THE best moment for most of the over 5,000-strong crowd at Genting’s Arena of Stars must have been when Donny Osmond, all of 51, came down the stage to meet his fans.

There are a couple of nice photo’s included as well - one of the moment Donny goes into the crowd but unfortunately the picture is a little small but never mind.

Anyway enjoy..

Do you want to know what else I think about this stunning piece of photography taken by Jeremy Hall?

No you do not! Get yourselves over to Jeremy’s What’s Gotta Stay  Website and take a gander (after placing cushions on floor, or perhaps get on the floor first and then view the photo, good time saver)..

Go on, go, scoot.. you can always come back here and tell me your reaction in the comment area after you have recovered, I mean finished looking at it - especially if you feel your comment may not be right for Jeremy’s site LOL I know, how about one comment there, one here LOL..

No seriously go check it out, again some wonderful work by Jeremy, Kudos to you JH.

If for some reason the linked “what’s gotta stay” above does not work for you, I know you will be chomping at the bit to get over there so just use the link in my “Featured Links”  list over there on the right hand side of this blog, in the side panel (scroll down a bit to see it).

As you know I have also created a “Squidoo Lens” also called Osmonds Galore and today decided to have that discussion mainly there as well as here because I would also like to hear from other people who have attended other artists concerts and perhaps bought VIP packages to the event and I know that we are more likely to get people other than Osmond fans commenting over at Squidoo, it would be interesting to find out if it is the same for every artists event, don’t you think?, this is the link for the lens:

Osmonds Galore at Squidoo

Just highlighting some of the article over at Squidoo these are my two major problems with the VIP Packages are:

• Tickets, well I got row 12, I think this should be a ticket in the first four rows at this price!
• Way too many packages sold to make even more profit which means your “Actual” time talking to the artist is roughly 30 seconds, what can you say in that time to your idol? Not a lot I’m guessing, perhaps something along the lines of “errr, splutter, errr, bye” and then your moved on!

From a personal point of view I know I have been very lucky in the past 5 years meeting Donny lots of times and being able to have a decent conversation with him (none of which cost me anything other than time perhaps waiting around). BUT I feel sooo bad for those lifelong fans who have never met their idol, who probably scrimped and saved to buy this package and then to finally meet them (nervously of course, so you can barely form sentences or think coherently) and then find your not allowed even a full minute to say something at least sensible to this person whom you will probably never meet again!

To be honest it incenses me because as far as I can see all that is simply down to LiveNation selling too many VIP packages..

VIP Means “very important person” - things that make you go “hmmmmmm”

So please pop on over to the lens and tell us what your thoughts are, did you enjoy your VIP package? tell us what you did and did not enjoy, tell us there, here or in both places if you like and have the time.

This is a link straight to the first “post” of mine there called “It goes beyond being just a fan of The Osmonds, they are like family”

But whilst your there, do check out the rest of the page too, lots of things on there AND….

It’s free, by the way, if you want to make your own Squidoo Lens - they also monetize the page for you and you can get paid a percentage of what the page earns via all kinds of things such as Ebay, Amazon and Google Adsense ads and you can then choose to donate a percentage of your earnings to any of their extensive list of charities.

If you want to see my Squidoo Profile page, go here: http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/SusanneUK

And if you want to make one of your own, on any subject then click this: Make Your Own Squidoo

If you are not sure how to do it or any part of it let me know, you can get my email addresses from the contact page here at Osmonds Galore.

If you do build a lens, please let me know here or over there so I can “favorite” it for you, which gets it more viewers etc.. I hope you will return the favor.

I have also just created a new category here called “Squidoo” so that I can then highlight other Squidoo Lenses - so may not be about The Osmonds because perhaps I will find a “hobby lens” by an Osmond fan and that would be cool to link to, don’t you think?

Anyway, enough babble from me, go check it out for yourselves.

Sue

Sue with a serious headache!

