I just wanted to give mention to the No To Hate vigil that happened in Trafalgar Square, London on 30th October 2009.
Unfortunately, I had to get home on Friday evening, though as I was late home from work, I only missed this by about an hour (I often pass through Trafalgar Square). On reflection, I really wish I’d stayed.
The vigil was largely prompted as a response to the death of Ian Baynham, recently murdered in the Square for simply being gay. It has also been used to respond to the reports of rising numbers of hate-crimes against the gay community and also to highlight of the case of a young gay chap in Liverpool who was brutally set upon by a gang of up to 20 youths a few days ago; showing this is not just a problem local to London.
The Londonist have ran a marvellous article (with some stunning pictures). I’d strongly recommend my blog readers have a read of it.
The sheer number of names read out after the silence seemed never ending, and was, without doubt, far, far too many.
I have been very lucky to have never really experienced serious homophobic abuse, despite what we’re told are drastically rising numbers of instances.
I have read articles in Attitude magazine, and similar, which also reckon that hate crimes will rise due to the effects of global warming (essentially, when things start to go wrong, and at times of social pressure, minority groups suffer badly). A somewhat sobering thought, and the first time I’ve really (and seriously) thought about the effects of global warming (though I have always tried to be green myself!).
Without wanting to get too party political about this, why were there no Conservative politicians in attendance at the vigil (apart from the Deputy London Mayor)? I see a long list of Labour figures and supporters reported in the media, but nobody from any other party seemed to have turned up…
I think that the overwhelming majority of people in this country all share the same fundamental values, and understand that even if we don’t agree with someone elses way of living and think it wrong, that tolerance must be still exercised.
I think that those remaining few people who cross the line of tolerance and are clearly so full of unsubstantiated rage, unable to show any sense of self-restraint, without shadow of a doubt deserve no less than life in prison, and their assets liquidated and donated to the further the efforts against the ‘phobia’ or ‘ism’ that they have breached. It’d never happen, but I wish it would.
First off, I would just like to state that I write this review as a ‘normal’ fan of music, and of many artists, including Michael Jackson.
I am not one of those people who gets hysterical at the mention of his name, and I am not one of those people who worships absolutely everything that MJ did; I am just your average Joe. I say this, as I am most likely about to rave over this movie, and although it’s a little sad that I feel the need to say this, I would like for people to see that I went to the movie with an open mind and am not just gushing for the sake of it! I genuinely enjoyed watching it.
So, now that’s said, let us begin
Myself, Tom and Carlos went to see ‘This Is It‘ on the first evening at Greenwich (UK) IMAX (and opted for Premium Seats) – in theory, giving us the best seats for this in the country! Oh, and yes, I did stay up until Midnight on the 27th September to book them!
All three of us thought that the movie was absolutely fantastic, and I think I can safely say that we all left the cinema thinking that the shows at the O2 would undoubtably have been the shows of his career (and the best we’d ever seen!). For me, saying that is quite something as, due to the nature of my job, I get to see a lot of concerts and shows, definitely more than your average person I reckon.
(I recommend watching the trailer in full screen HD – it’s awesome!)
What Sony/AEG have done is to stitch together an awful lot of rehearsal footage and essentially recreate the concert that never was. As you would expect, not all of the shots are of cinematographic quality and there is little in the way of narration, but then, we know this is not what the movie is about. In fact, the movie barely mentions Michael’s death, and they have seemingly resisted the urge to make it overly poignant and soppy. This film aims to try and showcase the potential that ‘This Is It’ had for you and me, as audience members at the O2 Arena, to see had we been sat there with 20,000 other people – it is not a documentary.
I have seen a lot of negative reviews in the British media, with many people saying that they hated it and that it was clearly rubbish as “MJ didn’t even look close to death” (erm, hello, drug overdose/heart attack!). They also do not seem to have grasped the concept of the movie, which is somewhat annoying. The media seem to be jaded against anything that is being released by The Michael Jackson Company at the moment - I guess it is easier to be critical/cynical than supportive / open-minded at this time.
Anyway, I have rambled, sorry! I just don’t want people to be taken in by all of the 2 and 3 star reviews that are out there which are based on ‘This Is It’ as a documentary/bio-pic and not as it being clips of rehearsal footage of a concert. I disagree with the notion that “MJ’s vocals and dancing abilities had clearly deteriorated” – the guy was at a fairly relaxed rehearsal, and was also taking in all aspects of the show itself at the same time, so wouldn’t have given the singing/dancing 100%! He seems to have put an awful lot of effort in, especially considering these were just preliminary rehearsals, and I doubt you’d have gotten footage anywhere near this intense/professional had it been a rehearsal of any other artist.
