Guns N’ Roses are back. The headline I’ve been waiting for, for what seems like my entire life, is now here, kind of. Slash and Axl are friends again and will be performing together at Coachella 2016, as well as allegedly embarking on an arena tour, so there’s only really one thing to say…
Take me down to the Paradise City.
Yesterday, the new Mumford & Sons single was released, called Believe, and it’s erm… very different. Very, very different…
There is less than a week before I see Noel Gallagher at the O2, and I’ve just realised that I’ve barely listened to his new album. By barely listened, I mean I’ve heard the two singles and not much else. It’s time to start panic listening.
Let me assure you – that is a real thing.
It’s no secret that I love music more than the average 20 year old Londoner. Where everyone has their hobbies on what they spent their hard earned money from (better known as student loans) mine pretty much revolves around music. Reading about it, listening to it, and going to see it.
I was lucky enough to go and see Eminem at his second Wembley gig. Regardless of what everyone has said about it being a flop and the sound was awful or whatever – I had a great time! The atmosphere more than made up for the crappy sound quality, which is one of the main reasons I love going to gigs so much.
Another “main reason” gigs are basically heaven for me is it allows me to see the person that wrote the lyrics I love so very much, and suddenly that person isn’t just a poster on a wall or the sound in my headphones – they are there. They are alive. They are standing in front of me and talking to me!
Twitter Q+A’s are pretty popular now, with many big companies bringing in a specialist in whatever field to take over the company Twitter account to answer questions from fans. Reading & Leeds Festival do it every year, featuring a different band every week in the months running up to the weekend.
VH1 are also into it, and they brought in Robin Thicke today.
I have no idea what possessed them to choose him (actually I do: marketing – it gets people talking about them because who the fuck cares about VH1 anymore?) but it honestly could not have been a worse choice. No, wait, it was a great choice because everyone was tweeting them?
Business-wise it was the best choice they could have possibly made. Morality-wise, it was god-awful. There’s a long list of tweets full of hatred, anger, and full on sarcasm, all proudly containing the #AskThicke tag.
Many of you will know about my love for music. I’ve posted about it before, and I think I mention it quite a bit, too! The reasons why are pretty simple: I love the way certain music makes me feel; I love dancing; I love singing; I like air-guitaring; I love gigs; I love how when I listen to certain songs, I feel like they were written just for me; and most importantly, I’m on that lifelong journey to compile the world’s most perfect playlist (which, by the way, I have almost completed! There’ll be a blog post to follow…)
Today marks 20 years since Kurt Cobain passed away, and 12 years since Layne Staley passed. Both were major figures in the grunge scene, being the frontmen of Nirvana and Alice in Chains, respectively. Both Cobain and Staley battled against serious drug addictions that were no secret to the public.
Pierce The Veil as a support for Bring Me The Horizon on The Crooked Young Tour were incredible! I’ve only recently really gotten into them, and for personal reasons, I’ve fallen in love with them.
I’d only really listened to Caraphernelia (from their 2010 album Selfish Machines) before, but then, on a whim, I decided to get their last album Collide With The Sky (2012). This album made them so much more popular, I feel, because after it came out and I listened to it, the band were suddenly everywhere. I didn’t go to any of their headline shows, but still wanted to see them live. I got my chance on Wednesday, as they were supporting Bring Me The Horizon, along with Sights & Sounds. I didn’t bother going to see Sights & Sounds (because I was working, and so were everyone I was going with, so we ended up missing them), but I got to the venue about 5 minutes before Pierce The Veil took to the stage.
They were incredible. They opened with Bulls In The Bronx, and straight away the energy in the venue rose completely. I’ve been to a fair share of gigs, and I can safely say that the energy for support acts is not always that high. You need to have an amazing support for the crowd to be as pumped as if they’re already seeing the headline band. I stayed at the back, by the bar, and so had a very decent view and room to breathe, drink, and dance (which I definitely did!).
The song I was most excited to hearing was Hell Above. I’d been listening to that on repeat for about a week before the gig, and was so excited to hear it, that as soon as they started playing May These Noises Startle You In Your Sleep Tonight (the minute-and-a-half long intro to Hell Above on the album) I could hardly control myself; I screamed along so hard to the line “THIS IS THE STREET YOUTH RISING UP!” I thought I’d already blown my throat out.
