Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Reward $$$ Have you seen this man?

Well I suppose it's about time I mentioned Mr Bedingfield, one of my passions in life - I was gonna wait till he was back in the limelight but he seems to have disappeared. So if you've seen him, please let me know.

My fascination began in Autumn 2002, not at the start of his career but the following year. When he stormed onto the music scene in 2001 with a three week No.1 hit 'Gotta Get Thru This', I hated the song with a vengeance. John and I used to have numerous requests for it whilst DJing at private parties and I remember my reaction: ARGH! When that single was followed up with 'James Dean' I didn't like that either. I also didn't like Daniel's image at that time: extremely short hair and a goatie. When his third single 'If you're not the one' came out, I liked the song but it still didn't take a hold of me. It took a few more months and then one night, Daniel appeared on the Royal Variety performance and sang 'If you're not the one'. I recall thinking 'how have I not been attracted this guy before now?' He was only on stage for a couple of minutes but that's all it took. The rest is history.

In January 2003 I ventured onto Dan's website and joined the forum. It was like having another family and after a little while, I made a couple of good friends as well as many other acquaintences. My friendship with Debs, alias username Spursbear, who is the same age as me, came about after I happened to ask her whether her username was anything connected to Spurs the football club. She replied saying she was a lifelong fan, and so there was an instant connection, me having been a fan since about age 10. The strange thing is that she lives in Oldham and yet still has a season ticket. Now that's dedication! I hadn't been to a Spurs game in years but decided that it would be great to return to White Hart Lane, and at the same time meet up with Debs and her hubby Mick. It was so unlike me to be so forthright and confident, to suggest meeting a virtual stranger after only emailing for a few weeks. She agreed and so we met outside the Spurs Superstore before kick-off. It was short and sweet but it was enough to break the ice and again, the rest is history. I'm now a member of the club and go to games whenever I can, meeting up with Debs and Mick in a pub or Whites members bar a couple of hours before the game. Poor John gets dragged along, despite not really being a footie fan but he can't complain as I pay for his ticket most of the time.

Another friendship made via the forum was with Steph, alias Stephy-Lou, who is from Havant Hampshire. She is only a babe at 20 years old but a complete nutter, so I can relate to that! I've only met her once and very briefly at one of Dan's concerts in Hammersmith, but I'm sure we'll meet up at some point in the future.

It wasn't until March 2005 that I first saw Daniel in concert. Not happy with just one, I saw him four times in one week!! The first two were in Manchester where I'd arranged to go up and stay with Debs. John came with me so that he could be company for Mick whilst us girls went out and had a jolly good time.

The first time he came out on stage was amazing-there he was in the flesh (drool drool). Dan was amazing live; he has so much energy and he has a fantastic voice. When he came through the aisles, I managed to stroke his back - it was like OMG I actually touched the bloke I adore! Not that I feel my age anyway, but it was like being a teenager again. On the second night we didn't have such good seats - we were up high to the side. It was agony as no-one up there stood up and danced and I just hate sitting down at a concert. There isn't really much of an area outside Manchester Apollo where you can wait to see artists after the show, but nevertheless, we did wait and saw him from beyond a fairly deep crowd. We also met up with few other people from the forum including Magz and her daughter Cheryl from Glasgow. The one thing that spoilt the first gig was Manchester Apollo's policy on photography. Lord knows how I managed to get in with my large SLR Canon camera with zoom lens but I did, however, midway through the concert, one of the security guys obviously spotted me taking shots and came to confiscate the camera. I also managed to leave my bag inside the arena; it had dropped through the seat when I got up and as I had something else to carry, completely dismissed it. It wasn't till later when I was outside, I realised. I panicked because all my cash and mobile phone were in it. I went up to the security guard who had a bit of an attitude problem but after a bit of persuasion, radioed inside for someone to look for it. Fortunately, I got it back and tried to make the grumpy man feel bad by profusely thanking them for their help.

We had a day's rest on Thursday and the plan was for Debs and Mick to come down and stay at our house for the Friday and Saturday for the concerts at Hammersmith. However, we then decided that they may as well come down straight away and then we could spend a day together before the two gigs. So we ended up going bowling and going out for a curry at the Polash in the evening.

Friday evening at Hammersmith was fabulous! I'd bought my Mum a ticket as she also loves Daniel and so she joined Debs and myself. We were in row P but it still a good view and I remember how much my calves ached after all the jumping I'd done during the show! Afterwards, we waited for Daniel outside and got a good position at the front of the railings. We waited an age for him to emerge but of course, it was worth it. He took his time ensuring everyone got an autograph and when he finally got to where we were, and was literally right in front of us, it was like OMG is this real? He got to my Mum first and quite embarrassingly grabbed hold of Daniel's coat and said ' come here and give us a kiss'! He remarked how gorgeous my Mum was to everyone around us and then it was my turn. I had nothing for him to sign and so held out my arm, and he signed that! I also managed to kiss him on the cheek but unfortunately no tongues! Hehe! I was doing pretty well I thought.

May I just say that Hammersmith was totally the opposite to Manchester with regard to photography. They didn't bat an eyelid.

