyway, a number of weeks ago Louise posted a video on Youtube to announce that she would be going on tour with a show that she has created in order to meet and interact with her fans. My sister was absolutely ecstatic to discover Louise would be visiting Edinburgh during her tour and was absolutely desperate to get hold of tickets. Tickets went on sale literally the very second that the events were announced and we just so happened to be in the car at that very second so guess who had to endure the famous ticket buying stress? That's right, Me! Not only that but I'm pretty sure phone Wi-Fi decides to slow down in urgent situations such as this. Nevertheless I managed to secure to tickets much to my sister's excitement and my relief!

So we arrived at the venue to find a huge queue of teenage girls, all whom were there to see the lovely Louise Pentland. We edged our way into the end of the continuously growing line before being approached by a member of staff who noticed that I was in my wheelchair and said we could wait at the front to avoid people bumping into me once the doors were opened. Stopping for my sister to purchase one of the signed posters they had one sale, we followed the lady to the front of the line and were quickly approached by another member of staff who escorted us through to our seats before the doors were officially opened. Sitting on each seat was an autographed photograph/postcard of Louise for each ticketholder to take home with them, it was such a lovely idea and of course a nice memento of the event.

 

At either side of the stage were big pink metallic balloons with the word "Louise" on the left hand side and "Live" on the adjacent. Above the stage was a screen with a photo of Louise showing. A soundtrack of some today's biggest hits filled the room as everyone settled into their seats and waited for the show to soon begin.

Before long the lights dimmed and Louise's entrance theme which if I remember right was "Sugar" by Maroon 5. Shrieks of excitement filled the room as the lady who inspires so many young people out there, including everyone in that very room walked on stage. And of course it just wouldn't be Louise without her signature catch phrase "Aloha Sprinklerinos!" much to everyone's delight to finally hear in person.

Apparently, last year Louise ran a few trial shows of "The Glitter Experience", now know as "Louise LIVE" in a handful of venues to see if this sort of event would attract her fans. From what I've heard her plan was to make the "Louise LIVE" experience a more intimate and personal one for her fans compared to Amity Fest which she'd also been involved in alongside a number of other Youtube personalities.

The first half of the show which if I remember right was around a hour and consisted of a "Glitter Quiz" and some hilarious stories about Louise's life which quite literally were brought to life thanks to Louise's bubbly personality. Louise divided the room into four or five teams and named each group after an aspect of her life. For example one group was named "The Chummies", after the nickname Zoe Sugg (Zoella) and her (Louise) call each other. Another group was called "The Baby Glitters" in honour of Louise's nickname for her adorable daughter Darcy. From every group Louise picked two volunteers to come up on stage to participate in the "Glitter Quiz". The two volunteers from each team were given an item that makes a noise such as a horn or a triangle (I think) so that every time they thought they had the right answer they could catch Louise's attention. The quiz had a very similar concept to a game show where each team would compete against each other to correctly answer as many questions as they possibly could. All of the questions had some sort of relation to Louise's life, surprisingly I managed to answer a lot of the questions correctly (too bad I wasn't competing in the actual contest!).

After a rather amusing story about Louise's recent experience of suffering from toothache which had everyone in heaps of laughter, (as funny as it happened to be, I'm sure it wasn't a fun experience for Louise at the time!) there was a short intermission to allow everyone to stretch their legs and nip to the bathroom if necessary. During the break a video that Louise made especially for her tour was shown on the screen above the stage to keep us entertained as we patiently waited for the next part of the show to begin.

 

A little while later, the lights once again dimmed and "Uptown Funk" began to play as Louise entered the stage for a second time. In the second half Louise held a Question and Answer session where again, she picked two volunteers from each of the groups to join her on stage and ask her a question. My sister happened to be one of the lucky girls that Louise picked from the audience. I was so excited for my sister as I know just how much the Youtubers inspire her and I know she's been waiting a very long time to actually meet one of them. So Louise, if you ever read this post which I doubt (but you never know!) I just want to say a huge thank-you for making my sister's dream come true! It really meant a lot to her and I know she'll treasure the memories for the rest of her life!

One by one, Louise worked her way down the line of fans that she invited on stage for the Q&A answering each question as she went. I must admit I spent the entire Q&A snapping photos on my Mum's camera to get a decent photo of my sister on stage with Louise. My lovely sister was the last person to ask Louise a question which happened to be "what was your favourite subject at school?". Louise answered with a great story about how English was her favourite subject, although she didn't receive much encouragement or positivity from her teacher. She told the audience about how she'd like to send a copy of her new book "Life With a Sprinkle of Glitter" to her old English teacher to show her that she'd successfully written a book despite her negativity.

