Darren Hayes - NYE 2011 review – Call it a Love Hangover

I guess I should start at the beginning…

I left the most wonderful Nottingham sky behind and headed off to the station.



I wasn't hungry so I painted my nails before I got on the train and then I was starving and they weren’t dry yet. Blonde moment number 1. The train journey to Manchester was eventful in itself; I ended up surrounded by three drunks, which was fine until one of them missed my white coat with Guinness by a whisker. I wouldn’t have been impressed. The drunk met his match when he asked a toddler running around to give him a high five and the toddler punched him in the arm, that was funny.

We got the party started at Hils house with pizza and my friend vodka and coke. I have a rule where I don’t drink at gigs because I want to savour every single second and remember it in the morning. But tonight wasn’t a gig, it was a party, and a few wouldn’t hurt. I had forgotten about that glass of champers, the Take That on the TV, and me going mental to the wombats ‘techno fan’ that was on the TV somehow. good times…. Suffice to say I was positively tipsy on vodka and excitement when we left for the venue. Good times to be had.



After Kelly and I were done taking pictures in the taxi and the driver found the venue (basically because I finally remembered what it looked like) we joined the queue. So far so good, the queue was still long but it was all ok. I remember jumping up and down on the spot at one point. TOO excited. I was so freaky happy in that moment. Then it started to rain, so we abandoned the queue for the pub next door, as you do. Well, one more wouldn’t hurt would it, I’d be fine if I didn’t drink during the gig ;). So after another two double vodka and coke (and the words ‘f**k it you only live once’ being uttered from my mouth) we headed back to the venue. No queue wahoo.

The first thing I done was make a bee-line for the merch stand. Thank you MiaB, you done a wonderful job. After getting some merch and an adorable hug from Chris (chris_norway) I joined the massive cloakroom queue. I did tweet you chris to tell you I’d lost you but I’d managed to tweet Christine instead of you and not noticed LOL sorry! I think Call your girlfriend by Robyn might have been playing after we escaped the cloakroom queue, not sure.

The candle thieves.

After just the one more drink (which I actually don’t remember buying) It wasn’t long before the candle thieves were on and I was declaring how much I loved the lead singer Scott’s voice. I’ve got to be honest, I’ve never really followed them too closely but I remember a long while ago seeing a link on twitter to a video of a song called ‘we’re all gonna die, have fun’ and it struck a chord with me. ‘I know the sun is gonna get through, just gotta let it reach you’. Never a truer word said. I bought their album in mid 2010 but never really got round to giving it a proper listen, I really must soon. They did not disappoint. I can’t remember the set list but I’m sure ‘breathing just for you’ was in there as I adore that song too, and I’m pretty sure the last song was the one that’s featured on pledge music called peggy. Oh and there was a giant inflatable shark on the stage. Random.





The half an hour between the candle thieves and Darren seemed to fly by. Gotta be honest, don’t really remember a lot of that half an hour. I apologise now to anyone who was suffering from my singing. There were some great tunes being played:
Amii Stewart - knock on wood
ABBA - gimme gimme gimme
The Jacksons - can you feel it



Soon it was ‘Oh my love’ from The Drive soundtrack and on came Darren. He was dressed in the most fabulous black blazer with a sparkly lapel and black sequined heart on the back.

Set List:
1. Step into the Light
2. I Like the Way
3. Strange Relationship
4. To The Moon And Back
5. Black out The Sun
6. Billie Jean / Break Me
7. Like It or Not
8. Animal Song
9. Casey
10. California
11. You Can Still Be Free
12. Ocean
13. Stupid Mistake
14. Darkness / When Doves cry Mix
15. Bloodstained Heart
16. Talk Talk Talk Penguin Prison Remix
17. Insatiable / Rhythm Is A Dancer
18. So Beautiful
19. Bros / Popular/Vogue
*Encore*
20. I Knew I Loved You
21. Sirens Call
*Midnight Countdown*
Truly Madly Deeply Acapella
Affirmation Acapella
Affirmation Acoustic





1. Step into the light

It took me a few bars to work out what this song was. I’ve been so caught up in secret codes lately I almost forgot about this song’s existence. It worked perfectly as an opener. It’s a dance track. It gets everyone up for a party.





















