Hi all!
Last Friday was my business day. The company I work for has a business partner based in Leeds and since I was in Bradford it was handy to visit them. The day began with a 45 minutes delay because I didn't hear my alarm clock in the morning.
But fortunately I made it in time to Leeds.
I was picked up at the station and after a nice day at that business partner (and some fish & chips for lunch
i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif ) I left Leeds in the afternoon heading to Bristol.
I arrived at my hotel somewhen after 8 p.m. and was happy to find a CD player in my room. So I had the opportunity to listen to my new Raven CD even before I came home.
I spent Saturday morning walking through Bristol and taking some pictures. It was cloudy and so the light wasn't the best unfortunately. But there was no rain throughout the whole day and that was positive.
I decided to be at the stage door of Colston Hall at the same time like I was in Bradford but the problem was that there wasn't a stage door. There were a few entrances on the back of the building and one of them obviously used by the artists. There was no stage-door-sign so I guessed it could be the door that staff members of Colston Hall used to step out for a smoke. And so it was.
i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif When I came back to the hall I met a few fans of Janathan Ansell. They have split into groups covering every entrance of Colston Hall so that nobody could slip through unnoticed.
i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif The van arrived at the same time like in Bradford and we went over to say "hello". Richard needed to find a place to park and until that was done Jonathan and Hayley spend the time with us chatting and taking photos. They stayed with us for about 5 minutes which leaves plenty of time with Hayley when being the only member of HWI at that point of time.
Because nobody else of HWI was in sight I called Eugene on his mobile and planned to meet with him and Paddy at 5.30 p.m. for dinner. In the meanwhile I went to a restaurant called "Greenhouse" together with some fans of Jonathan to warm up. Among them was Cathy who recently joined HWI. I met Eugene and his wife Mary in time in font of Colston Hall and Paddy arrived only a few moments later. We went back to the Greenhouse but due to the rugby match England vs. Wales it was too full to find a table when we came back and so we went to an Italian restaurant we passed on our way before.
After the pizza (thanks again Eugene
) it was time to the concert. I was surrounded by Jonathan fans again but although we booked separately Eugene and Mary sat directly behind me. Paddy was in the same row on the other side of the aisle.
The concert was fantastic and it proceeded in the same order like in Bradford so I won't discribe everything here again. The differnce to Bradford was that Jonathan didn't carry Hayley away from stage over his shoulder. This time Hayley prefered to walk.
i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif I sat in the second row from the front and when Hayley or Jonathan stood in front of me one could clearly hear that most of the voice came directly from the singer instead of out of the speakers. Both of them sang very powerful. This time there was a standing ovation by parts of the audience which I happily joined.
After the concert had ended we met Bob from Colorado who sat a few rows further in the back. Raven did a signing again and since my CD was already signed I prefered to take a photo this time (to be posted later). I joined everybody at the "stage door" and we waited for Hayley and Jonathan to come. It didn't take too long and we had a chat, photos were taken and we enjoyed very much the time we could spend with them. The meet & greet took at least 10 minutes, but maybe even more. I tend to forget the time at these occasions.
A few minutes later everybody was in the van and Richard wanted to leave. Well, almost everybody was in the van. Jonathan was missing because he continued signing autographes and taking photos with his fans. Andy Moore leaned out of the window of the passenger side and called him but received no answer. Richard came out again and picked him up and a while later Jonathan was in the van. All of that took long enough for Hayley to jump out of the van again signing some more autographes. Richard seems to have a hard life sometimes but that's how it works when artists like Hayley and Jonathan take care for their fans which we of course appreciate very much. We decided to have a beer in Eugene's hotel and so we (Eugene, Mary, Paddy, Bob and me) left Colston Hall. On our way the van passed and we waved a last time before Hayley and company headed back to London.
On Sunday I made my way back home. The journey was fine until I arrived in London. I planned 1,5 hours for London to compensate possible delays of the train. Well, my train to London was delayed for 20 minutes. That wouldn't have been a problem generally but with the maintenance of the tube system in London, how should one find the way from Paddington to Liverpool Street in time to catch the train to Stansted airport when most of the lines were interrupted? It took one hour to arrive at Liverpool Street and so my planned time for London was used up to the very last second when I entered the train to Stansted. Germany welcomed me with lots of new snow. The drive back home was o.k. because everybody behaved well on the roads. Fortunately most of the snow is gone by now.
Thank you everybody for the nice weekend! Once again it was worth every second!
Best wishes,
Thomas
I decided to be at the stage door of Colston Hall at the same time like I was in Bradford but the problem was that there wasn't a stage door. There were a few entrances on the back of the building and one of them obviously used by the artists. There was no stage-door-sign so I guessed it could be the door that staff members of Colston Hall used to step out for a smoke. And so it was. 
) it was time to the concert. I was surrounded by Jonathan fans again but although we booked separately Eugene and Mary sat directly behind me. Paddy was in the same row on the other side of the aisle.