**Warning, my inner fangirl comes out a lot in this post, especially when the drummer Tommi is involved. Sorry, not sorry haha.
I got tickets to these gigs way back in April 2022 when it was just a rumour that Blind Channel would be supporting I Prevail on their tour. A lot of the gigs were either sold out or had a low ticket warning so me and Roxxi got what we could which was Portsmouth, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham and London. So for me, this part of the tour started at 4:30pm on Thursday the 16th of March when I finished work. I got straight into my car and drove to Portsmouth as I just wanted to get there and chill out the day before the gig. Although I didn't do much chilling out because I got to the hotel and found out that Blind Channel were staying in the same hotel. Que a bit of fangirling which was me trying to look cool but freaking out on the inside. I went up to my room, got changed and heading down to the bar where I sat working on my website while waiting for one of them to go to the bar so I could buy them a drink (which didn't happen while I was there). Friday the 17th of March - Portsmouth The next day I got up and started ironing the t-shirt transfers that I had got printed for my vests for the gig, only to find out that they were complete and utter shite. I ironed them on 3 times, even timed myself to make sure I did it for the right amount of time and they still peeled off. This led to me calling round to every t-shirt printing shop in Portsmouth until I got through to Vintage Pig who saved the day. The shop was only a 10 minute drive away so I jumped in my car and went to have a chat with Chris who printed 2 vests with my Blind Channel designs and then put my logo on the back of my cardigan. What also didn't help my anxiety levels was that I found out one of the other guests had their car broken into in the night and the staff member's response was "it happens every couple of days". This led me to re-parking my car where it could easily be seen from windows and my room. I went back to the hotel and my fellow gig buddies turned up. We had had a little catch up, went to the venue (Portsmouth Guildhall), which was only a few minute walk away from the hotel, thank goodness. We were the first ones to queue for the gig from about 12:30pm, at the surprise of the venue staff who wasn't expecting anyone for hours. We were a little confused at first as the Guildhall is a huge public building which has offices in it so we were unsure on where to queue. The gig security staff were soon there putting out the railings for the queue and they helped us out with where we needed to go. There was one guy called Paul who took me inside the venue to show me where I needed to go to get into the hall because I said I had never been there before. He was lovely, every venue needs a Paul. Before we knew it, it was time for the doors to open. We got our tickets scanned, bags checked and then made our way (we ran) into the hall to get front row. The only place I wanted to be was in front of Tommi's drums so that is where I headed haha. I was quite happy to hear the lead up set list still had some super classic songs like Linkin Park - One Step Closer, Slipknot - Before I Forget but two new ones, Neil Diamond - Sweet Caroline and the beginning of Ring Of Fire. I must admit that I didn't quite realise how excited I was to see Blind Channel again, the last time I saw them was 6 months before this gig and I went a little bit crazy when they came out haha. The set was amazing! It was a short 30 minutes that was over way too soon but I loved every minutes of it. This gig was the first time I heard their single "Flatline" that the lads had released shortly before this tour. They have this little (sort of) dance routine that they do to the song. It's basically thumping your chest to the beat and headbanging but straight after the 5th thump, you do a flatline with your arm across your chest. This video will explain better haha. I had missed their gig energy, no matter how many gigs these lads do, they are still going crazy on stage, jumping and dancing around. It's infectious and you can feel it go through you like electricity. Believe me, the amount I move at their gig is no where near the amount I move around in real life in about 3 days haha. What made it that bit extra special was that the bass player, Olli, was throwing his guitar picks out into the crowd at the end of the show and I got one! Well, it flew over Roxxi's head, bounced off the chest of the guy behind her, landed on the floor and got picked up by the girl next to Roxxi. Lucky enough, she was the girl we had got talking to and we had agreed to let her go in our places at the front when Blind Channel had finished their set so she gave the pick to me. Blind Channel was one of the support bands and was on first so as soon as they left the stage, we pulled the girl who gave me Olli's pick and her friends in front of us and then made our way through the crowd. Joel, Blind Channel's singer, had said they were coming out to the merch stand so we went there and camped out in the lobby until Niko and Aleksi from Blind Channel came out towards the end of I Prevail's set. I loved this as there wasn't many fans and we all got to have a nice chat and a picture with each of the lads. I have a "Don't Fix Me" tattoo on my left arm and in order to get it finished, I decided that I was going to ask each member of the band to write a line from the song, sign it and then I would get those tattooed around the one I already have. I had all the lines printed out so that they just had to pick which line they wanted to write. Niko did "I don't need your medication, no" and Aleksi did "You can keep your love and roses".
