FRAMING HANLEY plus MY PASSION

Wednesday June 1st 2011

FRAMING HANLEY plus MY PASSION

Wolverhampton Slade Rooms

I had been looking forward to seeing Framing Hanley again as I really love their music.  We had seen them on the Kerrang Tour and they were fab, but this time they were headlining.

My two cherubs and I headed off to Wolverhampton and we had a nice quick trip with no problems.  I parked in my usual place which is a multi storey car park right next to the Civic Hall.  I had assumed that the Slade Rooms were in the same building as the Wulfrun Hall ... I was wrong.  There were lots of other people milling around looking for the place too so I clearly wasn't the only one who had made that mistake.

We wandered off into town before deciding to head back to where we started.  There we saw a map on the door telling us where the Slade Rooms were and Aimee directed us via her mobile phone.  We would never have found it otherwise - it felt like miles away and the kids were not particularly impressed.

We joined the back of the (by now) huge queue and as usual I got picked on and abused while we waited ... well it keeps them amused I suppose.  Once inside I paid my regular visit to the ladies and both of the kids disappeared inside.  I reckon the Slade Rooms are similar in size to the Sugarmill ... a little wider but not as far back.

First on were My Passion.  Aimee had seen them before at her first unsupervised gig and she had her photo taken with each of the band members outside the venue.  I had only seen one of their videos and I like their stuff but I wasn't sure Luke would. 

We took up our usual places - Aimee at the front, me at the side and Luke somewhere in between.  There was lots of raucous screaming as soon as they appeared.  The first thing I noticed was a bleached mohawk.  The singer was chatting away to the crowd and I thought he sounded just like Olly Murs of X-Factor fame ... he didn't sound like him when he sang though.

They were very good indeed.  My initial thoughts were that they were a bit camp (having seen their gold-plated video) but they were really quite heavy.  A couple of songs in and the singer removed his shirt and he had obviously been working out!!  Excellent stuff, and I think even Luke approved.

Framing Hanley were simply brilliant.  I remember thinking that Wolverhampton was probably as far removed from Nashville as you could get, but having never been to Nashville, who knows!

The crowd went mental, everyone was jumping up and down and singing along to everything. 

I'm surprised they're not more well known really - I would expect them to be performing at bigger venues, but I'm glad they don't.  I would definitely see them again given the chance.
Filming as usual was done by Aimee >>Aimee's Videography

Once the music had finished, the lights went up and I noticed the hall had some spectacular chandeliers, which I thought odd.  The kids decided to head off to the merch desk and see if they could get more pictures taken with My Passion.  I bought Aimee a tote bag and got out of the way as it was a bit of a crush.

Their waiting was well worth it though as they both met the band and had photos with them so they were happy.  I was happy too until I tried to get onto the M6 to go home and it was closed ... why me?  It always happens to me!  Ggrrrr...

OK so my next review is of the Download Festival which may take a while...

TTFN x

PANIC! AT THE DISCO plus LOVE LETTERS

Monday May 16th 2011

PANIC! AT THE DISCO plus LOVE LETTERS

Manchester Academy

Back to Manchester again and this time Aimee's friend Jess and my friend's son Sam came with us.  We had a good journey but when we got there, there was already a massive queue.

Sam was a bit nervous to say the least - he said he didn't like crowds!  Perhaps a gig wasn't really the place for him. 

I tried to calm him down by telling him that actually this queue looked quite safe compared to some of the crowds I'd seen ... I don't think it helped!  What really didn't help was the homeless guy accosting us for cash with the fabulous quote of the night
"Put a smile on a homeless person's face?"
I apologised to him and said I didn't carry cash, and when he'd gone I told the kids that homeless people really shouldn't be smiling anyway!  They all laughed ... teenagers are so heartless.

Love Letters were on first and sadly I haven't managed to find a picture of them ... I did Google 'Love Letters' but I could have been on there days before the right picture appeared.  I also don't remember them, especially as I have no picture to remind me...sorry!  I was spending most of this time trying to keep Sam calm.  I have never met anyone quite so stressed in a crowd of people.  He was desperate for a cigarette but didn't have any, and I was convinced he was going to hyperventilate.

