Haley touring with PMJ -- Feb 2015 - March 2016 (& March 2017)

[pennylane]

Ah, all the private nuances between the cast members of another excellent PMJ show Each one contributes their special talents and together they rock each and every venue they play to I love PMJ

I completely agree with you pennylane. Together they all rock out each venue! I can't believe we're already at the last one already. I've had such fun checking out the vids and pics from each city, reading John's statistics on each venue, complete with pictures, (thanks so much).

Sunday night at the Indigo at the O2 could be the best yet!! Going out with a bang as they say. And my guess is, the white and gold Alyce Paris dress will make a comeback appearance.

And Im hoping for another epic "Creep" performance as only Miss Haley can do. The size of this venue should set the stage for it in my humble opinion. Excited to hear what happens in Tusk's journey.

---

Check out Haley dancing in the background. She's got a bouffant hair do! -
https://instagram.com/p/0eKHLUoWOG/

Right on Babbs I Haley's retro up do It's like watching the kids dance on the old American Bandstand

[XAtlantic]

Tusk @HaleysTusk · 4 hours ago
Getting ready to do a little scouting of the O2. Ugh, good god, I'm jet lagged

Tusk @HaleysTusk · 3 hours ago
I'll take a boat on the Thames, to N Greenwich where the show will be

Tusk @HaleysTusk · 17 minutes ago
Good thing I did some scouting before tomorrow, got on the wrong boat for an hour long trip, South, instead of North

Tusk @HaleysTusk · 12 minutes ago
Here's the Indigo O2, apparently, the Who will be performing at the same time as @PMJofficial, in the big theater

Tusk @HaleysTusk · 9 minutes ago
Apparently there's a curfew at the O2. Shows have to end, 11pm, or they get fined £50k/minute they go over.

Tusk @HaleysTusk · 7 minutes ago
The boat attendant told me Guns & Roses didn't end until 2am, they ended up paying more in fines, than they made for the show

[ISCAT4HALEY]

Thanks so much to those posting the comments, pics and videos of the PMJ European tour. The London Indigo O2 show will be the pinnacle I believe and the upcoming videos from the show will be tremendous. I am very happy Tusk and other Haliens are there. It is an exciting and fun time right now to be a Halien as we view and hear not only Haley with PMJ but all the endeavors Haley has in store for 2015.

Recently, right up there with “Love Is Worth Fighting For”, “Creep” is my favorite towards showing Haley’s dynamics where her voice can build and rise to an amazingly strong climax. What I love about Creep is that not only do we get the power of Haley’s soul poured out but Haley gives us her signature bluesy, sultry, jazzy inflections. It seems it can’t get any better, but Haley always proves this wrong somehow.

[john]

Here's a little clip of TMTC at Porgy and Bess in Vienna. I'ts a different kind of scene compared to recent venues.

[Tusk]

"Quick" recap, My flight left Seattle 12:30 am on the 20th, Seatac was unusually busy, mostly because they went down to only one security check point. I had a two hour layover in Chicago, which went by pretty fast.

haleystusk
1 day ago
Hello Chicago O'hare Airport
✈✈✈
Next stop, Heathrow Airport
To see @haleyreinhart @caseybassy @scottbradlee @pmjofficial
Final show of European #pmjtour #IndigoO2 #haleyreinhart

As you might know, I found out the biggest challenge was getting from Heathrow Airport into London. The cheap way is using the London Underground, which was confusing w/ the connections, especially that I'm arriving at 10:40 pm, the last train leaving 11:30pm, not giving me enough time to clear immigration, locate the right train, ride almost 2 hours, then walk to my Hotel after Midnight. As you might guess, this really wasn't a real option after coming from a 7+hour overseas flight w/ luggage :/

I was hearing horror stories about the price of a taxi ride (you have to call ahead of time) ('Black Cabs' worse/charge more) being anywhere from £80 to £100 ($120-$150) One way. I spent alot of time back and forth with the Hotel and Orbitz trying to find a 'reasonable' priced option.

