Erica and Allan Lear

This was the West End revival of Spamalot.  According to wikipedia it followed a non-Equity tour (!) of Britain. 

Stephen Tomkinson played King Arthur.  I think we saw Michael Palin as God, which apparently was one of a number of appearances he made for charity. 

I guess it hadn't sold out, because it looks like we were upgraded from the Upper to the Dress Circle.

We saw John Lithgow in the lead role of the play in the National Theatre, which I thought was a bit of a strange building. 

It was a very old play and I found it quite hard to follow.  Worth it to see Lithgow on stage, though. 

Rocky Horror at the Empire!  I think Jonathan Wilkes played Frank.  According to the internet the narrator was Philip Franks, which makes sense - I remember to chatting to him at the stage door about his production of The Tempest, which I'd seen some years before at the Playhouse.  

Wilkes was most famous as Robbie Williams's housemate but I remember he was good as Frank, had a nice rapport with the audience.

Toby's gig at Buxton Opera House.  Well, a little room round the back of the opera house, to be strictly accurate. 

This was the night I met Toby properly.  We all went to the pub afterwards and had a lovely evening. 

I didn't go to this.  Mum and the WABSS must have taken you.

Hope it was a good nigh!

Was this the first time we went back to the Floral Pavilion since we got married there?

I seem to remember finding the show a bit disappointing, though the finale where they do Hamlet in nine seconds backwards was good fun as always. 

Bill Bailey in Llandudno?  I don't remember this at all.  I also don't remember much about the Qualmpeddler tour, although I remember a lot about Bewilderness and Tinselworm. 

How strange.  I thought I remembered a lot of Bill Bailey stuff. 

Ah, I remember this one. We went to Oxford and ate in Jamie's Italian before the show. Maybe the first time we had truffle chips? It was OK.

Hugh was coming off the back of House and being the biggest actor in the known world. The show was him playing jazz tunes on the piano. Not really our thing but it was a good night all the same. Except we waited around out back for half an hour before the security guard came out to say he wasn't going to do the stage door. Bah.

Manchester Arena to see the Pet Shop Boys. This was a present for you - maybe I'd bought it for you at Christmas? Too early for your birthday.

I was pleasantly surprised how many songs I knew, ended up having a much better time than I thought. They had back-up dancers in all kinds of silly hats, including some sort of moose-head kind of arrangement.

Rocky Horror again, in Manchester this time. Oliver Thornton played Frank, he had a real Tim Curry energy. Philip Franks narrated again, apparently.

We enjoyed this matinee so much we went right back for the evening performance, although we were a bit pissed by that stage and probably too loud!

Ken Dodd at Venue Cymru! Is this the one we went to with your mum and dad? Was that really twelve years ago?

Highlights include Joaney laughing five minutes after everyone else because of the hearing aid loop, and your dad carefully taking ten minutes to peel the foil of a melted KitKat before dropping it on the floor.

We gave up at midnight but Doddy was still going strong, as were all the little old ladies with their blankets and flasks of tea.

Alexei in Stafford? Don't remember much about this one, although I have a vague memory of wandering about Stafford town centre.

The Alexei gig I remember was later. You didn't go because you were at Jason Donovan with Jamie, so I went with Jon. Top deck of the Leaf cafe in Liverpool. Alexei mentioned some graffiti on a motorway bridge that read "The Pies The Pies" and someone in the audience told a long story about how it was his mate's band name - you could see Alexei was utterly heartbroken it had such a boring explanation.

Jeremy at the Quay in Salford. I remember two things: a gag about Nick Griffin wearing a tortoise as a Nazi helmet, and we didn't try the stage door because we had no idea where it was.

Later I met Jeremy after a different gig and he signed a book - "Thanks for buying it, no-one else did". He nearly stole my pen. When I asked for it back he told me "all property is theft". But he did give it back.

Don't remember much about this one? Big house for Toby. I think there were a few Dr Who actors in the audience though - Katy Manning, I seem to remember.

Spamalot again? Don't remember seeing it twice. Looks like the houses hadn't improved - we were upgraded again, this time all the way to the stalls.

Stephen Tomkinson still playing Arthur by this point. I have a feelingthat Hannah Waddingham was playing the Lady of the Lake, because whoever we had was really very good.