ANGELS AND AIRWAVES plus NEON TREES

Wednesday February 2nd 2011
ANGELS AND AIRWAVES plus NEON TREES
Manchester Academy

Finally I got to go to my first gig of the year and what a great night it was.  It was marred slightly by the abismal traffic ... I'm not a big fan of queuing, especially on the M6 ... so I was getting a tad irritated after an hour of hardly moving.  Naturally the satnav was to blame, but at least the kids were on good form so I was kept entertained by my lad's bladder issues for the entire 2 and a half hour journey!

(Note to self: NEVER go to Manchester via the M6)
(Note to son: Go before you leave the house!)

Neon Trees were due to start at 8.15pm and so I reckon we missed about 15 minutes of their bit by the time
a) we finally arrived at the car park
b) the car in front had worked out that you need to put money in the machine to raise the barrier
c) I'd had my water confiscated by an eagle eyed security guard and he finally let me inside.
I actually quite liked them, although they seemed convinced that the crowd hated them.  They were very camp indeed, but I thought quite entertaining.

We had an extra guest with us to this one - my niece - so I parked myself at the side of the venue and kept my eye on them all from a safe, not to mention less sweaty distance.

Angels and Airwaves emerged at around 9.15pm and went straight through until 10.50ish with hardly a break - great value for money.  It was very loud ... which I suspect may be a running theme throughout my blog!  However, even as they came onto the stage I could feel my trousers vibrating - and that's not something I experience every day.  Again I forgot the earplugs, but I suppose at my age people expect some level of deafness when they speak to me.  Once my hair started to vibrate I realised I'd pretty much passed the point of no return anyway.

As usual, Aimee got as close as possible to bring you videos of the gig here >>Aimee's Videography.  Personally I don't know how she manages to keep her arm up in the air for so long. 
I don't think she managed to get any video of the green gingham umbrella that made an impromptu appearance in the audience.  I know there is the tendency for people to throw beer around when they get over-excited but really!  They could have had someone's eye out!  I haven't had chance to check out the footage myself yet, but there is bound to be plenty of Tom Delonge's amazing Dad dancing - I was so impressed that I almost joined in.
(I don't mean that Tom's amazing Dad was dancing, I mean he was dancing like a Dad ... but you'll see that in the videos).

What actually impressed me the most about Tom (and I'm really going to show my age now) was how pleased he was when the crowd sang his words back to him.  He pointed the microphone towards us and then punched the air in obvious delight that everyone knew the words - it was so lovely.  I do like an appreciative artist.  We'll be seeing Tom again in July when Blink 182 play at the MEN, so I'm already looking forward to that (and we're sitting for that one ... yay!)

So all in all it was a most enjoyable night, and it only took us an hour to get back home.  We're back in Manchester on Friday 4th when we see Russell Howard at the MEN.  I know its not exactly a rock gig but its on my list.  Our next actual gig is on Friday February 11th when Aimee and I are going to see We The Kings, yet again in Manchester.
TTFN.