Saturday the 18th of March - Otherwise Known As "Did That Just Happen Day" - Bristol The craziness of this day still makes me stop and wonder if it actually happened sometimes. It started off as a normal gig day. Me and Roxxi got up, got dressed, went for a Wetherspoons breakfast with Flo and then we all got in my car to drive to Bristol. Just so you know, unless I absolutely have to, I will never drive in Bristol again. Just frigging no. We got checked into our hotel and then went to the venue which on this day was O2 Bristol. We found our "Paul" for this venue who was a lovely lad called Mags. If you go to the O2 in Bristol, say hi to him, he is honestly amazing. Our friends Luna and Carman were already there in the priority queue, well, they were the queue. We joined them and then they went to check into their hotel and get something to eat. This was the first time I had been to an O2 venue and had to queue so wasn't 100% on the whole priority and general admission thing. When I went on the Sick And Dangerous Tour, I had VIP tickets for the gigs that were at O2 venues so was in a separate queue all together for those gigs. Carman and Flo are on O2 and can get 3 people each in with them so we were all covered to get in first and together. Any hoooo. We are sitting outside the venue, Roxxi goes to the loo in the pub opposite and when she comes back, she says she saw Blind Channel in the pub near the ladies loos. After kicking myself for not being brave enough to buy them drinks in Portsmouth at the hotel, I decide I'm going to buy them some shots. So I pulled up my big girl pants, walked in the pub, find out exactly where they are sitting and then order tequila and sambuca shots at the bar. I couldn't quite see who was sat at the table so I got 10 shots, figured this would be enough and someone wasn't going to complain about having to have more than 1 shot haha. The barmaid put them all on a small tray thank goodness and I slowly walked round to their table. I'm going to be completely honest, I saw Niko and Aleksi as they were on my left as I put the tray down, I saw Tommi who looked me right in the eyes and I have absolutely no idea who else was at the table because I just kept looking at him. I did stay calm though, no idea how much I did. I said "I wanted to do this the other night in the hotel but didn't, these are for you guys, thank you so much for being awesome, love you guys". I blew them (Tommi) a big kiss, they said thank you, I walked away. Not going to lie, my legs felt like jelly and I flopped onto the floor as soon as I got back in the queue but felt proud of myself haha. Ok, so that was thing 1 of "Did That Just Happen Day". Thing 2 was me and Roxxi needing the loo some time later, walking into the pub and the band were still there, still sat next to the ladies loos. This was never going to not look like us stalking them but we did genuinely want to go to the loo. In the queue for said loo, a girl came up behind us and said "can I go in front of you, I'm in the queue for the gig over the road". Which we replied, "so are we". She then said "but I'm in the priority queue", and can you guess our reply?...... "so are we". Never have I heard a gig queue being used as an excuse to cut into a toilet queue before. Just as we were going into the cubicles, this girl says "oh, my boyfriend just said they are letting people in". I have never gone for a wee so quick in my whole life!!! We rushed outside only to find out that the venue were just getting people to line up that needed disabled access as they go in before priority and general admission. So there was no need to rush afterall. When we did get let into the venue, we were in the front row again and I was right in front of Tommi....again.. Thing 3 of "Did That Just Happen Day". Flo had been saying for ages that she wanted one of Olli's picks and she had even made a sign to hold up asking for one. She had been trying to get Olli to see her sign during the gig but he kept looking in the wrong direction. So (que Wonder Woman music), I grab her sign, wave at Olli to get him to look at me and he sees the sign. The cheeky sod grins at me but doesn't move so I do prayer hands at him, he walks to his mic stand, takes out one of his picks from the stand and throws it to me. Unfortunately it landed on the floor, but Olli tapped the security guy on the shoulder who was in front of him asking to pick it up and give it to me. The lovely security guy gives me the pick and I give it to Flo who was super duper happy. Thing 4 of "Did That Just Happen Day". The lads didn't say they were going to come out to merch so we waited around a little and then saw some of them walking out to their bus. We thought they weren't coming out so we went to the pub, had a drink and a sing song before I turn round and see Niko, Olli and Aleksi walking back into the venue. We rushed out to go back in