Later Edit - wahooooo!!! finally, ok I had to sell the kids, cut off a limb, sacrifice a teddy bear and then go look for a plugin!! which finally works, phewwwww! ok now can I eat please?

Just click the play button and enjoy.

Towards the end of the first half Marie comes on stage on her own and thoroughly entertains us for about ten to fifteen minutes and not just with singing.  She really is one funny lady and had me in stitches talking about “Her own personal summer” referring of course to that wonderful experience of err -heat - shall we say that us woman go through when we are nearing a certain age (because like monthlies, pmt, childbirth and motherhood just were not enough challenges for us right?).. anywho.  Marie also entertained us with what it’s like to be the only sister of this famous family, The Osmonds.

I’m not going to go into too much detail because (fingers crossed I do it right, I am sooo techy NOT!) I will be posting audio for you to listen to taken from my copy of the Live CD I bought after the concert, made by Live Nation and so if I do get it right, you can listen to that whole section yourself, bear in mind this is the Cardiff concert, recorded on the 28th May, so if you were at a different one, there may well be some differences as all concerts are not going to be exactly the same.  I only went to one and so I love listening to this one now as with all the chit-chat included it really brings back the memories of that concert for me.  I will post the audio separately to this post, just in case I make a mess up of it, then I don’t mess up this post.

So the part I wanted to share in this post is the section where Marie “gets the men in the audience” involved and picks out a male audience member to come up on stage with her (easy really to spot them in the audience as there are not many LOL).

For the Cardiff 28th concert Marie happened to end up choosing Roger who was the husband of Kate who just happened to be sat right next to me so from one aspect it was very cool to be next to Kate whilst she watched her beloved LSH (long suffering husband) go into the arms of the very gorgeous Marie Osmond.  The second of the two photos following shows Roger with his wife Kate after he came back and it shows the picture that Marie had taken of them together on stage just before she let him back into the audience, a kind of thank you to Roger for going along with it all, I think that will make a lovely keepsake for them.

Roger and Marie during their duet

Roger and his wife Kate, holding the developing picture of Roger and Marie together on stage

Before leaving the arena I did give Kate my business card and asked her to email me so that I could send her any decent shots I got and I have a few more apart from the two above and would dearly love to send them to her, so far she has not emailed me so Kate if you are reading this, please get in touch with me, use the “contact” tab at the top of Osmonds Galore OR if you think you know Roger and Kate and can get in touch with them, please do send them the link to this site (in case she lost the card) so she can come see this post and contact me.

Oh and Zena, the very nice lady sat to my other side, I have not forgotten my promise to you either, apologies, I have not been too well and completely snowed under, so it’s just a bad case of not getting it (and a thousand other things) done yet, but I will

Right, I am now going to attempt to post the 10 minute audio section that this post refers too, it will be hard because I will have everything crossed LOL

This was my first meeting with the Osmonds personally and I was not disappointed.  I had prayed for this moment for 36 years, but nothing had prepared me for how I would actually feel on meeting them.  My eyes are filling up now just thinking about it! Bearing in mind, I did not have much time to prepare myself with a week’s notice!

 

I went down to London from Edinburgh on Friday night by train with my sister in tow (poor thing but as she had endured my Osmondmania for all these years, she was as well being part of the whole experience as I know she understands!)  We got up early, ate a HUGE breakfast and wandered into town.  (We wanted this to be an unforgettable experience so we booked into a really good hotel in town so we could take advantage of the pool, sauna etc to prepare us for the BIG EVENT in the afternoon!)  After a glass of champagne to steady my nerves in Selfridges,  we just took our time and started to make our way.  Saturday was a lovely day and it was extremely hot! As if I was not hot enough already!

