Goodbye 2012 - Top 10 Favourite Songs

Last year on my blog I said goodbye to the year by writing a number of posts of my highlights of the year.  So I am doing it again this year!
  First up, we start with a list of my top ten favourite songs of the year.
Its not been the best year for music for me, nothing really stood out for me and I only went to four gigs which is about a quarter of what I normally do!  But the bands that I am a huge fan of have not disappointed me in 2012.  Coldplay continued to tour their 2011 album Mylo Xyloto and I was lucky enough to see their amazing show at the Emirates on the day of the Jubilee show so the atmosphere was electric and the show was full of glitter, balls, fireworks and smoke machines!  The band were constantly on our screens throughout the year and my favourite highlight was them closing the Paralympics ceremony.
  Steps made their long awaited comeback and I am not ashamed to say how pleased I was!  I loved them ten years ago and this was a great opportunity to reminisce my teenage years, so I saw them at the o2 in London!  It was the ultimate cheese fest and I thouroughly enjoyed dancing to all their songs and surprised myself at how I remembered all the moves!
  Muse brought out their 6th studio album, 2nd Law, as well as writing and performing the Olympic song.  Their album is full of experiments and heavily influenced by Queen in places as well as some dubstep thrown in!  I got to see them with last minute tickets sold to me and it was an amazing light and laser show!
  My favourite christmas song, the Power of Love by Frankie goes to Hollywood, was covered twice at the end of this year.  It was used in the John Lewis advert and sang by Gabrielle Aplin, a beautiful and haunting version which sent goosebumps down my spine and made the nation weep with their portrayal of two snowmen in love!  Then James Arthur covered this version on the X Factor with a slight dubstep beat thrown in!

So with this in mind, here are my top ten tunes of 2012!

10 - Spector - Friday Night

  9 - Walk the Moon - Ana Sun

  8 - Two Door Cinema Club - Sleep Alone

  7 - Noel Gallagher - What A Life

  6 - Coldplay - Princess of China

  5 - Paloma Faith - Never Tear Us Apart

  4 - Mumford & Sons - I Will Wait

  3 - Gabrielle Aplin - Power of Love

  2 - Muse - Madness

  1 - Maccabees - Feel to Follow

                                                                                 x

Happy Record Store Day!

I thought I would dedicate this post to all the record shops left open today.  Yes, today is Record Store day and it got me reminiscing about the good old days of going into my local vinyl shop!  I have two separate memories of this in two different eras.

My first memory is of my Dad.  He has been djing for over 30 years so a routine of heading to a record shop every Saturday would fit into our plans.  I must have been about 7 onwards and at the time I did not fully appreciate the wonder a record shop beholds.  My Dad would spend a good couple of hours flicking through every record in one section, making a mini pile of ones that he has selected and then continuing to buy the latest chart entries to keep up to date.  I would spend those two hours being bored senseless!  There was not much for me to do, music did not interest me at that age and I would just run around the shop or sit and read the inlay covers of cassette albums!  However, I am so glad my Dad did take me on these days out as something must have sank in on the way and nowadays I love nothing more than seeing old vinyl! 

I started to appreciate record shops the more my Dad took me and the older I got.  I am a huge Madonna fan and I remember hunting for any vinyl she released and this has now progressed to 7" singles of my favourite indie songs and obscure bands.  I love picture discs especially, and coloured vinyl as they present an alternative to the typical black.  But there is nothing like a good old fashioned record to cling on to and pass onto our kids.

Unfortunately, our local record stores, Sounds Familiar and Vinyl Village have since been turned into a block of flats and a tanning salon so my son has no idea what a proper record store is.  HMV is the closest he will get to knowing a music shop and even then they are on there way out!

My collection of music consists of 300+ cds, 50 tapes and about a handful of vinyl at the moment.  I am not a huge fan of downloading music although I find it handy for buying the odd single.  I prefer to walk into a shop an buy the physical item, to have it in my hand and get excited about taking it home with me to play, and then filing it alongside the rest of my collection!  Its not the same when doing this with iTunes!

My collection of vinyl so far!