2. I like the way

Wow. I’ve seen this song a few times, with a few different arrangements, and correct me if I’m wrong; I think this was pretty much the dark/light version. WOW. I’ve always had a soft spot for this song, for a long time after dark/light it was my party track. Strange song to be a party track I know but it strikes a chord with me.





















3. Strange relationship

This song was a surreal moment. I remember Anna and I getting really excited. This song immediately transported me back to that very first night I seen Darren on Dark/light more than seven years ago. In an instant it was like those seven years had never happened and there was just Darren and this song again. It will always be special to me because it was the reason I bought spin. I was so in love with this song when it was released. I’m still in love with it today. ‘do you love me?’ YESSSS. Darren was waving his arm from side to side and I looked around and it was amazing to see the whole room doing it too.


Ooh Darren’s on the move again, ooh I’ve lost him, ooh there he is (oh no wait that’s the light) LOL:











































4. To The Moon And Back

Another party track. The audience always laps this song up. It’s always a real moment between Darren and the crowd. It’s like a deal being entered into that sets the tone for he rest of the show. Of course the deal is too PARTY. I spoke to Ashwin after the show and the first thing he asked me was ‘what did you think of my song?’ LOL.
































5. Black out the sun

This song got me pretty emotional. I was really listening to those words, really taking it all in. Darren’s voice sounded INCREDIBLE. Absolutely incredible. It would be fair to say I was blown away. It’s that bit between 3:04 and 3:16 mins, it gets me every time, such emotion and power and beauty in Darren’s voice right then.

6. billie jean / break me

I love this mash up, it works perfectly. So much fun. Darren was definitely really enjoying singing this one.




















7. Like it or not

Darren walked down the catwalk, then said he’d ‘only ever sung this song once before’ then a song I couldn’t quite place started. I remember thinking I know this, I know it. The moment the penny finally dropped I wont ever forget.

OMG OMG OMG. Just WOW. I’ve waited almost a decade for this moment. Thank you Anna for the reassuring hug, I needed that hug right then. It meant so much to have Kelly stood beside me. She loves that song just as much as I do and we shared it together.

It reminded me of the demo, stripped back a bit, the guitar the focus, and it was just heaven on earth. I’m pretty sure I was away visiting another planet for those 5 minutes. There is so much I could say about this song. thank you, thank you, thank you, Darren. It’s safe to say I was stunned and lost for words.

Let me tell you why this song means so much to me:
I remember as if it was yesterday buying spin. I was in need of joy in my life and was in need of some words of wisdom. That album spoke to me like no other album had done before. Good enough could have been written about how I was feeling right then. Like it or not has always been one of my favourite ever songs because I get this sheer happiness when I listen to that song every single time, even nearly a decade later. I still get the biggest grin, my heart still feels full and I am truly in awe of the joy it brings me. It’s one of a handful of songs by any artist that connects to my soul. To me it’s always had the most beautiful sound, it adore it’s vibe. It’s been a dream of mine to hear Darren sing this song for the longest time, seeing him singing it was like coming full circle. That song was what literally brought me to darrenhayes.com and it’s why I’m here writing this blog and it’s the reason for all the other moments in between.
‘Mine is a restless heart, don’t try to fix it’.



8. Animal song

I remember being about 12 and hearing this song on the radio and it never truly clicked with me. Fast forward to tonight and it was the most fun I’ve ever had with this song. It’s taken since 1999 for it to make sense to me and then it did. I found that connection. That light bulb moment. I impressed myself that I was actually clapping in time too LOL. I was dancing like my life depended on it to the ‘I wanna live, I wanna live’ bit and then I waved at Darren and I saw that I’d caught his eye. This song was a really special moment in the set.