I can't remember if it was during the first part of the show or the second as I'm writing this almost two weeks later, but Louise pulled out her phone to film a short video of the audience wishing her friend Marie (Bits n Clips on Youtube) a Happy Birthday. What a sweet idea and of course very exciting that we all got to be a part of it!

 

Next, Louise with the help of yet more members of the audience told us about an imaginary land she'd created to pass time whilst travelling on trains and planes. One of her stage hands lifted a large white board onto the stage which looked rather heavy-poor guy! The audience members who were invited on stage were each handed an envelope with a word printed on a piece of paper hidden inside. The remainder of the audience then picked one of the words which lead Louise to describe it's significance in her imaginary world and where it would be situated on the map that she drew for us on the whiteboard. Even Zoe, Alfie and Joe Sugg as well as a few of the other Youtubers live in her world which made it all the more interesting! It was most definitely a fun idea and reminded me a lot of the imaginary worlds I used to draw pictures of when I was little.

Louise Land

As the show came towards the end, Louise announced that she would hang around in the main entrance area of The Exchange to meet everyone after the show. Literally the second she mentioned this my sister and I gathered all our things together so we could quickly slip out at the end and make our way to the front of the queue to avoid the mad dash. It's pretty scary when theirs an influx of people pushing and shoving above me and I'm sitting below in my wheelchair and they can't see me. Once Louise said her final few words, left stage and the lights came back on, my sister and I made quickly left the room and joined the queue to meet Louise. Much to our delight we were pretty close to the front. Unfortunately, when Louise came out a bunch of girls pushed their way in front us and my wheelchair and followed her down the queue, pushing and shoving  their way through the crowd which was pretty rude. Had I been standing with my crutches I potentially could have been knocked over as my balance isn't so reliable and that would have been disastrous and anyway I'm extremely short so would never even have caught a glimpse. Thankfully, the gentlemen escorting Louise noticed us and asked Louise to come speak to my sister and I which I was so grateful to him for. We didn't want to keep Louise back for very long as she had a VERY long queue of people waiting but we quickly chatted with her and my sister even managed to take a sneaky selfie with Louise. The funny thing for me was that Louise recognised me from somewhere which to be honest was the last thing I expected her to say to me. To my knowledge I've never met her before, well certainly not since she's been famous on Youtube. Perhaps I've maybe crossed paths with her during one of my many visits to London as some point. I must admit I was a little excited about it though!

Louise LIVE was a fun and girly event which I'm so glad I was able to share with my sister. She's been extremely desperate to meet one of her YouTube inspirations for such a long time and I am so pleased it finally happened! Louise is such a lovely lady who evidently is very grateful to her fans for the success they've helped her achieve. I think Louise's idea of making her live events intimate and personal is the perfect avenue to go down, as the time Louise was able to spend conversing with her fans was invaluable. From what I've heard Louise is already planning Louise LIVE events for next year and if she decides to bring her show back to Scotland I know two girls who would definitely try and get hold of tickets!

My Dream of Meeting Stevie Nicks Came True!

 

 As some of you already know one of my biggest dreams was to meet Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac, one of my all-time favourite bands. Around six months ago my Mum applied to a charity named Rays of Sunshine to see if I fitted into one of their categories to have a wish granted. We soon discovered that I was in fact entitled to a wish so my Mum began the process of filling in the paperwork in hope that my wish might actually come true. Once all of the paperwork was submitted we quickly received a response from Rays of Sunshine to say that they would do their upmost to make my dream of meeting Stevie Nicks come true.

Last week, Mum received a phone call from Rays of Sunshine to tell us that they had successfully managed to arrange for me to meet Stevie at the first Fleetwood Mac concert in Glasgow. As you can probably imagine I was beyond excited and time always seems to go slower when you're excited.

Thankfully, Tuesday finally arrived and I was absolutely hyper as well as a little nervous I must admit-this was such a big deal for me! I'd dreamt of meeting Stevie for years and couldn't believe that finally it was going to happen!

We were contacted by a member of Stevie's team that morning to finalise the smaller details and we were told that we could park our car in the backstage car park where the band's private cars would pick them up and drop them off. The tour buses filled with equipment were all parked there too which was pretty cool! A member of the band's security met us there with our backstage passes and escorted in through the backstage door. Directly in front of us was the door leading directly behind the stage and on our left was the staircase to the dressing rooms. There was a door to the kitchens where I could see the caterers busy cooking what I'm sure would be some delicious food!

