Common People

100 Happy Days - Day 54: Pulp's 'Common People' was voted BBC 6 Music's top Britpop Anthem - the song I voted for after much deliberation, yay!

Looking down that top 30 list, there're a lot of tracks that I've not listened to in a long time, so I think I'll make my own compilation CD!

Festival and Funnies

100 Happy Days - Day 21:  Tickets bought for Leeds Festival! Whilst I would have loved to have seen Paramore, it's t'Arctic Monkeys we're going for. Can't wait!

100 Happy Days - Day 22: This made me chuckle - happy to be a geek/nerd or whatever you are to get this joke!

Lots of goodies to choose from Cyanide & Happiness.

Leeeeeeeeeeeds!

Oh my, how did we end up mid-September already?

Anyway, Friday at Leeds Festival (several weeks ago!) was awesome - Bullet For My Valentine were great, The Black Keys brilliant, the Foo Fighters...I cried with joy and drunken emotion during their performance but fortunately, none of the girls saw my tears in the rain - they were unbelievable.

Been 5 years since I was last at Leeds, much of the same, weather was ok at first, didn't get wet til gone 9pm. Hotel was nicer, we stayed at the Marriott haha!

Would love to do the festival next year but now that I've finally seen the Foos, I have actually now seen all of my favourite bands live - it's only a matter of seeing them all over again I guess and Muse are on that list later in the year!

Pretty Majestic

I was thinking of not going to see Kings of Leon because Boom couldn't come with me - the people at work I spoke to who I thought would be interested already had tickets. Then I realised I hadn't asked my mate HW and I know why I didn't consider her at first- she never has any money so wouldn't be able to afford the tickets. I think she earns more money than I do, lives with her bf so where does her money go? Where does anyone's money go?

Anyway, I gave her the ticket and I'm glad she came with me. HW is one of those people who doesn't feel the need to speak and I like that. A couple of my other friends, given the chance to have me on my own to themselves would be grilling me about anything and everything, just to make conversation.

It had been raining all week but that day, it was glorious sunshine, the evening staying light right up til past 9pm. The queues for the bar were massive - at some point we joined a queue that was inching along really slowly. It was only when we got near the front that we realised that it was the queue for the men's loos - but why didn't the men standing in front of and behind us SAY ANYTHING!!!? Embarrassing or what!

Anyway, we couldn't have gotten drunk if we'd wanted to (not with those queues) but plenty of people were and sun and drink don't mix so we saw some people kicking off, mostly arguments due to people throwing drinks around. Interesting but only if you're not too close and in the firing line!

In all, KoL were excellent, 'Use Somebody' was my favourite and their new stuff is pretty mellow.


I love outdoor gigs (when the weather's nice of course). I have tickets for the Leeds Festival - think I'll have to sell them though. :-(

[Post was sitting in Draft, 25/01/12]

Three Topless Men

The first time I saw Biffy Clyro, they were the support act for Linkin Park.

This time round, it was definitely their show and what a difference. Having seen LP recently, I'm inclined to say that I enjoyed Biffy's gig a lot lot more.  I would go so far as to say that Biffy are definitely up there as one of my all time favourite bands and this was one of my favourite gigs.

Yes, they were all topless, yes they were all heavily tattooed, yes they've got a lot of facial hair and were extremely sweaty but on several occasions, I found myself crying along to the music - to 'Machines', 'God & Satan' and the beautiful acoustic rendition of 'Folding Stars'.  Simon Neil - Scottish musical genius!

Linkin Who

Last month, I saw a two different shows at the MEN arena in the space of a week.

Firstly, with the glamorous C and her children, it was the very kiddy-friendly Doctor Who Live show.

As a fan, I enjoyed the show, which mostly worked but in parts didn't, eg the Cybermen stomping around the audience bit but was obviously fun (and probably a bit scary) for the kids.

The video bits of the Doctor were very well done, the Dalek voices suitably spine-tingling but it was the weeping Angels that was the highlight for me.

The other show was Linkin Park and I must say that they seem to have mellowed quite a lot in two years - guess we all grow older! This time round, the songs were split between the heavier rock tunes sung by Chester Bennington and the hip-hop stuff by Mike Shinoda, which is ok but only in small doses. 

