Radio 1's Chart Show Live 2006 in Brighton

Radio 1's Chart Show Live 2006 took place in Brighton - and Jono just had to get tickets when he heard that Girls Aloud were there! Here he blogs his adventures from the Brighton Dome!

Sunday 12th November was Radio 1’s Chart Show Live. Listeners to Radio 1 might have heard it mentioned once or twice. It’s not like Radio 1 to mention these things much though. As a regular listener to Radio 1 I was familiar with the bands on the bill – McFly, All Saints, Beyonce, Girls Aloud and Nelly Futardo but I wouldn’t normally go to any of their individual gigs, and so I was originally a bit sceptical about the event.

After much organisation to get from Norfolk to Brighton, it was the day. The morning begun listening to Fearne and Reggie, and continued with Vernon Kay as I travelled by taxi and train. Just after three o’clock in the afternoon Brighton was beginning to prepare itself for the ‘biggest pop party of the year’. Meanwhile I was walking around Brighton with a map and some directions still trying to find the venue. I passed some of the time exploring the wonders of the shopping mall that Brighton offers before tuning in to Sara Cox to hear people already queuing up. Thankfully in the world of modern technology we have today, I was able to track down Church Street and set off to find it once more. I arrived in a residential area with many elderly people looking at me peculiarly as I trudged around looking for The Dome. After being a regular visitor to Radio 1 Online’s mini-site I did find signs pointing towards a dome shaped building similar to the one on the website, but after getting half way down the main road realised it was a sign for the pier which had similar architecture. I eventually cut my losses and got a taxi to take me to the events hall, and I was taken to a second Queens Road where the actual Dome was.

After leaving the taxi I was greeted with screams which got louder as I walked towards the queue. My sister who had accompanied me to the event also seemed a bit clueless as to why they were screaming us so much. I soon turned around to see beside me was none other than Radio 1’s Vernon Kay. Shortly after he went in the screams stopped and I felt my 15 seconds of fame was over. We joined the queue where many eager Radio 1 listeners and Brighton residents were waiting. We were also joined by an old drunk guy, who was trying to sell whistles and bunny ears on the sly. No one really knew what he’d shout every five minutes; all that was understandable was the word ‘whistle’. His legacy did go on the next day, after All Saints mentioned how cool it was to see them all lit up from the stage.

During the hour and a half we spent in the queue we all became a lot more eager to get inside. It was getting darker, and the bunny man had sold as much as he could sell before the event. Half an hour before the show was due to began and we were let inside. Whoever convinced Brighton to allow us all into one venue deserves a pay rise, as it must have taken some doing. The building instantly started to buzz, with Radio 1 logos flashing everywhere. I can’t say I let out a bit of wee, but by the time Chris Moyles went on stage it was getting near that point.

Within minutes the venue had started to fill up... mostly humans, some bunnies did slip through the net

Chris lived up to expectation, bantering with the crowd and bigging up his ego. The lights had now gone down low, and a spotlight was appearing around each DJ which walked on stage. The bunny ears and mobile phones in air added a nice touch to it all too.

First up was a band that formed in 1996 and has recently returned to the music world to give us more. And they didn’t disappoint. Churning out hits including Rock Steady and Pure Shores, the party was now well under way.

Scott Mills and Chappers were next on stage, after becoming the next victims of an engulfing curtain. After finding the gap to get on stage, they promised an extra performance from someone dear to Scott’s heart. Steve Strange wasn’t available, and so the next best thing of Jordan and Peter Andre appeared on stage. With shades of orange and white than even Scott couldn’t compete with, they put on a performance of ‘A Whole New World’ to woo the crowd.

Kenan and Kel had gone down hill in recent years

As we’re in the 21st Century, the Chart Show Live was about pioneering new ideas with the latest technology. The audience could barely let Scott and Chappers talk when they were asked to vote for their favourite McFly track to perform, and we were treated to clips of Hairbrush Hit videos from Radio 1 Online on the big screens at both sides of the venue.