Orbitz suggested a 'cheaper' alternative, rent a car... but, I've never driven 'on the other side' of the road before, not knowing my way around w/o GPS... this wasn't a real alternative either

Finally, Orbitz suggested a web site where you can reserve a taxi to meet you at the airport plus the 'meet and greet', they wait at your terminal with a card. So the pick up and then return to the airport later (round trip), total cost under £100... not cheap, but significantly less than what I'd been hearing

Adding to the cost of this (cheap) trip, I decided to give myself an option to use my US phone for emergency or if I needed to call in the UK, so I spent (wasted?) $40 on a international plan that gave me 100 minutes talk/100MB data and 100 text. You can burn through Data fast, so any social media would have to rely on free wifi. (Overage penalties are severe )

A positive on the plane was there was no one sitting between me and another passenger, so we had plenty of room on the flight from O'hare to Heathrow. It was an American Airlines plane, obviously one of their older planes, you can see the wear and tear on the seats, they had the one monitor placed above so many can share it to watch the in flight movies (Whiplash and Water for Elephants).

(If you'd flown overseas on foreign carriers, I've flown Air France and Korean Air. The difference is stark how much nicer and comfortable their planes are than their American counterparts)

But this is a 'cheap flight' in exchange I dealt with the odd times of departure/arrivals and on an older plane... besides, I had no one sitting next to me, which is always good on an overseas flight

I wasn't quite sure of the taxi service I purchased, which was on top of my mind after we landed. The instructions I received through email gave me the driver's number, where I should meet him, and to call once I landed to let him know I was there, otherwise he would only wait an hour

I encountered a little delay at immigration, fortunately, our flight landed 20 minutes earlier. I left Immigration hoping the driver is where the email said he would be. As it was half an hour went by. The airport staff wasn't especially helpful, I asked if they could call the number for the driver (my int call package wouldn't initiate until the next day)... They pointed me to payphones and the currency exchange booth to get money to call the cab :/) Fortunately, I'd exchanged $ for £ ahead of time, so I put a pound in the machine (pounds are coins now, not paper)... the guy answered, I asked where he was? He said he was on the designated place, I peeked around the corner and there he was.

I asked, I'd been here half hour, he wasn't there? He said, usually, they arrive a little later than landing time to give customers a chance to clear immigration. Not worth getting upset for the anxiety, I opted to just take the ride and go to my hotel. At this point, it would help nothing to complain.

It turned out, the guy was actually pretty nice, we talked the whole trip to the hotel, which took over 1 1/2 hours (He told me that if this had been earlier, the trip could easily take 3 Hours !!!)... So it turned out I made the RIGHT decision.

When I spoke to the lady setting up the taxi pick up, I asked her when rush hour was in London, her reply was, in London, there's no such thing as 'Rush hour', it was always bad LOL

Because we were deep in social/economic/political/education/nationalist/Indian Food discussions, I was finally at my hotel in what seems no time flat. All in all, the trip from the States to UK went as well as I could've possibly hoped

Next: My first day scouting around

---

BTW, finally heard from Haley ( I know they've been busy traveling and such, but ... you never know, I don't like to assume anything)

Tusk @HaleysTusk · 52m 52 minutes ago
@HaleyReinhart you might consider picking up a pair of these while you're in London #GrassSlippers #FlowerChild
https://instagram.com/p/0f_PSOvG9Y/

Haley Reinhart ‏@HaleyReinhart 17m17 minutes ago
@HaleysTusk Those are amazing haha! See you tomorrow. ✌️

---

My hotel is the Novotel in Greenwich. I had settled on this one because the price was reasonable, but mostly because a 20 minute walk took me to a pier where I could take a boat that put me right at the O2, in North Greenwich. I wouldn't have to take a taxi or figure out their rail/bus system (you have to purchase an oyster card to make use of their public transportation system)

I only had six hours sleep, despite still being jet lagged, I was determined to scout the area out, so I had an idea of what I needed to do, where I was going.

Earlier in the day, I'd received an email from the company that sold the Meet n Greet for PMJ. Initially, they said arrive 3 hours ahead of time, the follow up email said, arrive no later than six, the doors would close, nobody allowed in past (the show starts as 7pm)... I was a little confused and emailed back, pointing out that the first email said 4pm, the reply was, times are subject to change. Part of the Meet and Greet would include watching PMJ do sound checks and warming up, as well as taking pictures with them. I decided the 6pm time meant, you could arrive earlier.