A member of the Hydro's staff was asked to escort us through to where all the food and merchandise stalls were situated to wait on the doors to the actual arena being opened. As we were making our way through the seated area in the arena we caught a glimpse of Mick Fleetwood hosting his meet n' greet. It was quite unbelievable to see Mick just a few steps away from us as we walked on by, it all felt rather surreal. 

Eventually, everyone was allowed inside to find their seats for the evening. At around quarter past eight the lights dimmed and the band walked on stage to receive a warm reception from the Glasgow crowd. Throughout the duration of the show we (the audience) were treated to a setlist of back to back hits all of which sounded absolutely amazing. I'd have to say my favourite song of the night was "Gold Dust Woman" which was both magical and simply mesmerising. I will hopefully write a review of the show itself for my music blog so keep an eye out for that!

The view from the side of the stage

During the second last song the gentleman who met us on arrival at the venue came and found us with a member of the Hydro's staff. They escorted us right round the arena, zipping in and out of the crowds of people dancing in the isles. It sort of felt like I was a celebrity! Before we knew it we were being ushered behind the barrier to watch the final couple of songs from the side of the stage which was completely unexpected. If you've read any of my concert reviews on my other blog you may have noticed that on a few occasions that I often find myself wondering what it's like from the bands point of view looking out towards the audience. Although I wasn't directly on the stage, my question was finally answered. It was quite a breath-taking sight; a sight that I never thought I'd see for myself. I don't think I realised just how big the Hydro is until I saw it from that exact angle.

At this stage I was beginning to become extremely excited and very nervous, I think being in as close proximity to the band as we were hit home and made realise what was about to happen. The show soon came to an end and the band gathered together at the centre of the stage to take a bow and bid their fans farewell. Before long the stage was empty, the house lights were turned on and quickly, the arena began to empty. We watched as the roadies carefully covered Mick's beautiful drum kit for its performance the following evening here in Glasgow.

It wasn't long before we were met by another member of the band's team who we followed behind the stage, through a door and round a small corner to the elevator. We clambered into the elevator as we chatted with the gentleman who had been appointed to take us upstairs. Seconds later the elevator doors opened to reveal a narrow corridor. On my left I could see a bunch of doors with familiar names printed on signs outside each one. Yes, those were the names of each member of Fleetwood Mac which was pretty cool! On the adjacent wall were framed posters of bands such as Eric Clapton and Prince who have performed in the Hydro since it's opening back in 2013.



A sneaky backstage photo

We waited with a member of staff in the hallway until we got the go-ahead to enter Stevie's dressing room. As we waited a bunch of people came and went from all angles, one of which just so happened to be Mr John McVie, Fleetwood Mac's bass player!

Just a little while later we were called down the corridor to Stevie's dressing room. As they fiddled around with the doors to open them up so I could enter the room in my wheelchair, I caught my first glimpse of Stevie Nicks sitting at her dressing table. I couldn't believe just how close I actually was to her-my heart was absolutely pounding!

Once the doors were opened, we were introduced to Stevie who pulled her chair right up to me so she could talk face to face with me. I have to admit I was a little tongue-tied for the first few minutes or so but thankfully, Stevie was very good at calming me down and quickly made me feel at ease. I'd brought her a little gift and card to say thank-you for taking time out of what I'm sure is a crazy schedule to meet with me. She opened the card right there and then before realising I'd written a rather long letter to which she asked me if I minded she took it back to her hotel as she loved reading letters before going to bed. She then opened the gift we'd given her which was a flower brooch/clip that Mum had handmade for her. She took it over to her dressing table and clipped the flower onto one of the stunning shawls she had hung over mirror. Apparently, she keeps things that are special to her on her dressing table as they bring back memories. So I feel pretty honoured she put it there!

We spent a while quite literally chatting about everything and anything, it seriously didn't feel like I was talking to a world famous singer instead it felt more like I was talking to a friend which was pretty special. Stevie was so genuine and extremely caring towards me which really meant a lot. I really felt like she "got me" in a way that very few people ever has and I'm not just saying that because of who she is; I genuinely mean it! To be honest I sort of forgot who I was talking to, it seriously felt like I'd known her all my life.

After a while, the door opened and I was so engrossed in conversation with Stevie I never even noticed until she said "Mick come in, this is Robyn, I'm making her wish come true" (words to that affect). As I turned round, standing in the door was Mick Fleetwood himself and oh my goodness was he was extremely tall! He shook hands with both my parents and I before pulling a chair over to sit next to Stevie. He spent quite a while chatting to my Dad as Mum and I continued to speak with Stevie.

