22nd-24th June 2007 – Glastonbury Festival
Location: Worthy Farm, Pilton
With: Lauren Hearn and David Graffham
Highlights: The Fratellis, The Magic Numbers, Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Arctic Monkeys, & The Killers
Comment: My first ever Glastonbury – back in the days when security was so lax that no one asked for proof we were over 18 to do the off-site stewarding (we weren’t) and no one cared that my name wasn’t “Chentelle Bupht”. It was one of the best times of my life. We had to do 24 hours of shifts (which we got out of the way overnight on the Weds/Thurs) and then the festival was ours. We lived in the same clothes all weekend, barely moved from the Pyramid Stage, and by the time it was over I was so exhausted I cried all the way home, and so filthy I needed two baths in a row. I had never been happier.
Click here to see all festivals attended.
29th June 2007 – Meat Loaf
Tour Title: Seize the Night
Location: Ashton Gate Stadium, Bristol
With: Lisa Weaver & Sharon Pond
Support: Marion Raven
Comment: Less than a week after my first festival and I was hooked. Unfortunately while Glastonbury was free, Meat Loaf set me back £50. I had yet to learn how expensive gigs could be, and was horrified at the cost. Mum also wanted to go, but couldn’t justify the price. She did however get to listen from outside the gate, as being a selfish teenager I still expected her to drive us, and didn’t even consider buying her a ticket as a thank you.
Upon leaving the show I decided to buy a t-shirt. Instead of spending £20 at the merchandise stand, mum advised she had seen someone selling them for £10 in the car park. They only had size large, but mum explained “that’s because Meat Loaf himself wears a large”, and I thought that made complete sense.
28th February 2008 – Reel Big Fish
Location: Westlands, Yeovil
With: Amy Stuart
Support: Streetlight Manifesto & Sonic Boom Six
Comment: This was my first introduction to Reel Big Fish – Amy had a spare ticket and didn’t want to go on her own. I went on to like their music quite a bit.
27th-29th June 2008 – Glastonbury Festival
Location: Worthy Farm, Pilton
With: Lauren Hearn, David Graffham & Amy Stuart
Highlights: The Fratellis, Cerys Matthews, Alphabeat, Amy Winehouse, Panic! At The Disco, & Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.
Comment: Our second Glastonbury and we felt like pros – I even had my name spelt right on my ticket. This year Amy came with us, and we shared our wisdom with her beforehand – “whatever you do, don’t forget wellies” – but she still turned up in flip flops. By the second day, the sight of her struggling in the mud practically barefoot, caused a complete stranger to actually buy her a pair of overpriced boots, just so he didn’t have to watch any more of it.
Click here to see all festivals attended.
7th November 2008 – Cerys Matthews 
Location: O2 Ritz, Manchester
Headlining: Paul Heaton
Comment: I was 19 years old and on a mission to meet my idol. I’d spent hours creating a custom t-shirt, and while 99% of the audience were watching Paul Heaton, I was on a hunt to find Cerys Matthews’ dressing room. More photos available on the “Celebrity Encounters” page.
24th May 2009 – Cerys Matthews
Location: Market Hall, Abergavenny
With: Ell Roberts
Comment: Nearly 2 years after passing my driving test I took my first trip across the bridge to Wales. It had been 6 months since my last Cerys gig, and this time I was picking up Ell on the way. We’d even paid extra to go to the after party. Cerys remembered my t-shirt from Manchester without being reminded, so I was on a high all the way home. Photos available on the “Celebrity Encounters” page.
26th-28th June 2009 – Glastonbury Festival
Location: Worthy Farm, Pilton
With: Lauren Hearn and David Graffham
Highlights: Black Eyed Peas, Emmy the Great, Tom Jones, The Magic Numbers & Bruce Springsteen
Comment: 2009 was the year Michael Jackson died. We had already started our night shift when the news broke over the walkie-talkies. No one knew if it was true or not, and we had no internet access, but the atmosphere at the festival the next day confirmed it. It was all anyone could talk about, and a lot of the acts changed their setlists to include tributes. The mood of the whole weekend had shifted to shock and commemorative celebration. It was a unique collective experience.