I took account of what I'd brought. I had 3 portable phone chargers (a steal at Costco) a point and shoot, my old windows phone (to use instead of using my LG G3 for social media and photos, to conserve my LG G3 to record the video). I had finally gathered the courage to wipe out the videos and photos (after backing them up) of all the other Haley things I've been to. I installed a 64gb sd card onto my LG G3 to make sure I had enough memory for video (the phone has 20gb internal memory)

I asked the concierge for a map and instructions to make my way to the pier.

Tusk @HaleysTusk · 10h 10 hours ago
This is Greenwich area, I'll take a boat on the Thames, to N Greenwich where the show will be, circled on the right

It was a brisk walk, fortunately, I'm 'warm blooded' so it didn't bother me that much as I walked along the main street. On the way, there were a couple of street markets, people selling their old wares...

a little nostalgia washed over me as I recognized some of the toys and comics I collected when I was a young-un in England.. There was even a gentleman selling Nazi paraphernalia, pistols, medals, helmets etc

On the way, there was the Cutty Sark, raised out of the water and turned into a tourist attraction

Tusk @HaleysTusk · 5h 5 hours ago
Dad used 2 buy model kits 4 me 2 build, boats, the Appolo landing, cars & the Cutty Sark, Here's the real thing

I finally got to the pier, a very attractive young lady, in a very attractive english accent was helpful w/ my questions, I told her I'd like to purchase a round trip ticket to North Greenwich to the O2 Arena. As I was walking away, still entranced by the young lady, I noticed a group of German students boarding a boat. I hurried to get on board. Nobody took my ticket, so I went and bought myself a hot beverage (green tea) and sat down anticipating a short ride to the O2

After 10+ minutes, it occured to me that this was taking longer than it should. I asked the lady who sold me the tea if this was headed to North Greenwich, she said no, it was headed to the Tower!!!! We were headed South, instead of North

Their service didn't go North, not only did I take the wrong boat, but it was the wrong company. She said it was OK, when they reached their destination, they'd allow me to take the boat back to Greenwich where I can board the correct boat, no charge

So I made the best of things and enjoyed the ride, the tour guide was highly entertaining and informative (Did you know that "Wharf" is an acromym? WareHouse At the RiverFront )

I learned history of the Thames, Architectural histories of buildings etc... Took some pictures

Finally, I hopped onto the returning boat, found the right place to wait for my ride to North Greenwich and the O2

Next: The O2

[Miguel]

1-1/2 to 3 hours? Sounds like that taxi service earns their fare.

[airhigh]

"Quick" recap, My flight left Seattle 12:30 am on the 20th, Seatac was unusually busy, mostly because they went down to only one security check point. I had a two hour layover in Chicago, which went by pretty fast.

haleystusk
1 day ago
Hello Chicago O'hare Airport
✈✈✈
Next stop, Heathrow Airport
To see @haleyreinhart @caseybassy @scottbradlee @pmjofficial
Final show of European #pmjtour #IndigoO2 #haleyreinhart

As you might know, I found out the biggest challenge was getting from Heathrow Airport into London. The cheap way is using the London Underground, which was confusing w/ the connections, especially that I'm arriving at 10:40 pm, the last train leaving 11:30pm, not giving me enough time to clear immigration, locate the right train, ride almost 2 hours, then walk to my Hotel after Midnight. As you might guess, this really wasn't a real option after coming from a 7+hour overseas flight w/ luggage :/

I was hearing horror stories about the price of a taxi ride (you have to call ahead of time) ('Black Cabs' worse/charge more) being anywhere from £80 to £100 ($120-$150) One way. I spent alot of time back and forth with the Hotel and Orbitz trying to find a 'reasonable' priced option.

