Numans in Norwich - 27/11/2025 - 28/11/2025

27/11/2025 - My partner, Charlie, and I managed to get the 12:09 train to Ely and then from Ely to Norwich, we arrived at around 13:40 with no issues. When we got out of the very grand railway building, we headed straight (as two queer people could) for the hotel so we could hopefully drop our bags off. The street we were stopping on had a lot of night clubs and bars, but also a lot of empty shops with broken or boarded up windows, we were a little concerned that the rest of Norwich might be this run down. Luckily it wasn't too bad round the rest of the city, but more on that later. The person who checked us in was very kind! We hadn't paid for early check-in and they wouldn't store our bags for us (I'm guessing because there wasn't a place to store them), but they checked us in early anyway! They told us not to worry and sorta snuck us in. Our room was ready so we headed up to the top floor and dropped our bags off. 

We headed towards the market and saw a person wearing Lolita fashion! I'd never seen someone wearing Lolita fashion outside of my phone, and one person at WGW, so it was really lovely to see! I think they were wearing a chocolate themed coord. Honestly, it made me so happy to see. We got to the market and had a little look round. There was a guy playing an accordion, which was nice to listen to. Our look round was cut short as a pigeon pooped on my head! XC Luckily my partner was able to help me put a load of hand sanitiser on my head and he cleaned it up with some tissues and wet wipes that a kind stall owner gave to us. We bought a couple of bits from another stall (keyrings and patches) and headed off to find some lunch, we vacated the area swiftly. 

Charlie didn't like the look of Café Nero, so we headed into (I think it was called) Jarrolds, it was sorta like a big John Lewis. We looked at what cafes/ restaurants was on each level (there was a basement, ground floor and then three levels on top of that) and we liked the look of The Pantry so we headed up to the third floor, not knowing there was a lift, so we walked up all those stairs and got sore legs! Unfortunately, The Pantry had stopped serving hot food and drinks, but hostess (who was wearing a lovely, bright red dress) suggested we check the cafes and restaurants on the other floors, such as the seafood restaurant or Benji's (a café). We settled for Benji's and got seated. When it came to ordering, we wanted sweet potato fries with mayo and cheese scones, but they had just sold the last two cheese scones! The waiter said they would check the bakery for any cheese scones left. In the meantime, we got our sweet potato fries as the people next to us got given the last two cheese scones in the café. The sweet potato fries were absolutely delicious and we luckily got given the last two cheese scones in the bakery. The food was yummy! 

Afterwards we beelined for the goth shop, which I had found when I was researching, called Elysium. On the way we stopped off at a hippie shop called Head in the Clouds, which Charlie absolutely loved, there was plenty of stuff that he liked but most of it was too small for him, he did, however, buy a hat. I found and amazing frog mug that came with a lily pad coaster/ saucer and it was only £17! (I have since named the frog mug Frodo) We then got to Elysium and spent about 45 minutes there. I found the pair of winklepickers/ pikes from Restyle that I had been looking for since they released, they are so cool and beautiful and very comfy, but I think I will still need to get insoles if I will be walking or standing for a long time. Charlie spent a lot of time browsing the menswear, which wasn't very large, but we both wanted to make sure he was going to get something that fitted and looked nice together. He picked out two outfits: a fancy, vampiric outfit and a more casual and punky outfit. In the end Charlie picked the punky goth outfit as the trousers fit him better. He even wore his new outfit out of the shop, he loved it so much! 

By this time it had already gotten dark (about 5pm) and we were running out of time before the concert and needing to eat dinner beforehand, so unfortunately we had to skip visiting my friend Alfie whilst he was at work. We walked back to the hotel, passing by some shops within the city centre that had closed for the evening, as well as a few broken down shops. I was surprised at the amount of empty shops just dotted about the place, even within the city centre, Charlie wondered if the city had been going through a rough patch recently, along with the cost of living, rent and shopping becoming increasingly more online rather than in person. After arriving in our room, I got my head cleaned up and we dropped our stuff off. I decided to wear my new boots to dinner and the Gary Numan gig to give them a test. They were very good!

We headed to the Gem of Norwich, which wasn't too far from us and just opposite the railway station. It is a Turkish restaurant and was very busy when we got in, we didn't know if we were going to get a seat! We got a seat by the window and close to the door, which was good so we could make a speedy exit when the time came, although we decided not to rush ourselves in the end and enjoy our meal together. Our table had a lit candle and it felt very romantic ^^ Despite the busyness, we had fast service and I ordered a mixed shish and an Appletiser drink, Charlie ordered a meat moussaka with cranberry juice. He wasn't keen on the cranberry juice but enjoyed the rest of his food, and I enjoyed mine. Coincidently the Gem's social media team had come up from London to take pictures and videos for their social media profiles and website, so Charlie and I might've made it onto their website or Instagram! He also spoke to the cameraman and editor and gave them his business card and exchanged Instas with them, so that was very beneficial. 

After eating, we waited for the bus to UEA, where Raven and Gary Numan were playing. The bus stop was outside the Gem, so we didn't have very far to go. Once the bus arrived, we hopped on and headed out of the city. We started going into the campus, but then we turned around? Charlie had the bus route up on his phone and we looked at each other because we thought the bus driver didn't know where they were going, 'cause of what happened last time when we were getting home from Bury. A load of us headed downstairs and wanted to get off at the next stop, but the bus driver told us to remain seated and that they were going to drive in through the back route. The back route seemed worse though as there was a lot of traffic, everyone was trying to get into the car park to see Gary Numan! Doors were at 7:30pm and it was about 7:40. 