9. Casey

I hadn’t expected this song. It sounded beautiful. Darren changed the lyric to ‘I'm not gonna cry’ and I looked around and people were crying. This is one of the most powerful, emotional songs ever written. It was gorgeous. I love the conviction that Darren always sings it with. ]

































































Banter before California.

Darren walked down the catwalk, remarked that he was impressed that his band had followed him as they didn’t know he was gonna do that and then joked that Kenny and pete were “over there in the nether *pauses* not the nether regions, the nether lands”. Darren dished Owen right up to the audience making a point of saying he didn’t have a girlfriend and was single LOL.

Then Darren joked “I would love a cup of tea, I reckon I employ at least 3 people who could get that for me”.

This could be one of my favourite ever pictures I’ve ever taken of Darren and I don’t even remember taking it:


Darren asked: “who voted for the set list? *lots of people screamed* I've already done 2 of the 5 *loads of cheers* this song was written about the same person tension and the spark was written about, basically an arsehole”.


10. California.

When I realised it was California, OMG. It sounded beautiful. It choked me. I didn’t cry but I was choked. I remember when this song was released. I thought I had everything all worked out and it turned out that this song was my joy in a dark time in my life. It still makes me emotional to play it. Hearing it live was just INCREDIBLE. A thousand times better than the studio version and a million times more powerful. WOW. It sounded heavenly. Darren poured his absolute heart and soul into this song. I’m so glad this one made it; it was one of my favourite moments of the show. ‘I know you should never look back’. At the end Darren said ‘thank you for making me sing this song’.



11. You can still be free

Darren said he hadn’t sung this next song live since the affirmation world tour in 2000. We were all trying to guess what it was. I hadn’t guessed it was gonna be this song. I wasn’t expecting the emotion poured in Darren’s voice and the emotion in that room right then. I hadn’t realised how incredibly powerful this song was until my life hit a bump a few years ago and a dear friend quoted a lyric from it at me. Then it all made sense. I understood its power. And I looked around me and there were more people in tears. It sounded incredible, Darren’s vocal was flawless. Gorgeous vocal from Alice as well. Absolutely beautiful. You could have heard a pin drop in that room. ‘You’re free to fly tonight’ <3.




















12. Ocean

There were moments when we were like ‘what are these opening notes, where is D going with this’, because they are songs we’ve never heard live before. This was another one of those moments. When I realised it was ocean I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. This was my night made. If I could have had three songs to vote for instead of one they would have been like it or not, California and ocean. I can’t believe we got all three. By now you will realise that I believe Rick Nowels is a total genius. It sounded gorgeous. Ocean has always been an emotional song for me; I’ve always had a huge connection to it. It was wonderful to see it being sung live.



13. Stupid mistake

It was really strange at first just the song without the theatrics from the secret tour. But it worked well. It seems to be a song the audience really loves and really gets. I loved the lighting set up. There was something symbolic about the red backdrop and the streams of yellow lights beaming from it. The light.
































14. Darkness / When Doves Cry Mix

So pleased this song was in the set. There goes my teleport back to dark/light again. There was a moment when I choked back my emotion, because that song will always be raw to me: ‘you discover that the monster you were running from is the monster in you’. That lyric was a real wake up call for me all those years ago, and it still hits the same nerve today. I love the prince mash up too. Works so well.


























15. Bloodstained heart

Wow. Just wow. It was like I was off somewhere else again. I remember standing there listening to a flawless vocal and that is about all I remember. I remember Darren holding his arms up to the audience to make us sing at the end and it sounded beautiful.














































16. Talk Talk Talk (Penguin Prison Remix).

A quick outfit change and Darren was back. This time in a white jacket with black lapels. This dance beat started that I didn’t recognise as Darren’s. Then I realised it was a remix. It was SO MUCH FUN and it sounded amazing. I loved this version so much.



