Had a weird flashback the other day when I was on Oxford Street of getting the 6am train to London so that my friends to goto a Slipknot Virgin megastore signing (or maybe it was HMV) of the day of their Brixton academy show. It felt like such an odd experience to me, as I wasn’t a super fan but I do their music enough to spend £60 on the train and £25 on a ticket (woulda been about 3 days work on my minimum wage salary and probably spent £12 on cheap vodka and didn’t eat all day ). We hung around for hours waiting and got to know other people in the queue and the whole thing was kinda lovely and meeting the band was only about 10 seconds of it all and I don’t even have the poster I goto signed. Probably lost it at the gig.
Have worked on merch desks a few times and signings are often really lovely interactions to witness with people saying hi to an artist they love.
So just curious what some of your experiences of signings are and maybe a thread to share cool stuff you’ve got signed?
I got two signed vinyl records from about a decade ago. First was Hello Sadness by Los Campesinos! which is a big favourite record of mine, got it at the merch table at one of their gigs on that tour. Second was Moonshine Freeze by This Is The Kit, and that happened when I was walking past the record tent at Green Man and heard some really lovely acoustic guitar and vocal harmonising, so I slipped in the back of the tent, which was full so I couldn’t see who it was. But after it was done I was like ok I gotta get into this band, so I queued up and bought the record. And I was having a lovely natter with Kate, telling her I’m new to the band but I was so impressed I gotta have the album and she was very nice and told me what their upcoming dates were and wrote a lovely message on the sleeve.
And both of them were lovely artifacts, the pride of my record collection for a few years, until I got the hairbrained scheme of changing my name and becoming psychically pained by my old name, so my relationship to those two records is complicated and I don’t really get them out any more. I went to a TITK signing earlier this year and thought I might bring that record and asking her to re-dedicate it but I didn’t do it
Might email them both and ask if I can send them the records by post to change the names if I cover the costs. They’re both p small artists and do converse with the fans online. I reckon they’d do it.
My wife bought a cd at a Pains Of Being Pure At Heart show and Kip awkwardly struggled to open the cellophane packaging so he could sign the CD for her. Took ages. She didn’t ask him to or want the signature but felt bad for him because he was obviously so desperate for his rock star moment.
I think the only big one I went to was the Manics at the old big HMV on Oxford Street, when they released their b-sides album they did an in-store playing stuff from it and signed copies afterwards. It was very cool mainly for the show as they’d never played most of those songs live.
(My god, that was 20 years ago this summer)
I saw Hop Along in Glasgow a few years back, Frances was signing records while selling them on the merch stand so I got one
I bought the new Me Lost Me album the other week and she’d pre-signed copies for the shop cause she used to work there. I didn’t actually realise until I took it up to pay though and the guy working told me.
Have only been to one of those Rough Trade instore/signing type things where you get a CD/record for buying a ticket but it must be dead awkward if nobody wants it signed. Can just picture the band sitting at the table, markers in hands as they watch the crowd shuffle out while trying not to make eye contact.
I’m sure I have some signed stuff but couldn’t tell you what/where it is.
Never gone to just a signing, just to get something signed.
Have been to a few book events/talks where they’ve sold books after and signed them so done one or two of those. Have a signed Brix Smith book and a signed Armando Iannucci book and they were both very pleasant. Think I have a signed Limmy one as well.
Have bought a couple of pre-signed books when it didn’t cost any extra - think I have a Stuart Braithwaite one and a James Yorkston one that I bought online, and a Max Porter one that I got in Waterstones a few months ago.
Have bought things at merch stands where the musician has offered to sign them, have one of Lisa O’Neill’s CDs signed and an Elaine Howley cassette. Stewart Lee signs everything when you buy something after a show as well so have a book and some DVDs/CDs signed. He misspelled my name on the front of my 90s Comedian DVD because I was trying to chat to him about The Fall or something instead of spelling my name out. Think I have signed DVDs bought after shows by David O’Doherty and Tony Law as well, maybe others.
Think I went to a Duke Special instore gig in about 2006 and got an album signed after as well.
Don’t think I’ve ever really asked for something signed specifically. Actually I got one of my Christian Fitness albums from Falco signed when he offered to do it for anyone who messaged and asked but didn’t bother with the rest. Richard Herring gives out a free programme at all his shows and offers to sign it at the end so think I went up to him to sign it once but not at subsequent shows. No idea where that signed one is now.
I once went to my uni bookshop to pass some time as I did quite often instead of going to lectures, and Bertie Ahern was in there signing copies of his autobiography. Decided to queue up and buy one as a Christmas present for my dad and then be able to say I’ve met a former world leader.
My dad and the rest of the family were very impressed with it as a present, but I don’t think he ever read the book, which is fair enough in retrospect. I really shouldn’t have given Bertie any money.
Actually I’ve got an absolute mountain of stuff signed by Michael Gira, think he signed anything of his stuff you bought from Young God for a while so I have all the Angels of Light and post-reunion Swans albums signed, plus the live albums they did to fund whatever the next record was at the time. Not quite sure what to do with them given that I can’t really countenance listening to his music any more.
Went to loads of signings on Tottenham Court Road when I was about 16 or 17. Remember the Virgin Megastore there erupting into chaos when not everyone could get downstairs to see Lostprophets do some of their first album. Seem a very teenage and very late 90s/early 2000s thing, can’t imagine many young people would give a shit now.
My then-girlfriend really wanted a copy of Michael Palin’s book signed, so I went along with her and stood in a queue for about three which went through the entire massive bookshop and back again.
While queuing I noticed that Rik Mayall was due to do a signing the next week. Hotdamn, I thought, I’ll be there for that but like fuck am I going to be in that long old queue. I’ll get there early so I can leave early.
Palin’s popularity was way higher than Rik’s. I was at the front of the queue, on my own, for at least an hour.
Anyway, Rik came out and said “WHERE are the CRACKING BIRDS that I DEMANDED to be at the front of the queue?? You. You’ll have to do.” And proceeded to airgrope my manly bosom.
He signed my book “To [Chanticleer], The Twat”, got me to do a two finger salute to him which he did back, then moved on.
I was in an antiques place recently and they had a load of signed stuff. Not really fussed but I liked how the person who got the stuff signed had a photo album of himself with all the celebrities to show they’re the real thing but with his own face censored
If a book is signed like that it’s considered damaged and can’t be returned to the publisher for a refund. I worked in a bookshop for a while and Geoffrey Archer came in more than once to just systematically sign everything he could.
yeah never been to a signing event, and have some pre-signed books i just bought as normal from the shop - but don’t really care either way about those
i think buying something from the person themselves and then getting it signed is quite nice, but its a little bonus rather than anything special. If you had time for an actual chat, maybe a proper doodle like I’ve seen some artists do (e.g. Cory Hanson @Icarus-Smicarus ) then that would be really cool - but usually it’s just a rushed 30 second job while they try to get to the next person in the merch queue
shoulda got AJ Suede to sign his album though, given I had a proper chat with him and it cost me £[redacted]
). We hung around for hours waiting and got to know other people in the queue and the whole thing was kinda lovely and meeting the band was only about 10 seconds of it all and I don’t even have the poster I goto signed. Probably lost it at the gig.