Stevie's eyes fell upon the tour programme that I'd been clutching in my hands the entire time. "Would you like us to sign that for you?" she asked me motioning towards it. And of course I said yes! I began rummaging through the bag I'd brought to find the CDs and tambourine I'd brought in hope that Stevie would sign it for me. Kindly, they both signed every single item I'd brought with me. To be honest, I'd have been happy to have Stevie sign just one item but she happily worked her through my pile handing each item to Mick who also signed them for me.

Next, one of Stevie's team (I think it might have been her assistant but I'm not 100% sure) asked us if we'd like her to take a photo of us all with Mick and Stevie which of course was an offer we really couldn't refuse! After having a group photo Mick bid us all farewell shaking our hands as he did. Stevie and I had a couple of photo taken together where Stevie wrapped her arms right round me giving me what felt like the world's biggest hug. It was such a sweet moment! One of her best friends, Mary who I'd seen in photographs with Stevie when they were younger had been hanging about in the background so we asked her to come over and pose for a photo of her, Stevie and I together. It was such a cute photograph by the way! 

It was getting close to midnight and Stevie's car was waiting on her-although it seemed like she'd happily have chatted with me for a while longer, so we decided it would probably be a good time to make our way back home. We gathered up our stuff and said goodbye to Stevie who gave me a hug and blew me a kiss as we left with security leading the way to the elevator. We walked past Stevie's fancy car which was waiting to take her to her hotel and made our way to ours after thanking everyone for taking such good care of us. I was absolutely hyper the entire journey home and didn't get much sleep as I was far too excited!

It was an incredible night and I still can't quite believe it actually happened! A huge thank-you to the amazing charity Rays of Sunshine who worked tirelessly to make my dream come true! I can't begin describe just how much this meant to me! If you want to find out more about the amazing wishes Rays of Sunshine have granted in past or you'd like to make a donation to help make another young persons dream come true please click here.

I also want to say a huge thank-you to my Mum for taking the time and nominating me to have my wish granted. Thank-you so much to my best friend, Heather who is like a big sister to me for kindly signing some of the paperwork in order to make this happen. Finally, a big thank-you to Stevie and her team for being so sweet and making my night so special! I will cherish the memories you gave me for the rest of my life!

 

 

My Experience Meeting Richie Sambora & Orianthi Panagaris

Last July I had the opportunity to meet Richie Sambora, former guitarist of the world famous rock band Bon Jovi and Orianthi Panagaris who has played guitar alongside some of the biggest names in the music industry including Michael Jackson, Prince and Alice Cooper. I've been a big fan of Orianthi ever since I first saw her in Michael Jackson's This Is It film when I was just eleven years old. Watching Orianthi play guitar alongside one of my all-time favourite singers Michael Jackson was what inspired me to learn guitar. I was completely mesmerised watching her perform and wanted to one day play guitar with the skill and talent that she has!

Orianthi & I

Around this time last year, I heard that Orianthi would be joining Richie Sambora on his tour of the UK and Europe. The best part was that the final show of the tour would take place here in Scotland! I'd previously seen Orianthi perform live with Alice Cooper and was extremely hyper that I might actually get to see her live in concert for the second time! I was also extremely delighted about the prospect of seeing Richie Sambora in concert as I've always loved Bon Jovi-who doesn't?! For me, it was one of those win-win situations.

One of my biggest dreams was to one day meet Orianthi. With this in mind my lovely Mum managed to get in contact with a member of her team who kindly arranged for me to meet with Orianthi prior to the show in Glasgow! I cannot begin to describe just how excited I was!

On the day of the show my Dad and I were also invited to watch Richie and Ori's pre-show sound check. By the time we arrived at the venue that day there was a huge queue of people also attending the concert spanning right up the street. As we walked past them, I could feel the infectious buzz coming from those waiting. 

After letting the appropriate people know that we'd arrived, we were then escorted inside to watch the sound check. I'm extremely interested in what goes behind the scenes at events such as concerts and loved every second of it watching all of the comings and goings happening around me. Instruments were being tuned, the merchandise stall was in the process of being set up and the lighting was being adjusted. So much work goes on behind the scenes to make each show run smoothly and to the perfection that we the audience see. We're all unaware of just how much time, hard work and effort each member of the crew puts into every show. Without them there would be no show! From spending such a short period of time in that environment it was evident that both the crew as well as the band are extremely close. I can only imagine that whilst on tour everyone becomes like an extended family.

After a short wait both Richie and Ori arrived at the venue in time for sound check. They appeared on stage from the darkened wings and began to set up their guitars with the help of the guitar techs. Once organised, Orianthi looked in my direction and waved! It was one of those exciting moments in life where it all seemed like a dream. Even if I hadn't actually met her, having Orianthi wave in my direction would have made my night!

