Iwan Rheon in Belham

Okay, so there's this series by E4 called Misfits. It's difficult to explain the show, because the concept sounds so pathetic: A group of kids doing community service get struck by lightening in a freak storm and when they come to, they have super powers. Yeah, sounds awful but it has one numerous BAFTAs and other awards and it has Robert Sheehan (he starred in Cherrybomb with Rupert Grint) so it's pretty good.

Well, I successfully got my flatmates really into the show and now we watch the series every Thursday. Usually we're laughing at the stuff Nathan (Robert Sheehan) says but after last Thursdays episode, it was obvious the new star of the show was Simon, played by Iwan Rheon. Kristin had known about Iwan for a while because he played the role of Moritz in the original London cast of Spring Awakening. She was the one that showed me clips of his singing and I was blown away. I had become an even bigger fan of him. Luckily, when one's a fan of something, Facebook has this button you can click to "Like" the thing, and lo and behold, Iwan had a page to Like! Immediately we all noticed he had posted he was going to play a gig at Belham at a place called The Bedford on Monday; after some quick Googling we discovered it was only a half an hour away by tube. It was decided we were going to go.

We got a little lost but when we finally got there, we took over the table right in the front centre, so we could have the best view. The place was packed and most of them were there to see Iwan. Granted they were mostly 15 year old girls acting like fangirls, but it was a pretty good turnout. There, Kristin, Mel, and I saw Emily Head, the girl who plays Carli on the show The Inbetweeners. We shared a laugh at the bar over a change mistake but we didn't really ask for her picture or anything. The show started later than we expected but it was okay, because the wait was worth it. The acts that came before Iwan were all really good, especially a folksy girl named Liz Lawrence. She had a fantastic voice and really catchy songs so we all became quick fans. Finally, Iwan came on and it was clear the majority of people were there for him. He sang two songs in first set and three more songs in the second. The MC made the audience scream and he came back to do one encore. His voice is so hauntingly beautiful and it just made me fall in love with him. Iwan has a presence that makes you pay attention to him and even though sometimes you can't really tell what he's singing about (he's Welsh), you can't help but love his voice. It was so worth going out there in the cold to see him.

Jacqueline Lopez

UCSB