lindajan

Nothing on Facebook, Chris, but someone tweeted yesterday that they were preparing for Gareth's first Haven gig which will be tomorrow, i.e. Tuesday 31/3/15. No indication of where though. I don't understand why these are not on Official site or Facebook, although I think they are only for people staying at the resorts.

Lovely to read your report of the gig, Doris, and also to spend some time with you and Val. I only finally decided to go earlier in the week having checked where Skipton is and finding that it's only about as far from where I live as Leeds and Bingley, which I've been to several times. Most of Gareth's gigs this year seem to be at holiday resorts and/or mainly on the East or South coast. I know that I'm lucky that he is doing 'Mad About The Musicals' and panto in Crewe towards the end of the year, but I didn't want to wait that long to see and hear him again. The journey went well - bit slow through Colne - but arrived in Keighley at about 4.15pm (2 hours after I set off) and called into McDonalds to use the facilities and get something to eat and drink. Then I continued on to Skipton (I always try to arrive with lots of time to spare, so that I can find the venue and park without any problems). It was around 5pm when I pulled into the car park at the Mart Theatre, having seen a lovely poster of Gareth playing guitar on the approach road. I spotted Gareth's car - surprised he was there that early - and went for a wander to get my bearings. At that moment, Pete (the guitarist) drove in and I had a few words with him - he had driven up from London. Then Paul came out of the venue and I was able to have a little chat with him as well. I asked him how Gareth's voice was and he said that it wasn't great and that Gareth was struggling a bit. This was obviously worrying as I'm sure we're all hoping that his throat is well on the mend by now. Paul then helped Pete in with his various bags and guitars. I went for a little drive around Skipton but soon went back to the venue. parked and waited for the doors to open. Val and Doris arrived around 6.30pm and we all went in together. As Doris has said, it is a working cattle auction market so lots of concrete and rather chilly. We had a drink at the bar and then went into the performance area. We got seats on the third row of the floor (where the cattle would be at an auction!), there was also raised, tiered seating on three sides and a raised stage at the front - certainly a unique and unusual location for a theatre. Finally Jai came on to do his set, although he tries to chat between his songs he never really engages with the audience and doesn't manage to get us involved in his songs either. (He needs to watch Gareth's performance and learn something about stage presence, I feel.) Only right at the end did he finally mention Gareth - other support acts constantly mention the main performer which always excites the crowd. Anyway just the interval to go now before Gareth's performance. At the end of the interval, Gareth's family and friends came in. The group included Wendy, Nicola, Charl (and her boyfriend), Jess and other family and friends. Already in the theatre were Wendy's mum (Gareth's nan) and one of Wendy's sisters (Angie, I think). Wendy sat at the back of the floor area on the other side to us and the younger group sat in the tiered seating to the right of the stage (from our view). Just as Gareth came on stage, one of his sisters was leading his nan and auntie across in front of the stage and when he noticed he said, "Oh! Hello Nan." Although I'm certain that Paul was watching most of Gareth's performance, he was not at all visible and was standing at the back along one of the aisles leading out of the theatre (as he was for some of Jai's set). As soon as Gareth ran out onto the stage shouting 'Hello Skipton', the atmosphere became alive. I think these are the songs he performed, although they are not totally in the correct order (and I may have forgotten some): Free Sunshine Anyone Of Us Stay Suspicious Minds Sentimental Hold On Tight All Of Me Angel On My Shoulder Unchained Melody Summer of '69 Don't Stop Me Now Livin' On A Prayer Spirit In The Sky Nothing surprising or new in the set list and, as Doris said, he didn't play keyboards. Between songs he had the usual banter with Pete, especially about which song was next. Also Gareth was massaging his throat during songs and employed his normal tricks to avoid a few high notes. Although he sounded good, it seemed obvious that he has some way to go before his voice is thoroughly recovered. Angel On My Shoulder was dedicated to Wendy (of course), especially as it was Mothers' Day on Sunday - Gareth's sisters came down and pulled Wendy to the side near the front to dance (Gareth didn't seem to have noticed this until the end of the song). This was followed by Unchained Melody and Wendy got her mum up to dance to this, presumably because it's one of her mum's favourites. After this Gareth encouraged everyone to get to their feet for the rockier songs and many went up to the stage. All too soon, Gareth and Pete seemed to be having an almost non-verbal discussion about what should happen next, then Gareth announced the final song (groans all around). Two of the girls he got up to sing with him could not only sing well but also knew how to perform, taking the microphone off him and Gareth encouraged them to carry on while he and Pete sang backing vocals! Then that was the end and there was no encore, just an announcement that CDs and posters would be on sale and photos with Gareth could be taken. As usual there was a good queue of people waiting to see Gareth. Jess and Wendy were selling the CDs and Charl was around somewhere. Surprisingly I saw no sign of Paul, as he's normally around having a chat with fans. When I got to see Gareth, he gave me a lovely hug and asked how I was. I asked about his voice and said I'd seen him rubbing his throat. He was clearly not happy about it and said that it's not very strong at the moment. I told him to look after his voice and that I was excited about panto being in Crewe and that I'd be there a few times! Then Jess took a photo and after another hug I moved away. I hung around to watch Gareth chatting to other fans, then went to chat to Nicola who I've met several times before and is always very appreciative of the support for Gareth. Shortly after, Gareth finished and left the area. It was lovely to see Gareth again and I'm very pleased that I went. The drive home went smoothly. Now the next thing I've got booked is Redditch ... in October!