There were also some weird video breaks, which seemed to serve the purpose of giving Bennington a break from singing.

Still, some cracking classics, in particular 'Faint', 'Crawling', 'Numb' and a great acoustic version of 'Breaking The Habit'.

Choose Muse

Finally got to see Muse live (at the Lancashire Cricket Ground) and boy, was it worth it.

Bellamy's voice. The guitars. Absolutely f*cking awesome if I may say so! At times, I felt a lump in my throat and the hairs rising on the back of my neck, so wrapped up in melodies!

I can't say I could pick my favourite Muse song but I love Starlight, Uprising, Knights of Cydonia, Newborn....aargh, the list is endless!

Ok, being vertically challenged, I didn't see much of the band but they had a great stage and good video screens and at some point, my mate from work PA (at the behest of his missus!) picked me up so I could have a brief glimpse. AR, my gig buddy didn't dare try to pick me up, lol!

The weather held out but as is usual with outdoor gigs/festivals, there's always the usual scrubby lazy bastards who can't be bothered to queue for the toilets and just stand there and piss in cups/bottles and invariably, these get chucked about at some point....

Anyway fabulous gig, definitely another must see again.

Yes, I'm aware I still haven't done a proper update...working on it...

V

Damn, still not gotten round to doing my round up...really must get my arse in gear.

Anyway, Sunday I was at V Festival for the first time - should have gone with Boom but instead, I took the glamorous C's soon-to-be 14 years old daughter, who I think I've referred to in the past as Saffy.

The glamorous C dropped us off at Stafford and clad in wellies and vest tops, we took the shuttle bus to Weston Park. I don't know what happened to the predicted downpour but it was gorgeous and scorching, was so glad we had our high sun factor cream on, amid many people who were red with sunburn - ouch.

Who did we see? Kings of Leon (awesome), the Pretty Reckless (pictured, surprisingly good), the Courteeners, Feeder, Florence & the Machine (really worked the crowd), White Lies, Scouting for Girls (fun), the Temper Trap, Paloma Faith (also surprisingly good), The Magic Numbers and a tiny bit of Tinie Tempah (see what I did there? :-) ) This last act....for Saffy's benefit really!

As is usual with festivals, lots of sights to see, people dressed up, lots of nice topless eye-candy, tattoos galore and of course, dodgy portaloos! Loads of people just going to the toilet on the sides, men and women, lazy arses. We had a timetable of the acts so didn't do much hanging about, just moved from one act to the next to try to squeeze in as many as possible. I only had 2 alcoholic drinks, needed to keep my head clear as I was with a minor!

When asked if she enjoyed herself afterwards, Saffy said yes she did. Asked if she would do it again, she said she wasn't sure and I know why. It was a festival of two halves for her - the day bit, full of sunshine, funny sights, sitting or dancing and chilling. Then there's the night bit, dark, colder, getting shoved about as people get more raucous and more drunk, various liquids being thrown about. At least she knows first hand what it's like and I suggested that she give it another couple of years and she'll be back for more, knowing what to expect! Hope the experience hasn't scarred/scared her for life!

The next day, madam went through my ipod for songs of some of the acts she'd seen - I'm slowing changing her music tastes so it's not all club and dance music!

Anyway, there was no stopping me this weekend as on Monday night, I was sitting in the pouring rain witnessing Man City demolish Liverpool in front of City's billionaire owner - the Reds were totally outplayed, damp weather, damp result. At least CK was made up, think it was the first match that she's seen City win. It's going to be a long hard season for me.

Another gig soon - a band I've been waiting to see for aaaaages!

Gone Ga Ga

So last night, for my first gig of the year, me and the glamorous C witnessed the fabulous Lady Gaga kick off the UK leg of her Monster Ball tour.

Fresh from winning three Brit Awards, the totally mad and eccentric one did not disappoint.

Outrageous outfits, extravagant stage props (including a huge tentacled monster), energetic dance routines with scantily-clad male dancers, lots of swearing, some daft script about looking for the Monster Ball, she gave thanks to the UK for believing in her and supporting her, whilst addressing the audience as 'little monsters' or 'filthy bitches'!

