Lil Chris: Reaching out to feel the crowd's love as he ran trhough an 8-track live session

Lil Chris' rise has been spectacular over the past 12 months. He graduated from TV's Rock School with flying colours and in front of a very excitable audience, produced a pure rock and roll show with tracks from his debut album.

As a mark of good manners and being well-prepared Lil Chris turned up early, yes early, for his session in the heart of London. Skateboard and mascot - check out the small bear in our Behind The Scenes feature - safely stashed, he went for a quick shopping trip round Covent Garden but returned empty handed. He'd only been checkin it out.

Before he got into music mode, we got Chris to demonstrate his skateboard prowess with an Ollie in the loading bay of the venue.

The band's preparation for the session started with a mega bag of Skittles, which everyone tucked into, then it was down to business. Pictures first and then a quick chat, which will be online in a few weeks' time. Guitarist Neil ran the band through their paces. In between, bass player Laura checked out our camera setup and quizzed the crew.

Soundcheck complete, the band retired to murder that bag of Skittles while the excited crowd made up of MySpace and website winners filed into the room. When we say excited, we really mean excited - tears, screaming and shaking, the full monty.

To a screaming welcome, Chris and the band ripped through six songs in quick succession including the three we have for you now (more to come soon). Leaping from the drum riser and soloing with the mic stand, Chris gave it everything and then as an added bonus, he and the band played two more tracks without the cameras rolling and bringing the crowd even closer to their hero.

Polite to a tee, Chris stuck around, signed things, had his photo taken and did a five-minute one-on-one meet and greet for one lucky competition winner. Job done, it was mascot and skateboard tucked under one arm and out into a waiting car and the winter night for Lil Chris.

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