 

According to the information we received, it stated the registration point was opposite the box office.  As there was nothing opposite the box office, we went there to enquire.  The staff are used to being asked this so directed us to a few doors BESIDE the box office.  This should be clarified for further events and also a note on the door would have been helpful too.  We seemed to be kept waiting FOREVER.  I am sure this was nothing to do with the Osmonds themselves.  Just the Wembley staff being officious.  They did not seem to communicate very well between themselves and kept changing their minds about which door we would be going through, which was not very fair to those of us who had waited for ages, compared to those who turned up late and kept us waiting even longer.  I certainly did not feel like a VIP!

 

Eventually a door opened and we waited patiently in a line to meet each of the Osmonds in turn. My sister and I let everyone else jostle for position as it wasn’t a case of first come first served so we were near the end of the line.  It was well worth the wait.  I had to laugh because one girl turned to me and asked who was who again?  I bit my tongue and politely reminded her.  (Call yourself a fan is what I wanted to say but of course I didn’t). I needed a few minutes to compose myself and to try to decide what to say but seeing them from a distance set me off.  I was biting my lip so hard, I was afraid I was going to pierce it.  A huge wave of emotion overtook me and I fought valiantly to keep the tears back.  I felt so overwhelmed I thought I was going to make a fool of myself and end up on the floor.  I took a few deep breaths and eventually I got to the first in line who was Jimmy. 

 

He was absolutely wonderful.  I told him I had kissed him on his 17th birthday and without hesitation he said that was in Edinburgh!  I couldn’t believe it.  The fact he could remember where he was at 17 was just mind boggling.  He didn’t just say Scotland – he said Edinburgh!  Wow.  That was impressive.  He also allowed me to kiss him again.  I did not want to assume anything.  Merrill was so lovely to me that I just burst into tears.  He seemed very touched that I was emotional.  We gave each other a huge hug.  I could not say very much but I think he got the message that I am still crazy about them all and have been since 1972.  I apologised to Jay and Wayne for my tears and told them that it was just because I was so happy to meet them at last which was so true.  They are so naturally lovely with no airs and graces and extremely genuine just as you described Sue!  When I got to Donny, I thought I was going to lose the plot completely! Although I was still crying, I had calmed down a little.  Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t hysterical and wailing!  Just very tearful.  I apologised to Donny and told him they were only tears of joy as I had waited 36 years for this moment.  He smiled and said “What took you so long?” I remember taking both his hands and telling him it was wonderful to meet him at last and he said it was wonderful to meet me too.  I had so many things I wanted to say to him and thank him for but I couldn’t say another word.  I was just so shocked and emotional.  My sister did a really good job though.  I wish now I had sent her first to prepare the way for me ha ha!  She joked with Donny about having to suffer a purple bedroom and his face all over the walls.  He offered to pay for therapy for her and he was so sweet. 

 

Seeing Alan was also an emotional experience.  He has always been my mother’s favourite.  I told him it was wonderful to see him and he said it was a miracle he was here which it is and I told him so. 
 

Once that was all over, I felt a lot calmer and we sat through the sound check which was lovely.  They were all so relaxed and laughed and joked their way through it.  It was disappointing Marie wasn’t there but they have such a punishing schedule on this tour, I am sure we can forgive her for having an hour or two off!  After it was all over, we had to say our goodbyes which was very sad but I knew we had the concert in the evening to look forward to which cheered me up as I had seen it the week before in Glasgow so I knew we were in for a good night.  As they were saying goodbye, Merrill looked at me and said “Thank you for your emotion.  It means a lot”.  I am afraid he set my tears off again.  It was just such a lovely thing to say.  He had said to my sister earlier that we had all grown up together, meaning them and we the fans. 
 

We all left and as we did not have time to return to our hotel, we found a local bar/restaurant to have a quick bite to eat.  The time had gone so quickly.  There were a few Osmond fans in there already.  We met a lovely bunch of ladies from Kent who were a great laugh.  After our meal, we headed back to the arena, proudly displaying our “We met the Osmonds” badges. 
 