Click here to see all festivals attended.
19th October 2009 – Cerys Matthews
Location: St George’s, Bristol
With: Ell Roberts
Comment: Continuing my tradition of not going more than 6 months without seeing a Cerys gig, Ell and I met up in Bristol. We still waited to meet Cerys again afterwards, even though there was a real risk I was going to miss the last train home. I took my chances, and luckily when Ell’s mum arrived she offered to drive me to the station with seconds to spare. More photos available on the “Celebrity Encounter” page.
12th April 2010 – Cerys Matthews
Location: Glee Club, Cardiff
With: Wesley Mead
Comment: Another 6 months, another Cerys Matthews gig. Ell was too young for this one and didn’t want to risk getting ID’d, so I took Wes along instead. I’d already spent 9 months subjecting him to every Catatonia and Cerys album, so he was suitably prepared. Photos available on the “Celebrity Encounters” page.
9th May 2010 – Derren Brown
“Derren has taken magic and mind-reading into new realms. He is seemingly able to predict suggest and control human behaviour, whilst claiming no special powers at all. This unique combination of talents makes for a stunning theatrical evening in the hands of a master performer. “
Show Title: Enigma
Location: Windsor Hall, Bournemouth Pavilion
With: Wesley Mead
“…and there’ll be goose and moose and apple juice, oh yeah…”
14th May 2010 – Annie
“Set in 1930s New York during The Great Depression, brave young Annie is forced to live a life of misery at Miss Hannigan’s orphanage. Her luck soon changes when she’s chosen to spend a fairytale Christmas with famous billionaire, Oliver Warbucks. Meanwhile, spiteful Miss Hannigan has other ideas and hatches a plan to spoil Annie’s search for her true family…”
Location: Frome Memorial Theatre
With: Wesley Mead
25th-27th June 2010 – Glastonbury Festival
Location: Worthy Farm, Pilton
With: Lauren Hearn and David Graffham
Highlights: Scissor Sisters, The Magic Numbers & Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.
Comment: It’s sad to think 2010 may have been my last Glastonbury ever – I have so many happy memories from my times there over the years. Truthfully though, by this stage there was a significant drop in the amount of acts I wanted to see, and between night shifts I ended up driving home to sleep instead of camping properly like previous years. It was time to call it a day.
Click here to see all festivals attended.
11th September 2010 – Barenaked Ladies
Comment: I was never a big fan of Barenaked Ladies – I always mentally associated them with the quirky/irritating songs of They Might be Giants. That is, until I saw them live for the first time, and they completely won me over. Songs like Old Apartment, and If I Had $1,000,000 are now firm favourites, and I still can’t think about Jim Creeggan without blushing… but the less said about that the better…
Tour Title: All in Good Time
Location: Southampton Guildhall
With: Wesley Mead
9th October 2010 – The Magic Numbers
Location: Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
With: Wesley Mead, Lauren Hearn & Aaron Hearn
Support: Danny and the Champions
Comment: The first time seeing The Magic Numbers outside of Glastonbury, and we very nearly didn’t make it! For some reason my sat-nav had attempted to redirect us to the Isle of Wight, and neither me or Wes noticed until we reached the harbour! It wasn’t even Portsmouth Harbour – that would have been too easy – we were about 40 minutes away. Luckily we’d left early, so Lauren and Aaron weren’t left waiting too long for us. The show was great, as expected, and the support act was so good that we’ve since been to see them as headliners too.