We laugh when we explain to our son what a cassette is, I have not even covered what a record is yet!  I sound so ancient!  But the shocking truth is, my impending child may not even know what a CD is by the time he is old enough to realise and thats so sad.   I will always be thankful to my Dad for introducing me to the world of music, vinyl and record shops as it definetely plays a big role in my life right now and if I can cling on to what was, then hopefully I can pass this onto my children and the world can do the same!

If you live local to a record store, pop in, have a browse, have a chat amongst fellow record lovers and embrace the fact that you are lucky enough to do this!

Happy Record Store day and long may they continue to remain alive!

Listography - My Top 5 Albums by Male Solo Artists

Ooh I love it when Listography goes all musical!  I have not joined in for a few weeks as some of the topics have not related to me in any way!  Now this weeks theme I thought would be a walk in the park for me, being a huge music lover and cd collector.  However, looking at my taste of music, it mainly consists of heavy metal, indie groups or pop groups!  My male solo artist section leaves a lot to be desired, mainly showing off best ofs and lame chart hits that I'm embarrassed to mention!
  However, I have managed to pick out my favourite albums by male solo artists even if I am clutching at straws towards the end!  Dont judge me, here we go:


1: 
Damien Rice - O:  A beautiful album that I adore playing although I definetely have to be in a depressing mood to hear it, otherwise it leaves you feeling depressed either way!


2: 
Bryan Adams - On a Day Like Today:  I have made it no secret on my blog that he is my guilty pleasure and this is my fave album by the man himself, perfect to listen to on a spring day!


3: 
David Gilmour - Live:  Oh dear god!  This album, all be it live, is amazing!  I get goosebumps from beginning to end from the Pink Floyd front man, I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of guitars!

4: 
Robbie Williams - Life Thru a Lens - His best work, this album takes me back to being a teenager and I really think it is well written even if Robbie was a little bitter in those days!

5: 
Bruce Springsteen - Working On a Dream: opening track Outlaw Pete sets the scene for this album, a great comeback from the man himself as he showcased this at Glastonbury three years ago and blew me away!

Phew, that was tough!  Now pop over to Kate Takes 5 to see what others have chosen xxx

Mix Tape Mondays - The Song that was Number 1 on the Day I Was Born

Todays Mix Tape Monday is a great theme, finding out what was number one on the day I was born.  I had known it was this a long time ago and am so pleased as I am a huge Phil Collins fan! Ha!  (Mainly his Genesis years but his solo stuff rocked too!).  So, on the 21st January 1983, Phil Collins got to number one with You Cant Hurry Love, enjoy!

Goodbye 2011 - My Top Ten Songs of 2011

Continuing my highlights of this year, today I am counting down my favourite songs of the year.  I have been doing this every year since 2001, rounding up the best songs and putting them on to cd for my own personal collection.  This year, I'll be doing the same, with the added bonus of sharing it with you!  So, sit back and enjoy my favourite songs that have created memories of 2011....

10:  Chapel Club - Surfacing

I was introduced to this album by some friends and it was right up my street, this song samples a familiar tune and reminds me of standing at bus stops on the school run in the cold early days of spring.

9:  Take That - What Do You Want From Me

The best song off of their new album, and probably the best they have ever done, Mark Owens vocals on here make me melt!

8:  Charlie Simpson - Riverbanks

Being a huge fan of Charlie Simpson's band, Fightstar, I was worried when he released this solo album, but it certainly did not disappoint and this is the most powerful track on the album.

7:  Pulp - This Is Hardcore (Live)

I know this song is many years old and has always been my favourite Pulp song to date, but it has been our soundtrack to the year, seeing as Pulp made a huge festival comeback.  This performance at Reading is truly amazing and the live version is better than the recorded one!

6:  Kasabian - Days Are Forgotten

Not being a huge Kasabian fan at all, this song has truly made the list this year because its really good!  Will be the first and last time I say that this band are good, so make the most of this song!

5: Nero - Guilt

I never thought I would hve a dub-step tune in my favourite lists, but this year has really changed my outlook of this genre, and Nero have helped this.  With a mixture of trance and heavy bass, I am a huge fan!

4:  Friendly Fires - Blue Cassette

Seeing them live at Reading, meeting the band and then seeing them live at Brixton, Friendly Fires are truly a band who put on a show like no other, and if you get a chance, please check out lead singer, Ed's dancing!

