The Amazing TATINOF Review Is Unashamedly On Fire

Earlier this year, two nerds from YouTube took their massively successful UK stage show, The Amazing Tour Is Not On Fire (aka TATINOF), to America, where they ended up staging the final US performance at the very same theatre that's used for the annual Academy Awards ceremony.  Yes, a stage that has been graced by the feet of Hollywood royalty became the setting for Phil Lester to chant "mount the llama" at Dan Howell.

What a time to be alive.

I was only introduced to Dan & Phil (Danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil, should you be unaware of their YouTube channels...) towards the end of last year, when my best friend excitedly declared that she'd found "the male version of us!"  The timing wasn't great - I discovered two people I could enormously identify with and who made me laugh and kept me entertained no matter what mood I was in when I clicked that "play" button, just as I realised I'd missed out on their UK tour.  They had played in my best friend's hometown, too.  We were gutted.

But, despite having missed out on seeing TATINOF - and despite being rather older than the pair's general audience, at 30+ - I delved into their channels and, within months, I was writing on this very blog about how I had come to think that Dan & Phil were the cat's whiskers.

Fast forward to October 5th, when finally, those of us who missed out on the chance to see the show in person, were gifted with the release of TATINOF on YouTube Red (along with a "Making Of..." documentary).  I waited patiently until October 8th, so my best friend and I could watch it together, with a massive bag of popcorn and a box of Malteasers.  It's what the boys would want...

If you've not seen the show, this is the point at which things might get spoiler-tastic, so consider this your warning!

Okay, so...  Wow.  Like, seriously... Wow.

Let's face it, at this point in their careers, Dan and Phil have a massive audience.  They know that no matter what they do, people are going to watch.  Their live show could, therefore, have comfortably taken the form of the bare minimum.  Perhaps a Q&A, maybe the odd funny sketch.  But if you could think that these two would choose the "bare minimum" route, then I can only assume that you're reading this as someone with no idea who Dan and Phil are.  Because this pair took the idea of doing the bare minimum, ripped it into shreds and created something massive, instead.  And not only did they decide to create a fast-paced, action-packed, thoroughly entertaining stage show that would test their limits as performers and push them to learn new skills along the way, they also made the absolutely perfect choice to fill that show with in-jokes for their devoted fans and, even more crucially, to give the whole thing a vital message that would leave everyone watching feeling uplifted, cared about and encouraged.  More of which, later.

The show's storyline might, to the uninitiated, seem slightly bizarre, but then, if there's one thing we fans have come to expect from Dan and Phil by now, it's a trip into a world that celebrates its own wonderful weirdness.  And so, we just kind of accept the idea that Phil would decide to microwave his laptop to improve the battery life and that doing so would destroy the Internet and bring everything online out into reality.  Why not?!  And of course Dil - Dan and Phil's "son" from The Sims (their joint gaming channel is an incredibly entertaining rabbit hole to fall down...), would turn out to be behind the whole thing.  WHY WOULDN'T HE BE?!

Critics too often like to look down on YouTubers as being people making an easy living by creating very simple content and basking in the adoration of their mainly teenage fans.  Haters like to write off many famous YouTubers as being "talentless."  The simple fact is that to become good at YouTube (and arguably, you have to be "good" at it, in order to become successful), you have to be prepared to spend hours filming and editing.  You have to commit to the time it takes to turn a long piece of footage, with all its "ums" and "aahs," into something shorter, snappier and much more entertaining (believe me, this is a lesson I've learned since starting my own YouTube channel).  You have to be willing to put yourself out there for scrutiny by the general public.  You have to have an idea of what your audience wants and how to deliver it, consistently.  These are skills that Dan and Phil have by the bucket-load.  Not only are they incredibly aware of what their viewers want from them, they are able to ensure that the quality of their uploads remain at the same high level.  

