UK PonyCon 2025 report, part one: Friday

My key to Equestria...

Here we go at last with my report of UK PonyCon 2025! To save you all waiting in suspense, I'll say right away that it was an extremely enjoyable convention. Not everything ran entirely according to plan, but that's cons for you. My small grumbles here and there should not take away from the fact that, given the unavoidable issues of a venue smaller (though more expensive to hire) than last year's, pretty much everyone did a sterling job to say the least.

So then, here we are on the Friday! It was nice not to have to start early in the morning for TrainCon. Indeed, I was almost in danger of being too early into Birmingham! There were no rail strikes this year, so it was a simple process. Sadly I didn't notice any other Pony folk I knew at Birmingham New Street station at first, and so I went to the Pret on the concourse for a cheap filter coffee. Nothing of great interest happened, bar Oilyvalves giving me a wave from outside as he passed by on the way to his hotel.

Surprisingly, I got to the KitKats before Pinkie did

I'd bought an early check-in add-on (though that's gone from £10 to £15 fairly recently, grumble) and so I set off to Newhall Street to find my Travelodge around midday. I'd selected it carefully as it was just far enough out of the city centre that I hoped it wouldn't be too loud on a Friday night, but still easy walking distance. I'd booked the very slightly upgraded Standard Room Plus, which meant being on the top floor (big plus), a coffee pod machine (shrug) and for whatever reason, a couple of complimentary KitKats. Not complaining!

Then it was off to town for the usual Worcester Shires pre-con meal, which was moved from the Dragon to the Briar Rose at the last minute because Britain's Got Talent was on at the Hippodrome meaning there would have been about 73 people for every table in the Dragon. This was the usual very pleasant experience, marred only by Ghost Mike's plane woes (which he's talked about himself) meaning he wasn't able to arrive until late evening. We did, however, discover the secret of the Briar Rose's mayonnaise cupboard.¹ Even if the staff themselves were later defeated by it...
¹ What it sounds like. A big wall panel behind which were shelves and shelves of mayonnaise.

The essence of UK PonyCon, really. The gens, not the rain

Pre-registration for UK PonyCon was in the venue itself, only a few minutes' walk away, so most of us made use of the opportunity as it didn't take long at all. My Bronze Sponsor badge was very nice, with Britannia on one edge and Sunny on the other, in honour of special guest Imalou. Lanyard in place, it was back to the pub for a bit. This year, for the first time at UKPC, there was going to be a Friday evening music event as part of the convention itself, and that's why our meal was in the afternoon rather than in the evening as it had been in the past.

The venue opened properly an hour before the "Jungle Jam" concert began at 6 pm, so we wandered over. Only the music hall and an outer hall with a bar were open, but that was fine. The bar sold at least some drinks at a non-absurd price, which was a plus. First up was Bexi with her now legendary cheesefest. As with last year, they're a tad too modern for me, and sorry Bexi but the "Cha Cha Slide" still isn't very interesting, but "5, 6, 7, 8" "Reach" (yay S Club 7!) and the Macarena are hard to avoid smiling at. She wasn't ridiculously loud, so this set made a good introduction.

Acid Applejack at the Jungle Jam

Next up was Acid Applejack, a Dutch EDM (and similar) musician. Not quite as much my cup of tea, but I still enjoyed his set. Actually, he seemed to have a good time at the con; I found myself standing next to his chair at a Mane Stage event later in the weekend. The third act was StormBlaze, who although probably best known as an artist gave a storming (ha) set. Some of the tunes were horse-related rather than strictly Pony, but it worked – and even if she was nervous about singing "My Past is Not Today" with Rebecca Shoichet in earshot, I think she nailed it.

I don't dance as everypony who knows me knows, but I got about as close as I'm ever going to get during some of these tunes! Still, after that things started to move more to the loud'n'hard kind of music and much as I respect Blackened Blue's ability, he's just a bit too much for me. So I retreated to my hotel room, finding the light rain annoying but it was very agreeable not to have to spend 45 minutes on a bus first! I'd really enjoyed the music – more than I'd expected to, if I'm honest – so I was in a very good mood for the following day. I even got a good night's sleep!

Next time: UK PonyCon hits the buffers, in a very entertaining way