3:  Foo Fighters - Walk

My favourite Foos album so far, they can do no wrong and even my son has got into this song, its one to turn up loud in he car, and rock out to!

2: Example - Changed the Way You Kissed Me

I know this song is probably the soundtrack to everyones year, being played constantly on he radio, tv and internet but for a song not to annoy me, or for me not to get bored of, is a truly special one and I heart this song very much!

1:  Coldplay - Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall

A bit predictable for those that know me well, but this song for me, is a magnificent tune, well written and gets me every time I hear it!  It makes me want to jump up and down, bounce off the walls, and dance until the sudden drum beat at the end.  The video sums up everything I am passionate about, art, uniqueness and colour and when I witnessed Coldplay performing this live at Glastonbury on tv, it really won me over.

"I turn the music up, I put my records on, I shut the world outside until the lights come on!"

xxx





Goodbye 2011 - My Top 10 Music Highlights

Today and for the next six days, I will be reviewing my year in all its glory!  We begin with my top ten highlights through music, this includes all the events I have been to, and this year has really been amazing for music, in my opinion.  Coldplay brought their new album out, Dave Grohl won God-Like Genius and dub-step became a music genre I never thought I would like!  Here are my top ten personal music moments that I have been proud of sharing, in order of likeness!


10 - Seeing Jimmy Eat World play their most popular album, Bleed American, in its entirety -and what made it even more special was that we attended this gig with our best friends and danced the night away!



9 - Being crushed in the Dance tent trying to watch Nero at Reading Festival! - an experience for sure, I was really looking forward to seeig this band but after trying to squeeze ourselves into an already packed tent, we heard 30 seconds of their set, before being crushed and trampled on by what felt like the whole world!  It took us about ten minutes to get out even though we were near the entrance and I saw mylife flash before my eyes! I still managed to laugh though!

8 - Brian May playing guitar at My Chemical Romances set at Reading - to witness this was brilliant, MCR were playing a good set, only to bring out the man himself to We Will Rock You!

7 - Going to Glasgow to see Hurts - we were desperate to see this band but had missed out on tickets for the London gigs, so in February this year, we decided to jet off to sunny...Glasgow where Hurts were playing!  Me and Dean made a weekend of it and had a really good time and I was desperate to see this band again as they were amazing!


6 - Muse playing their album, Origin of Symmetry in its entirety at Reading - seeing Muse for the 6th time, and it was their 10th anniversary of their second album.  For me, I reminisced about a time where I was growing up, working and expeiencing going to gigs or the first time so t here the album in its entirety plus some of teir greatest hits was a dream come true!

5 - Pulps last ever gig - what better venue than Brixton academy to witness mine and Dean's favourite band perform a set that was so different to anything I had previously seen, and to regainmy love for the legend that is Jarvis Cocker!  There was light shows, gyrating on speakers, sex noises and three encores all before Jarvis announced that Pulp will not be around for a very long time...



4 - Longview making a comeback - this band only ever released one album six years ago but its one tha has remained one of my faves, and since then the band went very quiet.  Until Septembr, when we went to a very small gig of theirs, and speaking to lead singer, Rob, he confirmed that Longview were back with new songs, and boy did they sound good!  To show our support, we attended another gig of theirs in December, and had an even longer chat with Rob who is an amazing guy and genuinely had time for us!



3 - Attending our first ever festival - instead of going on holiday this year, me and Dean thougt we would break ou fesival virginity together so booked two days for Reading festival, plus a hotel!  You can read all about what went on here.

2 - Meeting Friendly Fires - again, at Reading Festival, we paid a visit to the NME signing tent, with a copy of their album in hand.  The guys lived up to their name, being extremely friendly, and we had a great chat with them! they signed my album and we told them we were seeing them in November, wich was also a gig highlight!



1 - Kylie Minogue duetting with Hurts - This is the best highlight for me because it came as such a shock!  Seeing Hurts for the second time, we knew what a treat we were in for except when Kylie walked out on stage, I just burst into tears like a silly little girl!  she stayed for two songs and I fulfilled yet another musical dream!

