Dead Star

I've been meaning to cover the school talent show ever since it took place at the end of March. Still, better late than never...

I was very proud to see my two children topping and tailing the End of Term Talent Show at their school. Abigail was the first act on the programme with a display of Irish Dancing set to Over The Hills And Far Away by Nightwish. She did very well, and the reason I don't have any photos of her in action is that I was busy holding the video camera.

Click To Play

Here's a clip of Abigail doing her thing. You may have to upgrade your Flash player thingy to get the clip to play -- I did.

It's not easy to stand up and dance on your own in front of the whole school, but she stepped up like it was the most natural thing in the world.

There were lots of other acts: children singing, dancing, playing instruments, some repeated songs from the school's recent production of Oliver! Then at the end of the show came the headliners -- senior school band Dead Star, featuring Elliot Neal on rhythm guitar.

Dead Star waiting their turn, cool as cucumbers

"J.P." and Luke in action

The band performed three covers: Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja by Lostprophets, Numb by Linkin Park, and Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana. They can really play and seemed very comfortable on stage. The amplification equipment could have been better but they delivered a rockin' set nonetheless.

Elliot demonstrating the Heavy Metal legs-apart stance

...and the crowd goes wild!

"Here we are now,"

"...entertain us!"

The fans mob the stage

Elliot invited the crowd to join them onstage for their encore: Gimme Some Lovin (from the Blues Brothers movie), featuring their teacher on lead guitar and vocals.

All together now!

Dead Star will be performing again before the end of the school year, and since this will be their last performance together (most, including Elliot, are leaving KSA in the Summer) they have some special surprise songs up their sleeve. You can expect a full report on their "farewell gig".