Gig Reports
Ben at Butlins, Bognor Regis - 14th April 2007
On 7th April Ben had an excellent reception at Butlins, playing to a full house of over 4,000, mostly families with young children. Some guests were shouting out MORE as Ben left the stage. The atmosphere was electric, so it was very exciting to be able to return on 14th April, and this time to an entirely different audience. The weekend was devoted to a rugby tournament and the audience consisted largely of boys aged from about 8 to 18 years! and their families.
Prior to Bens appearance, the 'Redcoats' put on a gunge show, largely consisting of 'custard pies' and gunge tanks! The resulting mess entailed a slightly later than scheduled Ben performance, because the stage crew had their work cut out mopping up the stage! They worked really hard and did a terrific job.
The DJ made several references to benmillsonline, saying that some representatives were present. It was lovely, because people felt able to come over and talk to us, as they were really excited about seeing Ben live at Butlins. Every time the DJ said and 'coming soon' and 'next up', is BEN MILLS, the guests clapped and cheered - yeah!
Ben came striding on stage confident as ever, but to a much smaller audience this week, probably less than 1,000, so clapping didn't sound as loud as the previous week, but it was still as enthusiastic. Ben said "how you doing guys" - like he does - and the guests cheered. Ben then went straight into singing 'I Still Haven’t Found What I'm Looking' for; VERY POWERFUL performance and superb opener; the rugby guys loving it and singing along - as they do!
Ben acknowledged the rugby crowd and called out "who won?" Everybody cheered and Ben said - so you all did! - Ben was really funny and then said "anyone here from Scotland?" - small cheer; "anyone here from England?" - slightly bigger cheer; "anyone here from Wales?" - huge roar from the crowd! Ben really engaged with the rugby guests and gave a special mention to a particular team who were there and then they all cheered. The atmosphere was fantastic.
The audience well warmed up and lively, Ben then sang 'Brown Eyed Girl', encouraging everyone to join in, then straight into 'Rockin' Robin' and 'I Want You Back'. The first four songs were pure Ben voice and guitar, no backing tracks; he was absolutely superb, every note ringing out from every corner of the venue - pure Ben magic!
Ben thanked the audience and then announced he was going to sing 'Maggie May', which got a huge cheer from the lively rugby guys just behind us. They stood up on their chairs and were waving their arms around singing along. As Ben blasted out 'Maggie May', other people came forward, closer to the stage and were gigging around; it was clearly the audiences favorite song and got big applause.
Ben said "next going to sing a song from my new album, a 'Picture Of You', which is out now; it's called 'Nothing But The Truth' and I'm singing it for BenMillsOnline for all their support" - big wave and cheer from our corner! Quickly dialed Saara's number and laid my mobile down on the table - so happy to be able to share NBTT ('Nothing But The Truth') with BMO. Is sooooo good to hear live and so emotional, especially because it was for all you peeps out there who support BMO in every way you can.
Meanwhile, we had spotted up front by the stage, a young girl with a banner saying 'Ben Rocks' and clearly Ben had seen this too, because he kept looking across at it as he walked over to the keyboard. Ben bounced away, passionately singing 'I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends' - his playing and his voice again ringing all around the venue, strong and powerful, wall to wall Ben. The rugby guys behind us were as lively as Ben on his keyboard and started chanting 'we love Ben we love Ben' – and Ben said "awe thanks guys" and they cheered!
Ben then moved over to sit on a stool centre stage, just him, his mic and his voice - dimmed lights and soothing tones from the backing track, Ben started to sing 'Amazed' - and then forgot some of the words and started laughing! Was so funny, but don't think the audience really noticed, because they don’t know all the words - like we do! He picked up and carried on singing, running his hand through his hair several times - like he does! The lighting was so cool, shimmers of red and then green alternating with yellow spot lights - all very colorful yet misty at the same time.
By this time the rugby crowd behind our table was as lively as ever and Ben was gearing up to sing his last song of the set 'I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing'. Having spotted the 'Ben Rocks' banner at the front of the stage, Ben jumped off the stage and sang to Lucy - who we later discovered was a BMO member! - and then very quickly after Ben got straight back on the stage again, because the lively lot behind us made a sudden surge forward to the stage area! If it wasn't for Ben's swift move, he may well have got caught up in a rugby scrum!
As ever, over far too soon and leaving us wanting MORE!
Just after Ben went off stage, Nix talked to Lucy and found out she was a benmillsonline member; then shortly after that I went over to her and said that if she is able to hang around for a bit, we would be able to take her back stage to meet Ben. Nix and I were really excited to have found a BMO member and Lucy was so excited at meeting Ben for the first time.
Forums member, Lucy, said of the event, "I was so excited about the gig that I even had a special banner that said 'Ben u rock' and I was waving it like crazy while he was performing and then I saw Ben look at me and smile and then he said on stage " Theres a girl down there with a banner that says 'Ben u rock'! Thanks for that"! I couldnt believe it. But things only got better because during 'I Dont Want To Miss A Thing' he came down into the audience specially to take a photo with me. As he put his arms around me and put his head next to mine i thought i was going to faint!"
Once again, a huge thank you to all the staff and crew at Butlins who made us so welcome and enabled us to bring these reports and pictures back to the site for you all to enjoy. It's really exciting that Ben is going to back at Butlins in August. The venues and dates are now posted under the Tour - Gigs - Appearances thread, so book early to avoid disappointment.
Report by Arliss - PR BenMillsOnline
Photographs by Nix - Events PR