2011 has been the best year for fulfilling some of my musical dreams and with three gigs booked so far for 2012, the dreams keep coming!



MIx Tape Monday - A Song That Means Something Special

I really enjoy this meme, hosted by Boo and Me and todays theme took some thought on my part!  And then I realised I did not have to think that hard because this particular song plays the biggest part in my:

Queen - The Show Must Go On
So here are the reasons why this song means something special to me:

• Its my favourite Queen song
• The title is tattooed on my arm
•  A different version of the song appears in my all time favourite movie, Moulin Rouge
• I always attempt to sing it at karaoke, badly!

And most of all, its a song that reminds me to carry on in life, regardless of what is thrown at me.

                                                                         xxx

Tuesday Top Tens - Ten Things I Love/Hate At A Gig



Me and Dean tend to go to a lot of gigs and our most recent one being Friendly Fires for his birthday.  Whilst there, we had a tendency to moan more than enjoy it because of other people! And this got me thinking aboutmy pet hates when going to a gig because we realised people can be really selfish and ruin the experience for others!  So, I have compiled a list of the things that really get on my wick, and also the things that make the experience all worth while!

Things I Hate:
1:  Tall people standing at the front or in front of you - if your lucky enough to be 8 feet tall, then why do you need to stand near the front to see the band?  Surely you can see not only them but also the lights above them plus the rest of the crowd that are below you struggling to see?  Does not make any sense to me!

2:  Girls and their handbags,Boys and their rucksacks - now what could you possibly need at a gig that requires the biggest bag you own?  I get that a bag can be a fashion statement, but at a recent gig, there were numerous girls with massive bags that not only looked like it weighed them down with the amount of stuff inside, but it was also banging against my back and pushing me out the way as if it was another person!  What is the point? Surely its more of a hinderance than a need?  I took a little clutch bag that could fit my essentials in and I was heavy-bag free!  A rucksack is slightly more acceptable so you can experience the hands free version of bringng a bag, but when a guy has a rucksack on, standing in front of you jumping around, I get smacked in the face by the bag! Ugh!!

3:  People dancing inappropriately - I need to make myself clear on this one, me and Dean are terrible for dancing inappropriately!  Jumping, swaying, wooing and screaming all fall into this category and I am one of the biggest culprits of this at a gig! However, i do take into consideration others around me and if I want to scream, I do it away from someones ear, if I want to bounce, I make sure I dont lean on the persn next to or in front of me!  But do others take my consideration when they want to dance like an idiot?!!  No they do not, and my experience the other night proved this, when I had a girl leaning back as far as she could, onto me, grinding and swaying on me as if I was not there!  I pushed her away so she would get the hint but it didnt work! In fact, it made her worse!

4:  People that spend all that money on a ticket, then proceed to stand still and not enjoy it - I find someone like this at nearly every gig!  Im not asking everyone to jump around like a loon like I do, but there are other people out there that deserve the ticket more, who will appreciate the band they are seeing, instead of standing there like they are at a funeral!

5:  Pushing past me when its quite clear there is no room - this really winds me up!  Im standing in a specific spot which means I have a direct view between people's heads to see the stage and enough room for me to dance, but not enough room for anyone to bring their friends along to squeeze through and stand in front of my spot!  Not only that, but there is no room for your six beers, your tall friend or your three ruckacks and three handbags!!



Things I Love:

6:  Seeing a band for the first time and it turns out to be everything you expected and more - I regularly see my favourite bands, but when I see someone new, I dont always know what to expect.  But most bands that care about their fans and have the budget, pull out all the stops to make the experience amazing.  Most recently being Athlete, Hurts and Friendly Fires who haveblown me away when seeing themfor the first time.

7:  Hearing that one song you know everyone has been waiting for - there is always one song that a band is most famous for that you know will be played at the end, and seeing the place come alive and be filled with all that energy is so much fun to be a part of.  Songs that have stood out for me that I will always remember seeing live include Common People by Pulp, Best Of You by Foo Fighters, One Day Like This by Elbow and Viva La Vida by Coldplay

8:  Seeing a mind blowing show and reminiscing about it for the next seven days- there is nothing better than coming away from a gig on a high!  When bands pull out all the stops to make their music even more incredible and getting your moneys worth.  Things that make a gig mindblowig include a different version of a song (acoustic maybe?), ticker tape, fireworks, pyro-technics and having the band leap off stage so you can touch them!