What really comes across in this movie is the attention to detail that MJ had for his craft. Every minute detail seemed to be scrutinised by him, and it was clear that he was always very conscious of giving the audience a show and knew exactly what they wanted. He was the ultimate showman, and I would say that he was on par with the great Freddie Mercury. I think that he had put a lot of pressure on himself for this show, however I think that this would have been true of any tour that he was working on – he came across as being a bit of a perfectionist. To his credit he could have said ‘I’m Michael Jackson, they’ll love me anyway’ and put a whole less effort in. What I also came to respect was that MJ was really the one who put the tour together – Kenny Ortega came across as a bit of a ‘yes-man’ and I would go as far to say that MJ was definitely the person inputting all of the creativity into the partnership, and seemingly retained total control over proceedings.
A few people are saying that MJ came across a bit of a diva in his quest for perfection due to a few recorded moments shown in the movie. It’s sad that they can’t recognise these as also being endearingly funny moments. The best of which was when MJ had the ear feed blaring down his ear, and he stopped the performance and whined ‘It’s like it’s fisting my ear’ and then proceeded to do several fisting movements, at force! LOL! It was moments such as these, that made the audience chuckle and added some humanity to the rehearsal in my opinion. Yes, he’s having a bit of a strop, but in a lovable ‘oh Michael’ kind of way. You know that when he watched it back (if indeed he ever did – the rehearsals were originally recorded as footage for his personal archive) that he would have giggled a little too. Two other bits that will stick with me include when he was on the mechanical arm and Kenny has to shout ‘Michael, please, HOLD ON!’, and also when MJ’s eyes suddenly light up and he randomly shouts out ‘burn it!’ heh. The moment with the “Well… I’ll just feel it” and the subsequent (but petulant) compromise to have video screen off-stage instead on the cue to start singing on Smooth Criminal also made me chuckle.
The show would have been a technical triumph in my opinion. All of the pre-recorded CGI / 3D shots looked really good, and the new staged version of Thriller looked simply stunning. Surprisingly, it seemed to be Michael pushing the boundary, especially with things such as his choice of clothing for the show (they should have shown us!), and I think that it gives a small glimpse of just how well he was able to keep up with the times and breaking/emerging technology to ensure that he put on a truly sensational show.
I was very pleased to see all my favourite tracks on the set list (Beat It, Smooth Criminal, They Don’t Care About Us, Heal The World), though it was a pity my other favourite ‘Leave Me Alone’ wasn’t on the bill. It goes without saying that I enjoy Thriller, Man In The Mirror, Billie Jean, Earth Song et al very much too, just those mentioned are my absolute favourites!
The audience in the cinema were largely receptive, and often applauded. If you want to see every last second, there are a few more clips right at the very very end (but you have to look silly by sitting in the cinema on your own with the cleaners working around you, as everyone else WILL leave heh!).
I have been fairly close to the tour since MJ’s death due to my employment, and it was especially nice for me to get a glimpse of what is currently causing me a lot of stress and late nights. I mean that in a nice way though, seeing this footage definitely makes it all worthwhile, it genuinely does. We even get a thanks (by extension) in the credits, hurrah!
It will remain one of pop music’s biggest tragedies that this show was never seen in full by anyone, however I think that the decision to release this footage as a movie was a great one. Forget about it being released to make money (the world is largely a capitalist one; you can’t criticise Sony / AEG for doing this in my opinion), it was a release that I think that the fans needed, and fans of live entertainment would have been dismayed not to have seen. It was great to see Michael relaxed in rehearsals, and not acting for anyone or being a showman for the massive crowds, though his personal wardrobe was admittedly garish heh! A great 111 minutes, and I will definitely be purchasing the DVD of the movie, and watching it time and time again!
I’d like to close this post with the final paragraph of a review piece by Sitafa Harden and published on DigitalJournal.com (I’d recommend checking out the full review – I agree with this person’s sentiments exactly – especially regarding the ‘lack of interest’ that people seem to have over the release of ‘This Is It’):
This film left no doubt that if Jackson’s final show had gone on it would have been a glorious success. For his fans that realization was bittersweet. Some cried. For 111 minutes he was alive again. And when the movie ended, most of them remained in their seats watching all the credits until finally the screen went black, wishing and hoping there would be just one more clip or sound bite. But, sadly, regretfully, finally…that was it.