I think you might mean me I should have made a comment sooner! I was completely shocked yesterday when I read the tweet - never have I imagined that Gareth would ever do a panto here. Last time - when travelling to Croydon - I wondered where he would be this Christmas and hoped that it might be somewhere a bit North of London, like Milton Keynes or St Albans. This however is almost unbelievable - keep having to pinch myself to check that I'm not dreaming! It is only a three-week run though which is the shortest he has done in panto. It will be amazing not to have to travel so far this time. Gareth is also at the Lyceum in October for 'Mad About The Musicals' tour - it must be my lucky year.

Lovely photo and report, Elaine. Pleased you managed to get to the show in time and even more so that you got to see Gareth afterwards.

Thanks for posting the interview, Heather, which on the whole gives quite a heartfelt insight into what Gareth has to cope with to appear in shows where he has to speak. I love his positive attitude - it is a real achievement to still be working in the industry pretty non-stop 13 years after it all began. I much prefer the type of shows and gigs he does now rather than the big arena shows, it means that we get to meet him personally far more often. At last! Gareth said that this is his sixth panto - all the interviews I'd seen previously said fifth!

Thanks for the report, Elaine. Glad you enjoyed the panto but such a shame that Gareth was unable to come out to see you after.

Glad you seem to have enjoyed reading my report of this gig. Thought it might have been a bit wordy!