9:  Meeting a band after their gig - I have not done this many times but when I have it totally adds to the experience!  I have met lead singer from a small indie band from the 00s, twice, had Nicky Wire from the Manic Street Preachers walk past me onto his tour bus,and met the lovely Friendly Fires so they could sign my CD and have my picture taken with them!

10:  Dancing like a mad woman to my favourite bands - Now I did cover this above, but when its me doing all the dancing and not others being annoying, it really adds to the gig experience!  Its a chance for me to throw all my cares away, take in the music and feel emotions I dont always get to feel,just through the powers of music!!

Phew, that was great for a good old rant!



365 Day Photo Challenge - 58 / 365

58 / 365 - OMG!!! I went to see Hurts do their last gig of their tour at Brixton Academy. They were magnificent and when their album track, Devotion, played I was joking about how funny it would be if Kylie Minogue walked onstage, (as she duetted with them on this track originally).  Well the joke was on me, as she bloody well DID walk on stage!  I was in such shock, I cried like a silly little girl!  She not only sang Devotion with Hurts, Kylie stayed on to sing her hit, Confide in Me, which the band have covered before. What a treat!!



My Love Mondays - My Love For Coldplay

I am starting a meme for myself!  Unless anyone wants to join in, they can!  Mondays will now contain blogs about My Love For.... anything!  Today, because they released their 5th studio album, I begin with My Love For Coldplay!



Now Coldplay are definetely a love/hate band.  I love them but it becomes a taboo subject amongst friends of mine that hate them!  So I keep it to myself because I am a metal bird at heart!

I first came to love them when they released their second album, "Rush of Blood to the Head" which my brother, Scott, introduced me to.  I fell in love with first track, "Politik" and have not looked back since. 

In 2005, I had a ticket to see them live but I was eight months pregnant with Jacob at the time and it was not advisable that I went! I was so gutted but in 2008, I finally got the chance to see them. We were right at the front at the O2 arena in London so had the best view of them touring with their fourth album, "Viva La Vida and Death to All His Friends."

I also got to see them live at Wembley Stadium the following year, which was just as good and with a similar view!

Now, with their latest album, Mylo Xyloto, released, I wonder what it is about Coldplay that I love so much.  Well, lead singer, Chris Martin, really knows how to pull at my heartstrings through a melody.  His lyrics capture everything I would imagine my poetry to sound like and when putting all this together in a song, I have found my perfect combination.

My top 5 favourite Coldplay songs:

1 - Politik

2 - The Scientist

3 - Fix You

4 - Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall

5 - Lovers In Japan

My top 5 least favourite Coldplay Songs:

1 - God Put A Smile Upon My Face

2 - Paradise

3 - Clocks

4 - The Hardest Part

5 - Talk

And then their live shows encapsulate everything they stand for.  Its a magnificent colour show, their songs in technicolour, with paper butterflies falling from the sky, globes with the band singing live on above your head, and Dad dancing from Chris Martin himself!

I dont care that people hate the band, they aren't to everyones liking, but they still won the Q Award for Best Band In the World Today so that must be saying something!  Coldplay hit the formula for good music and I hope they continue for many more years.

My Love For Coldplay

365 Day Photo Challenge - 47 / 365

47 / 365 - Today, I am the proud owner of the new Coldplay album, Mylo Xyloto! Im off to listen to it.....



365 Day Photo Challenge - 32 / 365

32 / 365 - Todays picture was taken last night when I went to a gig of one of my favourite bands, Longview.  They have not been around for 5 years, but boy, did they come back with rocking guitars and excellent new songs!  We were lucky enough to meet them afterwards and my brother grabbed a copy of the setlist complete with bass guitarist footprint! And I "borrowed" this poster from the wall!



Day Zero Project - Make a playlist of my 101 favourite songs

Another of my tasks ticked off for my Day Zero Project, which involved me picking 101 of my all time favourite songs!  Believe me, that was a huge challenge, seeing as every time a song comes on the radio, I claim it's, "one of my favourite songs of all time!"  Even after I have compiled the list and put it onto 7 discs to keep forever, I still left out millions of other "favourites" of mine! 