Watching sound check was such a cool experience-it was like having your own private concert! During sound check they performed a bunch of songs by some of the biggest names in the music industry. I can't remember the exact list of songs they performed however, I'm pretty sure it included numbers from artists such as Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder and The Beatles.

We were then taken backstage towards the end of the band's sound check. As you can probably imagine at this exact moment I was rather excited! I'd wanted to meet Ori for years and the moment was finally going to happen!!!!

We waited in the hallway outside of the dressing rooms whilst Ori got ready for the show. I'd never properly been backstage before, so I really enjoyed soaking everything in. For whatever reason I had always imagined backstage areas to be quite glamorous (I have no idea why to be honest!). However, it wasn't at all what I expected. I liked it though, there was a nice buzz about the place.

After waiting for a few minutes, a small crowd of people appeared at the other end of the hall. It took a few moments for my brain to click and for me to realise that there, at the other side of the corridor was Richie Sambora himself! He immediately came right over to me and started chatting. Richie was such a lovely, genuine and down to earth type of guy! He certainly wasn't one of those rockstars/celebrities that couldn't care less about their fans. I wish I could tell you more of what he said but I had one those star struck moments-typical me!

I had my photo taken with Richie but didn't realise until later on that our camera had decided to play up and didn't save the photograph which was frustrating-but at least I have the memory! Before bidding us farewell and heading to his dressing room, Richie gave me a big hug and shook hands with my Dad! What a special moment!

Before long one of the dressing room doors opened and out came Orianthi! Both Dad and I shook hands with her and she then gave me a big hug! Ori was seriously one of the loveliest people I've met! I felt at ease chatting with her, which was lovely as I really got to enjoy the time I spent with her. It wasn't one of those moments that I had gotten so hyped up about, my mind went blank and then all seemed liked a blur afterwards. Instead, I can replay the moment in my head, recalling every detail and remembering the exact conversation.

I really admire Orianthi's sense of style and one of the first things I really noticed was her outfit which you'll be able to get a glimpse of in the photo I have added to this post. She was even wearing one of her famous hats that I'd admired in so many of her photographs posted on Instagram. But before I could even mentioned how much I love her style, she complimented my outfit and hat!

I chatted with Orianthi about her time touring with Alice Cooper, I'd seen them live in Edinburgh almost two years before. She told me about one of their shows (which funnily enough I happened to have watched footage of on YouTube) where during School's Out, Alice and the rest of the guys in the band all appeared wearing blonde wigs similar to Ori's hair. It was interesting to hear her account of what happened, as I often watch concert videos and wonder what it's like from the musician's point of view.

Orianthi even told me about some of the new musical projects she'd been working on such as recording at the legendary Abbey Road Studios and her greatest hits album which at the time was just weeks away from being released in Japan. She also told me a little bit about the new album that both her and Richie are currently working on, which of course I can't wait to hear as it sounds like it'll be right up my street!

I brought along my copies of Orianthi's albums in hope that she would sign them for me. Kindly obliging, she turned to me and thanked me for supporting her work and purchasing her albums. Meeting someone who I really admire and having them thank me for my support really meant a lot! It's lovely to hear directly from the artist that they appreciate their fans support. Before making our way to our seats to watch the show, I then had my photograph taken with Ori. Fortunately, the camera decided to cooperate this time-phew!
This just so happened to be the final show of Richie's tour of the UK and Europe and it was great end to the tour I must say! Richie played a range of songs from his time as a member of Bon Jovi and also performed material from his solo albums. Together, they even performed a song named "You Don't Wanna know" which featured as one of the tracks on Orianthi's latest album "Heaven In This Hell". As you can imagine there was some amazing guitar solos which of course I could happily sit there and listen to for days without end. And of course, I can't forget the amazing Glasgow audience who love to have a good time!

At the end of the show one of the roadies came and found me with a Richie's copy of the show's set list that he had on stage with him for me to keep. I've never had the opportunity to stand at the front of the stage at a concert before because of my health. Due to that I've never had the opportunity to catch a plectrum from the band or a copy of the set list. As you can imagine I have and will continue to treasure the set list and plectrums I received that evening as memento from the amazing night that I had.

I highly doubt that Richie, Ori or any or their wonderful team will ever come across this post but if they do, I just wanted to say a huge thank-you to each and everyone of them for making my dream come true! They were all so sweet and kind and really made me feel special! I also owe a huge thank you to my amazing Mum as without her this would never have happened!