Some great pop tunes, her hits 'Just Dance', 'Poker Face' and 'Bad Romance' amongst others getting everyone on their feet. Her voice was strong throughout and she also did a couple of turns on the piano too. Behind all the over the top glamour, costumes, rumours of bisexuality and drugtaking, it's often forgotten that she is a talented musician who has written many of her own songs as well as songs for other artists.

The audience was mostly female, although there was surprisingly a lot of children. A few very tall drag queens and loads of young girls in extremely high heels - me and the glamorous C enjoyed watching them totter up and down the stairs!

All in all, an excellent show, hard to believe she's only 24.

Her support acts couldn't have been more different from each other - the clean-cut Scandanavian pop tunes of Alphabeat on the one hand and the New York glam-rock band Semi Precious Weapons, with the memorable song "I Can't Pay My Rent But I'm F*cking Gorgeous" on the other! Not sure what all the kids made of that, lol!

Next 'gig' will be very different anyway to say the least!

Green Is Good

So on Saturday, I continued with this year's gig fest and went to see Green Day at the MEN Arena.

I'd say I'm a relatively recent fan of theirs, only really got into them after the release of their American Idiot album in 2004, although I do have some of their older stuff on my ipod.

Anyway, whilst I was really looking forward to the gig, I didn't expect to be so entertained! Billy Joe really worked the crowd (although he did swear a lot, which didn't offend me but may have offended the parents of the numerous young children present...should young children be at gigs even???), encouraged lots of audience participation and at one point, chose members of the audience to form a band, ie drummer, bass guitarist and lead guitarist. Then as this new 'band' played, he sang the vocals! At the end of the song, the girl on the drums started doing her own thing and was reminiscent of Animal off the Muppet Show! The girl on lead guitar suddenly realised where she was and ran around hugging all three members of Green Day!

They sang some songs from their excellent latest album 21st Century Breakdown and their encore must have lasted over 20 mins, including the epic Jesus of Suburbia and a couple of Billy Joe acoustic renditions!

Anyway, thought it was absolutely brilliant and they have just announced that they will be back in the UK next year for a couple of stadium gigs - think I'll try to get tickets for that too for deffo!

One

I've never really been a huge fan of U2 - have always liked them, a couple of their songs rank among my favourites but I never bought all their albums and I never saw them live. Until now.

Arguably Boom's favourite band of all time, it was a bit touch and go whether we would be going to see U2 on the Sheffield leg of their 360° tour, despite paying 150 quid per ticket (that's right...per ticket and not off a tout either!)

We arrived too late to see Elbow supporting and were immediately surprised by a strange alien-like structure over the stage, to one side of the stadium (which was smaller than I thought it would be). This space-age structure proved to be a show-stopper, conveying brilliant video and graphics to all and allowing the members of the band to walk around the stage and face the audience on all sides.

Bono - what can I say, have always loved his voice but he was awesome (although when talking he did mumble at times) as was The Edge's guitar playing. The last song they sang was my favourite U2 track "With or Without You"- perfect.

The gig was a little marred by an extremely obese woman in the seat next to me, who threatened to bounce me across the aisle every time she swung her hips and waved her bingo-wings to the music.

The night was extremely marred by the traffic chaos when we were leaving - no sign of stewards, not a peek from the police, which meant total gridlock, took us an hour and a half just to get out of the carpark (which was a tram ride from the stadium).

Let's just say once on the open motorway, Boom didn't really go under 100mph and we still didn't get back until past 1.30am.

Not sure that either of us will be in a hurry again to attend Don Valley Stadium.

I must update on what's been going on - it's been a mixed couple of weeks.

RIP Jacko

Undoubtedly flawed and mad but a musical genius nonetheless. His legacy to music and dance will live on.

Fifty is too young to die.

PSB, Actually

Although it was Boom's birthday a few months back, his birthday present from me didn't actually manifest itself until last night, when we went to see the Pet Shop Boys at the Apollo.

I didn't get to see hardly anything as they were standing tickets - a few glimpses of Neil and Chris in funny hats, dancers with cubes instead of heads - but I bought the tickets for him, not me!