  Anyway, here is that very list in its entirety, its quite an ecletic list to say the least, some of which you will never have heard of, (but I dare you to give them a listen!), most of which are album tracks and some you may even have on your own list. There may even be one or two disgraceful songs that will get you all talking, feel free to let me know what these were! For those that know me very well, its your typical and predictable "Jade" list! 

So sit back, put on your itunes on, and join me for what I believe are 101 of the best songs ever made!

1:  Hotel California - The Eagles

2:  Boys of Summer - Don Henley

3:  Wide Open Space - Mansun

4:  Coming Back to Life -Pink Floyd

5:  Whole of the Moon - The Waterboys

6:  The Show Must Go On - Queen

7:  Iris - Goo Goo Dolls

8:  Without You Im Nothing - Placebo

9:  Chances - Athlete

10:  Politik - Coldplay

11: Gorecki - Lamb

12:  Is This The Life? - Cardiacs

13:  This Love - Craig Armstrong

14:  Calling All Stations - Genesis

15:  Give In To Me - Michael Jackson

16:  Yet Another Day - Armin Van Buuren

17:  Woman In Chains - Tears For Fears

18:  Design For Life - Manic Street Preachers

19: The Scientist - Coldplay

20:  Further - Longview

21:  Nothing - A

22:  Cloud Number Nine - Bryan Adams

23:  This Used To Be My Playground - Madonna

24:  The Kill - 30 Seconds To Mars

25:  Fix You - Coldplay

26:  Wonderwall - Ryan Adams

27:  El Tango De Roxanne - Cast of Moulin Rouge

28:  Haemorrage in my Hands - Fuel

29:  This is Hardcore - Pulp

30:  Bedshaped - Keane

31:  Powder Blue - Elbow

32:  You'll See - Madonna

33:  In Your Room - Depeche Mode

34:  The Ghost of You - My Chemical Romance

35:  You - Ten Sharp

36:  Run - Snow Patrol

37:  Devil - Stereophonics

38:  When Things Explode - UNKLE

39:  So Here We Are - Bloc Party

40:  In The Shadows - The Rasmus

41:  Justify My Love - Madonna

42:  Every Teardrop is a Waterfall - Madonna

43:  Barbers Adagio for Strings - William Orbit

44:  I Write Sins, Not Tragedies - Panic at the Disco!

