Having dumped our belongings in the main hall, we were shown to our rooms. They could only be described as dirty white boxed-in walls with small sinks at one end and dilapidated beds in the corner. I did not have a particular opinion of Sheffield, but from what I had seen so far, which was not very much, it may as well have been a suburb of somewhere else. When I peered out of my filthy window, the view was really nothing to shout about. More halls of residence, a miniscule green area with a few benches beside it and a graffitied wall were all that I could see. I made a quick mental note never to go and study at Sheffield University.
Six-thirty on Saturday morning came around surprisingly quick and we were all woken by the dulcet tone of an air horn and a lady with unfortunate hair cheerily telling us to “rise and shine!” This did not go down well with the Scottish crew and even worse, the breakfast literally didn’t! Bleary-eyed and still half asleep, looking ghastly pale, we were all driven to Sheffield City Hall; a hugely distasteful round building surrounded by blinding lights and streets so narrow that coaches had to reverse back out of them. Once inside and having been shown to our dressing room – a cramped and suffocating room with no windows and only one cracked mirror – we went exploring in the concert hall where we would be performing. Looking out from one of the swanky 2300 seats that the audience would fill, the view was spectacularly awesome. Tiny shiny gold tiles had been meticulously placed on the ceiling, along with gorgeous blue tiles and beautifully ornate decorations. A white gold chandelier hung elegantly from the vast ceiling, dazzling us completely. We then had rehearsals, and standing on-stage looking out to the empty hall was amazing. Three levels were filled with seats, a large sound booth was up above me and to my left, and what appeared to be hundreds of special effects lights shone down on us. Smoke came up through the floor from behind us and it hit me that this was what I had been hoping Sheffield would be like.
After about three run-throughs we were set free into the streets of Sheffield for an hour while the real ‘celebrities’ arrived and warmed up. Wondering around aimlessly we came across massive modern buildings which sparkled as the sun beamed down on them, the older area of the city with magnificently grand buildings standing proudly down unknown lanes, and even a tram circuit. From being let down and thoroughly disappointed with Sheffield’s appearance when we first arrived to be wowed by the splendour of the City Hall, it was clear that my opinion had changed adequately. Later on, in the evening, right before the competition began we were granted permission to go outside a final time. At this time in the day the streets were significantly more empty and once again I though very little of the city, although I was going over our performance in my head at the time. One thing I did notice though was that the residents of Sheffield were not too friendly. For instance, one man merely grunted when I asked where the nearest Subway was, and when one of my bandmates, Louisa, asked for direction back to City Hall, she was bluntly ignored – twice.
Overall, I did not really come home with a desperate urge to go back to Sheffield. Playing in front of almost 2500 people for a second time was utterly incredible, but staying in the area for just one weekend made me feel trapped. They city did not seem to want to be anything special and as for the cuisine, well, the range of cultural foods was fairly plain.
