Paul Gilbert...what a man!

You might recall recently that I was maybe to go to a Paul Gilbert show with my husbandand man, what a night it was for variety of reasons!
There's so much to say but I will keep it brief for your sakes!
The suprise of the night was on the doors, after waiting ages in the rain and a huge crowd getting bigger and bigger and so, jostling in the queue to be first in for the best seats, the doors opened and a bloke stepped forward and shouted out my name.
picture this, the crowd goes silent and curiously look around for someone to step forward and little, tiny me amongst the mostly male crowd put my hand up and walt to the front, trying to ignore all these people staring, wondering why I was getting special treatment of a kind. Turns out I was reserved two front row seats and was to come in early to meet my interpreter Jess.
Jess was an amazing lady and quickly informed me of who is who and gave me a few stories of the evening behind stage which was brilliant and funny to hear.
The team play a trick on Paul who turned up ready to perform an hour before the doors due to open to see just ten people sitting in the crowd and the cast convinced him that was really his audience for that night...to hilarious response which i won't repeat here!
 

The show was brilliant, even for a deaf person! I luckily could hear most of the music and with the interpreter's help, understood most of what was said! Paul is such an amazingly down to earth guy (the most common phrase that night!) and the passion he had for his music was easily infectious!

 Most of these pictures I took are bit blurry...the man never stopped moving!

 He had great support from his wife on keyboards and a local bass player and drummer (who both played really well without monitors as according to the technical team after, they ran out of channels and couldn't listen into what Paul was saying.)

 The best song for me was where husband and wife has a musical duel! Guitar versus keyboard and the end results were amazing to witness and hear!

 For me as a deaf person watching Paul was beilliant, he explained many sounds and such exactly s I hear it and physcially demonstrated in ways I could relate as I do them myself.

 The man himself was the master of many sounds and especially face expressions! he was so brilliant to watch! his guitar playing is out of this world, it's so untrue to watch and completely blows you away! I love how you just capture his love for his music and what he does! There's so much passion!

We were lucky as the night before, Paul was in London doing a guitar clinic there and then came to Plymouth on the day, arriving only an hour before hand so I'm told to freezing little Plymouth. He was only performing 2 clinics and Plymouth and London were those places. I found out after that night after meeting the crew to thank them for their support and to say Hi to some of them that people have travelled far and wide to do this clinic, there was a couple that came as far as Australia which puts into perspective just how awesome Gilbert is! He is a guitar god!

If you watch some youtube clips of Paul Gilbert, you can get an idea of the awesome-ness of this man! But to see it live and hear, feel and watch it just blows you away! Even if your not a musician, I strongly encourage you to grab a ticket and see this show live, it is just amazing and you walk away with your mind blown and a deeper appreciation for music.

The most amazing thing? Paul straight after his show ran around the building and stood in a freezing cold foyer and greeter each individual as they came out, and posed for photos if they wanted it or sign whatever people gave them!
Above is my hubby who bought his guitar and a Mr Big album (the very first album he ever bought!) and got it signed by the man himself. (the team ironically joked that they hoped someone bought in an embarassing record picture of Gilbert and when the man himself saw the classy 80's cover with masssssssive hair he grinned and ignored the snickers of the staff there, in on the joke.)
I got a cuddle and was asked if I heard everything ok and whether I thought he was any good (yes of course Mr Gilbert Sir!)
I'm officially the best wife in the world now, for buying such a gift and securing great seats (wasn't my intention!) and Still waiting for hubby to come down from cloud nine...i think he will still be up there for the rest of this week!

On a personally level to me, I booked this event back in the begining of the year and I honestly thought come september, when this show was on, I physically wouldn't be here. I was so in a bad place earlier this year that when hubby mentioned it, I was amazed I made it in some way all these months later.

An excellent event organised by World Class Music and I'm extremely amazed by the support the team there have shown to me! I'm already looking at the next events for my hubby and I to go see!

birdie love
xxx