The atmosphere at Wembley was just amazing. It was electric! We had great seats- about 11 rows from the front and right in the middle.  Just as happened in Glasgow, everyone stood for the entire show. I laughed, sang and cried through the whole thing.  Marie got a shock when she discovered the man she picked on to come and join her on stage could actually sing really well.  She was really enjoying herself. 
 

Anyway, I realise I have just written a book when I had only intended a few lines.  Sorry!  
 

My first experience of meeting the Osmonds was overwhelming but so, so worth it.  You notice I say first experience!  My plan now is to save up and to visit them in the States sometime.  I am assuming Donny will still make his yearly visit to us too so I have that to look forward to. 
 

The VIP package was disappointing however.  I certainly did not feel like a VIP.  I would have preferred there to be less people there, so we could have spent more quality time with the Osmonds themselves.  Also, the information letter I had received stated that we could take photos when we met them which was not the case.  This will need to be amended as it was extremely disappointing.  We did not have any mingle time but again it was because there were too many of us there. I was not given any information about the VIP lounge and there did not seem to be anyone in attendance as was also stated on the letter.  I would not fault the Osmonds themselves for ANYTHING.  They are all very gracious, lovely, down to earth, kind and special people.
 

Now that my lifelong ambition of meeting the Osmonds has been fulfilled, it feels really strange.  What shall I spend the rest of my life longing for now I wonder?  The only thing I can do at the moment is to work out a way of meeting them again and with maybe some help from the rest of you, I can fulfil that ambition too but maybe not have to wait another 36 years to do so! 
 

Susan McFarlane, Edinburgh
Still in a daze.  I CAN’T BELIEVE I MET THE OSMONDS AT LAST!!!!!!

Admin Notes:

Just wanted to let everyone know that yep, I realise you have not heard my own account yet and that is just down to some family issues which have prevented me from getting my own thoughts down. I will be getting my own post up soon but in the meantime decided to post some of the wonderful “fan experiences” I have been receiving.

Also, from emails I have received and accounts I have posted from others (plus my own experience of “Live Nation” Osmonds VIP experience packages, I think it might be useful to have another topic soon covering our thoughts on them as it can be seen, not many were entirely happy, let me know in the comment section if you would like to see this subject covered.

The answer at the moment, from The Osmonds PA’s is that NO there will not be a DVD for sale later for any of the concerts in the 50th Anniversary World Tour. However, you have a couple of alternatives..

First of all you can buy “The Osmonds 50th Anniversary Reunited Live in Las Vegas” DVD - I bought that when it came out and watched it before going to the Cardiff concert on the 28th May.  I highly recommend it and my particular favorite part of this DVD is when all The Osmonds, including their two older brothers Tom and Virl (who are deaf) go on stage with them in the line-up and whilst their brothers (and sister) are singing, Tom and Virl at opposite ends of the line-up sign the words to the song, that is lovely and I have to admit bought a tear to my eye because as we all know, the whole reason we even got The Osmonds was because they started to perform to raise money for hearing aids and so their brothers could go on their Mormon Missions.

Available now and possibly for a limited time, certainly via membership of donny.com you can buy, for $9.95 a “Pay Per View” of a live recording of the Wembley Arena concert, taped on Friday 30th May.

Go onto the store at donny.com and purchase your Pay Per View, then when you want to watch it, simply click on VIEW in your member area, please be aware though that once you click VIEW you then have 4 hours only to watch it, so make sure you have allotted a couple of hours where you know you will not be interrupted.  This recording was made by Jeremy Hall, official photographer for the UK part of the World Tour.  During filming for the Pay Per View, Jeremy even went on stage with The Osmonds.

Jeremy will be producing a photographic book (with blog style commentary) after the Tour finishes, no estimated date for completion yet.  He has been giving sneak peeks of his work on his site Osmondmania.com.  If you want to get a copy of that then also on donny.com a pre-sale for the book started this week.  Doing a pre-sale means they get a good idea of how many print runs to do of the book later and of course it means you won’t miss out on this fantastic book which I know is going to provide so many wonderful memories of a great tour.

