Part planned, part co-incidence, Monday 20th - Friday 24th November was a
momentous week as a music fan and journalist.
First came the much anticipated release of the ‘new’ Beatles album
LOVE on Monday
20th November.
This stunning re-worked album, tailored for the Cirque de Soliel’s production
at the Mirage in Las Vegas has been masterfully produced by legendary Beatles
producer George Martin and son Giles. It had arrived a week before its release
so I could review it on the train en route to London.
In preparation for my anticipated meeting with Paul McCartney at the Virgin
Mega Store in London, I needed to grab his attention for my Beatles
Commemorative Plaque Project Wales. Knowing in advance there was little time
to promote my project, I had the plaque image printed on a T-shirt. I took
all day to sort out but was finished by 6.30pm Monday. Just the job - it
looked brilliant.
TUESDAY 21 NOVEMBER
Down to London – a 2hr 10min journey. On arrival I headed to the Virgin Mega
Store in Piccadilly Circus, to find a small crowd of about 13 people already
assembled. They had slept overnight on the pavement. Having briefly
interviewed the gathering I befriended fans from the USA, Holland, Spain,
Japan and England.
I was still waiting for my Press accreditation from Virgin HQ to meet Macca –
it wasn’t looking good. Later I was told my application had failed, even
though I was representing BBC Radio Wales for a live link-up later that day.
The plan was that the fans would phone me at 6am to let me know the queue
situation, so I could get in line early Wednesday before the store opened at
9am.
Having hung around the store for nearly 6 hours, suddenly at 9.30pm there was
word that entrance tickets were being issued by store security, for the
following morning. The fans, who had suddenly become friends, knew my plight,
so they allowed me to join their queue even though I wasn’t sleeping out
overnight.
Now there was no need for my friends to call me at the hotel.
WEDNESDAY 22 NOVEMBER
Awake at 6.30am, I went for breakfast, and then proceeded to Piccadilly
Circus, arriving at 8.30 only to see the store had opened at 8am, with my
chums already inside. After a bit of convincing about my queue ticket, number
13 as it happens, they allowed me to join them inside.
For nearly four hours we waited patiently to meet Macca. Popping out
occasionally, I was interviewed by reporters from The Sun, The Daily Mail,
The Daily Express and London Evening Standard. Later in-store, I was TV
interviewed by the Reuters news agency.
Eventually, he arrived out of our vision – we knew he was there because of
the media flurry – flashbulbs going ballistic. At around 1.15pm, I was quickly
given security checks and was confronted by McCartney sitting at a table. I
produced my CD and DVD for signing. My moment had arrived. Knowing time would
be brief, I told him that The Beatles had performed at Prestatyn 44 years to
the day on Friday 24 November, and I was unveiling a plaque to commemorate it.
Paul said, "It doesn’t seem that long ago since we played there",
looking at my T-shirt with approval. Then I asked him to sign the DVD to
Prestatyn. He said, "How do you spell Prestatyn?.. I don’t know how to
spell it."
He did it anyway and he was correct. Soon back out on the street, we
wandered waiting for his later exit.
About 2.50pm McCartney emerged through the side entrance of the store. Time
for some quick pictures, and he was gone. Mission accomplished!
At 3.40pm I did my link live to BBC Radio Wales, where I was interviewed by a
big supporter of my project, Alan Thomson on the Afternoon Show.
THURSDAY 23 NOVEMBER
The Beatles booking agent Joe Flannery and I were interviewed by Alan Thompson
at BBC Radio Wales – a live link from Cardiff to the Wrexham studio. This was
a preview of the Prestatyn plaque unveiling the next day.
FRIDAY 24 NOVEMBER
With all arrangement made, it was the day for the Prestatyn plaque to be
unveiled.
44 years to the day, The Beatles performed on a tiny stage at the former Royal
Lido Ballroom, now the Nova Centre right next to the seafront.
In front of 200 fans, the Fab Four played 2 forty-five minute spots for just
£30. They were the first act from Liverpool to play there. Beatles
booking agent Joe Flannery returned to the venue for the celebration, also
attended by Sharon Frobisher – town mayor, Nigel Acott town clerk, Ray O’Brien,
Harry Thomas (both Beatles historians), Tony Booth (plaque designer),
three fans who attended the historic show, The Cavern – a Beatles tribute
act from north Wales who did an hour’s set similar to the original Beatles
setlist, and around 50 guests.
Joe Flannery reminisced about the night, giving a 5 minute speech to mark the
occasion. Local press were in attendance to record the event.
Finally, I’d like to personally thank all the people I met during this Fab
week: for their friendship, co-operation and continuing support for the
Beatles Plaque Project Wales.
For prints of any of Elly's concert pics online,
email Elly
or call 07765 862017.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
