The Big Reunion snubs girl groups in favour of boy band only tour

In contrast to the excitement of last year, this time around I will not be attending any shows on the Big Reunion Tour, because the powers that be have decided that the groups Eternal and Girl Thing are not what the public wants to see. Instead, fans will watch the four remaining acts from the 2014 line-up, 3T, Damage, A1 and 5th Story, as well as the three boy bands from last year, 5ive, 911 and Blue. While I would be happy to see the groups from this year's series, I begrudge paying more than £50 per ticket for a show I've seen almost half of already. It also seems incredibly unfair on Girl Thing and Eternal, who have worked just as hard as their male co-stars to make the reunion work. Various news articles state that the girl bands were dropped to boost ticket sales, but for me it's had the opposite effect.

Show of a Lifetime

On Saturday 11th May 2013 I was one of roughly 5,000 concert-goers to witness the spectacle that was The Big Reunion tour, when it hit the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff. I woke up that day buzzing with excitement, so much so that waiting forty minutes for the bus, trying not to gag while having to sprint through underpasses and only just arriving at the bus station on time hardly phased me. Promptly, we boarded the coach, and after 1 hour and 20 minutes of delightful tunes in my ears and serene thoughts in my mind, we arrived in Cardiff. Becoming instantly windswept, we quickly headed over to the shopping centre and spent most of the afternoon there. I purchased seven CDs from That's Entertainment for £5.99, including Honeyz's Wonder No. 8, Liberty X's second album and two 911 albums. We also bought loads of food for lunch and tea, half of which we didn't end up eating, for reasons which will become clear. By 5:00pm we had finished shopping, so ambled over to the arena entrance and a little bit further round the corner where, to our great surprise, we spotted the tour bus parked up ahead! We took a few pictures including the one below, and decided to join the other people standing there for no particular reason.

OMG tour bus!!!

The placement of barriers perplexed me, and my sister continually pleaded that we go somewhere warm, but the atmosphere was pleasant enough that we decided to tough it out, because you never know. If nothing else, it was exciting to know that the groups we had flocked here to see were only metres away… but then something happened. The people standing at the other barrier started to screech with excitement, and we soon realise why: Ritchie from 5ive was there! I couldn't believe it. Not only was a member of 5ive stood a few metres away; he was also my favourite member, back when I was a 5-year-old! I became rooted to the spot and could hardly speak, but did manage to take a photo of him before he returned to the venue.

Ritchie!

Soon I noticed another figure approaching, who looked vaguely like Lee from 911… and he was! To our surprise, he came straight over to our side, and my sister and I both managed to get pictures with him! 

My photo with Lee!
(That is me, I just don't want to properly put my face on here)

I was really hyped up now and couldn't stop grinning as we watched Lee meeting fans on the opposite side. A little bit later we saw Abz from 5ive, then at 7pm it started raining, so we decided to head into the venue.

Abz!

We bought some merchandise then headed into the arena as "Price You Pay", the new song by Honeyz played. We found that row DD really isn't as far from the stage as we thought, and settled in for a phenomenal evening! I was on video camera duty while Emily took pictures including these ones:

5ive first set

B*Witched first set

911 first set

Honeyz first set

Atomic Kitten first set

Liberty X first set

Honeyz second set

911 second set

Liberty X second set

B*Witched second set

Atomic Kitten second set

5ive second set

And finally... the finale

It was certainly a night to remember!

Prüfungen machen mir Spaß!

My summer exams got off to a pleasant start today with the German Listening, Reading and Writing paper, and this post is the only place I've written "Spaß" today! Some of the questions were difficult, but I persevered and answered them all. The essay topic I chose seemed to be the most popular among my classmates and I found it fairly easy to write about, but I really don't know what grade to expect, as many of my answers seemed to be only half right. My next exam isn't for eight days; in that time I intend to revise (naturally) and complete my post about the incredible Big Reunion concert I attended on Saturday!

Things I am excited about:

• Going to a Big Reunion concert in May (More here)
• New (season 9) NCIS every Wednesday, plus season 7 Saturdays
• Animal Crossing: New Leaf being released on 14th June
• NCIS season 9 being released in the summer
• Going to Berlin in October

And more, but I can't think of anything else at the moment!

The Big Reunion

Last night saw the finale of ITV2's The Big Reunion, a show charting the reunion of a selection of popular music groups from the 1990s and 2000s. The series, which began on 31st January, culminated in a 1½ hour concert special. I thought it was spectacular, and I'm very glad we've purchased tickets for a show on the tour!

Watching the acts live will be nostalgic if nothing else; although I'm a bit too young to remember the 90s first-hand, I bought both B*Witched albums a few years ago, and I'm familiar with 911's greatest hits from spending hours watching 90s boyband countdowns, in which 5ive also featured. 5ive was probably my first "favourite band", even though they split up when I was 5. On Sunday afternoons my mum would blast their Greatest Hits album while I danced around and sang along. My sister and I listened to the Atomic Kitten album "Right Now" regularly on our stereo; once I cried because we were told to turn it off! I actually remember the song "X" by Liberty X, despite it failing to reach the UK Top 40, and although I hadn't heard of Honeyz before the show, I think I will enjoy their live performance.

My excitement for the tour has already manifested itself in my B*Witched inspired nails:

Keavy even tweeted me about them!

Dressy Jessy

Yesterday, as it it is supposedly Spring now, I went shopping for warm-weather-ready outfits. The song "If It Don't Fit" by B*Witched rooted itself in my head and accompanied me into the changing rooms; this perhaps made me more discerning about my clothing choices. I tried on multiple tops and dresses to no avail, until a shimmery lace navy dress graced my figure - and fitted perfectly! I also found a nice stripy vesty top and a denim jacket which would be perfect to wear to The Big Reunion Tour show I'm going to, if it fitted. Hopefully I can exchange it for a better size.

My dress, photo source