I bought him a drink and we both stood at the side by the wall, as far away from people as we could get.  We had been given some leaflets showing forthcoming gigs and I folded these up beautifully to create a couple of handy fans for us to waft ourselves.  It was incredibly hot in there.

By the time Panic! At The Disco came on Sam wanted to leave, bless him.  I managed to get him to stay and I think he enjoyed it.  Both of the girls loved it - no surprise there.  I would have enjoyed it far more if I didn't have Sam to worry about, but I still sang along and they were brilliant.  They hadn't been to the UK for ages and their fans were really excited to see them.

Aimee did her job brilliantly as usual - see her footage here>>Aimee's Videography

It has become tradition now that when we exit the Academy we head straight to the Sainsburys Express across the road to get cold drinks.  Despite hating the idea, I bought Sam a pack of ciggies in the hope it would stop him from keeling over.  He had a smoke on the way back to the car and I could tell it had helped.  Shame..  Somehow I don't think he'll come to another gig with us.

Framing Hanley in Wolverhampton is next.
TTFN x

TWIN ATLANTIC plus FIGHTING WITH WIRE and LAFONTAINES

Thursday May 5th 2011

TWIN ATLANTIC plus FIGHTING WITH WIRE and LAFONTAINES

Manchester Academy 3

Wow its been far too long since I last updated my blog, and we have been to a few gigs during my absence.  I know I should really do a write up the day following a gig as my memory isn't what it was - sadly this means that the next few reviews will be shorter than normal.

First up were the Lafontaines, and when Aimee told me it was a Scottish rapper I thought 'Oh dear...'  I think the rest of the crowd thought the same before they came out too.  The frontman started by having a bit of a chat to the audience, which included him taking the mickey out of his own accent.  That helped them warm to him.

Someone threw a silver thong onto the stage which he then put on his head ... as you do ... and suddenly everybody loved him!  Everyone started to bounce around and there was even a bit of a mosh.  Two girls crowdsurfed all the way onto the stage ... I plan to do that someday.  Anyway, I thought they were great and was very impressed at how they won the crowd over.

Second on were Fighting With Wire who are from Derry in Northern Ireland.  I am very sorry to say that I don't remember very much about this band, but it has been a while and I'm afraid the umpteen million bands I've seen in between have blurred my memories.  I'm sure they were very good though ...

Finally Twin Atlantic appeared.  I have seen them before supporting My Chemical Romance, and I wasn't sure about them.  However, as headliners in a small cosy venue they were amazing.  They were heavier than I expected and extremely Scottish, and very good looking!

Aimee, as ever, has done some filming here>>Aimee's Videography  so you can check them out.  Plenty of crowdsurfers again, and just great music.

Next on the agenda is Panic! At The Disco.
TTFN x

HIT THE DECK FESTIVAL

Sunday April 17th 2011
HIT THE DECK FESTIVAL
Nottingham Rock City

This was my first festival since V97, the day after which I went into hospital to have my gall bladder out.  Aimee was a little baby and Luke was a toddler at the time ... this time they were in charge.

The day started early as Steve and I had to pop over to Macclesfield to pick up a hire car.  The reason for this being that Aimee had a friend joining us and Luke had six, meaning we had one too many bodies to fit in two normal sized cars.  Luke had done a collection amongst his friends and raised enough money to hire a very nice Dodge Journey for the day ... and I got to drive it.

We came back home and collected the troops and headed off to Nottingham.  I must admit I'm not a big fan of the place ... well not the town itself, but driving around it ... I find it far too confusing.  I also made the mistake of following Steve and the boys when I'd have got there quicker on my own.

We eventually got to the car park, where I was shocked to find that it was going to cost us £13 per car to park up for the day.  Not a lot we could do about that though.