17. Insatiable / rhythm is a dancer

You have no idea how exited I was when the melody from rhythm is a dancer started. It’s been one of my favourite songs for so long. And I waited right until the end of the song to hear Darren sing a few lines from it. My night was made all over again.



18. So beautiful (beautiful mix)

This song was one of the first songs I ever bought on my first laptop in winter of 2005. I have always adored this remix so much. I was so excited. It’s such a dance tune. I had so much fun with this song.



19. bros / popular/vogue

This was the most random mash up ever. Popular sung to the tune of bros ‘when will I be famous’ with that famous Madonna vogue rap thrown in. GENIUS. It doesn’t get much more tongue in cheek than this.

*encore*

Darren came out for the encore and spoke to the audience. He said “my wish for you for 2012 is more love. *someone shouted I love you* I love you more. my life can be summed up into moments some just 10 seconds long, as I've grown older I've realised there is a line between happiness and joy and you give me so much joy. I wish you love for next year”. I got very emotional listening to Darren say that. He brings me such much joy by the bucket load and for that I can never ever thank him enough.

20. I knew I loved you

wow just wow. I didn’t really think that this would be in the set list. It’s a beautiful song, so full of emotion and it’s got the most amazing melody. I could see the emotion in Darren’s eyes, he sang on valiantly. Then he stopped singing, overcome with emotion. There was so much love in that room. Our love for him, his love for us, everyone’s love for the song. We sang our hearts out and then Darren said ‘one more time when I can sing it’ and he went to sing but decided to explain instead. He said ‘when I wrote the song I wasn’t in love at all, I was heartbroken… I knew I would meet the person I was singing about one day and I feel like that about Richard’ and with that Darren sang his heart out again. I looked around and people were crying again. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many tears shed at a Darren Hayes show. It was THAT kind of show. Beautiful. Emotional. So heartfelt.













21. Sirens call

I remember thinking ‘Darren is trying to kill me with emotion’. I was emotional at I knew I loved you and then came a song that has meant so much to me since day one. WOW. I adore this song so so much. I have to most powerful connection to it and it was amazing. This song gives me the same feeling of joy that like or not does, it connects to my soul too. Darren changed the lyric to ‘I feel the wind against my skin’ and then he rubbed his hand around his neck like someone choking him. That choked me too. You could see in that moment how happy and emotional Darren was and how much he could feel that love radiating from us towards the stage. He sang his heart out. It was amazing to watch.














Darren said he loved the candle thieves and wanted to thank them and said ‘ if you wanted to support their song writing, if you were so inclined you could google ‘candle thieves pledge music’ and donate to them so they could continue to write songs’. Darren wished us happy new year and then said he would be back at midnight for the countdown.



*midnight countdown*

Darren came back with his clock and joked ‘in case you couldn't tell from the show tonight I'm a control freak. I don't want none of you bitches telling me what time it is, this is coming from SPACE’.

Darren introduced the DJ Tom Knight and said a lot of the songs he had begged him for months to play then joked he was gonna party like it was 2012. I was so excited when Darren said ‘I might even sing another song for you’.

Darren said that this year had been the happiest and hardest year. He said that the only NYE’s he likes are the ones he spends with us. Then we counted down to midnight and Darren wished us happy New Year.


We done the countdown then Darren joked that he had lost his musical director so he was gonna sing acapella for us. He joked: “if I wasn't so charismatic I would be dying…” HAHA.



The impromptu acapella/acoustic set.

Darren said he was gonna sing a song acapella. This was a moment I’d waited for since 2006 when everyone came back from the big night in London show and said how incredible it is to see Darren sing acapella. Darren joked ‘I need a poll, not that kind of pole’. LOL. Everyone was shouting different songs and Darren gave us the option of about five that were mentioned, I wanted to shout Dublin sky but I knew one voice wouldn’t make a difference.


Truly Madly Deeply acapella.

