My World of Music

On this page you'll find a separate blog, all about my love for music! Blogs of gigs I go to, music acts I see and reviews on cd's and any other music tit-bits worth sharing.

Enjoy x

Green Day Gig.

I've seen Green Day a few times now and I have always maintained they are one of the best live bands as they are so interactive with the audience and rock out some awesome tunes. However earlier in the year I saw them at Emirates Stadium and it was a disappointment. It just wasn't the same. I would say it was because it was such a large venue but they were amazing at Milton Keynes Super Bowl and Wembley Arena....I don't know. Sadly the experience left me not so crazy to seem them again. But then they announced last week they were doing a festival warm-up gig at Brixton Academy which was last night (21-08-13) a lovely small, fun venue to rock out in. So I thought, let's go for it... and I'm so glad I did! What a great night!! 

They played the entirety of Dookie (now 20 years old!) and smashed it for a brilliant, sweaty night! Green Day always have been and always will be a favoured act to see live, but definitely just for seeing them at smaller venues now - the atmosphere is just electrifying (much like last summer at Shepherds Bush Empire) I can never get bored of hearing the classics and jumping around with other avid fans!

iTunes Festival - Swedish House Mafia.

Through the whole of July, iTunes issue free tickets to see a variety of music acts at Camden Roundhouse. I was lucky enough to have two tickets to attend last Thursday when Swedish House Mafia, an act comprising of three very talented dj's were playing.

I'd heard of them and a few of their songs and knew they were good but I wasn't familiar enough to understand how AMAZING they were untill I saw them.

 

Oh....my.....DJ......one of the best raves ever!!! From the moment they started till the moment they finished it was non-stop jumping and grinning - and that goes for everyone in the crowd, it was incredible.

I hadn't been to the venue before either (an evening of firsts) and as simplistic as this sounds...it really is a round house (see pic)   


I went with a friend and she was loving it just as much, if not more than I was! Please....if you EVER get the chance to see them and you love dance music you have to go. When the gig ended all we could say was 'wow'. That was all we said to each other for about ten minutes after we'd left...we were totally blown away by the set.

It wasn't just the music though, they had such a great light system that descended over the crowd, I got some great pics, one of them you can see here. At regular intervals they released confetti and surprised the audience with fireworks too. They are fabulous showmen, talented DJ's and what made it for me was that each one of them were clearly loving being on stage and performing the whole way through. They gave it 110% and for that this gig deserves 10/10.

     

Bad Religion Gig.

Last night, 10 July 2011 I was at the HMV Forum in Kentish Town watching Bad Religion perform a very impressive show. They've been playing for over thirty years now and it's great to see they can still bring the house down with their fast paced, punk songs that people are still going crazy for. I've grown up to Bad Religion records so it was pretty cool to finally see them live and see what my mum loves about them so much, and that's their energy and passion. Just watching them on stage, you can see they love what they do and believe what they're singing. But enough sentimentality, the point is, they are great live!  They performed each song brilliantly, going from one track to the next almost non stop and each song is fast paced and very demanding, making their performance even more notable. Sure, the lead singer, Greg Graffin has clearly hit middle age with the bad word puns, out-of-style shirt and his habit of singing with hand gestures but his vocals are still strong and him and his band have set the standard for so many popular punk bands to have followed them such as one of my favourites, The Offspring. The crowd is part of what makes one of their shows so great as you stand back and watch die hard punks crowd surfing and people gate crashing the stage to get near them! Great performers and a great example of how a music gig should be. The music scene of today seems fairly dull in comparison to the riotous nature of Bad Religion.  I think we need a few more bands like them around to keep alive the anarchic attitude that can make music so fun.

Michael Franti and The Spearheads Gig.

03 July 2011, Bush Hall in Shepherds Bush; that was the place to be. I am a huge fan of Mr. Michael Franti, if you don't know him, make yourself familiar, his performances are a must see. A band from the States, they seem every now and again to make random one off appearances in the UK, bring the love that vibrates through their music then go away again. This was one of those random, one off performances and I took a fellow fan with me who hadn't seen them live before. That friend left with the biggest smile on his face ever!