Then we joined a very long queue only to discover we had to get in another queue first - this would be to get our wristbands, which in turn would gain us entry into all of the venues.  Luckily for us, when we got our wristbands we skillfully side stepped security and went straight inside instead of being sent around to the (even longer) queue.

Once inside Aimee and her friend Jess went into the main stage area and got straight to the front - they decided to stay there for the rest of the day, and in fact didn't move all day.  I had no clue at this point if Luke and his friends were inside, but I knew I didn't have to worry about them.

Now to be honest, Steve and I didn't watch very many bands.  We mainly went along for the kids anyway and as they both had friends with them we managed to have a bit of time to ourselves.

I'll put a full set list towards the end just for historical correctness but I can only comment on the bands I saw, the first of which being We Are Fiction.  I had never heard of them but they were first on the main stage and there wasn't much of a crowd, but they weren't bad.  We hung about and got the girls drinks before Tomorrow Brings Giants came on - I thought they were OK but Steve wasn't keen.  We sat at the back for a bit and then went in search of food.

We went downstairs and found someone selling home made toastie sandwiches for extortionate prices, but we were very hungry and so endulged ourselves.  I was quite shattered at this point so I bobbed back to Aimee just to let her know I was going for a sleep in the car.  This just shows my age I suppose but I really wanted to see Deaf Havana, We Are The Ocean and The Blackout who were on later.

So Steve and I went back to the hire car, reclined our seats and had a bit of a doze.  I set my alarm to go off 15 minutes before Deaf Havana were due on but I was awake before then anyway so we went back.  I saw a chap snogging a girl against a lamp post and I thought to myself that he looked very familiar ... as soon as Deaf Havana came on I realised it was James Veck-Gilodi, the lead singer.  Duh!

We caught the end of Exit Ten's set and I thought they were really good.  I found Aimee during the break to see if she needed a drink, but security had been handing out free bottles of water so she was OK.  Deaf Havana were brilliant ... hence me using their picture as a header.  They were definitely my favourites of the day and I'm sure Aimee will be looking out to see if they tour.  She did get quite a lot on camera here >> Aimee's Videography 

We stayed to see We Are The Ocean who were excellent as ever, but then I had a cracking headache and so had to leave the room.  I was very disappointed to miss the Blackout but we're seeing them again so it wasn't too bad.  As Steve and I returned to the car I passed Aled from Kids in Glass Houses, although I was too shy to speak to him.  I sent Aimee a text to tell her I'd seen him and she was convinced I'd seen someone who looked like him - she was so convinced I was wrong she checked to see what he'd put on Twitter and then grudgingly had to admit I was right!

Once in the car, Steve checked on his iPhone to see if there was anywhere nearby we could go to eat, and discovered TGI Fridays was very close by and was open.  We passed a convenience store on the way which sold painkillers, much to my delight.  We managed to kill some time by having a meal and drinks and then went back to the car.

Aimee and Jess finally moved from the main stage once the Blackout had finished, in the hopes of seeing Young Guns in the Basement.  They did get in eventually but didn't have a great view.  Not surprisingly Aimee has managed to find tickets to see them later in the year too.  Once Young Guns had finished they came back to the car ... Aimee and Jess that is, not the Young Guns!  They were starving but the only thing we had was a bag of chicken crisps and lots of fizzy pop ... not too well prepared there unfortunately.

Luke and his friends weren't too far behind - they had been in to watch Underoath but apparently got bored and came out after 10 minutes.  This meant we could miss the main lot of traffic and made a relatively quick getaway.

All in all it had been a good, if expensive, day.  The kids all had a great time, and Steve and I got to spend the day together for a change.  It was tiring, but well worth it.