Eventually we arrived at the LCR, which was where the concert was being held. The line moved swiftly and we were able to get my bag checked and our tickets scanned quickly. The merch was in a room opposite the stage, there were long picnic benches to sit at in that room too. The line was pretty long but we were soon able to get served, I bought a t-shirt for my dad for his birthday, but that was it. The merch wasn't very interesting but there was Gary Numan's head as a car air freshener and a bumper sticker that read "Gary Numan is in my car" which was amusing. 

Raven Numan had already started playing by the time we made our way back into the main room. We had trouble trying to find a place to stand as I'm 5ft2 whereas Charlie is 6ft, he had no problems seeing but every now and then, Charlie kept squatting down to my height to make sure I could see or to find a better place for me to stand, which I found to quite endearing and cute ^^ For most of Raven's performance, I was stuck behind a column, I could see the drummer and some of the other musicians but I couldn't see Raven. 

Raven finished and Gary Numan entered the stage. I think most, if not all of the songs he played were from his Telekon album, but in all fairness it was the 45th anniversary tour, so that made sense, a lot of the songs were from around the 80's. At some points, one of his guitarists would come over and give him a hug. At one point, Gary even went to the back of the stage and just squatted down in a ball, he was really going through it, the poor man (his brother, John, passed away whilst he was on tour). He rose up and hyped himself back up again and continued singing and putting on a brave face, he did very well. Towards the end of his performance, Charlie and I sat in the other room as our feet and legs were getting tired from all the standing and walking we had done that day, we could still hear the music so we could at least listen to him and the band from where we were. The crowd at the concert was mostly made up of people that were in their 50's or 60's, but there was the occasional person who didn't yet have grey/ greying hair. 

As Charlie and I were sat listening, a person slumped on the seat opposite us and just sort of collapsed her head onto her knees, her friend said to the first aider that she was feeling faint or something and the first aider gave the person that was ill some water. The first aider explained that there was only two of them onsite, which I thought was too few for the amount of people in the venue and for how much older the audience was, they really needed many more first aiders because two was just too stretched. We saw the two of them rushing in and out of the room helping people and just trying to keep an eye on everyone. Even as Charlie and I left the room to catch Gary's last song, someone was on the floor against the wall being tended to by the first aiders. 

As the band left the stage, people started cheering for an encore, which Charlie and I thought to be a bit disrespectful, considering Gary's mental state and everything, but the band then returned with three more songs to finish the night off, which well done to him. I thought the lightshow during both performances were good, and the music was good too, though I prefer Gary Numan's newer songs. I'll admit Raven wasn't for me and neither is Gary's older songs but they both put of a very good performance. We all headed out and got on the bus back to the hotel. 

28/11/2025 - We had breakfast in Travelodge and then packed our things and checked out. We then headed to the record stores that were nearby Elysium, one of which was crowded from floor to ceiling with CDs and records, to the point where there was so much stuff that it was a bit overwhelming. The other record store had a lot less stuff but Charlie was able to get what he wanted, which was a Korn CD. 

Afterwards, we ate our lunch in Pizza Express, the pizzas were huge! Charlie managed to eat all of his pizza and his dough balls and I managed just over half of my pizza. My passion fruit drink was really nice, I ordered two! We then had a slice of honeycomb and caramel cheesecake each, which was delicious! Whilst we were eating, I was messaging Alfie and arranging to see him before we got on the train home. On the way to meet him, we went into a television and film store that was basically like a HMV but without CDs and records. I bought a Corpse Bride themed calendar, eye of Sauron button badge and a Feathers McGraw patch, and Charlie got a Shawn of the Dead poster (he loves his zombies). We met Al in the shopping centre and had a little look round HMV, but there wasn't much there that was of any interest to us. He then lead us to the Waterstones and we looked round there for a bit. 

After a little sit down and a chat, Charlie and I needed to catch our train, which was at 3:48pm and it was about 3:20-ish. Alfie kindly walked us to a bus stop and told us which bus to get (although I thought it would have been better to walk as everything is pretty close in Norwich), so we caught a bus that was heading towards the station. But we didn't know which stop to get off at, Charlie and I were chatting and the bus stopped somewhere, then continued driving, and the guy in front of us asked us if we wanted to go to the station and we said yes, to which he responded we were meant to get off at the stop just gone! He said he maybe should've told us sooner, which annoyed us both, and that it was about a 15 minute walk from the next stop to the railway station. We rushed off the bus at the next stop and sped walked our way to the station, I had purchased my ticket on the bus and Charlie got his as we were walking along. 

We managed to make it onto the train in time, but only just. We went to go look for seats and the train started moving! We found some seats at the other end of the train and got settled. We got delayed as we were trying to get back into Ely due to a freight train, we kept stopping and starting. Before we had about 15 minutes to change but it got reduced down to 3 because of how late our train was running. When we got to Ely, we dashed over to the other platform but ended up not needing to in the end, as now our next train was running late! I'm not sure how long we were waiting on the platform, but we were cold and wanted to get home. 

Eventually, we made it back to our home town and Charlie's dad picked us up, but there were gasworks on one of the roads and the town centre had been closed for the Christmas lights switch on, and at the other end of town were massive queues due to all the road blockages! Charlie's dad managed to drive us just under halfway of our journey home before we decided it would just  be quicker if Charlie and I walked home. We got out and walked through town, the market was up and the lights hadn't been switched on yet. We bumped into Amy (my coworker) and her husband and gave them both a hug, and eventually Charlie and I parted ways and headed off to our own homes. On my way back, I met a little black and white cat that I named Milk Carton, who had a lot to say to me!