OK, so it appears that I am a ‘little’ late to the Paloma Faith party, largely due to my being constantly diverted away from writing this blog by other posts, and a lack of time – boo.
I have to say that her recent single, ‘New York’ has not been off my music player since I first heard it – it’s been on constant repeat – I LOVE IT!
I first heard of Paloma Faith via a TV advert for her album, and within 5 seconds of hearing a few bars of ‘New York‘ followed by that delightful transpose with the gospel choir, I’d made up my mind that I had to look this lass up, and had made a note on my phone to do so first thing next morning.
However, about five minutes later, Greg and I flicked over to Friday Night With Jonathan Ross and to my delight, she was his music guest for the week!
I had no idea that the song ‘Stone Cold Sober’, released earlier in the summer,was hers, I just chalked it up to Duffy or someone similar… perhaps unfortunate (in a back-handed compliment kind of way), however Paloma Faith has only recently started getting some mainstream recognition over here in the UK.
Her album/singles originally charted around the #15 mark on entry and didn’t really fare much better – however in the slew of marking and promotion that has been done since, it seems this girl is (rightfully!) on her way to the top! Recently, Paloma’s album topped the iTunes album chart, so it seems that her music is finally getting through to what I would consider the expected demographic.
It seems strange though that the single was released back in September 2009, and they are only now getting her onto the major talk-shows and music shows (such as Later… with Jools Holland). Hopefully, many of the people in the industry and media who originally gave the two singles/album a lukewarm/somewhat jaded reception will revise those thoughts as support for the artist grows.
Stargazer is also a lovely theatrical/dreamy song I think, and is my second favourite song on the album:
I adore her ‘background story’ too – apparently she’s half Spanish, half British (she was born in Hackney, London) and amongst her many prior jobs, she was a magician’s assistant! Her name, Paloma, translates as ‘Dove’ in Spanish.
Oh… and this latest entry from her video diary on YouTube is charmingly funny! This is the sort of thing that you’d find me doing most days heh! Maybe my next vLog post will take this format!
For those of us in the UK, Paloma is playing several gigs, including KOKO (London), in November… tickets are onsale now!
Having previously blogged about the build up to the performance, I’ve just caught up with the BBC Electric Proms and had chance to see Robbie’s performance, having only had opportunity to listen to the audio via Radio One during the week.
I do wish that he’d stop lauding this ‘it’s been three years since I last gigged’ fact… it makes me feel really old, as I can still remember all the work that we put into his last tour as if it were only yesterday heh!!
The Electric Proms performance at Camden Roundhouse was absolutely fabulous I though!
I’m a fan of the Electric Proms themselves, I tend to love any album or concert that weaves orchestras into popular music (such as Metallica’s S&M gig), and Robbie’s music was rife for such treatment, especially as there seems to be a lot of orchestration in his new album (yay!).
For me, the highlight of the entire gig was when he performed ‘We Know You‘, which will be the second song from his new album, and will be released on December 14th 2009.
The sound on this track is gorgeous! I love the lazy, classical, sweeping refrains/sound to the track, and I have a feeling that I will rate this of one of his best tracks given a few more listens.
Hopefully, that won’t be the kiss-of-death for the track, as I tend to get really passionate about the Robbie tracks (and performances) that fall by the wayside somewhat! (Note, this does not include the RudeBox album… that fell by the wayside all on its own!!).
A few of the other new tracks previewed are as below:
For people in the UK, there are currently plenty of ways to catch up on the performance:
Hit the Red button on Freeview (from BBC channels) – or go directly to channel 301 – the gig is on a constant loop.
BBC iPlayer also carries the audio from Radio One – which gives an unedited version of the gig (the visual was edited slightly – a lot of the ad-lib stuff (that was rather endearing to Robbie) was cut out unfortunately).
As a side note, this gig has also been screened in cinemas in several different countries, and has earned this performance the official Guinness World Record for “most cinematic screenings of a live concert” – not bad when you consider that the last Take That concert was made available to people via Vue Cinema screens too!
The track listing for ‘Reality Killed The Video Star’ will be as below:
#
Title
Length
1.
“Morning Sun”
4:05
2.
“Bodies”
4:01
3.