And now, they've proved that their skills extend way beyond YouTube.  Talentless?  Over the course of a ninety minute live show, these boys prove their ability to translate from screen to stage.  They act.  They sing.  They dance.  There's improvisation, so that parts of the show are different each time it's performed.  Phil even learned magic tricks, for crying out loud!  From start to finish, the evidence is clear that both Dan and Phil have invested time and effort into making this the best possible stage show it could be.  They haven't shied away from learning new skills in order to improve it.  They haven't taken the easy route.  And for that, they should be applauded, because it pays off.  Big time.

Be honest, we all quoted along and did the hand gesture, right?  "My name is [Dan]."

From start to finish, TATINOF is an absolute treat for fans of this pair.  If you have a favourite video, there's probably a reference to it.  If you're fond of a particular in-joke, they're almost certainly going to make it.  At the end of the ninety minutes, my mouth hurt from smiling so much.  I laughed more than I had in ages.  I clapped spontaneously just watching it through a screen.  And yes, there was even a moment at which my eyes got a bit... Moist.

Because, beyond the glittery gold hats and the big song and dance routine at the end, beyond all the fan-service and in-jokes, there was a message to this show.  And I don't just mean "hey guys, don't microwave your laptop."

Dan and Phil have, over the years, come to represent the nerdy kids.  The weird kids.  The people who are socially awkward.  The ones who don't necessarily fit in.  Whether or not it was intentional, this pair of "obnoxiously tall" guys from YouTube have come to mean something to those who worry that they're not "cool enough," or that their lives don't have a purpose.  And they know it.

Maybe it could have been schmaltzy, had Dan and Phil themselves suddenly decided "hey, let's talk about how it's okay to be nerdy and that you don't have to change to fit in, or that just making people happy in some small way is a really important way to spend your life!"  I mean, I wouldn't have thought so, but I'm sure there'd be critics who'd eye-roll at it.  So, it was something of a touch of genius to have Dil - the Sim whose lives the boys control - be the one who imparts that message onto them - and by extension, the audience.  

He's got some killer moves as well as some A+ life advice.

We should have known that two people so very aware of their audience and their influence would choose to use their stage show to put out such important messages.  I'm just so proud that they did it in a way that's as delightfully whacky as we've come to expect from them.

So, when it came to Phil finally getting to burst into song (as he had attempted to, several times throughout the show, only to be thwarted by Dan), it should come as absolutely no surprise that the song he (and Dan) sang was about rejoicing in your online activities and the friends you've made through the Internet.  It was a song all about being okay with your life and the person you are, even if society thinks you're weird.  It was a song celebrating Dan, Phil and every single one of their fans.  It even featured a tender nod to the fact that the pair themselves met online ("if it wasn't for the Internet, we never would have met").  

As our favourite YouTubers disappeared back into their microwave (not a sentence I ever thought I'd be typing...), I had SO.  MANY.  FEELINGS.

Gratitude to these incredibly talented performers, for putting together a show that fully celebrates their creative output so far and which makes it obvious that they were thinking of their fans every step of the way.

Pride at just how far they've come (and how far I know they're capable of going).

Encouragement to be me, even though I know I'm weird and I think too much and I sometimes feel like a square peg in a world full of round holes.

Determination to carry on with my own YouTube channel and create something that could, perhaps one day, make people as happy as Dan and Phil's videos have made (and continue to make) me.

Joy at knowing that I wouldn't have met my best friend without the Internet, either (she's the Dan to my Phil) and I am so, so glad I did find her.

I can't wait to watch it again.

Thank you, Dan.  Thank you, Phil.

Never stop being you.

The Great Escape (Rooms!)

Pretty sure this is my best look ever.

Today is my birthday.  Woop-woop.  

Yesterday, we celebrated this fact (a day early, but hey, I was born two days early, so I'm all for doing things in advance), by taking a trip to The Escape Rooms in Plymouth.

If you're wondering what on Earth that is, let me attempt to explain...

