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At 12:30am I began to get really excited as I knew they had arrived, and so Conor, Lauren and I decided it would be best to stand up at the stage if we wanted to be close. At about 11:55pm, microphone stands were brought out onto the stage, causing everyone to gather round, waiting rather impatiently for Same Difference to come on. I glanced over at the door, as I had heard my sister was arriving. Who was standing at the door, but none other than Sean! I squealed excitedly and started to jump up and down on the spot. (Talk about blowing your cover.) Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Same Difference were announced, and they bounced and skipped on stage.
I held up my sign (not too high) and started screaming. It was so surreal to be so close to both of them. Sarah noticed my sign and gave me a thumbs up. They started singing “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing”, and, as I went to put my sign away, Sean pointed at me. He started blowing me kisses and jumping up and down, and he came right over to me and shook my hand. I was completely in awe. Little did I know that my two heroes would go on to single me out even more. After the first song was over, they were talking to the crowd.
I was still in complete awe that I was so close to them, and was completely shocked when Sarah said: “And we would like to give a shout out to our friend Louise!”
I froze, and my brother grabbed my shoulders. That was me she called out!! I screamed so loudly, and Sarah winked at me.
The set they sang was amazing, and, although Sarah was feeling poorly, she gave 110%, and sang beautifully. The rest of the songs they sang were “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go”, “Reach”, “Never Had A Dream Come True”, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”, “Tragedy”, and “Breaking Free”. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the songs, however something very special happened to me in two of them. Firstly, during Never Had A Dream Come True, Sarah reached out and grabbed my hand when I was waving it in the air, and she held on to it for a few seconds, swaying back and forth. When she let go she smiled at me, and I was completely blown away by the fact that both her and Sean were acknowledging me.
Throughout the whole set, Sean had kept waving at me and grabbing my hand. However, when it got to Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now, Sean came right over to me, reached down, and gave me a kiss. I was in shock! He then took my hand and sang the rest of the verse literally to me, as if there was no one else in the room. I couldn’t believe it. It was, as they say in Same Difference speak, “AMAAAAZING”.
The set eventually ended, but there was no need to be upset, because Sean and Sarah had very kindly agreed to stick around for photos and autographs. Being the uber-SD fan that I am, I walked up to where they were quickly, eager to see them. I will never forget the look on Sean’s face when he saw me standing there. It completely blew me away that these people didn’t know me, and I respected them so much, yet here they are doing all this for me. They made me feel like I was really special, and talking to them was so out-of-this-world that it left me sitting on cloud nine for… well, put it this way… I’m still up there!!
Sean and Sarah signed the Mynt flyer and got their picture taken with me. (Of course, as luck would have it, I blinked in the photograph, but they were so lovely they had another one taken.) I gave them their pressies which they loved (Sarah’s was “AMAAAAZING”, apparently), and they wanted me to sign them! So there I was signing autographs for Same Difference, and then we got into a full-scale conversation. We chatted about my letter to Sarah, how well I thought they both had performed (despite Sarah’s cough), and how I had been warned that I had to TALK to them, not just stand there with my mouth open. The tour manager kept prompting them to wrap it up, but they refused. (I’m too special, you see.) Eventually, though, I did have to leave them, but before I did, Sean said: “You can come back in after this is over, we’ll get you back in to have a proper chat.”
I quickly agreed to this; it was not an opportunity I wanted to pass up.
Later on, I was messing around on the stage with Conor and Lauren, when a man came up and asked me who I was. When I said my name, he nodded, and told me “Sean and Sarah want a word.” I followed him, eager to see the duo again. When I got there, Sean pulled up a chair, and we sat and chatted for a while. We talked about the tour (and how emotional I was after meeting Sarah), and other stuff such as being recognised in the street, and when they were next in Belfast. I thanked them for all the stuff they did on stage, and they both giggled and waved their hands, telling me “Don’t be silly!” (apparently, to them, having famous people give you shout outs and kisses is totally natural).
We moved on to talk about the SDAT, and all the SaDos. They said how lovely and funny everyone on the forum was, and how much fun they had at the last Q + A. I showed them a text about them from a particular SaDo, and they both thought it was very sweet. A little while later, after we had been chatting for some time, Sean turned to me with a slightly strange look on his face, and said: "So what's this about you wanting to like, kidnap us or something?"
We laughed and joked about this, because a certain SaDo (not mentioning any names GARY!!) had decided it would be funny to tell them that I was a freak. However, they did find it quite funny (thankfully), and didn’t seem to afraid of me!
Sadly, it was reaching the end of their stay at Mynt, however they sat and talked to me for a while longer. When we really did have to leave, they both pulled me in for a last hug and kiss. I thanked them for everything they had done that night, and they thanked me for… well being me!
All in all, the night was phenomenal, and I would love to do it again. And yes, that is a hint if Sarah and Sean ever see this! Just kidding!! They truly are amazing people, and I only wish everyone could experience what I did that night.
Article By Louise Rafferty.
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