45:  Someday - Ash

46:  Real Gone Kid - Deacon Blue

47:  Exo Genesis Parts 1-3 - Muse

48:  Alibi -30 Seconds To Mars

49:  Stop - Jimmy Eat World

50:  Love Song for a Vampire - Annie Lennox

51:  No Regrets - Robbie Williams

52:  Songbird - Oasis

53:  Paris - Friendly Fires

54:  In a State - UNKLE

55:  Moonshine -Feeder

56:  Retread - Embrace

57:  Love Comes Again - Tiesto

58:  Lullaby - The Cure

59:  Everything Changes - Staind

60:  Confide In Me - Kylie Minogue

61:  What Do You Want From Me? - Take That

62:  Erotica - Madonna

63:  It Means Nothing - Stereophonics

64:  Decode - Paramore

65:  Everybodys Free (To Wear Sunscreen) - Baz Luhrmann

66;  To The Moon and Back - Savage Garden

67:  Outlaw Pete - Bruce Springsteen

68:  Unspoken - Hurts

69:  Resistance - Muse

70:  Bubbles - Biffy Clyro

71:  Where the Streets Have No Name - U2

72:  Streets of Phladelphia - Bruce Springsteen

73:  Showbiz - Muse

74:  One and One - Robert Miles

75:  Stop Crying Your Heart Out - Oasis

76:  Bitter Glass - Feeder

77:  I Wanna Give You Devotion - Nomad

78:  Vienna - Ultravox

79:  Mr Writer - Stereophonics

80:  Ordinary World - Duran Duran

81:  Blurry - Puddle of Mudd

82:  Never Tear Us Apart - INXS

83:  Buried Alive By Love - HIM

84:  Shut Up - Black Eyed Peas

85:  Praying for Time - George Michael

86:  Black Swan Song - Athlete

87:  Gonna Make You Sweat - C+C Music Factory

88:  Sunrise - Pulp

89:  Born Slippy - Underworld

90:  I Want Love - Elton John

91:  First of May - Bee Gees

92;  Drugs Dont Work - Verve

93:  Power of Goodbye - Madonna

94:  Naked in the Rain - Blue Pearl

95:  Muscle Museum - Muse

96:  Minerva - Deftones

97:  Mama - Genesis

98:  I Wish It Would Rain Down - Phil Collins

99:  The Power of Love - Frankie Goes To Hollywood

100:  All The Things She Said - TaTu

101:  Citizen Erased - Muse

Mammys Monday Music Meme!!

So, today I thought I would start this music meme courtesy of Oh Mammy!  Basically, its a link up to showcase your music, it can be about anything or any track so for my first go, I have chosen Queen - The Show Must Go On.  Not only is it on of my favouite songs of all time, it is also to commemorate it being Freddie Mercurys 65th birthday today.  I hear there will be a huge party at The Savoy where all the guests have to dress up like him!

The song means alot to me in many ways, not only is it well written, I can relate to the lyrics which have carried me through life, I have the song title tattooed on my arm, and it appears in my favourite movie Moulin Rouge!

I remember first hearing this song as a kid, I thought it was the greatest song Queen had ever written, and still do.  I remember my Dad telling me it was the last song Freddie will probably ever write and that has always stuck in my mind. 

So, here's to you, Freddie, the show must go on.......

My Reading Festival Diary - One Day Like This.....

And so the amazing weekend that was is unfortuantely over!!  Me and my fiance went to the Reading Festival for two days and boy, what a time we had!  Now, before I write about our experience, I was asked by Company magazine to do a feature for them, entitled Bloggers in Boots about being at the festival. For those of you who dont know, (or cant remember!) I wrote a short piece on their website about being a festival virgin despite having gone to over 60 gigs!!  You can read my post on this here.  They loved what I wrote so asked me to blog for them which I have emailed to them and am now waiting for it to appear on their web site!  It pretty much is a photo diary so I will try not to repeat myself on here with the same things, but I have more free reign on my blog so am excited to tell you all about our Reading adventures!!

So me and Dean managed to get ourselves a day ticket for the Friday and Sunday, which also meant having to stay in a hotel for the weekend!!  I was so excited to be going as I didnt know what to expect!

We drove to Reading on the Friday morning and parked in a designated area then followed everyone else to catch the boat to the main site.

The boat ride took about 15 minutes and I was getting a bit of motion sickness which is unusual for me!

  But it was still a lovely start to our adventure as the views from the boat were lovely and everyone was in good spirits!

So when we arrived, we had the worst torrential rain and my lovely fiance Dean came in jeans and a t-shirt!!  Emergency ponchos bought and even then, it took him ten minutes to realise the sleeve was not the bit you put your head through!

In the meantime, I was nice and dry under my umbrella, hoodie, leggings and poncho!

Poncho Friends!!

The opening act at the main stage were The Architects who I had not heard of before but glad I have now as they were brilliant!  We met up with some friends to see Bring Me The Horizon, who Im not a huge fan of but they did put on an impressive show, climbing all over the scaffolding, crowd surfing and inviting a memeber of the audience up on stage to sing with them!! I was thoroughly entertained!!

The rain finally stopped but the mud kept flowing!  People were actually rolling around in the sludge, wrestling and play fighting!!  Not my cup of tea, but it was certainly enjoyable getting stuck in the mud and sliding all over the place!! It especially made it difficult to jump up and down to my favourite songs!

Watched the Deftones with good friends and saw them perform my favourite by them, Minerva.  The sun was shining so the ponchos came off and the suncream went on!!

This is moi, standing in front of the BBC3 studio where Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates do ther live links.  We could see them both getting their make up done ready in time for the show and as I walked away, Fearne Cotton got up and waved at us!!  There were only seven of us standing here so she made a point of waving to each of us! How lovely of her!!

OMG!!