Escape Rooms (also known as Exit Games, Adventure Rooms and other similar titles) are a real-life version of escape-themed computer games, in which you're put into a room, the door is locked behind you and you then have a time limit (usually an hour) in which to solve the various hidden (and not-so-hidden) puzzles dotted around the room, in order to find the key that gets you back out again.  Ever since I first heard about these games, back in January this year, I've been dying to have a go, so it was with great excitement that I arrived at The Escape Rooms in Plymouth, yesterday.

Obviously, if I told you too much about what we discovered inside the game, it might lead to me accidentally giving away some of the puzzles you have to solve, which would defeat the object, so forgive me if this particular review is sketchy.  It's purposefully so, but for the best reasons, I swear...

Anyway, on arrival, we were given a quick rundown of what was about to happen and told what the best time any team had taken to get out of the room was (24 minutes).  We had picked the Germ room, which was Cold War themed.  Our mission was to solve clues left us by a double agent, in order to escape without being attacked by chemical weapons.

Now, for my claustrophobic friends: don't fret.  These games could still be for you.  The first room we entered in our quest was relatively big and the health and safety brief we had before the game started reassured us that we could come out at any time if we felt unwell or needed the toilet etc.  We were also given a walkie talkie, so we could ask for help if we needed it and we were reassured that the rooms are all monitored by CCTV and that if we looked like we needed a clue, one would come!  So, we cast any fears aside and went straight into puzzle-solving mode, as soon as the door was closed behind us.

I wasn't expecting the game to be so immersive; the second we were locked in, I was no longer just "Emma."  I was a contestant on The Crystal Maze.  Seriously, the adrenaline kicked in, I became intensely aware of the fact that we only had an hour to solve everything and make our way back out and I started expecting this guy to appear...

"Ooh, Mumsie!  We've got guests in the Germ Room!"

Once you're inside the room, it's time to find your role on the team.  There were five of us and although we started out running around like headless chickens and probably not communicating all that well, we eventually settled into something of a routine, with one or two of us trying various combinations on several locks, with the rest of us trying to solve as many puzzles as we could, in order to work out what those combinations might be.

When we eventually got the key we'd been so desperately searching for and unlocked the door it fitted, we were surprised to find ourselves in another room.  And there was a third room after that! Discovering that the game didn't end the second we unlocked that first door definitely made it feel like good value for money.  The price for five of us was £70, so £14 each and we all agreed that it was money we were happy to pay for the experience we had. 

Nothing was physically challenging (I had to jump at one point, to reach something on a high shelf, but that's only because I'm incredibly short and wasn't wearing heels...), but there was plenty of mental exercise to be getting on with!  Lots of hunting for clues, working out double meanings and, as the very friendly staff member put it: "looking at things from a different perspective."

We eventually made it out with just three minutes to spare and I'm not ashamed to say that I did a big squeak of delight as we unlocked that final door and burst into the corridor beyond!

 It was a brilliant way to spend an hour - a great team-bonding exercise, a good mental workout and a fantastic adrenaline rush.  We're already talking about all the other escape rooms we plan to try!!

So, if you're looking for a day out with a difference, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend trying an escape room.  Give it a go - and let me know how you get on!

Boyzone Live at Newton Abbot Racecourse (a review)

Cassette.  Because I'm retro.

Let me set the scene for you.  There's a girl aged thirteen years old.  She's being badly bullied at school.  She's shy.  She's not particularly happy.  But she has a few things in her life that make her smile.  One of those things - the biggest thing - is music.  Every night, before falling asleep, she pops one of her favourite cassettes into her Sony Walkman and listens to boybands, singing songs of love and happiness.  It's not much, but it makes her feel better.

I don't have to do the dramatic "that girl was me" reveal, because well, it should be massively obvious that it was.  And the two cassettes that I listened to far and above all others, were Take That's Nobody Else or Greatest Hits and Boyzone's debut album, Said And Done (pictured above: my very well-loved copy).