If you know you would like both the Pay Per View (PPV) and the book and you like a bargain, then you can buy from the store a special deal of the book and PPV with about $5 off the PPV.

I have not had the chance yet to watch the PPV so I am sorry, I can’t give any recommendations on that score.

Thanks so much Sandra for sharing your experience with us, over to you:

I just had to write to your blog as I am still buzzing from the effects of seeing the Osmonds at Wembley Arena on Saturday!

 

Along with thousands of other (yes, sorry - mainly female) Osmond fans I turned up with my friends with great anticipation and excitement (I couldn’t sleep Friday night as I kept dreaming that Merrill had got me up on stage to sing with him!!).

 

I have been to many concerts at the arena over the years and I am always amazed at how “intimate” the venue feels, despite its capacity. The goose bumps started as soon as the lights went down and when the sound of the “crazy horses” music came on we all jumped to our feet and you knew that “this was it - the night we had been waiting for all our lives”!!

 

We were not disappointed! Every song, every second of that concert made me feel like I was in a time warp and I was a young girl again. Their voices, their smiles, the dancing - everything was perfection. The moving video footage of the old days with their family and the scenes of the screaming fans outside the Rainbow theatre were too much to bear and combined with the music, made a lot of us cry!

 

One of the highlights was when “little” Jimmy Osmond did a roaring rendition of Long Haired Lover from Liverpool - which had the whole crowd on their feet singing their hearts out - fantastic!!

(Admin Note: During ‘LHLFL’, huge bouncy balloons were released over the audience heads, as you can see in the image below, great fun!)

(Photo taken at Cardiff Concert on 28th May during ‘Long Haired Lover from Liverpool’ and supplied by Sue Marshall, Admin of “Osmonds Galore”).

Before the concert, my one worry was that they might have thought it a good idea to get Donny to do some of the lead vocals on the “Osmonds” songs - but with the exception of one of my absolute favourites “Darling” (thanks guys!!) it was actually Merrill who sang them - as it should be!! Not that I don’t love Donny , I do, but for me Merrill will always be “the one” - wow that man can sing!

 

Marie looked and sounded fantastic - I wish her and Donny had sung “Morning Side of The Mountain”, but hey, what they did sing was amazing so I’ll let that one pass.

 

The second half of the concert just blew everyone away as they sang a medley of all the old hits and when they went off the stage at the end, you knew that with the whole crowd chanting “we want the Osmonds” they just had to come back for one more and when they returned to the stage and sang the encore, the tears flowed again and when we had to finally say goodbye, it was like saying goodbye to a dear, lifelong friend who you knew you probably would never see again but who would remain in your heart forever!

 

Thank you Alan, Jay, Wayne, Merrill, Donny, Marie and Jimmy - you have made an old lady very happy!!!

a) A first timer

b) A man!

A first timer because it reminds me of how it was for me the very first time I met them and it is so nice to hear this from a man’s point of view as well as you can guess, women outnumber the male fans when it comes to The Osmonds.

So here we go, I bring you my first guest author and want to give a great big thank you to Dave Wyatt for his review and the lovely photo of himself with Jimmy and Marie Osmond.  I love this review for another reason as Dave was at the same Meet and Greet that I was, so his review reminds me again how fantastic it was and I particularly love the bit about kissing Marie’s hand, how wonderful, you go Dave!!

Over to you Dave:

Wow what a dream I had. Did I really meet all the Osmonds?

 

My sister & I used to love watching the Osmonds on TV back in the 1970’s. We both had the Osmond World magazine and Jayne even had Osmond socks! Never in a million years did I think I’d get to see them.
 
Back last year when it was announced that all the Osmonds were going to do a World Tour I was so excited. Even more so when I saw they were coming to Cardiff which isn’t far from where I now live.
 

