The Winner's Story

On Thursday evening, Warren Road in Whitton looked much the same as  any other street in the UK. Terraced houses, a few cars and a small green gave no hint whatsoever that just 24 hours later, a BRIT award winner would be knocking on Lorraine Sands' front door, poised to play a personal live gig just feet away from her in her living room.

So it probably came as quite a shock when, at 8am the next morning, a large crew and several lorries casually arrived to transform Lorraine's house from a cosy home in London to the equivalent of the O2. Looking excited but slightly nervous, she gracefully left the production team to their own devices whilst they removed ALL of the furniture from her living room and carried it out through the back door.

Two hours later, the downstairs had been stripped and the floorplans laid out. Case after case of music equipment lined the pavement, with amps, cables and huge mixing desks all stacked up next to each other, waiting to be installed. Rigging and tents appeared at an alarming rate, and the road quickly went from looking like an average London street to a veritable crime scene. Members of the production team glanced at each other nervously, all wondering the same thing - how could an artist who had last played to 16,000 people at the O2 possibly fit all of their tour set into this modestly sized living room in suburban London?

Meanwhile, whilst cars periodically slowed down to see what all the fuss was about, Lorraine and her three friends were safely installed in a room at the Marriott hotel just minutes away from the set. On visiting the winners in their room, we were instantly hit by a blast of hairspray and perfume as the four excited ladies raced round doing their makeup and straightening their hair. Weeks of speculation about who the artist would be had finally boiled down to this one single afternoon.

But at last, after eight hours of solid preparation, it was time for the big moment. Squashed into the living room next door, we all crowded round the monitors to watch our BRIT-winning act casually approach Lorraine's front door and tap the knocker three times. A few seconds passed. We held our breath, watching Lorraine's face as she opened the door and took in the scene before her. For standing on her doorstep, side by side and framed by cameras and soundmen, were none other than The Pet Shop Boys!

 'MR TENNANT AND MR LOWE!!!' she shrieked, looking from one to the other in utter amazement and punching the air. 'OH MY GODDDDDDDD!'

Next door, we all smiled with relief and high-fived each other.

With the initial excitement over, Lorraine and her friends settled themselves on the sofa, staring wide-eyed around the room. Fluorescent lighting had been installed from the ceiling and Chris' huge keyboard was wedged into the corner. Just feet away, The Pet Shop Boys came 'on stage' followed by four sleek dancers sporting coloured tracksuits, blonde punk haircuts and neon makeup.

The gig began, with brightly coloured graphics roving around the smallest concert venue ever created. The dancers paraded about, occasionally brushing our winners by mistake and inspiring shrieks of excitement as Neil Tennant began to sing 'Suburbia'. This was followed by 'All Over The World' and 'It's A Sin'. Lorraine and her friends swayed and bopped about on their sofa, singing every single lyric with utter conviction. Every now and then, the surreal nature of the situation caught up with them and they would turn to each other and give a little shriek before turning back to Neil and Chris in amazement.

At the end of the gig, the Pet Shop Boys left the 'stage' and moved 'backstage' into the hallway to wait for their encore. Lorraine and her friends obliged, screaming 'MORE! MORE!' The Pet Shop Boys hovered by the radiator for a convincingly long time before finally nodding to each other and returning to the living room to treat the ladies to a mind-blowing performance of 'West End Girls'.

As the gig ended, silver confetti exploded above Lorraine and her friends, framing the happy scene. Suddenly, all of the hours of preparation seemed like nothing at all. Her face said more than words ever could. She opened a bottle of champagne and poured it into six glasses. We all watched in amazement as the group had a post-gig chat over the breakfast bar in her kitchen.

As The Pet Shop Boys left the house, our winners thanked them profusely from the porch. Neil and Chris smiled from the garden gate, waved and climbed into a large black cab. Lorraine and her friends looked at each other, shocked and thrilled at what had just taken place. 'I will never forget this for the rest of my life', Lorraine said in our backstage interview. 'I know that when I wake up tomorrow, my living room will look exactly as it usually does and nothing will be there to suggest that this ever happened. But I know it did, and so do my friends. And that will stay with me forever more'.

We had pulled it off! The crew hugged each other, celebrating the completion of the world's smallest ever Pet Shop Boys gig with fish and chips as they began to pack up the equipment.

Meanwhile, safely installed in their shining black cab, The Pet Shop Boys discussed the experience with our director, James Copeman.

'How did it feel to perform in someone's living room?' James asked. 'It was surreal but very good fun', Neil replied. 'It's amazing how much you can do in such a relatively small space compared with a stage. That was the point of it, to replicate our arena stage production, or elements of it anyway'.

'And if you could choose a BRITs winner to play in your front room, who would it be?' James asked. 'Pendulum, Chase and Status or Diplo', said Chris.

'David Bowie', Neil answered decisively.

And that's the story of how on Friday 29th January, with the aid of fifty crew, thirteen hours of work, three lorries, two BRIT award-winning Pet Shop Boys and one living room, our utterly deserving winner Lorraine Sands experienced her very own unforgettable Priceless Gig.