Gig Reports
Ben at Butlins, Bognor Regis - 7th April 2007
Butlins proved very popular over the Easter weekend with Ben enjoying a 'full house'. The stage crew said there were about 4,000 people present, which is absolutely amazing. Ben was due on centre stage about a quarter to 8, and guests started to queue from about 6 o'clock! The stage area was almost at maximum capacity, with families gathered excitedly to see Ben Mills. Many of the children and adults we talked to, said they had seen Ben on X Factor and thought he was really good, so couldn’t wait to see him live at Butlins.
Three young lads collectively called Bel's Boys sang 3 songs before Ben came on stage. They were promoting their 1st single called 'Today's The Day' due out on 16th May. They were quite 'cute', 'poppy' and well received by the audience. Their lively enthusiasm and energetic nature warmed up the audience well, who were also treated to a preview of their video on the large screen.
The DJ got the guests excited about Ben 'from the X Factor' being on stage next - and announced Ben to the intro of 'Beside You'; Ben came striding on to much applause and belted out a rocky version – sounds and looks fabulous live - so much better than his video version.
Next Ben sang 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' - the sound was fantastic and brought the whole venue alive; this really was the best we'd ever heard it, the venue so perfect for Ben's powerful voice. After that the quests were chanting for 'Maggie May' and Ben said "I know it's one of your favorites and I will definitely sing it for you tonight" and there was a big cheer.
Ben went on to say that he had fun on the amusements today and had been swimming in the pool, but they wouldn’t let him on the slides because he was too short!!!! Was sooooo funny!
Next set - 'Brown Eyed Girl', 'Rockin Robin' and 'I Want You Back'; - Ben belted these out and superb on guitar - sound was out of this world - Nix was right up front with her camera and I walked right around the people to the back of the venue - the whole place was completely 'alive' and you could really feel the power of Ben's voice and the quality of his playing.
Ben then sang 'Maggie May', still on guitar - fantastic as ever and puts so much energy and emotion into it - the guests loved it; (when we were chatting to Ben back stage after his performance, Ben asked if we ever got tired of him singing the same songs and Nix and I came straight out with NO Never!) - just gets better every time (although we did also say it would be great to hear more songs from his own album too).
'Maggie May' was probably the most powerful performance of the night and then Ben moved onto keyboard and sang 'I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends' - I was milling around the guests who were sitting at tables and they were all singing along to this one - was great to hear them sing-along-a- Ben!
After this Ben played 'Amazed' - was soooooo good; sidled my way up to the front of the stage and rang Saara on my mobile phone so she could enjoy Ben singing live - I was holding my phone out like it was a microphone! Ben said to the audience that 'Amazed' "is what my first single was going to be, but then someone else wanted to do it so they had to drop it."
Lastly song 9, Ben sang 'I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing' - did his usual step down off the stage, sing to the people and shake hands - he’s so good at this - makes everyone feel special.
Ben had an excellent reception and some guests were shouting out MORE as he left the stage.
Very special thanks to Laura for organizing our parking arrangements and to Sue the stage manager and her crew for making us so welcome. The people at Butlins were absolutely fantastic, in enabling us to report on Ben's set for the evening and take some pictures for the site. BIG thank you to BUTLINS who enabled us to bring this report and these pictures to you.
Report by Arliss - PR BenMillsOnline
Photographs by Nix - Events PR