I asked Jayne if she wanted to come and for some reason she said no!! I booked my VIP ticket as I so much wanted to meet them. Unfortunately for Jayne when she found out that I really had bought a ticket she changed her mind but unfortunately the show by that time was “Sold out”. Never mind though being the nice brother which I am I told her I would ask Donny for his autograph.
 

It seemed such a long time for the concert though. I really was counting down the days.
 

About a week before the concert I was getting really excited about seeing the Osmonds at last.
 

I booked a day off work and also the following day to recover. Lol
 

On 28th May I caught the train into Cardiff and arrived at Cardiff CIA just after 12:00 hoping to meet the Osmonds as they arrived. It was awful weather and I looked like a drowned rat! I had spent lots of time preening myself especially for Marie

 

Anyway at about 14:45 I saw Jimmy & Marie (didn’t recognise her at so first. She is so petite I thought). I politely asked for a photograph and Jimmy was very obliging. The first Osmond I had ever met.

 

At around 15:30 myself and the other 100 or so fans went in and checked-in where we received our goodie bags which consisted of program, signed photo and framed display. We were also handed a card to write our question for the Q&A segment. As I’m a huge Elvis fan I made my question Elvis related and asked if they would have liked the opportunity to have recorded with Elvis.

 

Anyway time for the Meet & Greet. We were all told under no circumstances not to take photographs or ask for autographs otherwise we would be ejected! I pointed out that it clearly states that we can take photographs on the letter we had received with our tickets only to be told that the rules had changed!!! As my sister was unable to come to the concert I was hoping I could get autographs for her (especially Donny).  We were all taken into the arena when the Osmonds appeared and came towards us. Now being a bloke even I was starting to tremble and going weak at the knees. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck start tingling. Whilst I appreciate there were about 100 people who had paid £250.00 for the VIP tickets we were quickly ushered around and only really had the chance to say “hello” to each Osmond before moving on to the next one! I shook all their hands except Marie’s. I politely asked if I could kiss her hand and she said how cute I was. OMG!!!

 

I found all the Osmonds to be extremely pleasant to talk too and so very polite. Personally I think it would have been better to have had a smaller VIP crowd and we would have had more time with each Osmond. But then again things are done to generate income (100 fans @ £250.00 each = £25,000.00!!) I must admit I did spend a bit of time with Donny telling him how my sister is a huge fan and she so much wanted to be at the concert. I was even contemplating asking for his autograph for her and risking being ejected!

 

After the Meet & Greet, Marie came over and spoke to all of us present whilst everybody else carried out sound checks etc. I did ask Marie if she would marry me (seriously) but she did say she already had 8 children and didn’t want anymore!

 

Next came the Q&A. Hey Donny read my question first. WOW. He even said my name too. Alan answered the question and I found it very interesting hearing about how they met Elvis etc. Donny kept on to Alan asking him to answer the question with either a yes or no lol. Thankfully we were able to take photographs in this part only and I took quite a few.

 

Next the sound checks which was a mini concert in itself. It was so funny watching Donny & Wayne dancing to The Proud One. Really wish we could have taken photographs though.

 

That was the VIP part over and done with. It only seemed like such a short time we were with the Osmonds.

 

Luckily I had bought a ticket for the VIP lounge which included a meal which was very nice.

 

The concert itself was absolutely FANTASTIC. What a show. This was easily the best concert I have ever been to. I bought a few things in the intermission and also paid for a concert CD which I have on at the time of writing this.

 

Would I pay £250.00 for a VIP ticket again? No I wouldn’t. Whilst I can’t find any fault whatsoever with the concert or meeting the Osmonds, things were rushed and we certainly were not treated like VIP’s.

 

With all the video cameras about I really hope we get a UK DVD of the Concert.

 

Thank-you very much to the Osmonds for such a fantastic time. It was such a pleasure finally getting to meet all of you. I really wished Jayne (my sister could have been there too).