“You Know Me”
4:27
4.
“Blasphemy”
4:18
5.
“Do You Mind?”
4:06
6.
“Last Days of Disco”
4:50
7.
“Somewhere”
1:01
8.
“Deceptacon”
5:01
9.
“Starstruck”
5:21
10.
“Difficult for Weirdos”
4:29
11.
“Won’t Do That”
3:38
12.
“Superblind”
4:46
13.
“Morning Sun (Reprise)”
1:19
Very pleased that Robbie is back on top form, can’t wait for the album, and I really look forward to the possibility of him gigging again in the very near future!
VERY excited for what must be my 8th time seeing this production when the cast-change happens.
A little sad as my friend Adam will no longer be appearing as Edna/Wilbur/MAF cover, which is a big shame, but I am a HUGE Sharon D. Clarke fan – *very very very excited!!*
October 8th, midday has been and gone, and with it came the launch of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s newest musical, “Love Never Dies” .
The official website currently carries video footage of the press launch itself, as well as links for purchasing tickets, and pre-ordering the cast album (which seems slightly odd, as, at present, no tracks have been released from it to listen to yet!) If you’d like to hear the (rather grand and sweeping) ‘Coney Island Waltz’, you need to sign up to the Really Useful Group mailing list first via the link on the ‘Love Never Dies‘ website.
The full video footage from the launch has also been posted to YouTube by the Really Useful Group:
Below are two press releases posted today:
GLOBAL LAUNCH FOR ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER’S LONG-AWAITED NEW PRODUCTION
Today, Thursday 8 October, Andrew Lloyd Webber unveils his brand new production “LOVE NEVER DIES” at a global launch in London. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long awaited new show will have its World Premiere in London at the Adelphi Theatre on Tuesday 9 March 2010 followed by New York on Thursday 11 November and in Australia in 2011.
“LOVE NEVER DIES” continues the story of ‘The Phantom’, who has moved from his lair in the Paris Opera House to haunt the fairgrounds of Coney Island, far across the Atlantic. Set 10 years after the mysterious disappearance of ‘The Phantom’ from Paris, this show is a rollercoaster ride of obsession and intrigue…in which music and memory can play cruel tricks…and ‘The Phantom’ sets out to prove that, indeed, “LOVE NEVER DIES”.
“The Phantom of the Opera”, based on the French novel by Gaston Leroux, has proved a huge success the world over and has been seen by over 100 million people, making it the single most successful entertainment entity in history. The show has been translated into 15 languages and appeared in over 25 different countries including China, Brazil, Poland and Korea. “The Phantom of the Opera” opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London on 9 October 1986 starring Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford and celebrates its 23rd London birthday tomorrow on 9 October. “The Phantom of the Opera” won a staggering 50 awards worldwide, whilst global album sales currently stand at over 40 million copies.
Ramin Karimloo will create the role of ‘The Phantom’ in “LOVE NEVER DIES”, having already played the role to great acclaim in “The Phantom of the Opera” in London. Ramin’s other stage credits include starring as ‘Enjolras’ in “Les Misérables” in the West End, ‘Chris’ in the UK tour of “Miss Saigon” and ‘Artie Green’ in the UK tour of “Sunset Boulevard”. Ramin also played ‘Raoul’ in the West End production of “The Phantom of the Opera”, as well as the role of ‘Christine’s Father’ in Joel Schumacher’s film, making him the only actor to play all three of ‘Christine’s’ loves.
Sierra Boggess will create the role of ‘Christine’ in “LOVE NEVER DIES”. Sierra made her Broadway debut creating the lead role of ‘Ariel’ in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”, receiving both Drama League and Drama Desk Award nominations and a Broadway.com Audience Award for ‘Favourite Breakthrough Performance’. She also understudied the role of ‘Cosette’ on the Broadway National Tour of “Les Misérables”. In 2007 Sierra was handpicked by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Hal Prince to originate the role of ‘Christine’ in a brand new production of “Phantom – the Las Vegas Spectacular”. “LOVE NEVER DIES” marks Sierra’s West End debut.