the venue, I was the first one there and I explained to the security guard that 3 members of my favourite band had just walked in and I wanted to meet them. At first he said no because you can't go back into a venue once you leave but then a supervisor came along and said that only I could go in. Only thing was, when I got back in and looked around at merch, the lads were nowhere to be seen. I waited and lucky enough, they appeared. I talked to Olli about my "Don't Fix Me" tattoo and he picked the line "I thought f*ck it, it's just rock and roll". Because my friends were all outside waiting for the lads, I told them that there was people outside waiting for them and they said they would stop on the way back to the bus to speak to them....and they did! Thing 5 of "Did That Just Happen Day". We were all standing around in groups talking when Niko said to us "I'm going to go and get something to eat, you guys needs to work out what bar we are going to. I'll be back in 30 minutes". Me, Flo, Roxxi, Luna and Carman wasn't sure if he was joking or not but decided we would take him to a Wetherspoons, can't get more English than a Wetherspoons right? We are all standing there looking at Google Maps when Niko cames back off the bus about 10 minutes later and says "they had pizza on the bus, so where are we going?" This led to a night of shots, dancing to Abba, telling Niko how much we love him, Niko telling us how much he loves the Wetherspoons app, me telling Niko that his girlfriend is fit, everyone talking random shite and having the most amazing time haha. It was amazing. We managed to get him onto the tour bus 10 minutes before it left to drive to Birmingham, he wasn't in the best of conditions but we all had a great time so it was worth it. Sunday 19th of March - Birmingham Waking up and remembering the night before was so frigging weird. There was a lot of chatter in the car on the way to Birmingham haha. I had booked us into an Ibis hotel that was less than a minute walk from the venue, which was another O2 venue. In fact, we could see the hotel if we stood on the pavement outside the venue, it was that close. We got checked in and walked round to get into the queue which was 2 people. There wasn't any set queues for priority or general so we all just sat in 1 line until the staff came out and told us where we needed to queue. It was such a cold day that we all huddled together. I was a little miffed at this venue as I had my camera with me, the same one that I have been taking to gigs for the last year with no issue, was taken off of me because the staff said it was a professional camera as it had a detachable lense. It is a Sony A6000 which is about the same size as a normal compact camera but has some nifty features and yes, a detachable lense but definitely not a professional camera. This annoyed me so much as I have always got some really good shots with that camera and other venues were more than happy to let me in with it. I got it back at the end of the gig but seriously annoyed me. The videos and pictures I got on my phone were great but they would have been better on my camera. Just like the previous 2 gigs, I was in the front row, right in front of Tommi. I feel this is my permanent spot in a crowd at a Blind Channel gig now haha. I was feeling a little emotional as this set of gigs was coming to end, I wasn't going to see the lads or my friends again for a week and had had such a great time that I didn't want it to end. This was the first gig where I actually paid attention to Trash Boat and I Prevail and that was because the merch stall was in the big hall with the stage. Me, Roxxi and Flo were all sitting up by merch so got to see the rest of the gig. I was very impressed and have a lot of respect for how both bands put on a live show but they just wasn't my sort of bands. I found out that I knew 2 songs from I Prevail but have no idea how haha. Joel, Olli and Joonas came out to see everyone at merch after this gig. We asked where Niko was and we got told he was locked away in a hotel because he had got so wasted the night before haha. I told Joel and Joonas about my "Don't Fix Me" tattoo so they had a look at the lines that were left. Joel picked "I'm dead inside and it's alright", this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who knows him haha. Joonas picked "Maybe I was born to be broken", he said that he picked that one because it nearly wasn't in the song. We stood talking to Olli and Joonas for a little while, they were so lovely to talk to. Then the venue staff told us we had to get out so we had to leave. We left on a high from the awesome gig as we had all had such a brilliant time but sad it was the last gig. We were so sad that me and Roxxi treated ourselves to pizza that turned out to be so spicy we couldn't feel our lips anymore haha.
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