I'd never been to Bush Hall before, hadn't even heard of it but it's a great venue, just one small room with a bar and chandeliers on the ceiling (see below)

Rather than having a support band there was a DJ spinning tunes which was a nice opening I thought. Then there was Franti! I think i'm a little bit in love with him as just the sight of him made me melt and then came the music and you could just feel the love in the room increase ten fold! His music instantaneously generates feelings of love, peace and happiness in the crowd and it's like one big family watching a mutual friend wow the room. He creates such a personal environment when he's on stage and the intimate setting served to make that so much more apparent. 

At one point he jumped off stage and started walking through the crowd singing and people in front of me were all clamouring to shake his hand and be near him. He got to two rows in front of me and then turned back, I was gutted! I couldn't believe I'd missed my chance. Oh well, I carried on enjoying the set. He performed hit after hit, there was not one moment I felt even slightly bored, it's impossible.

And then....it happened....he was back in the crowd...except this time...he was also playing his guitar and he came right to where I was standing, I was so happy! I shook his hand, more appropriate to say bear hand I think, he's big! Then he just stopped right there in front of me and started jamming on his guitar...

Right there in front of me!! You can see by the people in the background how much his fans love him and how happy they all were. I felt lucky to get as good a picture as this because I kept jogging the camera, i just couldn't keep still in the excitement!

Wireless Festival 2011.

01 July 2011 Wireless Festival took over Hyde Park and thousands of sun loving, music worshippers poured into the grounds to see some of today's best contemporary acts. I arrived an hour or so before the music was due to begin so I took the opportunity to explore the site and see what goodies I could find...and I found goodies!

There were stalls giving out free cider and wine, yum! Free makeovers courtesy of Tuborg, spraying people's hair green and painting green pictures onto people's faces. I opted for 3 stars on the side of my face........

Gorgeous! 

4pm, the music starts and Example kick starts the festival with a great set. One of the most popular dance acts of the moment, they did a better job of getting the crowd going and instilling a party atmosphere than some later acts did! After that set, I knew it was going to be a good day, worth going to one of their gigs if you ever get the chance. 

Next up, Bruno Mars. A vocally impressive set, it was like listening to a recording, his voice was that pitch perfect. It was a nice performance, nothing too exciting but it was a perfect 'bouncing around in the sunshine' show to see. Tinie Tempah was next on the main stage starting in half an hour so my friends and I thought we'd quickly pop over to the pepsi max tent to catch a bit of Far East Movement before hand. We stayed for the one and only song...Like a G6!! That was fun! Then back over to the main stage.

Everyone seems to love Tinie Tempah; the whole crowd was jumping around like a bunch of drink fuelled maniacs (and that was just the people I came with)

At this point in the afternoon, I felt slightly torn. Plan B and David Guetta were both on at the same time. I'd seen Plan B's performance at the Brit Awards and it was incredible, I had high hopes for his set but I mean come on....David Guetta!! I knew that would be a fantastic rave opportunity! The plan was to stay for the first half of Plan B and then head over to David Guetta for the end. Well....Plan B...YAWN!!! What a shame, I felt let down. But I've got to say I'm glad because Guetta's set was insane!

Look at that robot man go!! Although I could only see it from the screen just outside the tent, it was pretty clear David Guetta was rocking the house! For the entire set, the crowd was wild jumping around like Mexican beans never letting up, and I was one of those beans! I think he may have been one my personal highlights, he really is a great DJ. 

The main head line act was Black Eyed Peas. By this time, I'd completely lost everyone I was supposed to be with and there was no way I was going to find them in the mass of people congregrating around the main stage, despite having a designated meeting point...futile!! Turns out, it really didn't matter, my eyes were glued to the stage so I wouldn't have even noticed my friends any way. I've always liked BEP music. Good, fun party tunes that get you moving your feet so I was looking forward to it although I was slightly dubious about their ability to perform live as shows I'd seen on TV before hadn't seemed all that good for a global mega band.

All that was forgotten as they got going and Fergie belted out her vocals and I could feel the power of her voice all the way in the back where I was. They did all their big hits and it was a non stop party for their whole set, everyone was loving it. My personal favourite moment was Will-I-Am's solo part as he stood on stage mc'ing non stop for several minutes; varying the speed and rhythm and blowing everyone away with his abilities.

Overall, an amazing day and night and I was told by some friends that the last night of Wireless was also amazing with Pulp head lining (how could it go wrong with a bit of common people?!)

Oh and you'll be pleased to know, that I did find my friends again after the show :)