In The Spotlight

More reminiscing, and from a personal level as well as I've just watched a special of the Pop Idol live concert from April 2002.

I actually went to see it live at that very venue, the Docklands Arena but there were a few things different to the one shown on television. One of them being that instead of Ant & Dec, the presenters were Nicki Chapman and Doctor Fox who did a reasonable job and were no where near as bad as Kate Thornton.

The first half of the show consisted mainly of bog standard covers from the series, the only ones I enjoyed were Zoe Birkett's version of "I Say A Little Prayer" and Will Young's "Light My Fire" although the main reason I enjoyed the latter was because they shot up flame jets at various points from the stage and you could really feel the heat even as far as I was sitting towards the east of the Arena.

The second half was devoted entirely to Big Band songs which involved a duet with Gareth and Zoe on the standard "Look At Me Now" accompanied by some nice backing harmonies by Will, Hayley, Jessica, and Korben.

Unfortunately Zoe wasn't too well on the night I went to see the live show so Hayley stepped in for that part and later on Darius sang Zoe's song "I've Got You Under My Skin" as well as his own rendition of "Let There Be Love".

Zoe was also seen perfoming the superb "Get Happy" which I thought was her best ever performance in the series.

She did eventually have a record released by the end of the year but she was wasted as the song itself was a bog standard dancey pop song more suited to either Kylie, actually Dannii Minogue.

After the programme the tape had the opening and the results of the Grand Final of Stars In Their Eyes 2002. This was particuarly special as they introduced a brand new set specially for the show which included two staircases and added to the excitement even though the show was starting to show signs of age.

Matthew Kelly however wasn't at all bitter about the success of Pop Idol as he admitted he was a fan of the show, although a couple of years later he ended up leaving Stars In Their Eyes to return to being an actor.

The introduction to the show was rather good with Matthew introducing the new set and walking through the corridors of Granada accompanied by Ray Monk's orchestra performing a live version of the show's theme tune.

On that note it's worth mentioning the original theme from when Leslie Crowther presented the show which is slightly faster and in a higher key than it was in 2002, although I love how it changes from the rather quiet introduction into the main tune when the hand wipes over the white background.

A lot better than the titles from 2005 when Cat Deeley hosted the show which barely has anything happening in it at all.

The winner of the 2002 final was Stuart Duff as Elvis Presley and there was also an apppearance from the winner of the 2001 final who impersonated Dusty Springfield and had a special message to her from Lulu.

Right now though I'm about to head off to St Johns and meet Joey for a few drinks.