23rd October 2010 – The Gaslight Anthem
Tour Title: American Slang
Location: O2 Academy, Bristol
With: Wesley Mead
30th October 2010 – Circus of Horrors
“The show contains some of the greatest, most bizarre & beautiful Circus acts on earth. From dare devil flying trapeze to a vampiric crow woman suspended only by her hair, from whirlwind roller skaters to sword swallowers. All this plus pickled & bendy people, Voodoo Warriors, Knife throwers and an almighty cast of 26 of the wildest, weirdest but most of all greatest performers on earth. This is without a doubt a musical masterpiece with the pulsating Devil driven Rock n Roll of Dr Haze & he Interceptors From Hell. Imagine if Quentin Tarantino had directed Cirque Du Soleil then you would be only half way there.“
Show Title: The 4 Chapters From Hell
Location: The Globe, Blackpool
With: Wesley Mead
Comment: Our second holiday to Blackpool happened to coincide with me receiving my job offer from HHG. I had the call from them on the coach on the way there, and then upon arriving we immediately saw adverts for the Circus of Horrors and knew we had to celebrate my new job by buying tickets. It turned out to be surprisingly appropriate…
16th December 2010 – Tim Minchin
“I will performing with the amazing Heritage Orchestra, conducted by the brilliant Jules Buckley. It is going to be the biggest, stupidest, rockingest live comedy gig ever in the whole universe. There’ll be songs you may have heard before being performed as you’ve never heard them. And there’ll be songs you’ve never heard before because they don’t exist yet: they’ll be brand spanking new and written for this project. Do come. Yes, do.“
Comment: Such a great show. Tim did not let us down. The weather on the other hand… so much snow! We woke up in Cardiff the next morning to mum ringing us insisting “you have to try and get home now! All the trains are being cancelled”. Cue us rushing to get dressed, and heading straight for the train station in the thick snow. We had to pay for the privilege of changing our tickets for an earlier time, and then later found out that our original train didn’t even get cancelled
Location: Cardiff International Arena
With: Wesley Mead
15th January 2011 – Matilda the Musical
“With book by Dennis Kelly and original songs by Tim Minchin, Matilda The Musical is the story of an extraordinary little girl who, armed with a vivid imagination and a sharp mind, dares to take a stand and change her own destiny.“
Location: Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon
With: Wesley Mead
Comment: We were at the height of our Tim Minchin phase when we heard he was going to be writing music and lyrics for a new Matilda Musical. Our excitement at that news should be obvious by the fact our tickets were for the 12 week trial run in Stratford-Upon-Avon, 10 whole months before it hit the West End and became the huge success it is today. The only problem was we didn’t realise it wasn’t in London until we were about to board our pre-booked (and paid for) Berry’s bus and actually stopped to look at the tickets! It was too late to arrange another way of getting there, so I had to just drive the 2 hours 40 minutes myself and hope for the best.
14th May 2011 – Abigail’s Party
“In her suburban living room, Beverly prepares for the arrival of her guests. She and husband Laurence will play host to neighbours Angela, Tony, and Sue. As the alcohol flows and the ‘nibbles’ are handed around, Mike Leigh’s ruthless, achingly funny examination of 1970s British life begins…”
Location: Swan Theatre, Yeovil
With: Wesley Mead
18th May 2012 – Derren Brown
“Psychological illusion. An evening of mind-melting based around audience participation. The performance is not suitable for children under 12 years of age.“
Show Title: Svengali
Location: Bristol Hippodrome
With: Wesley Mead
Comment: We had these tickets for Christmas from Wesley’s parents. We were planning to go anyway, so it was a lovely surprise.
22nd June 2012 – Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
Comment: We went on the bus to Manchester which took about 6 hours, and joined the queue at the stadium about 3 hours before the start time. It was absolutely pouring with rain and I didn’t even have an umbrella, as we’d taken as little as possible to make getting through security easier. By the time we even got into the stadium I was soaked through and my feet were as waterlogged and wrinkly as if I’d stayed in the bath for way too long. We still had hours to wait for the show to begin (and of course Springsteen plays epic shows which last hours) so I ended up drenched with saturated shoes for about another 6 hours. Wes had a great time, and I spent most of it silently sobbing. Not sure what happened to the girl who used to spend 12 hours in the rain and mud in front of the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury…
Tour Title: Wrecking Ball
Location: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
With: Wesley Mead
21st April 2013 – Meat Loaf
Tour Title: Last at Bat
Location: Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
With: Wesley Mead
Comment: 6 years after first seeing Meat Loaf, it was time for his “final tour”. We were skeptical that it would really be the last, but thought we’d better not take any chances – plus I needed an excuse to wear that t-shirt again. The venue was 5 times smaller than in 2007, and the quality not quite as good, but given his age and health problems, he put on an incredible performance.
