I’ve had quite a few favourite moments over the years, whether it be through gigs that I’ve attended, bands that I’ve met or events that I have been to but my favourite moment out of them all is actually from quite recently – when I went to Brighton last November to see JLS on their Beat Again tour.
When tickets went on sale, I made a decision quite early on that I wanted to do a meet and greet experience – I mean, it was my fortieth birthday last December so what better way to give myself THE best present than getting to have a meet & greet with one of my fave boybands.
What’s quite funny though is that on the actual day, I was a bag of nerves. I’ve met the boys numerous times before but this whole thing felt so much different. Even now just looking back on it, I can’t put my finger on what made it feel so different.
Obviously I had to make sure that they knew it was my ‘birthday’ so I had a pink sash on that said ‘It’s my Birthday!’. The outfit itself was quite simple – black dress from Primark, leather jacket from M&S, green tights (to rep the fave) from Snag Tights and my platform Dr Martens.
Walking into the meet and greet was quite sedate – I think having a group of my friends there helped (as well as a trip to the pub before for a few vodkas and cocktails) but then it was my turn. One of their team videoed the whole experience…but it went a little something like this:
I walked up to JB to be swooped up in a hug with him saying ‘Happy Birthday babes!’ So I laughed and said ‘Ah it’s not yet JB, I’ve got another month to wait yet but had to celebrate my 40th seeing you guys!’ and JB was like ‘ah you’ve got permission from us to celebrate right the way through then babes!’ Marvin was next and all I got was ‘Baaaaabes!! I finally get to see you!!’ and then got a massive hug and I was like ‘well obviously I needed to celebrate the big birthday seeing you guys…’ to which he said ‘when is your birthday?’ and I replied ‘exactly a month after Reesh’s and I’m turning 40!’ and not gonna lie, the look on his face was of shock – he definitely thought after all these years I was younger than him! Haha! The video of all this though was funny – I didn’t realise while I was talking to Marv that Reesh was trying to hug me and I’d left him hanging! So then I turned and hugged Reesh with him saying ‘Miss Lara how are you?’ and then got a quick hug off Aston because I was being rushed into having my picture taken.
We then had a little q&a session before it was time for it to end and we were herded back out into the foyer and we just had to wait for everything to open up.
During the show, the boys were doing a section where they picked people from the audience and had them sitting on stage while they sang ‘I Know What She Likes’ to them. In earlier shows it had originally been two girls being picked but Manchester it ended up being 4 girls so it got changed for other dates on the tour.
Brighton though, the boys were debating on stage – ‘Do we pick two girls or four?’ Obviously the crowd was going mad screaming ‘four’ and Marvin was standing directly in front of me on stage while Goda was screaming ‘Pick Lara!’ and Helen was shouting it and a few others too! Next thing you know JB shouts ‘Let’s make it 4 – that way we get one pick each!’ Then Aston shouts ‘Marv, you got your eye on anyone down that end?’ to which he smiled at me and I still wasn’t sure and then he said ‘Yeah, the birthday girl down here at the front’ so my face was like ‘erm what?’ and Reesh ran across the stage grinning and pointed saying ‘you mean the one down here in the pink birthday sash?’ I literally threw my phone in Goda’s direction and followed Alfie (the tour manager) to the side of the stage and had Marvin waiting at the top. He gave me his hand to help me up and then was grinning at me and did a little dance before I grabbed him in a massive hug.
While all of that was going on, Aston and JB had picked their girls and then Reesh picked Sarah and I was like ‘YESSSSSSS SARAH!’ while I was sat on my chair. The boys then came and asked our names and where we were from and then they started singing. To tell you the truth, it was all a blur and I keep watching the numerous videos I got sent to remind me it did actually happen but getting picked by my fave and then having him sing to me? My absolute best moment of my entire life.
My social media went into meltdown – so many tweets coming through because Goda had tweeted I’d been picked. It was so lovely seeing so many people happy for me.
Walking off stage after, it didn’t actually sink in until I’d gone back to my seat and I started shaking and was basically crying with happiness. Having that happen made that show so special.
The hilarious thing though? I was staying in the Premier Inn on the high street and loads of people were staying there who had been to the show. Guess who got recognised when she went downstairs for breakfast the next morning? Haha!!!
If you ever get picked for something like that, enjoy every single minute of it guys!! It will make you grin ear to ear for at least the next 12 months.
It's a Fangirl Life 