Orbitz suggested a 'cheaper' alternative, rent a car... but, I've never driven 'on the other side' of the road before, not knowing my way around w/o GPS... this wasn't a real alternative either

Finally, Orbitz suggested a web site where you can reserve a taxi to meet you at the airport plus the 'meet and greet', they wait at your terminal with a card. So the pick up and then return to the airport later (round trip), total cost under £100... not cheap, but significantly less than what I'd been hearing

Adding to the cost of this (cheap) trip, I decided to give myself an option to use my US phone for emergency or if I needed to call in the UK, so I spent (wasted?) $40 on a international plan that gave me 100 minutes talk/100MB data and 100 text. You can burn through Data fast, so any social media would have to rely on free wifi. (Overage penalties are severe )

A positive on the plane was there was no one sitting between me and another passenger, so we had plenty of room on the flight from O'hare to Heathrow. It was an American Airlines plane, obviously one of their older planes, you can see the wear and tear on the seats, they had the one monitor placed above so many can share it to watch the in flight movies (Whiplash and Water for Elephants).

(If you'd flown overseas on foreign carriers, I've flown Air France and Korean Air. The difference is stark how much nicer and comfortable their planes are than their American counterparts)

But this is a 'cheap flight' in exchange I dealt with the odd times of departure/arrivals and on an older plane... besides, I had no one sitting next to me, which is always good on an overseas flight

I wasn't quite sure of the taxi service I purchased, which was on top of my mind after we landed. The instructions I received through email gave me the driver's number, where I should meet him, and to call once I landed to let him know I was there, otherwise he would only wait an hour

I encountered a little delay at immigration, fortunately, our flight landed 20 minutes earlier. I left Immigration hoping the driver is where the email said he would be. As it was half an hour went by. The airport staff wasn't especially helpful, I asked if they could call the number for the driver (my int call package wouldn't initiate until the next day)... They pointed me to payphones and the currency exchange booth to get money to call the cab :/) Fortunately, I'd exchanged $ for £ ahead of time, so I put a pound in the machine (pounds are coins now, not paper)... the guy answered, I asked where he was? He said he was on the designated place, I peeked around the corner and there he was.

I asked, I'd been here half hour, he wasn't there? He said, usually, they arrive a little later than landing time to give customers a chance to clear immigration. Not worth getting upset for the anxiety, I opted to just take the ride and go to my hotel. At this point, it would help nothing to complain.

It turned out, the guy was actually pretty nice, we talked the whole trip to the hotel, which took over 1 1/2 hours (He told me that if this had been earlier, the trip could easily take 3 Hours !!!)... So it turned out I made the RIGHT decision.

When I spoke to the lady setting up the taxi pick up, I asked her when rush hour was in London, her reply was, in London, there's no such thing as 'Rush hour', it was always bad LOL

Because we were deep in social/economic/political/education/nationalist/Indian Food discussions, I was finally at my hotel in what seems no time flat. All in all, the trip from the States to UK went as well as I could've possibly hoped

Next: My first day scouting around

---

BTW, finally heard from Haley ( I know they've been busy traveling and such, but ... you never know, I don't like to assume anything)

Tusk @HaleysTusk · 52m 52 minutes ago
@HaleyReinhart you might consider picking up a pair of these while you're in London #GrassSlippers #FlowerChild
https://instagram.com/p/0f_PSOvG9Y/

Haley Reinhart ‏@HaleyReinhart 17m17 minutes ago
@HaleysTusk Those are amazing haha! See you tomorrow. ✌️

---

My hotel is the Novotel in Greenwich. I had settled on this one because the price was reasonable, but mostly because a 20 minute walk took me to a pier where I could take a boat that put me right at the O2, in North Greenwich. I wouldn't have to take a taxi or figure out their rail/bus system (you have to purchase an oyster card to make use of their public transportation system)

I only had six hours sleep, despite still being jet lagged, I was determined to scout the area out, so I had an idea of what I needed to do, where I was going.

Earlier in the day, I'd received an email from the company that sold the Meet n Greet for PMJ. Initially, they said arrive 3 hours ahead of time, the follow up email said, arrive no later than six, the doors would close, nobody allowed in past (the show starts as 7pm)... I was a little confused and emailed back, pointing out that the first email said 4pm, the reply was, times are subject to change. Part of the Meet and Greet would include watching PMJ do sound checks and warming up, as well as taking pictures with them. I decided the 6pm time meant, you could arrive earlier.

