Although Irene and I had discussed it briefly a few times, we had missed last year's gig, we'd been there and done that on about four occasions and quite frankly, I always thought that the star guest, Mel C was rubbish.
I was in my office and the advert for the concert came on the radio, a quick phone call to Irene and, having heard it was a sell-out, brought the website up on my screen more in hope than in expectation.
We were extremely lucky and only a few hours later, right at the front of the stage at the Royal Hall.
Although the warm up act from Mark Flanagan was truncated because the battery on his acoustic guitar had gone dead, this was the only flat note of the night and it would have been a great mistake to have missed the show through our own apathy.
As soon as the orchestra springs into action and you are assaulted by the wall of sound, I couldn't imagine why we would have even considered not coming.
They were ably supported by vocalists, Jools himself, then Mabel Ray, followed by the excellent Louise Marshall.
It turns out that I was totally wrong about Mel C who was engaging, energetic and certainly proved she could sing!
The lady who really stole the show was Ruby Turner and it may be a little cliché but she certainly puts more than her heart and would into her performance and was absolutely brilliant.
The whole audience left with a smile on its face, though for someone who didn't want to see her in the first place, my only slight gripe was that Melanie Chisholm's contribution was relatively short and she didn't join the rest of the team for the encore.
Unlike my old chum and fellow blogger, Murray Lambden, I often forget my camera and to be honest, it was nearly the end before I realised I could turn our night out into a post, so I am indebted to my Facebook friend and occasional fellow drinker at the Woodie, Gary Wightman for supplying the only decent photographs I have presented you.
There is a great shot of Dave Cain who I could have sworn was right behind me earlier on before he stuck on a beard, tousled his hair and went on stage to play trumpet.
I saw many friends and acquaintances at the concert but it has to be said that social media allows you to catch up with anyone you have missed later.
Chief Meteorological Officer, Adrian Cowin who had made the long trek up from Arbory to be a guest at the Welbeck That night was posting about whom he could spot from his balcony seat and 'No sign of Michael George yet' appeared, to be answered by Marie Lambden who replied 'He's here!' 'Incognito! Interjected our weatherman.
Obviously, the best way to hide at the Villa Marina is right at the front, centre stage, wildly gyrating in a poor imitation of a dancer ;)
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