It was decided that it was gonna be truly madly deeply and Darren sung so beautifully. It’s one of the few times I’ve ever seen Darren sing where I’ve physically started to shake. My legs were trembling. The last time I remember was Siren’s call in Liverpool and before that Casey the first night it was sung in soho. I loved how we sang along with Darren then we ‘forced him to do the high bit’. It sounded heavenly. Darren joked about it being an extra £3 pounds worth of value.




Affirmation acapella.

Darren was messing around and said ‘I know I look good, and I know you like to look at me looking GOOOD’. I giggled so much. A woman shouted ‘will you have sex with my boyfriend’ and Darren as quick as lighting joked ”no I won't have a vasectomy for your boyfriend, we will not do that”. The guitar still wasn’t working but everyone kept shouting affirmation. Darren joked “thanks for voting unanimously for savage garden songs and making me feel SO GOOD about my solo career”. Darren said he wasn’t sure a rock song wouldn’t work acapella but began to sing it anyway. It was amazing. Then he stopped and declared the guitar was back ‘thank Jesus’. By now it had gone up to £4 of value LOL.




Affirmation acoustic.

Darren sung the most beautiful acoustic affirmation. I LOVED the way he sung ‘the grass is no more greener, green—er---eee---er’. Beautiful. Darren sung the line ‘I believe you can’t control or choose your sexuality’ and then just said ‘well durr it’s kinda obvious’. I chuckled. Then he sang the line ‘I believe that trust is more important than monogamy’ and said ‘I actually don’t believe that anymore, now that I’m married if Richard ever cheats on me I’ll cut them off’. The whole place erupted into cheers and screams and laughter. It was one of my favourite moments of the night. Steve restarted the song but Darren and steve had got their wires crossed as to where they were starting from and Darren started to make the words up when it went wrong. It was so funny. “I believe that something happens here and Steve just went to the bridge. Now he's inventing chords and my career hangs in a very thin thread “. Hilarious. Just Wonderful.




DJ set.

After Darren’s set it was time to resume drinking, dancing, hugging and chatting to people.

These are the songs I can remember being played, they are many missing and any more additions would be welcome:

We Found Love – Rihanna
Dancing on my own – Robyn
There was a few remixes of Darren’s songs – one was Me, Myself and I, the other I think was step into the light, don’t quote me on that.
Teenage Dream - Katy Perry
Something is telling me Maroon 5’s Moves like Jagger was in there. Not sure.
Kiss - Prince
You got the love- Source
Dynamite - taio cruz
Out of touch – (think it was the uniting nations cover)
Into the groove - Madonna
Show Me Love - Robin S
Paris is burning - ladyhawke
Without you - David Guetta
When we're together - morjac, Fred falke

I remember at one point declaring ‘I f**king love this song’ before dancing and singing like a loon to Rihanna’s ‘we found love’ with Anna and Hils. So much fun, love that song. It will always have special memories of the secret tour. I also remember Anna and I bouncing around to Robyn’s dancing on my own. I LOVE that song.


There was some epic tunes being played, we mainly just met peeps, hugged, danced, laughed and drank our way into the early hours of the New Year when we left at 3am. One of the best nights of my life and suffice to say the latter hour or so I don’t really remember much of LOL.

There were also a few casualties. Kelly’s phone met its demise down the toilet bowl (that’s the second time now) “all I seen was my cat’s face flicker and then it turned off” LMAO... and poor lou hit her face the next morning. You will be pleased to know although the phone has died, lou is ok :).


Thank you to everyone to took the time to say hello or spent time chatting / dancing and / or hugging:

Chris (chris_norway), It was wonderful to hang out with you for a minute or two when I finally found you after I’d lost you earlier, so great to get another hug. There are people from this fan base that I don’t know in person but they mean so much to me and it was amazing to thank you in person for being a part of the journey of secret codes and battleships with me from day 1. I Love our connection. It was wonderful to have that moment with you. You give great hugs. I wish I could have spent so much longer talking to you.