The full timetable is below :

Rock City Main Stage

22:00-23:00   Underoath (right)
20:00-21:00   The Blackout
18:45-19:30   We Are The Ocean
17:45-18:15   Deaf Havana
16:45-17:15   Exit Ten
15:45-16:15   Hyro Da Hero
14:45-15:15   Summerlin
13:45-14:15   Tomorrow Bring Giants
12:45-13:15   We Are Fiction

Rock City Basement

21:00-22:00   Young Guns (right)
19:30-20:15   My Passion
18:15-18:45   The Swellers
17:15-17:45   Lightsgoblue
16:15-16:45   Save Your Breath
15:15-15:45   Atlas & I
14:15-14:45   Rio
13:15-13:45   Kiss Corona
12:30-12:55   Evarose

Stealth

21:30-22:00   Sylosis (right)
20:40-21:10   Devil Sold His Soul
19:15-19:45   Bleed From Within
18:15-18:45   While She Sleeps
17:15-17:45   Hawk Eyes (formally Chickenhawk)
16:15-16:45   Blitz Kids
15:15-15:45   Turbowolf
14:15-14:45   James Cleaver Quintet
13:15-13:45   Cars On Fire
12:30-12:55   Against The Flood

Rescue Rooms

21:00-22:00   Cancer Bats (right)
19:45-20:30   Comeback Kid
18:45-19:15   The Ghost Inside
17:45-18:15   Kvelertak
16:45-17:15   Gravemaker
15:45-16:15   Social Suicide
14:45-15:15   Feed The Rhino
13:45-14:15   Hospitals
12:45-13:15   Galleons

Well there you have it ... my first festival in 14 years.  I think it would have been better had it been an outdoor event, but that's only because it was a nice warm day.  A good time was had by all.

My next event is on Thursday May 5th and its Twin Atlantic in Manchester, which should be good.

TTFN x

THE BLACKOUT plus HYRO DA HERO and SWELLERS

Friday April 8th 2011
THE BLACKOUT plus HYRO DA HERO and SWELLERS
Manchester Academy 2

I have been a bit lax in updating my blog lately, no real reason, just being lazy.  Its not like I haven't had any spare time - I'm currently at the end of my second long weekend.  Last week was Easter and then we had Friday off for William and Kate's Wedding, which was quite lovely, and today is Mayday.

We had a lovely barbecue at the house yesterday for Mum's 71st birthday and my sister Sally and her brood came along too - most enjoyable.  Not sure I should have given Mum that huge bottle of Lambrini though!

Aaanyway ... back to the gig ... Luke and Aimee both joined me for this one - we all really like the Blackout, so much so that we're going to see them again later in the year.  Not sure if I've mentioned it before but Aimee has her name printed in the album sleeve for Hope as she bought the album before it was even made.

The queue was already huge when we got to the Academy, and we stood behind a couple of orange-legged girls who confirmed that we were indeed in the right queue.  They had massive sunglasses on, which I decided were only to protect their eyes from the bright glow of their own fake tanned lower halves.

As the crowd started moving forward we spotted something on fire on the grass next to us ... its amazing what people will do during a few minutes of boredom!

The organisation inside wasn't up to much and we seemed to join the middle of the crowd going in, which basically meant we had inadvertently jumped the queue ... oops.  Once inside we went to the front and I took up my usual position down the left, along with the rest of the middle aged parents!

First on were the Swellers from Michigan.  They are a melodic punk band and they got the gig off to a good start.

I have never seen so many floating condoms in such a small space - I don't know how these youngsters can afford to waste them!  Kids ..
I enjoyed the Swellers anyway, especially the very handsome chap on the right hand side ... sorry I don't know his name!

Next on stage was Hyro Da Hero - he's the rapper that appears on Higher and Higher by the Blackout. 

I wasn't sure what I'd think of him at first - I do like some rap but I'd not heard any of Hyro's stuff before.  I needn't have worried though as he was really good and he really got the audience jumping.  Aimee's not a rap fan normally but she liked him too - even bought his album when we got home.  He and his band had loads of energy and everybody loved his set.

He also came out later and joined the Blackout for Higher and Higher.

The Blackout appeared to raucous screams and applause, as always.

There's not an awful lot I can say about them that I haven't already said.  They are always very entertaining and they always put on a great show.  As ever Aimee did a bit of recording for your viewing pleasure >> Aimee's Videography

Aimee has persuaded me that we need to see them again (twice) later in the year ... guess that makes us fans then.