Glenn Slater, lyricist, was nominated for the 2008 Tony and Grammy Awards for Disney’s theatrical production of “The Little Mermaid”. He is lyricist on the current London production of “Sister Act”. Bob Crowley, set and costume designer, recently worked on “Phèdre” with Helen Mirren at the National Theatre. His many award-winning productions include “The History Boys”, “Les Liaisons Dangereuses”, Disney’s “Aida”, “Mary Poppins” and “The Year of Magical Thinking”. Choreographer Jerry Mitchell recently made his directorial debut with “Legally Blonde” on Broadway and also choreographed the award-winning musical productions of “La Cage aux Folles”, “Hairspray” and “The Full Monty”. Director Jack O’Brien directed the award-winning London production of “Hairspray” and won Tony awards for the Broadway productions of Tom Stoppard’s “The Coast of Utopia”, “Hairspray” and the 2004 production of “Henry IV”. His other productions include Stoppard’s “The Invention of Love”, “The Full Monty”, “Hapgood”, “Damn Yankees”, “The Little Foxes”, and operas including “Street Scene” at New York City Opera and “Il Triticco” at the Metropolitan Opera later this year.
The World Premiere of “LOVE NEVER DIES” will take place in London on 9 March 2010 at the Adelphi Theatre. Previews begin on 20 February. The show will then premiere in New York on 11 November 2010 and in Australia in 2011.
The “LOVE NEVER DIES” album was completed in September 2009 and will be released on Wednesday, 10 March 2010, the day after the World Premiere in London. Pre-order your album here and you will receive a FREE exclusive preview digital track.
OPEN AUDITION
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies requires BOY TREBLES to play the leading role of GUSTAVE in the forthcoming West End production.
Boys must have a playing age of 10-12 years, with very strong, pure, musical vocal ability, able to sing up to at least a top G. Candidates must also have strong acting skills.
Please prepare “O For The Wings of a Dove” by Mendelssohn, and one other short contrasting piece of your own choice which shows off the vocal range – please bring sheet music.
Please note that at this stage we can only consider applications from boys living within the M25.
The audition will be held on Sunday 18 October 2009 at
Adelphi Theatre
Strand
London WC2
Please register at the Front of House entrance at 10.00am. Candidates should be prepared to stay all day. Rehearsals commence January 2010.
I stumbled across the below from the Society of London Theatres (SOLT), and thought I’d repost as it may be of special interest to those of you who very kindly visit this blog to read some of my theatre reviews/thoughts.
Alas, I can’t enter it (darn my job!) but this really is a prize to be envious of! If anyone does apply, do let me know – be great to chat to other theatre fans!
Since 1976, members of the theatregoing public have been helping the Society of London Theatre pick the winners of the prestigious Laurence Olivier Awards. If you are a regular theatregoer with a keen critical eye, then you could be just what we need!
There are four independent judging panels:
THEATRE PANEL
This is made up of four members of the public, seeing both plays and musicals. The public panellists are joined by five expert panellists who are not critics but have professional knowledge of the industry. Panellists can expect to see around 80 productions in the year.
OPERA PANEL
This is made up of two members of the public and three professional panellists who will see approximately 20 productions throughout the year.
DANCE PANEL
This is made up of two public and three professional panellists who will see around 40 productions in the Awards year.
AFFILIATES PANEL
This panel judges the work of the Society’s Affiliate members (The Bush, Greenwich, Hackney Empire, Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court, Lyric Hammersmith, New Wimbledon, Soho, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Trafalgar Studio 2, Tricycle and UCL Bloomsbury) and comprises two public and three professional panellists. They will see approximately 20 productions in the year.
The Awards year runs from 1 January to 31 December 2010 and panellists will usually receive a pair of complimentary tickets for each production they are asked to see.
How To Apply
Decide which panel you wish to apply for Theatre, Opera, Dance or Affiliates.
Write a 150 word review of a new production you have seen in the last year. This review should:
Be appropriate to the panel you are applying for.
Tell us why you think this particular production deserves a Laurence Olivier Award.
Include comments on direction and design as well as comments on individual performers.
We would also like a list of the productions you have seen in the last 12 months. Once you have filled in the form below, press ‘SUBMIT’ to send it to us.
Please note
People professionally connected with the theatre industry are not eligible to be public panellists
Previous panel members are unlikely to be reselected.
The decision of the selection panel is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Only successful applicants will be contacted.
CLOSING DATE FOR ALL PANEL APPLICATIONS IS 30 NOVEMBER 2009
The Novello Theatre in London’s West End is currently playing host to an eight week run of Stephen Daldry’s production of J.B. Priestley’s classic play “An Inspector Calls“.
