Nottingham and Astronautalis

My best friend messaged me late last year saying that Astronautalis was playing up in Derby would we like to go and see him live and spend the weekend with her and her wife. I said YES any excuse to go and spend time with them both! I was really looking forward to it, but I caught an awful cold virus thing at the beginning of the week and was off work for a few days and then lovingly passed it onto Matt. Hurrah, sharing is caring.

This cold is still hanging around over a week after I got the first symptoms but I didn't let it stops us and we headed up to Nottingham on Friday morning/afternoon as I left much later than I have planned....

We got to her house around 4pm and hung out for a few hours, as we were all feeling a little delicate we headed to the venue for 8:30pm just to watch Astronautalis. I am really glad we went as he was as good as he was when we saw him a few years ago. I don't know all of his songs but I really enjoyed the show and his free style was amazing too!

I danced a little in-between coughing fits and then we headed home straight away afterwards because we are all super crazy 20 something year olds haha!

On Saturday we headed to town where we had Annie's Burgers for lunch. It was SO SO amazing. I tried the big breakfast this time round and was not disappointed in the slightest.

It had egg, mushroom, sausage and bacon in it, with a side for skinny chips. I am sad Annie's is so far away but also grateful as I don't think my waistline or purse would appreciate it.

We then went round the shops and I tell you it wiped us out. 3 sickly people, we were all quite sight haha! But I did get some Yaoi I haven't seen before and Bloody Cassidy POP! Funko which I haven't be able to find ANYWHERE! And he was like £12.99, bloody bargain I was so excited.

I really like the shopping in Nottingham, their Forbidden planet has so rare things I haven't seen in other store and Page 45 has a pretty awesome and unusual selection of yaoi!

Other than that I spent some quality time with Laura and Sammi which I really enjoyed, I always do as I never get to see them! I think the fact that we were all feeling pretty shitty calls for another trip up there when we are feeling better and maybe some cocktails and a good night out on the town! 

Laura spent the whole time giving me reasons why my life would be better if I moved up to Nottingham, and although it isn't something I would at the moment I do wish I lived closer to them both!

So I think it is a good excuse to go stay with them again asap once we are all feeling in tip top shape!

Placebo

If we rewind back to 2004 Laura and I embarked on our first ever gig adventure. I got tickets for my birthday to see Placebo MY ABSOLUTE ALL TIME LOVE OF MY LIFE FAVORITE BAND at the time. I still remember how excited I was and how I just couldn't believe I would be breathing the same air as them OH MY GOD! 

They did a one off 10 year anniversary gig at Wembley and Laura and I put on our fake glitter eye lashes, stockings and other odd combinations we used to wear and we went and had the time of our lives. 

I found these old Live Journal posts, unfortunately my old blog posts were rarely more than a few sentences so I don't have much of an account of it and it was long LONG before camera phones and digital cameras were pretty naff so I don't have any photos alas.

I'm not a fan of their newer music anything past Meds but when they announced they were doing a 20th Year anniversary tour with the following statement:

"...Let's just say there will be songs in the set that I've sworn never to play again. I think it's time that we purposefully acknowledged what a lot of Placebo fans really want to hear. They've been very patient with us since we rarely play our most commercially successful material.

A 20 year anniversary tour seems like the right time to do so. That's our intention. This tour is very much for the fans and a chance for us to revisit a lot of our early material.

So, if you want to see us play songs like 'Pure Morning’ and 'Nancy Boy’ which we haven't played in almost ten years and may not play again, then you'd better come along to these shows! We'll have some surprises in there too...."

As I went to my first ever gig to their 10th Year Anniversary I couldn't say no and miss the chance to hear the songs I ABSOLUTELY loved as a teenager, and to be honest still love to pieces. So Matt and I booked tickets to see them in Brighton. I would of LOVED to go with Laura again but she is up in Nottingham and i'm down south it just wouldn't work for either of us time and money wise alas.

Matt and I headed down to Brighton, had a good day out and went to a traditional ramen restaurant, then headed to the gig. I was suprised as I used to queue for hours and hours to get into gigs but there was very little people queuing and we got in super quickly. We were only a few rows from the front and I have to say it had a weird atmosphere. I am used to gigging in London venues and this felt like a school hall rather than a gig venue, but I didn't think much off it once the lights were down and the support act came on. I won't lie, I really didn't enjoy the support act they were pretty bad and I have no idea what their name were.