Said And Done is a fantastic pop album, perfectly filled with a mix of up-tempo numbers that make you want to dance and swooning ballads that teenagers fell for in their millions.  Of course, all of those young listeners had a favourite member of the band.  Mine was - and despite his death in 2009, remains - Stephen Gately.

Sleep soundly, Steo. xxx

On more nights than I care to count, I lay awake, with my headphones on, listening to Stephen's sweet vocals in my ears.

For many reasons, I never got around to seeing Boyzone live.  By the time they split, I was a Manics fan and going through a rather pathetic "I only listen to rock now" phase.  When Boyzone got back together and went on tour in 2008, I didn't go.  I don't even really know why, because I loved their comeback single and I loved the idea of seeing the band.  But I never went.  

In October 2009, Stephen died suddenly as a result of a pulmonary oedema, brought on by a heart attack caused by an undetected, congential heart defect.  He was just 33 years old.  I vividly remember hearing the news and being moved to tears that night as I lay in bed, listening to those same songs from my youth and bitterly regretting that I'd never seen the band live.  My best friend recalls travelling to London with me and sitting on the tube, opposite a man reading a newspaper report about Stephen's death, listening to me say over and over how sad I felt and how utterly tragic it was.

Fast forward more than five and a half years and you'll find that same girl who once lay in bed listening to Boyzone's debut album, delightedly heading to Newton Abbot Racecourse to see the now four-piece Boyzone appear live in concert.  Better late than never...

I was a bit excited.

Before the boys appeared on stage, we were treated to an opening spot by Alesha Dixon (perhaps better known for her TV judging roles, these days).  She got the crowd jumping and cheering and I freely admit that I was really impressed with her set.  So often, you spend the time that a support act is on stage, wishing they'd hurry up and finish so you can skip to the main event.  Not so, here.  As excited as I was to see Boyzone, Alesha was a fun opener and I didn't feel that quiet urge to fast forward to the bit I was really there to see.

Whilst waiting for Boyzone, my friend Tracey and I tried to decide on which song the band would open with.  We settled on the classic When The Going Gets Tough (The Tough Get Going), but we were wrong - the boys came on stage shortly after 8:30pm and immediately launched into a much more recent hit - Love Is A Hurricane.  The up-tempo mood continued with Love You Anyway, which remains a firm favourite of mine.

Despite missing Stephen, the boys were a solid vocal unit and had a fantastic stage presence.  The lads talked about how close they've become in the wake of Stephen's death and it certainly showed in their interactions last night.  The banter, the encouraging smiles and the tight harmonies were testament to their genuine friendship and their professionalism.

Stephen may have been absent in person, but he was absolutely there in spirit.  The band included him in several different, beautiful ways.  The first came in the form of a heartbreaking version of Bread's Everything I Own, which didn't even need a dedication for the fans around us to realise who the band were singing it for.  Later, during Words, Stephen's image was flashed up on a giant screen, with the song's opening lyrics, "Smile an everlasting smile..." written beneath his beaming face.  It was almost enough to cause the tears to fall.  But those were saved for later.

After a few up-tempo tracks, including the fabulous When The Going Gets Tough, the band left the stage and the screen once again filled with images of their lost friend.  After a few VT clips of each remaining band member discussing their thoughts on Stephen's passing, the opening chords of Gave It All Away, the final Boyzone single to feature Stephen's vocals (which was released posthumously), began to fill the air.  Before long, we heard Stephen's voice, singing those most poignant of opening lines: "I will learn to live before I die..."

The band arrived back on stage to sing along with their friend, whilst the tear-jerking music video that accompanies the single played on the big screen.  Just the sound of those sweet vocals would have been enough; the images of Stephen tipped me over the edge and the tears fell to the point that I briefly worried that they might never stop.

After Stephen's final refrain rang out amongst the crowd, the band spent time toasting his memory (albeit with no drinks!) and talking about their lost brother.  To round off the tribute, the band sang the beautiful Every Day I Love You, once again using Stephen's recorded vocals with their own live ones.  The result was stunning and there were many moist-eyes amongst the 7,000-strong audience.  Mine included!