I was lucky enough to get an invite to go and watch this and, having read/studied the play back at school/college, I jumped at the chance.
“When Inspector Goole arrives unexpectedly at the prosperous Birling family home, their peaceful dinner party is shattered by his investigations into the death of a young woman. His startling revelations shake the very foundations of their lives and challenge us all to examine our consciences.”
All in all, I enjoyed the production, though I did take issue with one or two points – I thought that the members of the cast outside of The Birlings and Inspector Goole were a little unnecessary and added confusion to the mix more than anything else. I also thought that there was a fair bit of overacting, especially from Nicholas Woodeson, playing Inspector Goole, frequently losing his temper and screaming at The Birlings, which I found inappropriate and ineffective.
For me, I most enjoyed the performance of Sandra Duncan as Mrs Burling – she commanded the stage whenever she was on it, and was without doubt, perfect for the role. I do feel that the role of the Inspector should have been cast with a stronger gentleman if I am completely honest. In the interest of fairness, I should add that the Press seem fairly mixed on their reviews of the quality of performance turned in by the actors, with some proclaiming that it is second to none, and others panning elements of it.
The set is fairly basic, but it works very well – especially at curtain up, that was a production in itself! The combination of the music, rain and the smoke really did add some ambiance to the opening moments, and I thought that this was very well done. I also liked the house collapsing around them and thought that was very well staged.
The play is 1 hour 45 minutes in duration, and is without interval. I must say, the time whizzed by!
I’d recommend for anyone considering seeing the show to go and see it on its West End (or indeed UK touring) run. This year is all about the West End play, and “An Inspector Calls” is a very welcome addition to the range of drama currently on London’s stages at the moment.
Managed to get a snap of the falcon in Trafalgar Square this morning – very pleased!
Lighting is a little off as I had to shoot into direct sunlight, plus this is on my new phone (and so I haven’t a clue how the camera works heh). The falcon was a little restless, though kept returning to perch here, so it was a case of snap and hope for the best to be honest.
Some local media outlets in London have recently gotten on their soap box and claim that the falcons (there are two) are a far too expensive way of controling the pidgeons in Trafalgar Square, costing the taxpayer around £40,000 per year. It’s a fair enough comment I guess, but I don’t see them proposing viable alternatives.
In addition, I absolutely love my 30 seconds walking through the square and seeing them swooping around or with the handler, and so I for one, think that the money is very well spent!
More falcons and birds of prey set loose around London please! (especially tourist hotspots!)
So, I figured that it was about time that I wrote a review of the gym that I have joined, as promised in my earlier post heh!
I now go to TheGymGroup’s gym in Vauxhall, and I have to say that it is, in my opinion, a very decent gym and comes recommended to anyone reading.
To be honest, I only wanted a gym for the fitness machines and weights, so if that’s what you’re looking for then it’s really worth looking at. If a pool and steam room etc is a must, then you’re going to need to look elsewhere I’m afraid (and pay a LOT more!).
As for how busy it gets, well that depends on when you go, as you’d expect.
As a rule, the gym is busy in the evenings, although when I had my induction there it was a Thursday evening and, although they said it was ‘very busy’, I reckon that only about 75% of equipment was in use – there was still plenty of room in the changing rooms, no queue for showers, and I didn’t queue to use any of the equipment… so it’s not *too* bad in my opinion.
If you go during the day time in the week (as I do each week) then the place is practically deserted – which is fabulous.
As it has only just opened, I reckon it’ll be really quiet in about 6 months once people stop going and the initial novelty dies off.
A lot of the people who go there are already rather buff (erk! heh) so I also figure that if folk who take fitness rather seriously go to this gym, it can’t be all that basic
I have a few good friends who I sometimes bump into at the gym too, which helps with motivation and whatnot.
Equipment is all new and good too – there’s plenty of it!
It seems a very aspirational gym in a way, I always get stopped in the vacinity of the gym itself and asked to provide an opinion of it to someone hovering outside and thinking of joining up, and I’ve had one or two queries online too. It’s like being one of the Air Hostesses of the 60s and 70s heh!
If you want a look at the gym, I’d suggest that you head on over to The GymGroup’s Vauxhall website and look at the ‘tour’ video (and ‘equipment’ page) – it looks just as it does there. Day passes are available for people just wanting to try it out, and they have several other sites other than Vauxhall.
If you do decide to join up, do let me know your thoughts too!
Maybe my next vLog post will take this format! 
