Chime For Change

I don't know if many of you have heard of this, but Chime For Change is an organization fighting for women's rights around the world. 

On Saturday 1st June, London became a hub of excitement. With Beyonce headlining the all star concert, it was destined to be an uplifting, enjoyable and amazing evening.The Sound Of Change concert was backed by Gucci to raise awareness of the issues surrounding women around the world with a host of celebrity ambassadors talking us through each video and act of the evening.

Elliot got me a ticket in the Golden Circle for my birthday and kept it a big secret up until a week before the event. The big tease. We both headed down to London for a weekend of tourist stops and the Chime for Change concert. 

Wearing a Lipsy dress and Topshop mac, we got on the train the Twickenham stadium alongside some of the other 50,000 fans that attended the event that day. Queuing with our pink wrist bands firmly on, we entered the huge arena. Taking our place near the center of the stage, we sipped our cool beers and waited for the anticipated line up of must see artists.

To warm up the crowd, a group of Zumba dancers took to the stage with an energetic performance. 

Jessie J was the surprise opening act, wowing us with her flawless vocals to Wild and Nobody's Perfect. 

 Iggy Azalea brought some booty to her performance with a cheerleader style outfit and fierce dance moves. I appeared to be the only person in the crowd who knew even one word of her songs, didn't stop me from dancing though. 

Rita Ora put on a gorgeous performance with Marilyn Monroe blonde locks teamed with enviable abs and a brilliant performance of Hot Right Now and RIP. 

Florence & the Machine brought us a spellbinding performance of Dog Days Are Over as well as some of her newer songs. She truly has the most beautiful voice, sending goosebumps all along my skin with every note she sang. 

Madonna took to the stage as the main presenter of the evening followed by John Legend, who put on an amazing show. Singing classics like Ordinary People and Bridge Over Troubled Water, he had the crowd swaying and singing along to every word. 

Haim are a 3 part girl band that I'd never heard of before and frankly, wasn't all too interested in seeing. But they were so impressive, swapping from instrument to instrument, really getting the crowd going with their punky/rock tunes.

 

 Jennifer Lopez was a definite highlight for me. I wasn't expecting much from her to be honest as I've never really been a massive fan. But her dancing was sublime and the whole performance was filled with energy. Bonus points for bringing on Mary J Blige for an amazing rendition of Come Together. 

Timbaland brought together some of his biggest hits but not before bringing out Simon Le Bon from Duran Duran out for a good retro sing along to The Reflex. The Way I Are and Carry Out got the crowd jumping even if we were a good 4 hours into the concert. 

Unfortunately this is where the night gets a little bit messy. After having held it in for a good 4 hours I was desperate and had to give in to wrestling against the crowd to get to the ladies room. Missing the entirety of Ellie Goulding's performance. 

Running back I then got lost in a wade of orange banded people (remember I'm pink), and then missed Beyonce coming onto the stage singing At Last. Once I had found Elliot, which was much to my relief, I then continued the evening dancing and singing along to Queen B's biggest tunes. Irreplaceable, Single Ladies and Grown Woman put up a stunning and energetic performance with Crazy in Love playing, Beyonce was joined by her (very lucky) husband, Jay Z who got the crowd in a frenzy for his verse. (slightly disappointed that this was the ONLY time he came on stage)

It was coming to the end of the concert and after a few costume changes and impressive dance moves, Beyonce was getting ready to perform her last song for the night, Halo. Unfortunately for me, the excessive hours of dancing teamed with not drinking enough left me feeling not so well. I turned to Elliot and warned him that I was seeing spots.

Then I felt like I was falling asleep... a few seconds later everyone around me was lifting me up off the floor and Elliot swiftly got me away from the packed stadium. Ever the burden, I got wrapped up in Elliot's shirt, watered and fed then into a taxi for bed. 

Even though the end of the night was pretty crazy, I loved the entire day. It was such an amazing and eye opening experience. I loved that I was there with Elliot, I just hope me passing out and being a noob didn't ruin his day.