Saturday night was really special. I'd blown quite a bit of dosh by buying second row tickets on ebay, but I desperately wanted to be up close to the stage. I don't regret it for a minute - it was great! Annoyingly there were even a few spare seats in the front row and near the end of the concert, myself and Debs moved up to the edge of the stage. I managed to hand Daniel a small gift which was a South Park keyring featuring Kenny, the one who always dies. I knew Daniel was a big fan of the show and when he saw what it was, he smiled at me and raised his thumb in approval. That was a nice moment. Being so close, I managed to get some really good photos which are always great to look back on. After the gig, we again waited for Dan outside in the cold. He was just as long this time, if not longer (what does he do in the shower?!!). I got him to autograph my ticket this time but really regret not getting a hug (they are world famous according to numerous girls on the forum!) I hope I'll get another opportunity in future. That sure was an amazing week - one of the best of my entire life.

In July 2005, Dan did a one-off open air concert at High Lodge, Thetford Forest in Suffolk. Well, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see him again being fairly close to home, so I booked tickets for me and my Mum. The scary think was that I'd have to drive there, and I'd never been that far on my own ever before. However, prepared with a map and a printout of directions taken from the internet, I managed to get us there, albeit taking almost three hours! It turns out that the route the internet gave me via M25 and M11 was the longest way; I should have used the A12 and all the minor roads. Never mind, the main thing is that I didn't get lost and we arrived just after 6pm when the gates opened. There were already loads of people there who had grabbed the front positions but we managed to slot into a space about 25 foot from the stage. There were clearly some fans there, but many were just along for a night out. I had spotted a couple of girls from the forum right at the front but couldn't get through to them to say hi. The concert was fantasic - possibly the best of the year. Dan was very interactive, at one point asking fans for their requests. He sang a lot of Bob Marley and covers of the Eurythmics and also Pump up the Jam by Technotronic - my fave dance track of the 80s. As always he ended with three versions of Gotta Get Thru This and all you can do is jump up and down to it. You sure feel like you've had a workout after one of Dan's shows!

In between my first 'encounter' and the concerts just mentioned, there was obviously a lot going on in the charts and Daniel was frequently on TV, of which I have pretty much all on video.

Albums

Singles

From Gotta Get Thru This:

From Second First Impression:

Guest appearance:

Fact file:

Daniel was born on 3rd December 1979 in New Zealand, moving to the UK when he was three months old. His parents are missionaries and social workers and have set up a children's charity called Global Angels. http://www.globalangels.org/pages/3002/Home.htm. He has three siblings, Natasha (who has her own singing career), Nikola (who is also said to be heading the same way), and Joshua who is apparently good at everything. Daniel is a Christian and openly shares his faith during concerts and occasionally in his songs. He was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD) at the age of four but wasn't allowed to take medication for it until he was eighteen. He has said the experience has been reflected in his song-writing.

On New Year's Day 2004, Dan nearly lost his life in a severe car accident while visiting his parents in New Zealand. As a result of breaking ten bones in his vertebrae, which would normally have killed someone, he was left with serious head and neck injuries for which he had to have a brace screwed into his skull to prevent any head movement. Ouch! Apparently, someone from another car went to help and was a few seconds away from moving Daniel, which would have killed him instantly. However, a nurse from another car rushed up and ordered that he shouldn't be moved. To Daniel, she is his guardian angel. That was a really stressful time for me and even to this day, it still upsets me. I don't know what I would have done if he'd died.

He won a Brit Award in 2004 for Best British Male Artist.


I must say I'm a tad worried for Dan's future. He'll always sing, write songs and be there in the background doing numerous charity gigs as he does, but whether or not he'll stay popular enough for the charts is another thing. His first album was so successful but the second was nowhere near so. By the time he released the third single off 'Second First Impression', it didn't even make the top 40 with sales of just over 3,000 I believe. This particular single called 'The Way' is so popular amongst the fans; it's really one of his best songs. However, it must have only been the die-hard fans that bought it. Since then, Daniel has supposedly been working on another album but despite rumours, nothing more has been heard about it. What's more, WE ARE STILL AWAITING THE FIRST DVD!!!!

What is it that makes Dan special? Well it's definitely him, the inner person. He is charitable, deeply spiritual, family orientated, a genuinely lovely person, honest and unique. However, he doesn't always get good press. The media we know, can be unkind at the best of times, but I really get upset when some arsehole from a music magazine or a newspaper columnist, slates his music and even worse, his personality. It's only because they don't understand him and that he's so different to most people. On occasions, he may say something he doesn't mean and it may come across the wrong way, but this is how the A.D.D. affects him. He wrote about this subject in the song 'Sorry' which was dedicated to his sister Natasha for the hurt he had caused her in the past. Daniel was quoted as saying "There’'s stuff in my music that I'd literally never tell my closest friend, and yet somehow it just feels right to put it into a song and tell the entire planet. It takes something that is ugly within yourself, some base instinct, or a pain that is really deep in you, and then it permits all that to enter the public consciousness. For me it's an almost spiritual experience."

Daniel hasn't allowed himself to become pigeonholed into one genre of music. He started with a garage track, has done drum and base, pop, and ballads, and on tour regularly includes reggae rock and religious songs. This is another very unique part of his culture - it is very difficult to name many artists who can do this.

Another talent Dan has is beatboxing (also known as human orchestration). Definition: the vocal percussion of hiphop culture and music. Considered by many to be a fifth element of hiphop, it is primarily concerned with the art of creating beats, rhythms and melodies using the mouth. It can also involve singing vocal scratching (the imitation of turntable scratching), the simulation of horns, strings, and other musical instruments and the replication of a vast array of sound effects.

I could probably talk about Daniel forever and a day; there is so much more to tell but I suppose I'd better stop now! I just hope that he comes back into our lives some time soon, it's been too long. Even if he doesn't make the charts, I hope he still tours.

DAN WHERE ARE YOU?
at

No comments:

Post a Comment