The evening speed by and before I knew it Placebo came out and I couldn't wait. The crowd were very different from what I am used to in London and not in a good way. I won't go into details as it really did ruin part of my night, but there were fights, groups of girls pushing and shoving (and SO VERY SMELLY!!!) and when my temper finally got the better of me and I attempted to pull a girls hair Matt snapped at me and we moved a few rows back.

I am glad we did as we still had a good spot and were surrounded by decent people (there were fights later on, but I was far enough away not to get involved). It was funny you could tell who were the long time fans when they played newer music. Younger people went crazy and other people (including myself) sort of stopped and just listened...... then when they played the classics that was our time to shine and loose our shit over songs that made up my teenage years!!

Other than the crowd (seriously why do people behave like that, they must realise they ruin other peoples nights, gah) the band were amazing and sounded great even after all this time. I would happily go and see them again if they played that many older songs in the future.

Matt manged to get some awesome photos too so please enjoy below

I was so happy with how many older songs they played and they even played the version of 36 degrees that they played for the first time at the 10 year anniversary gig which I absolutely ADORE!

Set List

• Pure Morning
• Loud Like Love
• Jesus' Son
• Soulmates
• Special Needs
• Lazarus
• Too Many Friends
• Twenty Years
• I Know
• Devil in the Details
• Space Monkey
• Exit Wounds
• Protect Me from What I Want
• Without You I'm Nothing
• 36 Degrees
• Lady of the Flowers
• For What It's Worth
• Slave to the Wage
• Special K
• Song to Say Goodbye
• The Bitter End

Encore:

• Teenage Angst
• Nancy Boy
• Infra-red

Encore 2:

• Running Up That Hill 

It was great to relive my teenage joy again and they defiantly still have it! I would like to see them again preferably in London as the crowd really did put a damper on that gig! But I think to see Stefan's hair in person was reason enough to go. Seriously look at that gravity defying beauty! 

Mumford and Sons front row adventures

For my birthday my Ma and Pa got me Mumford and Son's tickets! My sister and I saw them back in April at a secret gig and I saw them almost three years to the day at the o2!

I regretted getting seated tickets the first time I saw them so I knew I wanted to stand! I took the day off work and my sister and I headed over to the o2 at about 11am.

I wanted to queue and try and get to the front, I was shocked though when we turned up at 1pm to see only 8-10 people in the queue. The 5 and a half hours actually went very quickly and before we knew it we were at the front barrier bang in the middle of the stage!

I got an amazing jumper (so did my sister) that I am currently wearing and it is just SOO comfy and I love it! I also have to thank Sarah for that as she is WAY too generous with me and paid for half of it! So THANK YOU to her!

I was a little gutted as 15-20 minutes into Mumford coming on Sarah had to go to the ladies room really badly and had to leave the front row! I was GUTTED for her and really torn of what to do! I decided to stay and although I am sad Sarah wasn't there to enjoy it with me I had an unbelievable time.

At one point Marcus jumped down and I missed him by only a few inches! They played loads of oldies which was amazing as I have to say I do much prefer those including Little Lion Man! Alas no Winter Winds again!

It was amazing though and I managed to get a set list at the end of the night! Sarah came and found me as I was still waiting for a encore (I didn't realise that had already happened haha!) I didn't want it to end. I sang so hard my voice felt like it was breaking and I was exhausted.

I loved it! AND I just want to go back again!

Set List 9th December 

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Snake Eyes
I will wait
Below my feet
Broad-shouldered beast
Awake
Lover of the Light
Thistle
Tompkin Sq Park
Believe
Ghosts
Cave
Ditmas
Dust Bowl

---

Hot Gates

I'm on fire

Little Lion Man

The Wolf

I managed to stick my set list in my scrap book upside down so yay for that!

But it was amazing and being front row was completely surreal. Jack Garret was the support act and he was amazing too, I might have to have a look into seeing him live as his album comes out early next year!

I hope it isn't another 3 year wait for a new album and I can go and see Mumford sooner! I have to say they are my all time favourite band right now!

Long bank holiday weekend!

So we have a date the 13^th June. I got an email through a week ago today that it would be available from the 11^th June. We were hoping to get in on the 12^th, I had planned on taking a half day and heading off to pick up and Matt and get the keys. Alas they are unable to do it then, so 9am Saturday 13^th June (which my grandma will be happy about as she keeps telling me it is unlucky to move on a Friday) is when we will move!