I took account of what I'd brought. I had 3 portable phone chargers (a steal at Costco) a point and shoot, my old windows phone (to use instead of using my LG G3 for social media and photos, to conserve my LG G3 to record the video). I had finally gathered the courage to wipe out the videos and photos (after backing them up) of all the other Haley things I've been to. I installed a 64gb sd card onto my LG G3 to make sure I had enough memory for video (the phone has 20gb internal memory)

I asked the concierge for a map and instructions to make my way to the pier.

Tusk @HaleysTusk · 10h 10 hours ago
This is Greenwich area, I'll take a boat on the Thames, to N Greenwich where the show will be, circled on the right

It was a brisk walk, fortunately, I'm 'warm blooded' so it didn't bother me that much as I walked along the main street. On the way, there were a couple of street markets, people selling their old wares...

a little nostalgia washed over me as I recognized some of the toys and comics I collected when I was a young-un in England.. There was even a gentleman selling Nazi paraphernalia, pistols, medals, helmets etc

On the way, there was the Cutty Sark, raised out of the water and turned into a tourist attraction

Tusk @HaleysTusk · 5h 5 hours ago
Dad used 2 buy model kits 4 me 2 build, boats, the Appolo landing, cars & the Cutty Sark, Here's the real thing

I finally got to the pier, a very attractive young lady, in a very attractive english accent was helpful w/ my questions, I told her I'd like to purchase a round trip ticket to North Greenwich to the O2 Arena. As I was walking away, still entranced by the young lady, I noticed a group of German students boarding a boat. I hurried to get on board. Nobody took my ticket, so I went and bought myself a hot beverage (green tea) and sat down anticipating a short ride to the O2

After 10+ minutes, it occured to me that this was taking longer than it should. I asked the lady who sold me the tea if this was headed to North Greenwich, she said no, it was headed to the Tower!!!! We were headed South, instead of North

Their service didn't go North, not only did I take the wrong boat, but it was the wrong company. She said it was OK, when they reached their destination, they'd allow me to take the boat back to Greenwich where I can board the correct boat, no charge

So I made the best of things and enjoyed the ride, the tour guide was highly entertaining and informative (Did you know that "Wharf" is an acromym? WareHouse At the RiverFront )

I learned history of the Thames, Architectural histories of buildings etc... Took some pictures

Finally, I hopped onto the returning boat, found the right place to wait for my ride to North Greenwich and the O2

Next: The O2

Thanks Tusk
Such a vicarious experience you have given, I felt like I was walking with you, almost brought tears. If I have such an opportunity again I am definitely going to be more explicit in my reporting. You to Xatlantic & John thanks for being a posting freak, you all rock, as well as Miguel and everybody else. Your an amazing bunch.

[Tusk]

Heading to the right part of the pier, I saw some people boarding the clipper, a much faster boat, I saw another young lady in their uniform and asked her if this was the boat to take me to the O2, she said, yes, but you just missed it.

So I made my way back up the walk way to start the line for the next boat to come around, 20+ minutes later. A young man was up there, very friendly and informative. He checked several times to make sure my information was correct. I asked him about my options after the show was over, how to return to Greenwich from North Greenwich. I'd heard the last boat was around 10:30 pm.

He informed me that, actually, they're contracted to service events at the O2, that they'd have extra routes to convenience concert goers. I learned that the 'bigger' event going on at the O2 at the same time PMJ was playing, was The Who (at least what's left of them )... which meant that they would be servicing people after that show, probably up to 11:30 pm

I asked him, what if the show went later? He said, actually, the O2, or maybe London, had a curfew for shows at the O2. If an act went past 11 pm, they would be fined £50,000 per minute that they went over

As an example, he told me, Guns and Roses performed until 2am, meaning they ended up paying more in fines, than they made from the concert . As they were contracted to service the patrons of the show, he said, they had to work until 5am just for that Guns and Roses show

An aside, there was this restaurant next to where I was waiting.. it advertised 'Proper Hamburgers' which made me wonder what an 'Improper' burger was?