I'll close this entry there as I still have another one to write before I'm up to date!

TTFN x

FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND plus RISE TO REMAIN and TIGER PLEASE

Monday March 28th 2011
FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND plus RISE TO REMAIN and TIGER PLEASE
Sugarmill, Stoke

A nice local gig to end the month on.  The doors didn't open until 7.30 so we had a bit of a treat and went to MacDonalds on the way ... brought back memories that did.

We still got there early but I couldn't see a queue so thought they might have opened the doors already.  I persuaded the kids to get out of the car and we went around to the venue.  There was a bit of a queue but it was a nice evening so we waited.

It was almost empty when we got inside so the kids went straight to the front with 2 of Aimee's friends who were also there.  I went over to them, much to their disappointment, but then I decided it might be a good move to go up onto the balcony, which was empty at this point.  I went up and stood right above their heads so I could keep my eye on them.

I had a drink and then settled myself in, leaning against a pillar and overlooking the stage - brilliant!  The only unpleasant thing was that my feet were completely stuck to the floor ... eww.

Luke and Aimee were shouting up to me which distracted me from putting my earplugs in, so when Tiger Please came on they almost deafened me.  I noticed that the crowd barrier had been moved back and then realised why.

The stage at the Sugarmill isn't very big and there was a lot of equipment on it, so Tiger Please's singer was actually performing from the floor in front of the stage.  It was OK for me, I could see everything from my vantage point, but most of the growing crowd wouldn't have had a clue where he was.

The band are from Cardiff and class themselves as Indie rock.  They weren't bad but the audience didn't really seem that bothered.  The singer took his microphone into the crowd at one point and got very close up and personal with a bunch of people who looked slightly terrified ... especially when his mate chucked a huge drum over to him.  Needless to say no-one was moshing.

When Rise To Remain came on the whole place seemed to come alive.  The lead singer is the son of Iron Maiden front man Bruce Dickinson, which I should have realised, but was informed by Aimee afterwards. 

I'm sure she's told me before but there's only so much information my poor brain can retain!

Anyway, he looks just like his dad and even sounded a little similar so I really should have worked it out for myself.  I thought the drummer looked a bit like a young Colin Farrell, but I'm on my own with that one.

Their biggest fan appeared to be in the audience - he was a one man mosh pit, and managed to clear himself a large area as no-one would go near him.  He managed to drag a couple of other blokes into his wild antics but mostly he was on his own.

We all liked them, especially Luke.  He commandeered Aimee's camera to do some recording of his own here>>>Luke's Videography 

Aimee sent me a text after their set to inform me that Luke wanted to marry Austin, but would settle for a photo.  I hadn't realised he liked them that much.

We did hang around a bit at the end so he managed to shake his hand and buy a tee shirt off him (with my cash, of course).

Finally, Funeral For A Friend came on stage and the crowd went mad.  A mosh pit sprang up as soon as the music started and it took up the entire floor.  I was glad the kids were safe where they were standing, and so was I ... mosh pits are always good to watch from above.

Yet another fab Welsh rock band ... sorry, post hardcore/emo/screamo band according to Wikipedia.  Great music, just my kind of thing, and a very chatty singer too.

Part way through he instructed the audience to split in half, into what Aimee tells me is called a wall of death ... nice.  It was at this point Luke headed off into the mosh, and he stayed there until the end, leaving Aimee to carry on filming >>>Aimee's Videography

I still find it incredible that grown men run into each other at high speed, throw each other around and barge into everyone they see and nobody gets annoyed.  The one man mosh pit was at it again, but this time he wasn't on his own.

Two blokes lost their shoes, and one of them went crowd surfing in an attempt to find his ... not quite sure what his thinking was there.

A few people tried to push in next to me right near the end but I wasn't going anywhere - I was wedged between the pillar and the handrail so I don't know where they thought I was going ... I considered asking but just ignored it and carried on tapping my foot.

It took me a while to get back down the stairs to the kids, but they were quite happy, and it gave Luke chance to meet his idol.  We didn't get back to the car until after 11pm so it ended up being quite a late night, but it was well worth it.

