SHOWS RETURN TO THE UK WITH ECHO BASE LIVE

The Kingfisher Shopping Centre in Redditch is an unlikely location for one of Europe’s foremost Star Wars events but played host to Echo Base Live this last weekend. Predominantly a vintage toy show, Echo Base Live has grown over the years to include a number of signing guests.

The calibre of these guests is improving with each show with Julian Glover and Robert Watts amongst this years’ line-up. Also announced were Michael Pennington (Moff Jerjerrod – Return of the Jedi), Sean Crawford (Yakface – Return of the Jedi), Chris Bunn (Stormtrooper & Danz Borin – A New Hope) and Peter Ross (Nikto – Return of the Jedi). From the prequel trilogy, Qui-Gon Jinn stand-in Andrew Lawden was also attending to sign autographs and run lightsaber skills classes throughout the day. The show was £8.00 for early-bird entry (from 09:15 am) and free entry after 10:00 am. Apparently, early-bird passes were sold-out for this show.

On the day of the show…

I arrived an hour before opening and there was already a large queue of people eagerly waiting for entry to the event. There was a relaxed atmosphere in the queue as early bird passes were issued and people waited for their first taste of shows for more than a year. It did feel good to have a lanyard around my neck again; hopeful that this was another step on the long road back to normality. The number of attendees appeared to have increased significantly on previous Echo Base events so the larger venue was very much needed – and a big improvement on previous locations. The autograph signing tables were together in one area but, being such a small event, this wasn’t set aside from the main trading area. This didn’t seem to cause any problems though as queues for autographs were fairly short.

Although predominantly a Star Wars event, Julian Glover also had a large range of table images from throughout his career including, Indiana Jones, Bond, Harry Potter and Game of Thrones. Robert Watts also had a good selection of images on his table from both his work on Star Wars but also from Indiana Jones. Both were in good spirits and seemed happy to be back meeting Star Wars fans. Michael Pennington had a good selection of colour and black & white table images from Return of the Jedi and also had copies of his autobiography ’In My Own Footsteps’ available for signing. In addition to signing autographs Sean Crawford was also selling his own Yakface related merchandise including badges and patches. He was also giving away Yakface related swag with every autograph. I asked him about whether he had considered writing a book about his career – particularly his time on the 80’s music scene as part robotics act TIK and TOK. He confessed that unfortunately that he can’t remember most of it! It seems that, much like the 60s, if you can remember the 80s you weren’t really there.

For those who like to keep track autograph prices, the rates for the guests I saw were as follows…

Julian Glover: Autograph £20, Selfie £10, Video Message £20.
Robert Watts: Autograph £20, Selfie £10.
Michael Pennington: Autograph £20, Autograph on supplied OPX/Topps £30, Selfie £10.
Sean Crawford: Autograph £15.

Although there were no organised photoshoots with the guests, there were photo opportunities on mock-ups of scenes from Tattooine and Endor outside in the shopping mall.

I left after a couple of hours as the event was getting rather crowded (and my budget for the day had been reached!). However, people who travelled from further afield tend to make a weekend of it and Echo Base is known for the nights out at local pub on the Friday and Saturday nights.

As I left there was still a large queue of people waiting for general entry and Andrew Lawden’s lightsaber skills classes were just starting up. Overall Echo Base is a fun, relaxed event and it appears to be growing in popularity with each show. Echo Base’s commitment to anti-repro means it is also a great starting point for vintage Star Wars collectors. Whilst autographs aren’t the focus of the event, it can be a really good place to pick up a few autographs along with Star Wars merchandise for all budgets. Hopefully it won’t be such a long wait until the next Echo Base Live.