John Barrowman, A Fabulous Christmas – Harrogate Convention Centre, 6 December 2019

And so we reach the final production of my 40th birthday year of theatre. This trip was planned because my friend Sue turned 40 this week and a group of us wanted to treat her, so we bought tickets for this as a surprise. Plus we couldn’t think of a better way of kicking off our Christmas celebrations than with John Barrowman performing festive songs – what utter joy. There was a slight panic last week, when it was reported that John had injured his neck and the concerts were in doubt, but whatever treatment he has had has certainly worked.

As with John’s earlier, Fabulous, tour, the night revolved around stories. These especially centred on experiences with his family and his husband Scott (Scott was also doing sterling work on the merchandise stall), with pictures and videos throughout, and the songs relating to the memories. The mix was just right. You know I love as many tunes as possible in my evenings of entertainment, but the stories definitely worked in linking them all together and giving context as to why they are favourites for John. So we had his dad’s favourite songs, and songs that reminded John of performing in panto, and (most emotionally) songs that reminded John of his childhood, reclaiming them as his own after remembering how church groups made him feel unwelcome due to his sexuality.

Of course most of the set revolved around festive tunes, with many of those on his accompanying album performed over the evening – Happy Holidays, Grown Up Christmas List, getting us all to join in with Silent Night and also Jingle Bells. His rendition of O Holy Night was glorious. Plus there were favourites like Save The Last Dance, This Is The Moment and his traditional performance of I Am What I Am (always a highlight, always). Santa himself appeared for Santa Claus Is Coming To Town and the two of them danced across the stage together. John kept apologising that he couldn’t be as expressive in his movement as he’d have liked because of his injury, but he certainly wasn’t sat still for the duration.

As I have mentioned before, something I really love about John’s concerts is the mix of folk in the audience and it was no different last night. Everyone is welcome and everyone is welcomed. As someone who is a fan of a lot of different performers, but not devoted to one or two in particular, you get a different vibe from the most devoted fans who follow their favourites everywhere when you go to various concerts. Sometimes it can make you feel like you don’t belong. This has never been the case with John and his ‘fan family’. They are always incredibly welcoming and want to chat and basically share their joy. It is a lovely thing to be a part of.

So that is that for 2019. I am going to write a round-up of my highlights of the year next, and then we continue with more theatre in 2020.

John Barrowman, Fabulous – Newcastle City Hall, 20 June 2019

I’ll say this from the outset: I adore John Barrowman. Ever since he presented Live And Kicking during my secondary school years, I have been a fan. This is the third time I have seen him live, and the second time at Newcastle City Hall. It has been a few years though – we’ve been kept waiting a while for this tour. From what John said during the evening, we have his popularity on I’m A Celebrity last year to thank for this one, as it got the promoters interested again. It’s a shame it took him eating dubious animal bits to achieve it!

And, thanks to the joys of pre-sales, I got tickets for the third row! Never have I been so close before. Bonus daughter points from my mum, my companion for the evening, too.

As before, I loved the mix of folk in the audience. I go to a lot of concerts by stars from musicals (as you have probably gathered from this blog), and John’s is always particularly eclectic. Lots of people from children up to pensioners, families, couples (lots of same-sex ones, men and women), people on their own, and all chatting and friendly. It’s great and something that can be lacking at the concerts of some other stars.

Of course I was mainly there for the showtunes, but there was a mix of pop tunes in there too. An early rendition of KC And The Sunshine Band’s hit Give It Up got everyone properly in the mood for a fun evening. I was also close to tears (what’s new?!) when John sang Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years as a tribute to his husband and as an ode to equal marriage. Scott joined John later on in the set for a duet. He’s got a bloomin good voice too (and is ‘very good in the shower’ said John, ahem…).

My two highlights were, of course, showtune linked. Firstly, there was John’s verson of The Wizard And I from Wicked (and you know how much I love Wicked). Except it had been reworked as The Doctor And I, in tribute to his Doctor Who and Torchwood character Captain Jack. As he sang it, there was a montage of scenes between Captain Jack and The Doctor and various other Who characters played on the screen behind him. Now if you follow me on social media, you will probably have picked up that I am quite the Who fan, especially David Tennant’s Doctor (although Jodie Whittaker is running him close now). J and I even had a Doctor Who themed wedding, as he is a big fan as well. Honestly. We had a dalek cake and everything…

All in all, it was the perfect mix of things to make me very happy indeed. I’ll take that as an early birthday present (the big birthday is getting very close now – eek).

The other showtune highlight was more expected, as John tends to end his shows with a rendition of I Am What I Am from La Cage Aux Folles, and this was no exception. The audience sings along and John belts it out with emotion, and it is just a brilliant thing to be a part of.

The two hours of the set flew by in a whirl of the most marvellous glittery suits, risque jokes and asides, and (of course) stories and songs. I hope another future tour isn’t so many years in the making, or that John gets to tour in a musical soon. It’s rare that I don’t enjoy a night at the theatre or a concert, but it’s also rare to have such a brilliant experience. More soon, please!

I’ve just arrived back home in York after this little trip, and now J and I are heading straight off to London for another West End jaunt. It’s Present Laughter starring Andrew Scott tomorrow, and I can’t wait.