Literal Interpretive Dancing in London (Wrock Weekend Pt1)

I am a jammy bugger, tis true. I got to have another of those completely amazing weekends with my friends. You know the ones, the ones where we are all there and amazing things happen and we laugh and memories are built.

Yeah, I did another one of those.

It started on a Saturday (in actuality it started on Twitter and Facebook and Skype about 3 weeks beforehand but I'm glossing over that part right now). I (finally) arrived in London town and met Amy and K-Rob and then Jiggles showed up (with her incredibly gorgeous new haircut) and we hugged and squee-d and it was lovely. And then Amy went off to do some stuff and Jiggles, K-Rob and I decided to go out to Upton Park to The Who Shop...

Which was awesome!

Jiggles and I outside of West Ham football club, making Dean Thomas proud.
"Wha choo talkin' 'bout Dumbledore?'

We got to have some photos taken with a Dalek and we met a nice lady and we went around and around in the shop and looked at all of the amazing stuff they had. They had socks with David Tennant on (which obviously I bought) and a cup in the shape of the TARDIS (which obviously I bought) and loads of other stuff like T-shirts and collector's magazines and keyrings and Dalek models and all the Doctor's as figures and posters and novels (which I did not buy - YET) and it was amazing. They also have a mini-cinema in there and to get into it you have to go through the TARDIS, but we didn't get to go in that. Next time. It was a fabulous shop. Carol, the lady who works there is really nice and we had a good chat with her about all things Whoovian.

K-Rob and I with a Dalek. He wasn't so bad.

Then we made our way back across London to meet Emma, Lizzy and Amy (bumping into James S, Laura and Cathrin on the way... pretty much during a 'signal failure') to get cupcakes. Mmmmmm Hummingbird Bakery. One of the rare times when the product lives up to the hype. I had the Black Bottom Cupcake and it was sooooo good. You just can't go wrong with cheesecake. I kinda wish I'd chewed it a bit more to get the maximum flavour from it. Never mind, guess I'll just have to go back...

After a quick tea-break and a chat with Amy's lovely friend Robin, it was time for the muso's to go sound-check and the fangirls to go and make a nuisance of themselves in The Smoke.

On our way to find Forbidden Planet we made a pit-stop at Cyber Candy and went batshit. K-Rob had to physically restrain me from spending £20 on tins of mints (they had mints that looked like Zelda shields, and Mario Mushrooms and Garlic Mints to repel vampires and moustache mints and werewolf repelling mints and brain mints for zombies and mints in Wii controller boxes... it was Mint Mania). For some reason, the idea of not owning all those little tins full of minty goodness was awful and I crammed them into my basket... but as I said, K-Rob took me aside and we had a little talk about how many tins of mints a girl needs and I was allowed to keep 3 of them. I also got some pumpkin flavoured biscuit sticks and some Moustache Elixer (flavour still unidentified) and some Cherry Mash (I still need to Google what this is) and we all got some Mountain Dew flavoured lip-balm. It was madness. Not quite as bad as when we were in Honeydukes but not far off.

Then we set off to meet Eliza in Forbidden Planet, except we couldn't find Forbidden Planet, even though 50% of the party were Hufflepuffs (We had a chat about this as well, when did AVPM and S stuff become canon? And how did we know what Hufflepuffs did before?) After trolling up and down Shaftesbury Avenue for about an hour we got bored and decided to go and get Chinese food. So we had dinner and Eliza came to us and then it was time to go!

And we met some boys on the Tube! There is an unwritten rule on the Tube when, if it is daylight, you may not talk to or communicate with any other passengers, even if they are your friends and you got on with them. But after darkness falls it is mandatory to talk to everyone in your carriage. So we chatted to some rugby-type boys about Bagheera, Shere Khan, Kaa, Sir Hiss and whether the reason Maid Marian was also a fox in Disney's Robin Hood was to prevent the ick-factor of potential inter-species breeding. And when we finally got to the venue it was amazing! It's so nice to walk into a room and see it full of faces you know and love! It's so awesome to go from hug to hug to hug as you get to see all the people you've missed. Neil was there! YAY! Lauren and Colleen were there! YAY! Elvira and Malik were there! YAY! James was there! YAY! Reine was there! YAY! And it's even more awesome when this takes place in a student venue and the wine is only £3 for a large glass. GOOD TIMES.

First up was the magical Margo with her band, The Deathsticks. Margo's voice is amazing. I don't know how else to describe it. She is able to move between notes with such grace and fluidity, making complex key changes which are haunting, to say the least. More than once during her set the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. 'To The Death' is such a brilliant showcase for her talent and my favourite song of hers. And she did a cover of Florence and the Machine's 'Dog Days' about Sirius (swoon). And one of 'Marauder's Map', which we managed to mess up the dance to. I don't think she minded though.

And then Amy was up as Romilda Vane and Kylie and I got to jump on stage and sing with her on 'Going to Hogwarts', which was beautiful and scary (beautiful being Amy and scary being me - pretty sure they turned the mic off once I got up there but they said not...).

Hide yo wife, hide yo kids

She also did the fabulous 'Godric's Hollow' and her version of 'Seven Potters', which is always a favourite with the crowd (and it was me that hit the top B. Siriusly. It was actually me.) Also, Margo joined her for a song which was ace as, throughout Margo's set Amy had been very softly singing along and I could hear and it was magical, to actually hear them together was lush. Properly lush. And she ended the set with Katy Perry's 'Firework'. Which was GENIUS as it got to showcase Amy's voice in a more pop-culture way and also meant we got to jump around. Normally I sob my way through Amy's sets as she's got this knack of using notes and lyrics which tug at my heartstrings. So it was nice that my mascara stayed intact.

It was also a clever move on her part as it got us all right in the mood for the hijinks of Siriusly Hazza P. They started off with 'Madame Puddifoots', which I love as it's a swing-esque song about tea. I love swing and I love tea. You can't normally combine them very well as scalding and a trip to A&E usually ensue if you try. However, somehow, SHP have managed it. So I take my veiled and be-ribboned hat off to them. They also played 'Witchface', which was poignant for me as two days before I'd dreamt they made blue glittery Team Laura: Witchface and red glittery Team Cathrin: Witchface badges for their merch (this was not a prophetic dream. I wish it had have been). For the record, I would have bought one of each. Obviously they finished with 'John Simons' (pretty sure they'd be lynched if they didn't) and just in the nick of time too as we were all knackered from dancing.

We rallied for a dance party though. Apparently at some point we did literal interpretive dances to 'Snape vs. Snape' and 'House Song'. And then I (allegedly) went one step too far and re-enacted A-Carp's video of 'My Baby'. I don't remember this at all and I remember the rest of the night clearly so I'm pretty sure it's a lie.

Then home to Reading  (via more interaction on the Tube) to watch Hercules (tee hee) and then sleeps.

And part two of the weekend comes tomorrow*

*and by tomorrow I mean when I'm good and bloody ready.