Our next gig is on Friday April 8th when the 3 of us see The Blackout, who are always good value.  This will be the first time we've seen them headlining so we're looking forward to it.

TTFN x

THE MAINE plus NEVERSHOUTNEVER

Wednesday March 23rd 2011
THE MAINE plus NEVERSHOUTNEVER
Manchester Academy

This was my first gig with double headliners, and I didn't even realise that's what they were until after the event.  We arrived without too much trouble and headed for the queue, which was massive!  We may as well have walked from home, it was so far to the end ... well perhaps not as long as the queue for All Time Low but still ... mind you when we got inside it was practically empty so I have no idea where everyone went.

We made use of the facilities and then went into the main hall where Aimee assumed her usual position and I went to the bar.  I then assumed my usual position over on the left out of the way.

Whilst waiting for the gig to begin I noticed a girl back-combing her hair without the aid of a mirror!  What is the world coming to?!  I've seen some goings on at these events but nothing quite that dangerous.

First on were Nevershoutnever and it appeared that most of the audience had come to see them, even though it was basically just Chris the singer and a naked drummer. 

(I later realised he wasn't naked but was wearing a grey vest!)

Nevershoutnever is basically Christofer Drew Ingle from Missouri and when he tours he has musicians with him.  He's only 20 ... bless.  Aimee says he doesn't believe in shoes ("well he probably believes they exist!") and so was barefoot, which I must admit I didn't notice despite the crowd in front of me being remarkably short for a change!

They were on for an hour and the crowd absolutely loved them.
Aimee recorded them for your viewing pleasure here >>>Aimee's Videography  She did tell me that its ages since he last came over to England which I suspect explains the hysteria but I very much enjoyed their music.  It makes a change for me to hear some acoustic pop music rather than deafening rock music (she says whilst listening to Bullet For My Valentine on the laptop!)

Unfortunately my visit to the bar meant I needed to pay a different kind of visit just as they were coming to the end of their set.  I decided to go as they started their last song and what a good move that was ... the ladies were empty, but when I went back inside the rest of the audience seemed to be coming the other way!

During the interval I had a good chance to have a look around, as well as sending Aimee text message pictures of smiling turds.

The first thing I noticed ... well I couldn't miss them actually ... was a beautiful pair of patent yellow Doc Martens which were being modelled by a young girl to my left.  She'll never get lost in the snow when she's wearing those! 

Then, sitting on the floor to my right, was the ginger girl who looked just like the singer out of We The Kings.  I was so excited by this revelation that I texted Aimee to tell her ... who was texting me the exact same news at the exact same time.  I'm sure I saw her first though!

I also saw a bloke who looked like Bob off Twin Peaks, but if you're under 40 you'll have no idea who I mean!  He was very scary though.

Some poor girl was pulled from the crowd and ended up in the recovery position on the security lady's table.  Either that or she was having a kip ... but she didn't look at all well.

The Maine appeared at 9.30 to lots of cheers and the usual squealing. 

They are from Phoenix, Arizona and are classed as a pop punk band. 


Again, I liked them a lot and they were very nice young men.  The singer even refused to remove his shirt!  He was wearing an amazing pair of cowboy boots though, so no footwear phobia here.

They apparently needed a bit of help during their set and so got a young lad called Danny up on stage with them.  He was as giddy as a kipper and grinned inanely all through the song, but didn't do much singing.  He certainly enjoyed himself though.

The crowd thinned out a bit about half way through and the hall looked half empty from where I was.  I spotted a conga line a bit further back but thankfully it didn't go all the way around the room.

During the last couple of songs I was aware of a girl standing at the side of me, and then she was stooping, then she stood up again.  She took out of her bag what looked like a school book and was trying to write in it by the light of her Blackberry.  Very strange.

It was all over at 10.30 and we had a great journey home - there weren't even any roads closed ... bit boring really!

Back next time with a review of Funeral For A Friend at the Sugarmill.

TTFN x