This weekend I had 5 days off in total. I had booked some time off as we were going to a gig in London on the Wednesday, but we started really packing and getting bits for the moved. I spent a fair amount of money this weekend on bedside tables, washing basket, iron, pans etc… all the bits I could think you need to have. I got some pretty good deals too. I didn’t realise how much work it takes to move. I think 9 years of us living in one tiny room means we have crammed so much stuff into every nock and cranny that was in there… We have thrown over 10 bin bags of stuff away. I think I took about 8 bin bags to the dump this weekend, including two big A3 printers. It’s such a shame to see a lot of this stuff go, but I of the attitude at the moment of if you can’t think of a time you will use it, then it goes.

We have filled my Grandma’s garage and its spilling into her spare rooms’ haha! It will only be for 2 more weeks. I can’t believe it is this close I am so excited, however at the same time I seems so bloody far away.

Other than packing and more packing and generally being exhausted and eating ice cream everyday… I had two nice days.

The first was Saturday and a trip to Brighton with my Grandma! We got some bits she wanted and did a bit of shopping, had fish and chips and an ice cream by the beach and we took her first selfie haha!

Wednesday was the day I was really looking forward to. After all the hard work of packing I was looking forward to a day of relaxing. We headed off to London about midday. I had my new dress on and felt very swish and summery. The weather was stunning and to make the most of my travel card we went to forever 21 first to return something and then the natural history museum. We did the dinosaurs which was very cool and headed off for dinner at Pizza Express. That was a lovely meal I really enjoyed that..

The gig started at 7:30pm at 100 Club on Oxford Street. It was a tiny venue but really nice, had a nice atmosphere. The support band was…. Let’s just say not to my taste at all. Astronautalis came on about 9pm and he was fantastic. The reason I started to listening to him was because of his stage presence when he supported Tegan and Sara and he hasn’t lost any of that. I didn’t know many songs as I have a few favourites I tend to stick to, but it’s made me want to listen and get to know more now!

It was my first gig with Matt for YEARS! And I really enjoyed it.

Now I cannot wait to for the next two weeks to come and go. I imagine it will go quickly this whole year has done so far! Fingers crossed all goes well.

Happy Thursday all…. And have a fab weekend. 

2015 is shaping up to be a fab year - Mumford &Sons intimate gig!

2015 is shaping up to be an exciting year!

• I meet the Game of Thrones cast and attend a red carpet event….
• I am going to meet Richard Dean Anderson in July..
• I am seeing Astronautalis next month …
• AND yesterday I got to see Mumford & Sons live in an intimite gig…

On Thursday I got an email saying that tickets for a tiny gig were going on sale on Friday at 10am… the show was Monday night and it was in the Brighton corn exchange (less than 2,000 people)

I frantically got up as many screens as I could and waited between 9:30-10am refreshing waiting for the tickets to go on sale. I managed to grab two I was soo insanely excited I was shaking SO much I couldn't enter my card number. I believe within minutes they were sold out so I was very lucky and CRAZY excited!

So I finished work half hour early yesterday and speed home to get dressed and my sister picked me up. I picked one of my favorite dresses (my duck dress). I scoffed a sandwich and crisps in the car for my dinner and we drove down to Brighton. The doors opened at 7pm and the band came on at 8:30pm but I wanted to get there as soon as possible.

We queued for a while I think we got there about 6:45pm and we got in quite quickly. The rule was because it was before the album was released you weren't allowed to take any phones or recording devices in. We opted to leave our phones in the car rather than handing them in.

We went straight through and my sister’s eye was caught on the merch stand. She very nicely bought me a t-shirt as they were a little steep in price for me as I am saving and we took our place in the crowd maybe only 6 or so rows back from the front.

We took it in turns to pee and Sarah got us water and we wait until 8:30pm. I was glad there was no support band because I usually get a bit bored through that bit.

They came on and they were just amazing… and the crowd was great too really nice people. I jumped and danced like I had never danced before.

Set List 27th April

---

Only Love

Ditmas

Wilder Mind

The Cave

Lovers eyes

Monster

Lover of the light

Tompkins

Thistle

Ghosts

Broad-Shouldered

I will wait

After the storm

Just smoke

Snake eyes

Hot gates

Dust Bowl

---

Lion Man

White blank page

Believe

Wolf

---

The night was just so amazing. Lion Man was the highlight, the crowd and the atmosphere went crazy!

It was also the first time I had a enough confidence to take my cardigan off and jump around with my arms in the air and I didn't even care..... which is a huge step for me. 

It was amazing to hear such a good mix of old songs and the new ones sounded fab! I cannot WAIT to get the new album. They sounded amazing and they are just exceptionally talented men!