I later found out at the O2, it was a slogan or a brand of Hamburger

The dock attendant allowed me to wait on the pier (they don't usually allow people on the pier unless boarding or deboarding) so I could get a little shelter from the chilly winds. The clipper was a little late, but I had to be on my toes to get on board. The dock attendant who I talked to, hurried down the walk way to point to me that was the boat I needed, and I had to get on before they left (really nice, friendly guy )

Sure enough, it took no time to get to the O2. We walked under a canopy towards the venue. Apparently, if you wanted, you could walk on top of the O2...

I'd asked a worker on the Clipper if he knew if there'd be free wifi at or near the O2, he didn't know, I said, how about a Starbucks? He said, yes, there was a Starbucks in the O2 & they did have wifi.

I'm ashamed to admit, I'm very addicted to social media, now It was excrutiating going that long w/o checking my Twitter or Instagram or HF. I was still anxious about whether Haley had replied or not, so I was very eager to get to Free Wifi as possible.

The O2 is HUGE, basically a Show venue surrounded by a mall. The Starbucks was right there, on the right as you entered. So I got in line to order a coffee. As I waited, I attempted to access the wifi... no go. I tried several times, nothing. Eventually, a browser popped up asking for a phone number for them to text the access code to your phone. I input my information, still no wifi Turns out, it was the O2's wifi, not Starbucks' AND in order to use their wifi, it's required to have a British Phone Number

Undaunted, I asked around, is there wifi that didn't require a British phone number? (my anxiety for social media grew stronger ) Eventually, I came upon a security person who said, AEG might be able to help (I'd tried that wifi earlier w/ no success) He directed me to the building, said to ask the people at the reception, he couldn't guarantee it. I thanked him and headed that way.

I arrived at the AEG, where a helpful front desk person said that they did, indeed, had free wifi, but it was mostly for their guests on the Top Floor and wasn't sure if it'd reach at ground level, certainly wouldn't reach inside the O2.

He said I could try anyway, and gave me the login name and password. IT WORKED. As I finally was able to access Twitter, HF, my email and all the technology that I've become a mind slave to

I posted all my pictures, sent some tweets of 'the story so far'. Even posted some Instagrams. Once my need to expend my social media affliction was sated, I made my way to find the Indigo, the part of the O2 where PMJ are to perform.

I only saw it from the outside, but the venue seemed surprisingly small, I looked around for any media to show that PMJ was playing there tomorrow, but none could be found. I asked a few of the employees there, if there was such media, where might I see it, to take a picture of it at the O2? There was nothing.

I eventually went to the ticket office, to make sure this was THE Indigo, where PMJ are performing, the young lady looked at her monitor and confirmed that yes, that's where/when they're performing, but she wasn't surprised there was no media/posters advertising that fact, as The Who were the bigger draw

After all this time, I eventually noticed that the crowd in the O2 got alot more dense. It turns out, the XFactor was happening that day, Young fans, mostly girls, were brightly dressed, with home made signs, there was a buzz and excitement in the air. The lines grew massive... later I walked to the other half of the O2, there was a massive line over there too, to watch the XFactor.



Finally satisfied that I did my due diligence to find out what I needed to know to get me where I needed to be tomorrow, I found a place to eat for some energy. I took my time walking back to my hotel, looking at the sites, walking in some stores, picking up some Cadbury's candy (THE best chocolates EVER). Any time any of us visit the UK, one of the requirements on your return is to bring back alot of Cadbury's chocolates to the States.

haleystusk
5 hours ago
Can't go to the UK without picking up some English treats #Yum #CadburysChocolates #MeatPies

Next up, the show tomorrow .... Still anxious, but also very excited

[john]

Thanks for the update, Tusk. The excitment builds!

[Tusk]

1-1/2 to 3 hours? Sounds like that taxi service earns their fare.

I think if the trip were to potentially take 3 hours, that would figure into the charge.

I would highly recommend this, the alternatives are unworkable in a short stay as well as significantly more costly. That I got to my hotel in a decent amount of time, at almost half the cost of what I'd seen earlier. This was really a terrific value, considering the alternatives, that late at night

---

Thanks for the update, Tusk. The excitment builds!

LOL I knew I still had it in me to do these ridiculously long retellings... what was helpful, I didn't have to worry about whether I should post something I shouldn't, which was part of the reason my retellings of my trips got shorter and shorter. The more you learn/know, the less you can say