Gave It All Away.

Every Day I Love You.

Once the tribute was complete and the tears had dried, the band continued with a cracking pop show, fusing much-loved Boyzone tracks with fresh-sounding versions of classic Motown tunes.  The live band were absolutely on point and the boys sounded brilliant, with their harmonies standing up to scrutiny, despite having lost the member most known for them!

The concert seemed to be over far too soon, as the band exited the stage with the audience frantically cheering for more.  Those fans were rewarded with an encore that saw the band wow the crowd with an empassioned rendition of their 1996 song, A Different Beat, followed by their first big hit in the UK, Love Me For A Reason.  The group ended the pop spectacular with a rousing version of Ronan Keating's solo smash, Life Is A Roller Coaster, which left fans bouncing up and down and singing their hearts out.

Life really has been a roller coaster for these four pop veterans, especially in the last six years.  But with a powerful, polished performace, Boyzone have shown that whatever life throws at them, they're able to come back fighting.  One star may be sadly lost, but this band still have their sparkle.

Air Guitar

Seemed appropriate...

There are very few bands I love enough to stay up until midnight to pre-order their new single, despite having to get up at stupid o'clock in the morning for work the next day, but I discovered recently that McBusted are one of them.

Ever since Lydia and I went to see them in Weston-Super-Mare, we've been desperately hoping that they'd release a single - and better still, an album - together.  A couple of nights ago, we got our wish when the first ever McBusted single - Air Guitar - was premiered via a lyric video on YouTube.  

You know that feeling you get when a band you absolutely adore release something new?  That bizarre combination of nerves and excitement ("Please be good, please be good, please be good...")?  Well, I had that in spades, although the "nervous" bit was never all that strong - this is a band made up of bloody brilliant songwriters after all.  It was bound to be great, wasn't it?

Well, of course it was.  And is.

The first few seconds remind me of playing classic arcade computer games (which made the Guitar Hero-esque lyric video all the more impressive) and the first lines "I never was a cool kid and no one ever gave a damn about what I did, I liked to party but I never got invited..." were like a siren call to my nerdy little soul.  I was that kid, in my early teens, singing in my room, writing bad poetry and playing air guitar to songs on the radio.  So immediately, this song felt like my anthem.

It builds and builds until the massive chorus comes as an explosion of guitars and voices that just makes you want to punch the air and jump up and down.  Add a twiddly bit of guitar that's made for playing air guitar to and you've got a smash.

The best bit is that this sounds like a fully-fledged band.  Not McFly with two guys added on.  Not Busted with McFly joining in.  It's a combination of what made both of those bands great and put together, it's ridiculously good.  The way the vocals switch from Matt, to Tom, to James, to Danny just works.  It doesn't feel in the slightest bit forced.  It's as though the most natural and obvious thing in the world is for these six people to be in a band, making music together.  Because when they do, the results are fantastic.

If I had to sum up the song in one word, I'd use "jubilant."  Because that's what it feels, to me.  Utterly joyous - the sound of six mates going: "can you believe we do this for a living?!"  The essence of fun and excitement that made their tour such an incredible success is somehow woven musically into every second of Air Guitar, making it a song that simply couldn't have been written by anyone else.  And it's joyous not only because it's the sound of a band genuinely loving what they're doing, but because the subtext of the song screams "SOD what anyone else thinks."  So you're maybe a bit of a geeky kid, not part of the cool elite at school?  Who cares - just keep doing your thing.  

And as long as these six guys keep doing their thing, they're making this nerdy girl very happy indeed.

West Side Story (a review)

Anyone who knows me will know that I am a big fan of musical theatre.  In fact, I'd go so far as to say I'm pretty nerdy about it.  For example, whilst all the kids I work with were singing Let It Go from Disney's Frozen, I was just excitedly telling everyone that Idina Menzel (the voice of Elsa) was the original Maureen in RENT.  