On next were McFly – a band that had people visiting the shops before hand to buy tissues before they came on - insert your own joke there. Even as someone who isn’t big on McFly, I found something to like about their performance with all of them putting in tonnes of energy! I’m sure even Chappers would agree on that. ‘Please, Please’ and ‘Star Girl’ was topped by a performance of ‘5 Colours in Her Hair’ which the audience voted for.

Throughout the night the DJs filled in the gaps between each band with their own five minutes of fame. Chris Moyles and Comedy Dave got three members of the audience on stage to do some karaoke which made Dave’s singing look good whilst the audience were more interested in seeing Fearne & Reggie than the actual video they had to offer.

Jordan and Peter... Thankfully you'll find very few references to those two in this review

JK and Joel offered a video of the gossip from backstage recorded after the Chart Show, and Vernon Kay offered a quiz which was one of the few negatives of the night. On one side was Jo Whiley, Moyles and Trevor Nelson. On Team B was JK, Joel and Sara Cox. The quiz did have some funny points including Beyonce’s Dad greeting Trevor Nelson on-stage uninvited, but the quiz appeared to appeal more to the younger ones in the crowd, rather than the older audience who were sitting upstairs feeling they were showing their age.

All Saints... partying like it was 1996

The music continued with Nelly Futardo arriving on stage to give a performance of ‘Maneater’, ‘Promiscuous’ and ‘All Good Things (Come to an End)’. Disappointingly nothing from her back catalogue of hits, but she did over a cover of Gnarls Barkley’s ‘Crazy’ which really got the audience going.

Girls Aloud, complete with five male dancers, also continued to keep the standard high with their performances of ‘Something Kinda Ooh’, ‘Love Machine’ and ‘Sound of the Underground’. Although it’s rumoured they prefer to mime, they put up a good performance live, much to the delight of Chappers sitting a few seats away from me.

Girls Aloud were there too! Even the ginger one - She's lovely really!

Whilst interactive ideas such as voting for your favourite song and sending in video reports of the event may have worked – two ideas where members of the audience were asked to record a video of a lighter on their mobile phones to display during slow songs, and recording people singing along to a Nelly Futardo song didn’t work so well. It was clear members of the audience had their own idea of how to use the time, with most of them more interested in recording the artists on stage!

The night finished with a performance from Beyonce. Someone I considered the most over-hyped on the bill, but she proved she certainly knew how to entertain the audience. Chris Moyles and Vernon Kay had the pleasure of introducing her and had a lot of work to do after the slightly dismal quiz. With ear-deafening screams from the girls, and the stomping of feets and excessive clapping from the lads, Brighton was ready for Beyonce. Just incase we’d forgotten how big she was she made sure we knew about it with her own voiceover throwing a few statistics at us. And then bang. She churned out the hits. These included ‘Crazy in Love’, ‘Irreplaceable’ and ‘Baby Boy’.

Beyonce - She's crazy in love...

However, it was a little disappointing that whilst she spent the time making sure we knew who she was, she didn’t take the time to make sure she knew who we were. Well what I mean is it doesn’t take much to double check the name of the city you’re in. But still you’re not going to argue with Beyonce for mistaking Brighton for London, are you?

There were a few disappointed members of the audience, with some impressed with her vocal skills. One comment I did hear coming from the back when she was showing off how long she could hold a note was that she should have warmed up before the performance, but I guess you can’t please them all!

With that it was time to pick up a t-shirt to remind me of the time I spent in Brighton, get a free poster and head for the exit for a taxi – not without watching the bunny ears seller stumble about trying to sell some reduced whistles!

Radio 1 listeners should make sure they get tickets to the next Chart Show Live, even if they’re not a fan of all of the music on the bill. There’s something for everyone – and it was nice to see Scott Mills when the wine wasn’t on!

Please Note - These are not the views of the BBC or Radio 1. I'm sure they loved Jordan and Peter... There's more Chart Show Live content over at Radio 1 Online