Last Friday, I went to Manchester to see Gareth's Greatest Hits Tour for the second time (has it really been a week?). I had booked for the original gig in the summer but for some bizarre reason I hadn't bought a VIP ticket (something that I've since regretted). At the last minute I decided to go to Birmingham on Monday but at such a late stage VIP tickets were no longer available. However, as the most important thing was to hear Gareth sing and as I was rather worried about his voice lasting out for the week, I went anyway and met up with Val, Chris and Yvonne. I had a lovely time but this report is supposed to be about the show in Manchester. I had another brilliant time at the gig. If you've seen Gareth's picture of the venue on Twitter (and others posted by fans), you'll know that it was a real concert hall with tiered seating and several yards of dance floor between the stage area (not raised) and the front seats. I arrived at the venue at about 4.15pm, in heavy rain and having travelled through heavy traffic (even an accident on the motorway that I'd been able to avoid), and parked in the University car park which was cheaper than that at RNCM, which also didn't open until 5pm. I walked around the building to find the stage door and found Gareth's car parked directly in front of it, so I knew he was there. Then I walked about a bit and got soaked. Luckily I was able to go into the RNCM, get some chips and a cup of tea, sit down, dry off and get warm. I was then able to sit on a comfy sofa right by the entrance to the concert hall where I could watch the queue forming for the Meet and Greet. There were signs up in various place giving details of when things were happening. Once the VIPs had been let in, I joined the queue. The seating capacity was much larger than it had been at the Glee Club in Birmingham and early on it seemed disappointingly empty. However by the time Gareth performed most of the lower level (around 500 seats) was full. It was so full in fact that when Gareth's family and friends came in they had to sit right at the back. This group included Paul and Wendy, all of Gareth's sisters, some of Faye's family, Matt Evers, Hayley Tamaddon, other family and friends. Quite a few of the audience flocked to the back to talk to them and take photos. Saw Val and Doris and had a chat before the show, but they left promptly at the end so didn't talk again. Have read both of their reports on here though, so I know they loved the show. The support acts, Cherry Bomb and Jai McDowell, had good enough voices but little charisma. Also their sound levels (at both gigs I saw) just didn't seem right – their voices seemed very distorted, especially on the louder sections of the songs. Finally, just after 9pm, it was time for Gareth's set. Pete and Adam came out and, before Pete could introduce Gareth, the group on the other side of the hall that have been mentioned in other posts, started chanting his name and then singing 'Anyone Of Us'. This surprised Pete who commented that there had never been a chant before Gareth came on stage! The man himself then came out to huge cheers and applause. Gareth seemed to have a brilliant time and didn't seem to struggle with his voice as much as he had earlier in the week. He absolutely oozed charisma and his stage presence was brilliant as usual. The audience was joining in with virtually everything he sang and Pete commented on it being the loudest audience on the tour. It was fantastic that Gareth played the keyboard for many of the tracks, showcasing another of his considerable talents, and the addition of Adam on drums/keyboard along with Pete (who's always amazing on guitar) produced a much fuller, rounded sound. Gareth's covers of 'She's Like The Wind', 'All Of Me' and 'Thinking Out Loud' were particularly well-received (I adore his versions of these songs and you could tell that the audience was impressed). The set list is on the Newcastle thread, except that 'Just Close Your Eyes' should read 'Hold On Tight' and after 'Livin On A Prayer' he sang 'Don't Stop Me Now', which was supposedly the final song. (At Birmingham he also sang 'Stay' after 'Hold On Tight', which seemed to surprise Pete and Adam at the time.) As at the other shows, the band returned for an encore performing 'Spirit In The Sky', Gareth didn't play the keyboard though - he couldn't really sit down with most of the audience on their feet around the 'stage' and he actually stood on the piano stool a few times so that he could see everyone. A couple of security men were keeping an eye on things and asked a few people to move away from the equipment but generally didn't spoil the atmosphere. It was nice the next day to see a tweet from the security company saying that they'd enjoyed the evening. This was a fantastic tour and I really enjoyed Gareth performing with a band that complemented him so well and that he sang so much of his own material. This is the type of gig I'd like to see more of, especially in small, intimate venues. Journey home was quite eventful - heavy rain, lots of standing water, accident on other carriageway of M56 with police across the road stopping all the traffic (only ever seen that on TV before), road closed further on and a diversion, finally two consecutive exits from M6 closed including mine so another diversion - but I got home safely and it was worth it all to see Gareth again. Love Linda xx

Thanks to everyone for their reports and pictures, and especially to Val for the videos - a brilliant reminder of a magical evening.

Great review and thoroughly deserved. Doesn't look like he sang Stay - think it was his idea to do this at Birmingham. Of course Just Close Your Eyes should be Hold On Tight.

Doesn't time fly! I love this site and, although I don't post as often as I should, I do visit regularly to help keep up-to-date with everything Gareth is doing. I've also met some lovely members and joined them at concerts, where it's great to be able to talk about Mr Gates with like-minded people. Congratulations on the 10-year anniversary and many thanks to those who started the site and those who keep it running now. I look forward to the next 10 years on here and to following Gareth's journey as he continues to delight us with his fantastic voice at concerts, gigs, musical theatre and whatever else he has planned.

Elaine - quite simply they didn't sing it, so we were missing a song and more sadly had Gareth on stage for less time. Good show though, but not a patch on seeing Gareth on his own.

I was also amazed by the Daily Mirror being so positive about Gareth, Elaine - about time too! Pleased you enjoyed the show - I'm going to Birmingham on Tuesday. It's a shame that they haven't made more changes from the concert but pleased that Gareth and SITS is still finishing the show. Love the video of Freak Me (which is from the concert). Gareth's voice can so clearly be heard taking the main role in the harmonies - there was so much noise at the concert that it was difficult to pick out individual contributions. Linda Just realised it was the Daily Mail not Mirror - whoops!

What a great review, although it could hardly have been anything other than good - Gareth is such a brilliant performer and his voice on Friday was particularly beautiful. He also always manages to get the audience really involved, with everyone (including him and Pete) having a great time. I do think it was written by the reporter sat next to me in the first half. From what I could see, she had written something about the venue and Gareth's history, similar to how the review starts. Thanks for posting it on here, Val - you do such a fantastic job finding this sort of thing. Unfortunately the link to the video doesn't work for me, Heather.

The week-by-week viewer voting statistics are now available on the Dancing On Ice website: http://www.itv.com/dancingonice/voting-results They are interesting to see.