The place was hammered and very hot - various people carried out cos they were at the front and had fainted. As a straight couple, we were deffo in the minority last night, I've never seen so many camp guys in one place in my life, but it was a good atmosphere, despite a number of weirdos who seem to have crawled out of the woodwork. Also, I don't believe I saw a single person under the age of 30….

I'd been trying to work out my favourite PSB song and there are several that I love - the iconic 'West End Girls' of course, 'Opportunities', their cover of 'Always On My Mind' and 'It's A Sin' spring to mind.

The biggest cheer however came for their version of the Village People's 'Go West' - lol!

Anyway, good gig, nice singing by Neil Tennant (when they didn't put the weird techno stuff over his voice) and Chris Lowe was well…Chris Lowe!

Fact I never knew until today: Actor David Tennant of Doctor Who fame, took his stage name from Neil Tennant. The actor's real surname is McDonald, but he needed a stage name for Equity and there was already an actor registered with the name David McDonald.

Oasis and Salvation

Oasis, supported by the likes of The Enemy and Kasabian played three gigs over a very wet weekend at Heaton Park in Manchester. Boom went to the Saturday gig and confirmed that it was extremely muddy!

I live just over a mile away from the park and could clearly hear the vocals and music (and the crowds cheering and singing along) - the Gallagher brothers sounded good and sang all their classics. Apparently, on the first night, there was a power failure and the band offered a full refund to the people there who had kept their ticket stubs - nice gesture.

Can’t believe how the weather has changed - one minute 25 degrees C, lovely and sunny; next minute, 9 degrees C, raining and cold! Would be nice if we could experience some more global warming in Manchester!!

Anyway, the other night, went to see Terminator Salvation. Had seen this film advertised a few times and you know how sometimes all the best bits are included in movie trailers, so the film itself ends up a tad disappointing?

This certainly wasn’t the case, in fact, I don’t think the trailers did it much justice. I wasn’t really excited about watching this film but I enjoyed it very much and think it’s a great addition to the Terminator franchise (T3 is a bit iffy though). Christian Bale, fast becoming one of my favourite actors (rather easy on the eye too!) was excellent although in parts of the film, he was nearly overshadowed by Sam Worthington. Boom spoiled it for me by whispering about a certain ‘cameo’ performance before it happened but I shan’t say anything here!

Tickled P!nk

Gig #3 this year saw me witnessing the brilliant Pink at the M.E.N Arena last night.

Fantastic voice - if I could sing, I'd love to have a voice like hers.

Sexy, sassy, cheeky, ballsy, raunchy and fun - Pink was in great shape, looking toned and athletic as she strutted her stuff, belting out her popular hits (U + UR Hand and So What probably among my faves) as well as the emotional ballad Family Portrait and amazingly, sang a few of her tracks whilst swinging upside down, suspended from a trapeze! Wow, fantastic!

She did some excellent covers of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and Gnarls Barkley's Crazy. It was an excellent show lasting over two hours.

The arena was packed (though not quite rammed as with the Killers), the audience was 99% female of all ages and it also seemed that many of the female half of Manchester's gay village were in attendance also - I noticed as it's usually the male half I see at gigs.

It was a great night out with the glamorous C (and her daughter who I think I'll now call Saffy...) - before the gig, we went for our usual Chinese buffet and were able to catch up a bit on our news - as Saffy was there (and most definitely earwigging!), there was much we couldn't discuss so we'll have to make sure we can catch up at lunchtime next week!

I Got Soul

Wow, what a night!

The arena was packed to the rafters, we had great seats and the Killers were fabulous! Brandon Flowers' was on brilliant form, he totally owned the stage and sang my favourites "Human", "Somebody Told Me" and "All These Things That I've Done".

Definitely one of the best gigs I've ever been to and Boom agreed it was in his top five.

My cold had subsided but not totally gone away but that didn't spoil my enjoyment one bit - I was buzzing! Am looking forward to catching them again at the V Festival.


Before we went to the gig, we caught the first half of Liverpool vs Real Madrid in Champions League action. Boom of course wanted the Scousers to lose but we decimated the Spanish giants, the final score being 4-0 (5-0 agg).

Not confident about the weekend clash against Man U but hey, who knows? (I just hope we don't get thrashed...)

Top gig, top result, top night! :-)

Guzundheit

I can't stop sneezing and when not sneezing, my nose is running.