Claudia, you give the best hugs and you are just beautiful inside and out. You kind words mean so much. Thank you so much for the present, so unexpected but it meant so much.


Holly it was so lovely to speak to you briefly. Always a pleasure.

Christine, rich and Adam, too much fun to be had. Rich you crack me up; the dirty dancing was so funny. love you.










Ashwin, you are a JOKER. But it’s ok, love you.

Darcy thank you listening to me talk rubbish, honestly have no clue what I said to you, apart from I remember dancing to taio cruz ‘dynamite’ like my life depended on it.

Mike you are also a joker, tooooo funny.

To those who are much loved by me but weren’t there, Ade, charles, Natalie, linzi, we missed you!

To those I spoke to briefly, chris (splintered), Pete, Clair, the two lovely aussie ladies, Alex, Alli, Gemna, Tracy, Joyce, Val and Adam, Sandra, Sheryl, Suzz it was great to say hi. I hope I haven’t missed anyone.

Finally to my girlies, Kelly, Anna, Hilary, Lou and Clare. Thank you girls for being the best friends and best company this girl could wish for. Here is to many more adventures in 2012. You girls mean the world to me.




Meeting Darren.

About 1am I headed off to the bar for another drink and bumped into Steve in the doorway. It became apparent soon why Steve was there, there was a swarm of people following Darren trying to get through. I stayed at the back of it just seeing what was going on, a rather rude male fan who was much bigger and taller than me elbowed me right in the chest to try and get an inch closer, when I said ‘there was no need to push’ he declared he wasn’t but the girl beside me said he’d done it to her too. It makes me sad that a minority of people have to be like that. Darren didn’t stay beside the sound desk long before he headed back upstairs, I can’t really blame him.

I carried on my night, having a few drinks, dancing the night away and then about 2am saw Darren standing on the stage with the DJ watching what he was doing. Then Darren headed down to the front of the other side of the catwalk. We contemplated if it was worth going over to try and say hi. All I wanted to do was say thank you for like it or not, that song is one of my biggest inspirations and I wanted to thank Darren in person for singing it. In the end we went over and there was a lot of people there and we weren’t sure which way Darren was gonna go.



We joined the end of the barrier and hoped. Darren was standing on the step of the barrier (where the bouncers would normally stand to pull people from the crowd) taking pics and signing stuff, and doing a little dance to a ‘Me, Myself and I’ remix that was playing. It was so funny seeing him dancing to his own song. When I saw he was coming along towards us I was excited. It was gone 2am and I was pretty drunk but I went into autopilot. It’s the first time I’ve ever spoke to Darren with the words with which I had intended. So proud of me LOL. He gave me a hug and I said ‘thank you so much for singing like it or not’ and he said ‘I love this song’ and I asked him to sign my ticket and then he signed kelly’s.



I was bowled over by the time Darren had given his fans. He was beautiful to every single person in that line. And he’d finally worked out how not to get quashed by staying behind the barrier of the catwalk. Sadly the same couldn’t be said for Kelly and I, people refused to move to let us out once we’d had a moment with him and wanted someone else to have their turn.

Thank you so much Darren for being an absolute diamond to Kelly and I. it meant so much to just for a second get to say thank you. You are adorable. To walk away knowing that I had said thank you was the best feeling. And thank you doesn’t seem nearly enough for the joy you bring to my life.


We headed back to our spot we had designated our dancing spot that we always returned to if we got separated and I was so glad to see anna got a pic with D. I was pretty drunk at that point, at some point Darcy came over and started chatting, I remember us Dancing to prince, source, taio cruz, Madonna, it was good times. Darcy has been one of my biggest inspirations and it was lovely to hang out with her for a while. There was a moment I was stood beside Darcy and I thought ‘this is mad, we are from different sides of the Atlantic but we are here for the one purpose’. And that purpose was joy. I’m sorry Darcy if I talked your ear off I have no idea what I rambled on about LOL. We noticed Darren was coming around the catwalk so we went over to see if Darcy to get to say hi to Darren. She asked me to take her pic, sadly for Darcy, Darren had to go before he got to us but I’m so pleased Lou got her pic. It will happen Darcy and next time the photographer you ask might not be drunk. I dread to think what your picture would have looked like had it of happened LOL.