I get my musical theatre geekery from my mum, who pretty much raised me on the classics: The Sound of Music, The King And I, Carousel, Half A Sixpence and of course West Side Story.  So when I read that the new touring version of West Side Story conveniently landed in Plymouth just a few days after my mum's birthday, it seemed a pretty easy decision as to what this year's present should be...

For anyone who hasn't seen West Side Story, be it on film or on stage, I'll give you a quick summary. Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's show is based loosely on Romeo and Juliet. Essentially, it's the story of two rival gangs - the white American "Jets" and the Peurto Rican "Sharks" - fighting over territory in New York City.  A guy named Tony, who's trying to step away from his time in the Jets, meets and falls in love with Maria, the sister of the Sharks' gang-leader.  As the two groups struggle for supremacy, the young couple vow to find a place where they can be together safely.  I won't say too much more than that, because... Well, spoilers. 

Of course, you hear the word "gang" and pretty much the last thing you imagine is musical theatre, which does make for some unintentional hilariousness.  The Jets and the Sharks might be squabbling violently, but they do it rather beautifully.  If real-life gangs spent their time angrily pirouetting at each other and clicking their fingers menacingly, whilst singing insults, they'd be a lot less scary, that's all I'm saying...

"SO YOU WANT MY TURF?  THEN I CHALLENGE YOU TO A BALLET DUEL!"

There were two teenagers in the row behind my mum and me in the theatre and one of them said in the interval: "I'm not being funny, but if you brought members of a real gang to see this, they'd think you were taking the piss and they'd probably kill you."  Not going to lie, that overheard gem was a highlight of my night.

All jokes aside, however, the dancing in this production was breathtaking.  The cast put on such an incredible show that it was hard not to get utterly lost in the movement of the whole thing.  From the opening gang scenes, where dance was employed as a show of power and strength, to the beautiful balletic routine during Somewhere in the second half, the dancing alone was worth the ticket price.  Joey Mckneely's choreography was just brilliant.

The visual spectacle was aided by the impressive use of lighting on stage, plus images of New York City, projected onto the back screen.  The set was simple enough, but was used to brilliant effect and to be honest, you don't need massive sets when the action on stage is this good.  In fact, the starkness of the set design at some points (particularly the end) was really powerful, as it tied in with the starkness of the situations the characters were facing.  The lack of "in-your-face" set design means the audience can focus entirely on what's happening on stage and I always think that's better, especially in a show with such dark and emotive themes as West Side Story, which covers everything from gang violence to racism and yet still manages to have uplifting moments.

The actors were perfectly cast, too.  Katie Hall was wonderful as Maria - sweet, innocent and yet passionate with it.  Her voice is astounding and she portrayed Maria's heartbreak beautifully.  Louis Maskell was a brilliant Tony; strong, yet sensitive and with a voice you could bathe in.  What is it about guys who sing?!  WHAT MAGIC DO THEY POSSESS?!  Aaanyway...

I'm just saying if a guy serenaded me, I'd be putty in his hands, that's all...

As a kid, watching the film version, I was always a fan of the feisty Anita and Djalenga Scott brought her to life with passion and fire. Her sense of fun was evident immediately, which made her later scenes, when she portrayed such hurt and anger, all the more affecting.  Anita's big moment in the show is the well-known and well-loved song and dance number America and sure enough, it was a highlight of this production.  The singing, the dancing and the acting were all absolutely spot on and one of my only disappointments was that it wasn't done again as an encore, because it was just too good to see only once!

It's really hard to find fault with this touring version of West Side Story.  It's one of my favourite musicals and this production certainly didn't disappoint.  The gangs were angry, the dancing was outstanding, the singing was fantastic and there were some laughs to be had before the inevitable tears (and yes, I cried; try to look surprised).

The show is still on tour and I really can't recommend it highly enough.  If you get a chance to see it, go, go, go!

Check tour dates here!