Firstly I have to say my head does hurt a little. I'm not trying to get your sympathy
but just a little understanding if this does not all make complete sense and if
my spelling is worse than usual. I left the party at about 2:00 AM but it was still
going strong at 3:00 AM when I eventually went to bed so I'm fairly sure I'm going
to see a number of people that look a lot worse than me today (Sunday).
We spent the first half of the day
taking a look at the local facilities within and near the site including the harbour
and the beach. It really is an improvement over Butlins although the two meals we've
had have been dissapointing. The Butlins style 'school dinner' approach went down
really well with us last year but this time they seem to be going for more elaborate
food with more choice but don't manage to pull it off. But that said I'm not fussy
about food just so long as there is some.
There was lots to do that was official too. The Marillion Quiz was well attended,
I don't count myself as a Marillion expert to the level that would be necessary
to enter this quiz. I think the level of knowledge required to get a winning score
at this would be about the same as if you'd chosen Marillion as your specialist
subject in Mastermind.
This years signing session was by invitation only which I suppose means they can
keep the numbers down to a sensible size so that the band can have a life too. I
believe last years signing session took up the complete day, this time it was scheduled
to be around 3 hours and was held in the sports hall where we had checked in on
the first day.
I'm afraid I did not have time between photographing the museum
(thanks Andy), Jason Hart, Steve Thorne, an impromtu gathering of talented fans
out in the town square, and my needing some dinner before the main show to be able
to listen to all the acts at the level they deserved but they were all well attended.
Some of you may recognise the members of the 'talented fans' the singer is the lead
out of Lords of the Backstage who had played during the pre convention party in
Zoetermeer.
A Day's Work were due on stage at 8:00 according to the
schedule but once again I must have missed the announcement that they were starting
early but only by a few minutes. They went down really well with everyone that I
met. Clearly they were enjoying the attention.
The set list for Marillion was rarities and covers. The band were
joined in 'conventional convention' style by some more tallented fans. This time
a man with a bad leg and a woman with an incredible voice. In my current condition
I'm recollecting that the man with the bad leg was a German called Ulf and had hurt
himself playing football. He sang Deserve and played Harmonica too. The woman with
an incredible voice was called Liz and sang Sympathy superbly (so much so that H
announced she was being evicted from the site).
We had another couple of guests, Asad and Olivia, who had a serious
message about removing landmines in Cambodia. They are involved in a project to
raise awareness and to fund the kids affected by landmines through college, if you
have a moment please take a look at their site.
Then they had a happier announcement, on stage and in front of three thousand people
Asad proposed to Olivia and Olivia accepted and we could all breath again. Later
we had a guest appearance by a realy ugly woman singing Money, Money, Money. And
then balloons, huge balloons filled with confetti bouncing around over the audience
and the stage.
Then it was back to the Adventure Factory for
the Fabulous WannaBeatles. They were very impressive, I could tell the accents were
a little put on but I really did not realise that they were Dutch. They performed
a two hour set but with a break in the middle. During the second half they were
joined by H for Helter Skelter. The final song was supposed to have been Hey Jude
but as the audience completely refused to stop singing they came back and joined
in with the audience and managed to wind us down.
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