As we reach the half way mark of Movember, I lie in bed exhausted from a gruelling weekend in London.
My journey began on Saturday morning at 3am as I left the house and collected Martin Clark. We carried onto Alicante Airport for a 6.20am flight to Stanstead airport. Coach into London, walked to the hotel, arrived at 10.30 and then had to kill time before we could check in at 2pm. What a pain in the ass. I got a little power nap ahead of the England v Spain match before heading off to East Village sporting my smart shirt and waistcoat to accompany my newly groomed Moustache. I arrived around 7.15pm knowing that a loooong night was ahead.
It was great catching up with all the crew and it felt like yesterday we were all together. I enjoyed seeing everyone so happy sharing their stories and tucking into the food and drink we laid on for the 40 or so people who had come for the Movie screening.
We played the movie on a rather poor excuse of projector and screen but it was sufficient for people to get an idea of it’s quality before being able to take their newly acquired copy home with them. It all went as well as I had hoped and the feedback for the movie was great.
If you would like a copy of the film which gives a history of the event alongside amazing footage of this year’s party, then take a look here.
The doors opened for the main night to begin at 9.30pm and to be honest much of it is a bit of a blur seeing as I was so tired. I paced myself with the drink and didn’t think I was that drunk but seeing as I struggle to remember most of the night or talking much to anyone maybe I was kidding myself.
On reflection, I think I had built the night up way too much in my own head, because it never felt TO ME like I had pictured it, and it certainly wasn’t anywhere near as busy as the first Beat Players party we did back in April. Don’t let this fool you though, you couldn’t really move downstairs at all so people may not have really noticed.. but I noticed !
Regardless of my roller coaster moodswings, I do know that people had a great time, judging from the feedback on-line. All DJs played out of their skins. Respect to Shaun Samuel, Pugwash and Richie Barthez for their upstairs offerings. I wasn’t totally happy with my own set. I had imagined playing a much sweeter, deeper kind of a vibe but seeing as Neil Pierce and Groove Assassin smashed it so much, I felt the need to keep the energy ‘up there’. The last hour was meant to be the three of us playing back to back but I left those two to have some fun.. and they continued to do the damage better than I felt I could at the time. Tiredness had got the better of me, although scanning the basement of East Village it was clear that all of the party was far from tired, with one or two seemingly fuelled by some kind of rocket juice. Man, there were some states in there !
I gracefully retired at the end of the night, jumped in a cab and got the obligatory kebab before slumping in my bed around 4.30am, while others hit it hard at one or two after parties.
I had the luxury of a full day in bed all Sunday to recover but then had the thankless task of another 3am trip to the coach/airport/home for the return leg, finally making it back by 11am yesterday.
Luckily I don’t have anything to do all week now apart from the show on Thursday, so plan to make the most of it by continuing to put the final touches to the new VBW website.
Remember, we are now half way through the Movember campaign and if you haven’t yet donated to anyone, please consider a small offering to our team. We are doing great guns but would of course like to know we did as best as we could. You can donate easily on line here.
Videos and photos are coming in for the party on Saturday, next up is Soul Heaven at Pulse on the Southbank on November 26th. See you there.
Andy Ward – VB2024 Closing Session
Another emotionally charged end of event closing set to finish of Vocal Booth Weekender 2024.
1 Comment
Absolutely Superb Reunion Andy Bruv, was great seeing the family & feeling the VB vibes again, almost felt like we were there all over again, Blessings from Susie, James & Myself Brother, Maximum respect & we will see you in Brum on the 10th Dec ;0)