When the Manics did the 20th anniversary tour of the Holy Bible last year, I was sad that all the gigs were far away. I was also slightly surprised that none were in Wales.. turns out they were just saving the best for last.
Cardiff Castle, on a warm Friday evening as the sun set. Wow.
First up, the Holy Bible played in full. It's probably not my favourite album (don't kill me, Manics fans) because some of the songs are just a bit too dark, but seeing the whole thing performed live was something else. And knowing that it was being... continue reading »
The final weekend of July (a five weekend month!) was a busy one, even by my standards.
On Friday evening I headed over to see the parents, who provided food and a lift into town so I could see the mighty Goldie Lookin' Chain playing the festival. Which was generally rather entertaining. I was less amused at the cost of a small cup of Pimm's from the bar mind you...
On Saturday I ticked off a bit more of the Wye. Monmouth to Symonds Yat (and back again), on my bike via the Peregrine Path. A really nice cycle route actually -... continue reading »
And they were utterly fantastic. 23 songs - a good mix from all the albums (though nothing from Journal For Plague Lovers), including a couple of more 'obscure' songs that the drunk idiots causing chaos in the mosh pit obviously didn't recognise. Ha!
Points worth noting:
James doing Can't Take My Eyes Off You with a towel on his head
getting the Welsh national anthemn as an intro to Motown Junk
Nicky reappeared wearing an obscenely short Welsh flag skirt (the front row got an eye full when he was jumping about doing high kicks, that's for sure!)
I... continue reading »
Two very important and exciting musically themed things this week:
The Manics are doing a mini-tour in May.
There's a new Radiohead album
oh, and the Brit awards, but that registers so low on my radar that it may as well not exist. As I displayed my massive lack of street cred during a discussion at work where I hadn't heard of any of the winners/nominees. No huge loss, given that I assume the charts are probably full of x factor type shite
Starting with point 2. Radiohead. Ahhhh! Whilst enjoying a lazy day off on monday, the internet informed me that... continue reading »
It's no secret that I see absolutely no point whatsoever in Eurovision. So every year I avoid it.
Every year, the UK does not win. Good! And every year this ends up in large amounts of bitter sulking about how it's all politics and "not about the music" blah blah blah. Again, yawn. Talk about being bad losers...
This year, even Wogan's throwing his toys out of the pram about it. Seriously, grow up!
In more interesting news, I would like to report that Firefox 3 on KDE is an ugly mess. I need to find a different theme that isn't broken. Not... continue reading »
Actually I'm not 100% sure what did happen to it... it was certainly squashed against the tarmac of my parents drive by something, either a foot or a tyre. I reckon car, because if you trod on it I think you'd slip. Also I found it underneath where a car had been.
But it still works absolutely fine, yay Which meant my drive to Shropshire yesterday was accompanied by much loud music. Really cheesy music. I've acquired a whole load of crap 80s pop (as an example of just how bad, this includes... continue reading »
This has to be the most amusing thing I've read over the last few days - Stoke on Trent has its own musical anthem. No, really.
Then I actually listened to it. And laughed, a lot. It's so embarrassingly cheesy and 80s synthy rubbish. I was too busy giggling to pay much attention to the lyrics, but I think it's probably safe to assume that they're not so great either.
Poor old Stoke. Although they could always try and enter it in Eurovision or something...
I've bought myself a new mp3 player. One of these. It's small and shiny and rather nice, and came with the shortest usb cable I have ever seen - 12cm including both connectors! The player could really do with a clip though, but I can buy that as an accessory and it'll still work out much cheaper and better than an ipod shuffle
Only problem is, I'm sat here now listening to it (because hey, it's new and all), but I keep getting confused because I'm pressing win+b on my keyboard to skip to the next track and nothing's happening....... continue reading »
So apparently Morrissey wants to do Eurovision. wtf?!
I really don't understand the UK's approach to Eurovision. Every year they (or, if you really must, 'we') try and find the *best* song and get far too serious about it. Is it not painfully obvious that the song that wins it is always going to be the most cheesy and ridiculous one? Seriously, if I've realised this - bearing in mind that I don't think I have ever watched more than about 15 minutes of Eurovision - why hasn't everyone else?
I also really don't understand why anyone would... continue reading »
I keep meaning to write about things then forgetting or just generally being too lazy. So here is a list of things I've been thinking about/doing over the last few weeks, in no particular order:
Went shopping in Brighton. For the day.
Got the car serviced. This cost lots of money. As did the park+ride into town whilst I was waiting, because apparently if you walk to the bus rather than drive it costs £2 rather than £1. Odd.
went to Alton Towers
Finally figured out what crappy radio station it is that occasionally interferes with Kerrang on my... continue reading »
My mother once told me not to listen to music whilst driving, as it's too much of distraction. I took no notice of her (sorry mum!), and always have the radio on if I'm driving somewhere on my own.
Things that interrupt my enjoyment of AM radio during my drive to and from work:
thunderstorms
the weather generally
power lines
trains
Church Stretton
And also occasionally the car itself, which I find slightly odd...
The crackle and fuzz was so bad on the way home today that I could barely hear the music, then eventually realised it was some crap by my least favourite whinging ex-soldier, so... continue reading »
Which meant my drive to Shropshire yesterday was accompanied by much loud music. Really cheesy music. I've acquired a whole load of crap 80s pop (as an example of just how bad, this includes...