We tried to get a set list at the end but was unsuccessful! We did however ask if we could have a bag that you got when you handed in your phone as they were super cute and they gave us one each! yay!

Because we weren't allowed phones in the venue we didn't get any pictures of the gig alas. We did take some VERY EXCITABLE snaps in the car though before we left (we were very happy with parking too 2 minutes down the road and £4.50)

I had an absolutely AMAZING NIGHT! MANY HUGE thank yous to my sister for coming and for my T-Shirt made my night it really did!

I CANNOT wait for them to announce their tour I will be first in line for that!

Now today is a dull day and the gym this evening even though I am knackered, but it was more than worth it!

Thank god it's Friday..... UGH

So this was the week that I had been counting down the days until. AND NOW ITS OVER *weep*

It’s been a weird week, and I don’t deal with change and weirdness very well at all. Booo. It makes me feel very uncomfortable. So the plan was as follows, leave early Tuesday and see Mumford and Sons. Then wake up around 10am and gets Matts haircut and see the Doctor and generally potter around and then Thursday chill out and go to the hotel for around 2:30-3pm and get ready slowly and go the work Christmas party.

That did not really go to plan. So on Tuesday I got an e-mail from Kaplan international college about a job interview. Some of it involved designing books for children’s educational books which I was like ahhh I want to do that. So they rearranged the interview for the Thursday from the Friday and I had to be there at 10am. To be honest I really didn’t fancy going and I wasn’t sure about it at all but I thought, I REALLY have to give this a go otherwise I might regret it! I have to admit it wasn’t what I thought it would be like at all! It was really REALLY fancy like a proper high-class London job. Although I thought it was going to be a bit weird and dull it’s actually turned out to seem very exciting and manic it doesn’t overly appeal to me at the moment. It seems too fast paced and too manic and traveling to central London everyday just gives me a headache thinking about it. So I’m waiting to hear from them but I don’t think it is something I would want to do. But I think it was better to go and see than sit there forever thinking, ‘what if I had gone’. Then on the way home I had a voice mail about a job closer to home that pay up £25,000 a year :O WHOA! And they found me I didn't even apply! I really hope I can arrange an interview for there, it sounds good, although I am torn as I do like my job here and I really love the people! But I do like the sound of the one closer to home and it could be up to £7,000 more a year which could get me a flat! So I am hoping to hear from them!

So yeah that meant I was up at 7am and on a train into London at 8am UGH! No lay in for me. and I was still tired from the day before after seeing Mumford and Sons. Alas…. So anyway we then went around London a bit after the interview, headed home and grabbed some lunch and headed down to Horsham. By the time we got there and I popped to get some bits for the night I had like an hour to get ready. It was a lovely night though even though I wanted a peaceful and relaxing time I did have fun! And obviously it was really lovely to spend time with Matt.

I am now back at work today. As I was already in Horsham me and Matt got Breakfast and I was in the office by 8:30am! Most people didn't come in till 9-10am but it means I can go home at 5pm today rather than like 5:30 so that should be really nice!

HOWEVER I haven't even spoken about Mumford and Sons yet!

My friend managed to get this awesome picture of me 'rocking out' with my banjo. I bought 4 inflatable ones for the gig! LOVE IT! They played amazingly and they got the whole arena going and singing and dancing. I enjoyed every single song and Marcus is just exceptionally cute! 

The place went CRAZY when they did Lion Man and I was so happy they played Winter Winds as that is my favorite song!

Outside however the temperature had dropped to -4 and this thick fog had spread everywhere. It hurt to breathe in as it was SO SO ICY COLD! Although  I like that as it makes me feel all christmassy!

I found some pretty cool videos from the night on YouTube so they aren't mine but they are really good and have the cute bit where Marcus's button on his shirts keeps coming undone.

Speaking of Christmas too I can't wait to paint my nails glitter red (I paint them this colour all through December but I wore a pink dress last night so I had to take it off) tonight BECAUSE I GOT NAIL STICKERS!! Christmas ones! On eBay they were £1.40 and they have reindeers and snowflakes. They came yesterday and I have been DYING to try them! I am super excited!

I attempted candy cane nails last week! I love doing christmasy things!

I was pretty pleased with them. Last year I tried to do all my nails like that, but it got kinda messy so I just did the one! I am so happy it is Friday and I have two days off because I feel like death at the moment! I hope the afternoon goes really quickly because I don't have very much/nothing to do all afternoon. BOOOOO. So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET 5o'clock come as quickly as possible so I may SLEEP!