Caraphernelia was another highlight; obviously Jeremy McKinnon didn’t make an appearance (but my year would have made if he did…) but it was still incredible to just hear Vic’s voice singing the way through. They ended the set with King For A Day, which obviously led to a crowd sing-a-long for probably their most popular song. Or should that be a scream-a-long..? In my partial drunken state it seemed a good idea to attempt to sing Kellin Quinn’s parts as high as he does. Obviously that wasn’t such a fabulous idea. It hurt my throat. It was a lot of fun to sing to though, and Siobhan and I got waaaaay into it at one point… Harmonies were attempted. That’s all I’m gonna say.
If you’re a fan of Pierce The Veil then I won’t bother telling you that you need to go and see them. But if you’re not a fan, or haven’t heard their stuff, then I seriously recommend you check them out. It’s not for everyone (I once had a friend tell me that Vic’s high vocal range seriously puts him off listening to them, because it’s “too girly.” Each to their own, I guess…) But they’re still so good, incredibly talented, and amazing to see live. You can tell they love their fans, and know the issues that they go through, and appreciate them so very fucking much. They’re good role models to have, and they know it, which is evident in the way they speak to the crowd, and the lyrics they write. I wish I’d found them sooner than I did, but I’m so glad I have their music in my life now.
I like going to gigs. I don’t attend gigs as much as I’d like to, though – mainly because funds, other commitments, funds, my parents don’t like it, and FUNDS! But there’s something so amazingly special about going to a gig! I get asked by a lot of people why I spend such a ridiculous amount on gigs, and the most basic answer I can give is that I like it. The answer literally flows so much deeper than that, though.
The excitement of a gig will literally start as soon as a tour is announced. You plan your time and start budgeting from that moment, so you know you’ll have enough in your bank account when the tickets are released. For me, I start looking around and researching on how I can access priority release, and get my tickets a day or two earlier; O2 & LiveNation pre-sale have made many a day of mine! Then, a couple of days after you’ve booked the tickets, the excitement dies down a bit… Till your tickets arrive!
The gig day is always a fabulous day! Even if the day itself is like living through hell, there’ll be a voice in the back of your head screaming out “TODAY IS THE DAY! MEMORIES WILL BE MADE! YOU WILL HAVE A FABULOUS TIME!” The time you leave for a gig depends on how hardcore you are. In the past, I’ve queued all day for a gig. The longest I ever queued was nine hours. Nine hours of my day was spent queueing for Avenged Sevenfold, and then another nine hours was spent queueing for Slash. I’ve literally spent 18 hours of my life, sitting in the cold rain, outside Hammersmith Apollo. And that’s just the longest queue times… I don’t even want to calculate how long I’ve actually spent in a gig queue!
For me, going to a gig is a personal thing. Almost every gig I go to, I’ll go because the headline act has changed me in some way. Avenged Sevenfold are just one of my favourite bands, Slash is a hero of mine, Bring Me The Horizon almost saved my life on more than one occasion, Guns N’ Roses are my all time favourite band, Halestorm have given me fond memories, Steel Panther cheer me up when I’m feeling a bit crap, A Day To Remember helped me through a couple of tough times… It’s all personal!
For a lot of people, I think that bands define who they are. The music and the lyrics allow people to have the words they couldn’t find to explain how they’re feeling. It also proves that they’re not the only person feeling the way they feel, and almost offers a support network for them. I know it’s the way I feel. There’s something so amazing in screaming your favourite lyrics back at the band that wrote them, with thousands of other people that feel the way you do. When that happens to you, you know you’re part of something so much more than just music. It’s fuckin’ awesome!!
I’m so stoked for tomorrow. I’ll be going to see Bring Me The Horizon at Brixton Academy, which will be AMAZING! Like I mentioned before, the band have almost saved my life on many occasions, and their last album gave me so many FEEEEEELLSSS!!! Tomorrow will be the third time seeing them, this year, and I’m still as excited as the first time!! Pierce the Veil are one of the support acts. I’ve only recently really gotten into them, but OH MY GOD how do they write those lyrics so perfectly?! I just- I can’t- I mean I’m just so done.
I doubt I’ll be able to sleep much tonight, or get much work done tomorrow, because the excitement is almost killing me.
(sidenote – as much as I want to, I can’t queue hours for this gig… I have to work.)
This Seems Dangerous 