Fight for your right, to party.

It's Sunday evening now and I'm very tired as the weekend has now caught up with me.

Friday was a very busy day as it was the Christ Church Students' Union Summer Ball, which is an end of year ball catering for around 1,250 students, featuring some top acts, and running from 8pm till 6am. Last year I actually went to the Ball but this year I was 'Backstage Manager' which, obviously, meant managing everything that went on backstage, sorting out arrangements for the artists' arrival, ensuring they were comfortable once they were here, sorting out arrangements with the sound engineers, trying to ensure that the running order of the evening was kept too and that the acts all went on stage on time. This was the basic stuff, but there was plenty of other stuff thrown in with acts turning up late, problems with security, and a whole wealth of other things that turned up over the evening.

The night actually went really well and I didn't have too many problems with the evening, and best of all, the acts were people that I actually liked. There were lulls in between whilsts the acts were on stage and I was able to catch parts of the show from backstage and also front of house, and also manage to take quite a few photos which you can see here.

I've dealt with a lot of of acts in the past but have found quite a lot of them to be 'up their arses' and quite distant, only there to go on stage, play by numbers, and then leave, but I'm happy to say it was quite different this year. The acts this year included:

The Feeling - A UK 5 piece band, who've just released their debut album, going in the UK album charts at no.2, having reached no.7 and no.10 in the UK charts with their last two singles. This booking was quite a coo as they were booked months ago before they'd released anything, and are now set for some very big things.

Lucie Silvas - A UK singer and songwriter, who has had a platinum album, and 4 top 40 singles. She's also written other artists including Sarah Whatmore, Gareth Gates, Will Young, Rachel Stevens and Liberty X.

MVP - An American hip-hop duo who hit the big time last year with the song "Rock Ya Body, Mic Check 1, 2".

Trevor Nelson - A UK DJ and presenter, who has an R'n'B show on Radio 1.

Scott Mills - Another DJ from Radio 1, who presents the drivetime show.

I was quite looking forward to meeting Scott Mills and Trevor Nelson, as I really like their Radio shows, and they come across as very funny and very nice people. Sometimes people have an public personality and a private personality, acting nice-as-pie for PR, but being absolute c**ts face to face, who've let celebrity go to their heads. I was hoping this wasn't the case with them, and I'm happy to say that this wasn't the case and they were brilliant.

Some of our student crew who were working the ball wanted to meet the acts, and this is something I had to keep an eye on, so that the acts wouldn't get pissed off, but they were all very happy to have a quick chat and sign some posters. I normally don't go for autographs and alike but as I was in a position to speak to all the acts I got them all to sign a Summer Ball poster for me. I was very happy.

I'd have to say that my 'top moment' was when I was backstage and The Feeling had just finished their set, and had come off stage. I was expecting them to go back on for an encore but the lead singer wasn't really up for it because he was annoyed that some of the crowd had left after the singles had been played, but it didn't take much egging on to persuade them to go back, and so from the wings I saw them perform a Beastie Boys cover (You Gotta) Fight forYour Right (to Party). It ROCKED!!!

They were our last live band for the night, finishing their set at around 3am, then it was time for Trevor Nelson to play an hour, and a local club DJ to play till 6am.

After Trevor Nelson had finished his slot and the local DJ was on, I was able to relax, knowing that everything had gone well and that my day was soon to end. Once I'd got all the changing rooms cleared, sorted out any other outstanding buisness, and checked everything off my list I decided to make a move at around 5:30am. I was amazed that around 100 or so students were still dancing in the main hall... amazing.

I had arranged to stay at Jonny's as he has a house just across the road from the Uni, but as I wa pretty much awake I thought I might as well just drive home, so I had a deserved sit down for 30 minutes before driving back to Ramsgate and crawling into bed at 6:30am.

I was then up at 11:15am and packing the car for a day and night in Lewisham [South East London, near Greenwich] for Steve's World Cup themed Birthday BBQ. I was quite tired in the early afternoon but after a few beers I was 'back on it' and stayed up till the end of the party at around 2am. I had an excellent time and really enjoyed myself, especially our 'rave' in the kitchen and garden!!

I had to get up at 8:45am as Ian and myself had our football AGM at 11am and had to get back home. For the second year running I won 'Clubman of the year', which is basically an award for shit players who put in a lot of effort!!

Today I feel very tired, and have had a quick kip this afternoon, but at least I can say I've had a very productive weekend although today has been wasted a little bit.

I hope you all had good weekends too.