A very interesting comment, JoJ. I pretty much agree with everything you've said, although I enjoy seeing Gareth in panto and he seems to enjoy it too. 5th Story will raise Gareth's profile, so I think it is a good thing. Provided he continues doing solo work and goes back to musical theatre at some stage, I'm happy for him to be part of the group giving more opportuinities to see him perform. Linda

Hi, Sorry I haven't been around on here for a while. It was totally unexpected that I was well enough to be able to go to Buxton on Monday - but I'm so glad that I did. The concert was amazing and it was so lovely that it was Gareth throughout (no support act). I just happened to be outside when Gareth arrived in his car and, although it was quite late, he willingly stopped to have a chat for a few moments - as always he was so lovely. What a special young man! In the theatre, I was again just behind Val and Chris (as at Bingley), so it was great to meet up again. It's lovely to be able to talk to someone else who loves Gareth and his music as much as I do! I'll post more later about what he sang (not that I can remember everything or the order) and also have some videos to put on Youtube but haven't time just now. It was a fantastic evening, with great company, and Gareth, Pete and the band performing - what more could you want?! Love Linda

Thanks for this great report, Val - only just managed to get on here. It's lovely that there was a 'Meet and Greet' and that Gareth told you that he would only be singing two new songs. It sounds like they were lovely - it's a shame that your recordings didn't work well soundwise though. (The only time I was successful recording Gareth was at 'Boogie Nights' and I was completely shocked that they had worked!) I am so looking forward to the gig at Bingley on Thursday and hope Gareth sings the new songs you heard and others too. Thanks again.

Glad you like this recording. As Val says, the speaking was Roddy and Debs (Shane and Louisa) arguing and splitting up on the other side of the stage. The other slight glitches in the sound are when I zoomed in to get a better picture of Gareth - didn't realise that it would affect the recording. Anyway I'm pleased I recorded this as I haven't seen it from anyone else yet and Gareth said that it is one of his favourites. Also I've finally learnt how to upload to Youtube! Linda

Can't find this posted anywhere else. This evening I found some of the tracks from the tour when Gareth was performing. The most relevant one is: which starts with Gareth singing 'Serious'. It is audio only and the sound quality is not perfect but I was pleased to find a recording of Gareth's performance. The same person has uploaded a few other tracks as well, although Gareth doesn't feature very much on them (mainly a few lines of speech on some). Hope you enjoy. Linda

Lovely to read your report, Elaine. Sorry I haven't replied before but I've been away for a few days and then haven't had much time to get on here. Pleased you got to meet Gareth this time and get a lovely photo. Sorry to read that the sound was not very good (surprising as it was excellent at Aladdin). It's a shame that you weren't able to get any suitable seats in the stalls - I always enjoy shows best from a few rows back there. However it's great to hear about another fantastic performance from Gareth. Really looking forward to seeing the show in Birmingham. Linda

Thanks for your lovely review, Val, so glad you had a fabulous time. Wish I had known that Gareth would sing 4 times (I did try to find out), as it might have affected my decision on whether to go. I couldn't really justify the cost and difficulty of getting there when I thought he might only have one song. I noticed a tweet from someone saying they were filming and asked if there would be a DVD or CD, but no response yet. It really would be an opportunity missed to raise more for the charity, as I've seen several more tweets asking the same. BTW I think it was John Caird that gave the speech at the end and spoke to Gareth (he wrote the book and was hosting the event). Thanls again. Linda

Glad you've managed to find the correct video. Was going to post the right link but then found that Sue and Heather had already done it. Enjoy everyone! Linda

Gareth appears in two of the videos. In the one with a time of 8.48pm, he is at the start singing 'Heaven' and 'Angel On My Shoulder', then at 55.18mins in he sings 'Anyone Of Us' while a girl dances. Finally at 2h 46.30mins he presents awards to the best three Dances of the Year - he doesn't speak but there is a bit of larking about, including picking up the compere and carrying her off and standing on the winners rostrum (as in the Olympics). In the second video (11.49pm), he is at 19.45-39.00mins singing 'Suspicious Minds', 'Spirit In The Sky', 'Livin' On A Prayer' and 'Don't Stop Me Now', which many line danced to. Gareth seemed delighted with everyone dancing in unison while he sang and he took a photo on his camera while singing SM. His speech was excellent and obviously not in anyway rehearsed, as he was just reacting to what was going on. It was an unexpected pleasure to be able to see these performances and so lovely that they were recorded. Linda

You'll have a fantastic time at the final show tomorrow - it's a great panto. Wish I was going again but daredn't suggest it to hubby!!! Have fun. Linda