When not running, it's blocked and I have to breathe through my mouth.

I felt so rough yesterday that I went home at lunchtime, racked up the central heating and collapsed into bed with a hot water bottle, crashing out for 3 solid hours.

Now if I'd been taking a sickie, I'd have notched up a few hours on WoW but I wasn't even tempted!

Today, I feel a bit better but still not 100% - least the sneezing means that no one wants me to go on the coffee/tea run!

I'll make sure I'm ok for the Killers gig tonight even if it kills me...

This Aint A Scene

Gig #1 (of many) this year and it's Fall Out Boy at the MEN in Manchester. Went with JH and her sis, who was dressed in major emo wear - her black and red wig looked fab!



Have seen FOB twice now, both times at the Leeds Festival, thought they were good on those occasions. Thought they were great last night.

I don't think their latest album is as good as their previous two (Infinity On High is probably my favourite) - sounds a bit different and I'm not sure I quite like that direction but still a couple of decent tracks on there.

They were supported by Kids In Glass Houses (not bad) and Hey Monday (pretty good).

Legs ache from the shuffle dancing we were doing.

Am thinking that I might have to upgrade my ipod now as I've run out of space on my 8 gb Nano now...so much music, so little space! Hmmm!

Born of Frustration

So on Friday, I went to see the James gig at the Manchester Central (formerly known as the GMEX).

Tim Booth's vocals were excellent (what happened to all his hair?)and there was no tiredness when the usual favourites were sung, ie Sit Down, Laid, Say Something, Sometimes. There were some new tracks too which sounded promising.

The venue? Well, being a converted railway station, the acoustics did sound a little different - guess I'm used to places like the MEN Arena.

Plus someone my size would not generally choose an all standing gig (I may have spotted the stage a couple of times!) but there was an atmosphere that reminded me of my student days which I was quite comfortable with - the floor slick with spilt beer and crushed plastic pint pots!

Watched a bit of Gangs of New York on tv afterwards, an enjoyable but late evening.

Saturday - nearly didn't wake up in time for my train to York. Yes, another outing to watch Ebbsfleet United in action at the Kit Kat Crescent. Only two of the Manchester lads went - the others seem to have lost interest which is a shame but we met up with some of the others who travel to watch the club so it was still a good outing.

Shame about the football though - after dominating the first half and securing a 1-0 lead, the Fleet totally lost the plot and the game - it was shocking.

In the bar afterwards, the Fleet's 'coach' Liam Daish was there and some of the fans had a chat with him - he's big and a bit scary so I can't see many harsh words being said to him but I think tactically, he could have done a better job.

A playoff position now is a pretty unrealistic (we're in 12th place, 11 points off the zone) but one can still dream!

Festive Rounds

So on Sunday, I made my trip to North Wales to drop off presents for my godson EB. I'd asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he said he didn't know but gave me a list of bands he was currently into.

Ensuring that none of them were Slipknot (his mum is dead against them), I got him a couple of t-shirts (Foo Fighters and Disturbed) and downloaded some albums for him Disturbed - Indestructible, Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock and Rise Against - Appeal To Reason. The last one is my kind of rock, so is on my currently-listening-to list on my ipod.

As has recently been the case when I go to visit MR and her family, there's a lot of arguing, shouting and crying going on. Maybe I'm just not used to all the noise, living on my own for so long but...they're all noisy, not just the kids; I know money is tight but at times, the conversations I'm a party are sometimes kinda uncomfortable. But hell, she's my oldest friend, he's my godson and I'll always make the effort as long as they want me to.

It doesn't help that since I saw him last three months ago, EB has turned into the typical teenager - gangly, long scruffy hair, dubious hygiene (according to his mum) and getting a bit defiant towards his parents. But even in the few hours I was in their house (full of both a menagerie of kids AND pets), I witnessed his younger brothers trying to annoy him and provoke him and when he retaliated by pushing them away, there were tears so he got the blame. MR isn't happy with her lot right now, so it wasn't my place to say anything.

Anyway, when I got back to Manchester, had a late meal in Chiquitos with some nice company, a nice cuppa and then an early night in a very cold house. I can't afford to have the central heating on all the time so I'm kinda living in an icebox right now!