Well, it was a bit of a day of it!
After all the planning, all the hype, all the anticipation, the Royal Variety Performance and the Turner Prize both had successful visits to the city last night.
And I had an incredibly busy day trying to track down the stars for a chat - including the lovely Dennis Hopper.
Lovely may not be the first word that comes to mind when you think about the man who has played so many loners and psychos over the years, the man who was a Hollywood hellraiser par excellence.
But lovely he was!
I met him at the Hope Street Hotel where he materialised dressed in a tweedy jacket and asking for Earl Grey, a compact, dapper man of 71 with a neat beard and twinkly eyes.
Not really Easy Rider - he looked more easy listening to tell the truth.
I was, I admit, a little nervous being about to enjoy a one-to-one chat with a bona fide Hollywood legend, but slumped side by side on the hotel's squidgy sofas watching the sleeting rain I soon discovered he was very easy to talk to.
Before I'd even got my first question out he was singing Liverpool's praises, saying what fantastic architecture the city had and how he had enjoyed a really happy visit to the Albert Dock to see the Turner Prize exhibition.
You'll see the result of our chat in today's Echo.
Later on, back at the Tate, we met again and he was just as charming. This time he'd changed into a black velvet jacket and at one point produced an old man flat cap. Very boho!
He was in a great mood, meeting and greeting the crowd (and later on giving me a cheeky Dennis Hopper wink!) and seemed genuinely chuffed to be there.
I had dashed to the Hope Street Hotel from the Empire where I spent the day hanging around while rehearsals were on and trying to grab chats with the Royal Variety Performance stars.
Easier said than done.
The press pack were ensconced in the VIP bar below ground and weren't allowed into the rehearsals themselves.
But it's amazing how much you accidently see or hear when you're nipping to the loo or trying to find your way back to the stage door!
As I arrived the strains of Seal singing Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds were drifting dreamily around the auditorium. The show started with a Beatles number and ended with one, even if there were no Beatles present (and I understand the invite went out).
Later on they rehearsed the finale, a group singalong of Let It Be led by Bon Jovi.
You don't see James Blunt and Jimmy Tarbuck on the same stage too often, although to be fair the fact Tarby and Russell Brand were sharing a dressingroom seemed even more incongruous.
Brand (who is incredibly tall and gangly when you see him in the flesh) also seemed to have made a new chum in chirpy musical star Michael Ball.
They were like naughty schoolboys, particularly when they led their "line" on to stage too early and had to try and shove everyone back off in Keystone Cops style.
I spoke to Ball later, although Brand sadly never made it to the media area. Too busy probably working out a six-minute routine which didn't involve too much swearing or chat about his various addictions.
He's incredibly bright though and knows exactly what he's doing so even though he was giving little away during his rehearsal (during which he clutched his plastic security bag to his mic and dithered around saying "and then I'll do a bit of this, and talk about that"), he was never likely to be a truly loose cannon.
Anyway, Ball came to see us and have a chat about Hairspray and his character Edna who was set to jump out of a hairspray can in a frock and more bling than even the Queen was wearing.
He said he'd be comparing jewels with Her Maj in the receiving line afterwards, and added (tongue in cheek I hope!): "I just know Prince Philip will hit on me. He's only human!
"I'm going to get a lot of unwanted attention off elderly men."
Ball also maintained he made a better woman than John Travolta who played Edna in this year's Hairspray film.
I'm not entirely sure that's something to boast about.
One thing I discovered backstage is that in telly there is a lot of waiting around, something as a newspaper reporter I'm really not used to.
We sat, picking at a massive carb-laden buffet spread, as they debated who they could cajole down into the press bunker.
Alas, Enrique was ill, James Blunt had nipped back to his hotel and Bon Jovi were unaccountably unavailable - much to my disappointment.
Incidently, I bumped into Phil Redmond at the Tate last night and he told me he always writes while listening to music and Bon Jovi inspired the first 10 episodes of Hollyoaks.
Anyway, back at the Empire, Paul Potts paid us (and, after we urged him on, the buffet) a visit and talked about how the night was the culmination of an amazing 12 months.
He also revealed the mobile phone store he used to work in had kept his job open for him. I don't think he is likely to need it any time soon.
Earlier his practice Nessun Dorma had rattled the Empire fittings - much as Kiri te Kanawa did later in the day with her O Mio Babbino.
And I rather hoped they might have provided the Queen with earplugs when I heard how loud Bon Jovi were. I bet it's a while since they played a venue as small as the Empire.
Jon Bon Jovi looked very smart though in a three-piece suit.
Teatro also came for a chat - I worry I sound like my mum when I say they were a very polite and pleasant group of "young men"! But they were, and were genuinely happy to sit and chew the fat.
And our fruit and sandwiches.
One of them, Andrew, said he'd appeared on stage in Windsor twice and each time had written to the Queen inviting her along - and each time the invite had been graciously turned down.
Third time lucky I suppose last night.
They were doing I Dreamed a Dream from Les Mis which seemed a little revolutionary for a royal audience.
I spent some time trying to encourage them to persuade someone - preferably Bon Jovi - to do the John Lennon "those of you in the cheaper seats clap, the rest if you'll just rattle your jewellery" line.
Later on I discovered Tarby in the stairwell and dragged him in for a chat, and shortly after that the legendary Joan Rivers materialised.
I admit, much as with Dennis Hopper, I was a little worried I'd be intimidated by her and her acid tongue, but she was very entertaining and engaging.
She must also have been very jetlagged having just arrived from Guatemala, via New Jersey. Today she jets back to New York for a TV appearance, then back to England on Wednesday.
How does she do it? In first class I presume, but even so.
Having caught just snatches of the acts I now wait until Sunday when I can see the whole show unfold.
