Liblog: The Norwood Concert

On 23^rd March, me (Josh, that is!) and the other Libera boys performed a concert  at St. Johns church in Norwood which is near the massive television aerials at Crystal Palace in South London. The church was absolutely humungous and when we first got there we all stood in awe at the vastness of the place!

          The night before the actual concert, we all gathered at the church to do a full technical and dress rehearsal. All the hi-tech guys that work behind the scenes and do all were there with all their multi-ability gadgets! They had obviously come hours before us because all of their stuff was already set up.

          Firstly, we all had to go into the back room and get changed. We had all remembered to bring our blue bags part from some people who are complete doughnuts! I mean who could forget to bring something like that when they are doing a big concert. I would never do a thing like that! (Editorial note- "Yes you would because you were one of those people who didn't bring it! -You doughnut!"). In our blue bags are:

·        2 or 3 pairs of white socks (Hopefully clean ones!)

·        1 pair of boxer shorts (For wearing under our robes)

·        1 pair of jazz shoes (They are like SO cool!)

Don't remember any of the above and you are the odd one out on stage.

          Anyway, we all got changed and some people had to go on stage earlier than others because they were getting their Radio Mics checked.

          Once we were all ready, we all got on stage for a full sound check. There were some very tall microphones that were on stage and also some speakers, which are called fold-back speakers. They are not called fold-back speakers because they are very flexible but because they are facing us and we can hear what we are singing even when there are loud drums playing.

          After the sound check, we were all ready for the run through. Have I mentioned the lights? What's that you say? No? Oh my gosh, I can't believe I have not told you about them. They are like so amazing. You will never, ever see anything like them in your life but if you do you will want one in your room immediately! They are amazing. They spin this way and that, changing colours, flashing and sparkling. They are fantastic and they made everything we did look ten times better even Liam when all the water is "slooshing" about in his ears!

ONE AMAZING TECHNICAL RUNTHROUGH LATER and we had finished!           

Find out how we got on in the real thing in Part 2 of "The Norwood Concert" by Joshua Madine. 

                                         

Liblog: Liam's Blog - Part 2

Hallo – it's Liam. I'm back again with the next instalment of what happened when we took part in BBC-TV 'When will I be famous'.

Graham Norton was presenting the show.  He was very funny and not like a "star" at all.  He just hung around and chatted to people all the time.  And then suddenly the live show started!  Graham was very good at presenting.  We all tried hard not to read the autocue when he stood next to us.

First, we had to pull back our hoods and wave when we were introduced at the start, and then we were rushed backstage for a little bit of hanging around.  A live show is strange.  You kind of sense that something is going on, and going on quickly.  Before we went on to sing, when we stood behind the doors that would open out onto the stage, I think I heard a few Libera hearts beating fast.  One of them was mine!  Then we were on!

We walked out and went straight into position.  No one tripped over, no one was in the wrong spot.  The cameras swooped about us and we started.  I get nervous before singing, but once we start I am okay.  I think we all feel like that.  Once the song has started and everyone is singing what they need to sing we just concentrate on that.  Then the song was over.

The next bits all happened so fast.  Graham took Zack and Josh for a little interview, the judges said some things, and then we were backstage.  Tom did an interview while the act we were up against went onstage.  Then we were back onstage while the armchair judges decided on which of the two acts would go through to the next round.  We won!!!  We were voted through!  I have never been so excited.  Then we were off, back to the Top of the Pops bar for some celebratory hanging around.

This was strange hanging around.  We were just so delighted to be through, and we knew we would be on the later show.  Time flew by for us.  We later found out that friends, relatives, teachers, babysitters, shopkeepers, football coaches and pupils from all our schools were voting for us, for which we must say THANK YOU!  But amazingly we were soon back on stage in front of the cameras.

Now we really were nervous!  Singing is one thing, but being on a live TV show wondering when you are going to be voted out is another.  We were back on stage and Graham Norton announced the impossible – we were through to the final two!  That meant we were going to perform the song again.  I was glad we had some singing to do as I thought I was going to burst with excitement.  We sang, and the people we were up against, the Skating Aratas, did their act, a dangerous act on roller skates.  They were brilliant.  Then we went onstage with Graham again and he got ready to announce who the public had voted for out of the two of us.

If I said I was nervous before, I didn't mean it.  NOW I was NERVOUS!  We all were.  We had got all the way to the final!  We tried not to read the autocue as Graham spoke before announcing the result.  Then he said the winner of When Will I Be Famous is…

…Libera!!!!!!

We went absolutely mad.  We had won!!!  We didn't know what to do.  Graham had put a big pause in before saying our name.  I think we all thought the skaters would be announced as winners.  But it was us!!  The skaters were lovely people.  They congratulated us.  The girl skater thought me and Tom were the cutest!  Well, she was half right (sorry, Tom!).  All the acts we were on with that night were really nice.  It was a great show.  A very long day, and very long night, but it was fantastic.  We had won and we were delighted.  I didn't stop smiling for days.

On the Libera coach on the way back to South London we were all tired but happy.  Then we got stuck in a traffic jam!  By the time we got home it was Sunday morning and I was starving, so I had some spaghetti hoops.  That is how to celebrate!

So a big thank you to everyone who voted for us!  And to everyone who worked on the show, all the other acts like Rubber Boy, Captain Frodo, the Rayner Brothers, David O'Mer (Bath Boy), Chloe Bruce, the Wakefield Tumblers, the Skating Aratas, and the judges Dave Spikey, Max Clifford and Chuck Harris, and Sophie Ellis Bextor, and Graham Norton.  It was such a different show for us to do and we loved it!