Jared Leto and his band, 30 Seconds to Mars were on stage at sunset although I was a little disappointed by their show.  I was in the middle of the crowd and no one was singing along, (except for me wailing like a cat!) and  the sound was awful.  Although Im all ok for a sing song, Jared Leto left most of the singing to the crowd and when he did sing, his microphone was not on!  They played such hits as The Kill, Beautiful Lie, This Is War, and Kings and Queens but I was disappointed by the overall show.

Headlining act My Chemical Romance were terrific! Im a fan of their older stuff but they certainly know how to make a crowd dance and I had a party all on my own!!  Their encore was fab, coming out to We Will Rock You and when the guitar part came in, on walked Brian May!!  Fulfilling another dream of mine as Queen are one of my favourite bands and the crowd were shocked!  He remained on stage for MCRs song Welcome to the Black Parade and ended with fireworks and explosions!!

Saturday was a day of recovering in a luxury five star hotel! Forget camping in the mud, this was showering in the cleanest of showers and watching Pulp at Reading on the plasma tv with no one pushing or shoving!

Durng the day, me and Dean saw the sights, visiting the local shopping centre and dining out! In the evening we ordered room service,(as above!) whilst watching Dr Who and X Factor!

 Rock On!

Sunday, and the sun came out for us!  Back on the boat for our last day of festivalling and I was extremely excited about what the day had in store for us.

Whilst everyone else was nursing a hangover, and still in their camps, we arrived on site to dry, stinky mud! It was peaceful and we took the opportunity to get to the main stage to see the first act, We Are The Ocean open up the stage.

Whilst we were waiting for our bands to come on, we took he opportunity to do a bit of retail therapy on site.  There were many stalls selling clothes, jewellery, shoes, bags and merchandise and I took the time to try on some silly head gear!  It was very Camden-esque and I always love picking up something unique - in this case i found mself a pair of earrings with some offensive language written on guitar picks! Fabulous!

Me and Dean spent most of Sunday afternoon in the Alternative tent as I knew there would be a long queue to see Tim Minchin.  For an hour and a half, we were entertained by Steve Hughes and Jarred Christmas who were both hilarious and my jaw ached from laughing! Finally, Tim Minchin came out and the crowd went mad! I was only a few rows from the front and he was incredible!

Another highlight - watching Friendly Fires perform.  Me and Dean are huge fans so were excited about this.  The lead singer, Ed, is famous for his dancing which I cant even describe in words but lets say he makes "dad" dancing cool again!  He also has great fashion sense, sporting a Hawaiian shirt!  The crowd had an amazing time dancing, shaking their hulas and even when the rain came down, the atmosphere remained carnival-like.

The NME signing tent, where we met Friendly Fires after their set!  This was the biggest highlight for me, so cd in hand, the boys signed away and chatted to us about my hair, earrings, and seeing them in November!  We werent allowed to take pictures but I took a sneaky few when the security guard popped out and then I asked the lead singer for a cheeky picture which he agreed to...!

Hooray!

The sun was setting ready for the main headliners and Elbow were performing whilst I took this gorgeous picture.  Everyone was in good spirits and the air was romantic and pretty!! The band sang most of their hits from The Seldom Kid album including Grounds For Divorce and One Day Like This.

Muse were the main headiners and this would be my 6th time seeing them!  I was overly excited as they were playing their second (and best) album, Origin of Symmetry, in full!  I first saw Muse when they were doing their Hullabaloo tour so this was a big event for me too!  The set was based on the album art work and included pyro technics, bouncng balls and fireworks!  For the second half of the show, Muse played their biggest hits includig Uprising, Time Is Running Out and Starlight.  The crowd were awesome, jumping around, singing along and I even had a "mini mosh" during Knights of Cydonia, just because I hadnt done all weekend!

It was certainly a weekend we will never forget!  Despite the mud which didnt really bother me, I find it hard to pick a bad moment but the only downside was not seeing Nero in the dance tent.  Well, we did, but nearly got crushed in the process and Dean had to drag me out before my ribs broke!  Its certainly going to be hard to recover from all the amazing memories we collected in three days.  I leave you with some of the other pictures I took of the event, whilst I clean my wellies ready for next year!!