20th June 2013 – Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
Tour Title: Wrecking Ball
Location: Ricoh Arena, Coventry
With: Wesley Mead
Comment: It hadn’t even been a year, and memories of my macerated feet were still very fresh in my mind. This time I learned from all my previous mistakes, and not only wore sensible footwear, but also drove instead of making us get public transport. Turns out Springsteen is much more enjoyable when you have dry feet and haven’t spent 6 hours on a bus first!
27th September 2013 – Hi Jinx Magic & Illusion
Comment: We discovered High Jinx while on holiday in Blackpool for the fourth time, and looking for something new to do. We knew of them already from Penn & Teller’s Fool Us, but we were still completely blown away by the illusions. It was such a small venue we could touch the stage from our seats, and we couldn’t believe the tricks being done literally right in front of us. Further details available on the “Celebrity Encounters” page.
Location: Horseshoe Bar, Blackpool
With: Wesley Mead
23rd November 2013 – The Magic Numbers
Location: Cheese and Grain, Frome
With: Wesley Mead, Lauren Hearn, Aaron Hearn
Comment: Wes and I had just bought our first house, and we were having one problem after another. On the night of this gig we left the house with no water or heating, having spent two days waiting for a competent plumber, with no luck. It was so nice to get away from it and have a good night with great music and great friends.
25th April 2014 – Derren Brown
“The show promises to demonstrate once again why Derren is one of the world’s most renowned live performers; a dark manipulator of magic and mind control. A more ‘personal’ show, Derren is re-united with his close collaborator and friend actor, writer Andy Nyman. He says: “Now we’ve joined forces again, we’re very eager to make this show feel different. There was something of a template we followed with all the shows, which worked very well. It’s rather exciting and scary leaving that behind. This one should certainly have a different tone, and will mix things up a bit for those who have seen the others on TV or live”.”
Show Title: Infamous
Location: Bristol Hippodrome
With: Wesley Mead
22nd June 2014 – Penn & Teller
Location: Eventim Apollo, London
With: Wesley Mead
Comment: We left home on a sunny day in June with plenty of time to spare. We hoped to get to London a couple of hours before the show started. Great Western Railway had other plans for us though! Our first two trains were cancelled… then the third train was so packed that we literally couldn’t move for the whole journey. There’s no way it could have been safe. Three trains worth of people squished up against each other for 2 hours in 30 degree heat was unbearable. We also ended up getting to London so late that we missed the start of the show. I was in tears and just wanted to go home. Wes convinced me to keep going, and of course I’m glad he did. The 90% of the show we got to see was amazing, and meeting Teller afterwards made the whole thing worth it. More photos available on the “Celebrity Encounters” page.
13th November 2015 – Dave Gorman
“The comedy mind behind Modern Life Is Goodish (Dave TV), Are You Dave Gorman? and Googlewhack Adventure is back with a brand new live show that promises more of his unique blend of stand-up comedy and visual story-telling as Dave Gorman Gets Straight To The Point*… (*The PowerPoint). Yes. That’s right. It’s a PowerPoint presentation. But don’t worry… you won’t need to take notes and you almost certainly won’t be tested on it later.“
Show Title: Dave Gorman Gets Straight To The Point
Location: Octagon Theatre, Yeovil
With: Wesley Mead
Comment: More photos available on the “Celebrity Encounters” page.
15th November 2015 – The Fratellis
Tour Title: Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied
Location: O2 Academy, Bristol
With: Wesley Mead, Lauren Burpitt
Comment: More than 7 years after I last saw The Fratellis, I had turned Wes into a fan, and our niece liked then too. It was the weekend before I was due to have an operation, and I had been so relieved when my surgery date came through that I wasn’t going to have to miss the gig!
Choni Mead 