All good things must come to an end. Some with a whimper - and some with a bang!
And so, all dressed for "an early preview of the afterlife", Hils, Crog, John-John, Paul, Mark and I trolled off to Islington Assembly Hall for One Night in Heaven, the traditional end-of-LGBT-History-Month gala hosted by Camden LGBT Forum on Saturday.
Oh, those fabulous balls we love to hold...
...and it was fabulous! What remnants there were of it. The "Whore of Hampstead" - drag queen Sandra - was advertised as our host again; she was nowhere to be seen (or heard!). Neither was the lovely Rosie Wilby; but we did have poetry from Trudy Howson. And, instead of the Gay Men's Chorus, we got some Ed Sheeran-wannabee with a guitar and a load of dull songs.
However...
Al Pillay was - as always - a sparkling, loud, and very entertaining opening act. Totally unconnected to her performance on Saturday,and just for the hell of it, here he/she is with her own inimitable take on the fairy tale The Snow Queen:
Meth - the only member of the advertised "Family Fierce" to show up - was a wonder to behold. Her "performance art" interpretations of Adele's Hello (inter-cut with snippets of Miss Jackson and, of course, Lionel Richie's identically-titled signature tune) and Katy Perry's Roar were in turn bewildering and hilarious.
But, if truth be told, there was only one act we really wanted to see - the utterly wonderful Andy Bell (of Erasure), of course!!
He was everything we expected, and more. With a set that didn't just stick to the "obvious" - his opening rendition of Erasure's Always, was a remix version - he has so much energy as a performer, he left many in the audience (some decades younger than he) exhausted just watching him.
In between Sacred from 2014's Erasure album The Violet Flame and his finale of crowd-pleasers including Blue Savannah and Respect (with a troupe of "backing dancers"; all the evening's performers), he proudly announced (before singing it) he was back at the top of America's Billboard Dance Chart with this one - Dave Aude feat. Andy Bell and True Original:
Pumped up with adrenaline, we cheered and whooped for more, but alas! We were to be disappointed. Despite everyone who attended having been issued with tickets that said it closed at 1am, we had no more from the acts, no more brilliant party choons from DJs Jonathan Kemp and Sadie Frost (as we had when we arrived); nothing else but... the raffle prize draw. Then the bar closed. To say we were disappointed is a bit of an understatement - but, as we were ushered out of the hall, we still had Andy Bell's voice ringing in our ears...
"Give a little respect to-oo-oo me!"
Looks like you guys had a swell night. And you know, yourself and Andy look similar!!!! I love Meth and have heard great things. Have you heard of Miss Hope Springs? I saw her once on a trip to London, but its been a long time. She is finally coming to my fair hamlet in April. I very excited.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure whether to be flattered by the comparison with Mr Bell, but I shall let that pass (maybe it was the mask?). As for Miss Hope Springs - she, too, appeared at the end-of-LGBT-History-Month gala back in 2012... She's fabulous. Jx
DeleteIt was rather a fine ball... right up until we sat down to finish our drinks and enjoy another hour or so of dancing and we were told to go home. Never mind, I'm sure there are many other fine balls out there for us to enjoy :-). xx
ReplyDeleteHopefully we'll get bigger balls in future... Jx
DeleteGlad you all had a ball xxx
ReplyDeleteWe love our balls! Jx
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