HMV - Bluebirds Flying High

Today, the single was finally released and available to purchase, with the opportunity for City fans to finally get their hands on a copy, despite many of us already knowing it word for word.

Click image for larger version

With pre-orders already reaching several thousand, a signing had been pre-arranged at HMV Cardiff for this afternoon and I went into town around lunch time hoping to see a reasonable crowd of people waiting to purchase the single and meet some of the players. What I actually found was a queue of at least 400 people, starting at the front of HMV and ending down by WH Smith's. Absolutely amazing!

Before joining the queue, you actually had to go and purchase a copy of the single, so with 2 copies purchased, I came back out of the shop and wandered down Queen Street to the back of the queue. The Cardiff City media crew and the BBC were there, filming the crowd, and Ali and Wayne were busy interviewing people. Billy Badges was of course also there - never one to miss a trick and sell a few 'hats, scarves and badges', and I found myself stopping every few yards as I walked along the queue to say hello to people I knew. Most people had more than one copy and there were also loads of kids in the queue - hopefully the tour of schools last week has really helped gain interest in the song.

Click for larger image

It wasn't long before the queue started moving and it took around 45 minutes after joining it before I was actually back inside the shop to get the CD signed. By now there were another 100 or so people behind me in the queue. The signing of the CD's was run like a well oiled machine, with the CD's put in front of Darren Purse, Roger Johnson, Peter Whittingham, Joe Ledley and of course James Fox to scribble on. There was a brief few seconds to grab a couple of photos and then you were back out of the shop, with prized possessions in hand.

During the 2 hours signing session, I would estimate that they must have shifted in excess of 1,000 CD's. They are doing it all over again tomorrow at Woolworth's in Caerphilly and then back again at HMV on Wednesday with a different set of players. If today was anything to go by, getting this song to number one is going to be a breeze!