We saw Mike and Maaike and the end and Mike had taken one of the pieces of paper that said ‘private’ off the barrier to the sound desk and stuck it on Hilary. Then he stuck it on me, and then I took it home and posed with it in the taxi. OH DEAR.

Thanks Steve for saying a quick hello at the bar and wishing Kelly and I happy new year.


Going home.

We hailed a taxi and I impressed Lou by being able to tell the taxi driver where Hilary lived. We got back to Hilary’s and I’ve gotta be honest that 1/2 hour I don’t remember a lot of. I remember laying on Hilary’s floor with the aforementioned private sign refusing to get up, and then looking for my salt n shake crisps, losing the salt, finding the salt and collapsing into bed. I was one very happy girlie.

I don’t regret breaking my no drinking rule for a single minute. I’m glad we all let our hair down, drank, were merry and danced the night away. Thank you so much to Darren and his wonderful team who made it possible. The set list was incredible. Even reading it back now it seems unreal. And that isn’t that the vodka clouded my memory, just that’s the awe I get from a really good show, I walk away and find it hard to comprehend it happened and I was there. I remember having the time of my life. Just one big blur of joy, hope, love and hugs and everything else in between. Right then there was nowhere else I'd have rather be. I was drunk on vodka with my girlies and loving it. We girls live all over the UK so when we get together we really go for it. I love NYE with Darren because it’s people from all over the world who arrive and you get to hang out with after the show, it’s a party not a gig and we had so much fun partying until the end. Often on tour often you have to get home, you’re knackered and don’t get the chance to hang out afterwards so NYE is always a great opportunity.


New years Day.

I woke up and the first thing I thought was ‘did last night really happen?’ It’s the most amazing surreal feeling. I had one of the best nights of my life. That pure joy that can’t ever be taken from us, but can always be remembered.

I heard the girlies talking downstairs and couldn’t pass on the opportunity to chat to them. Moments like this are rare and can’t be wasted. I’d had about 6 hours sleep, It’s not everyone I get out of bed for when seriously hungover ladies. Love you.

The Next thing I did was check my tweets to see what embarrassment I had said. Thankfully not a lot. Result. Thank you hils for the crisps, you’re a lifesaver. Vodka is no longer my friend. Well, for this week anyway ;). I miss you girls, Anna you done a rubbish job of kidnapping me LOL.

I framed my poster and my ticket it looks awesome on my wall:



Thank Yous.

I can’t quite believe that I lucked out and have the most incredible people in my life. I’ve never said so many thank yous, given so many hugs or said ‘love you’ so many times before. Hilary Thank You for everything you done for us this weekend and your other half too :). Kelly, Anna, Clare, and Lou, thank you for always being there, for always being up for a party and for being some of my best friends.

Thank you to everyone who worked to make the night possible for all of us to enjoy and remember. Darren has an excellent band and team working with him.

Can I just say how great the staff were at the venue as well. The venue was perfect, the catwalk meant that everyone could see, the seats meant people could sit down if they wanted to.

Funky candles on the tables:


It was wonderfully laid out venue so that the bar and toilets were easily accessible. Great job in picking this venue, it was wonderful to be able to move around and chat to people. We could come and go from where we were stood dancing and know that we could have the space to easily find each other again. I loved that the vodka and coke got cheaper as the night went on LOL.


Thank you Darren for everything you have given us every year, least not 2011, and here’s to another year, full of good things coming your way and more moments of joy. Thank you for bringing some amazing people into my life, and for memories that will last forever.