Oh my fucking god

(12/11 - Edit... we have freaken tickets! haha)

Holy fuckin' shit

"Hi there Winner,

Yes, you're a winner! Congratulations, you're the lucky recipient of a pair of VIP tickets to Glastonbury next weekend!

Please respond as soon as possible today if you're able to make it next weekend with the name of your guest and your postal address.

Thanks

Lauren
Marketing Executive - Q, Kerrang!, Mojo, Empire"



I am utterly speechless.

Why I love living in London #6384

My diary next week...

Thurs June 14
Modest Mouse
QOTSA
White Stripes

Friday June 15
Cat Empire
Just Jack
Kelis
Faithless

Sunday June 16
My Chemical Romance
Muse

Baby dontcha sign that paper tonight, she said

Last night I went to one of the best gigs ever. Leah, Dyls, Hogga, Az and I saw Reel Big Fish at the University of London. It reminded me a lot of Adelaide Uni Bar... a fucking awesome place for live gigs.

We started playing nicely in the bar


Then we got amongst it..


Then we got on top of it..


(how those boys lifted me I have NO idea)

Then we got drenched..
(Leah gave the ground 2 beers after spitting most of her first one in my face).

Then we gave it eyes..


Oh and did I mention I MET DAN REGAN?!
Holy crap.

Me: Hi Dan! I love you guys so much, you rock!
Dan: Thanks!
Me: I saw you a bunch of times in Aus and caught you at Reading... that was fucking awesome
Dan: It was a great show! We didn't play Sell Out though..
Me: Yeah I know, dickheads in the crowd were throwing shit and booing
Dan: Yeah, security dragged us off so we couldn't go back on.. we're opening with it tonight though *grins*
Me: Get in!!

FUCKEN YES!!

Oh, and at some point we actually saw the best ska band on Earth






We ended the night by displaying some unbelievable acrobatic skill on the tube.

(I fully fucking landed that too, complete with Olympic finish).

GIGS

For me to recap... not to gloat. No, really.. ;)

May 21 Hilltop Hoods @ Islington Academy (ahh.. playing for my birthday much?!)
June 14 White Stripes/Queens Of The Stone Age @ Hyde Park
June 15 Faithless @ Hyde Park
June 17 Muse @ Wembley Stadium
June 24 EITHER Glastonbury or Hyde Park Calling
July 4 Justin @ Millenium Dome
July 8 Metallica @ Wembley Stadium
July 19 Benicassim Festival @ Valencia, Spain (The Hives, Iggy Pop, Arctic Monkeys)
Aug 17 V Festival @ Chelmsford (Foo Fighters, Killers, Basement Jaxx)
Aug 24 Reading Festival @ Reading (RHCP, NIN, Smashing Pumpkins)
Sept 28 Gwen Stefani @ Wembley Arena

And now I stop buying tickets. UNLESS Tool tour again (please god PLEASE) and that doesn't count.

Bow down before the one you serve

(No, not a lifestyle choice, rather, a reflection on a performance)

Last night Az and I saw Nine Inch Nails @ Brixton. Two words. Fucking AMAZING!!!



Coming off the back of a rather large Saturday night I didn't think I was going to make it. However, by some miracle (including copious amounts of sun, fresh air and codeine) we were off to Richmond at around 4pm, refreshed (ish) and ready to have a few drinks with Dyl and his mates before the mission to Brixton (UGH and what a mission, but I can't be arsed recalling it as it was an absolute mare).

Do we look boverred?!

By the time we made it to Brixton it was heaving.. there were black leather jackets and long matted hair everywhere. We nestled ourselves up the back and got settled in with a pint and not long after they hit the stage. I have never seen a set up like it before, it was insane. Basically there was no main lighting for the show and as they played lighting rigs (positioned not very far from their heads) flashed. They also had huge light bulbs hanging above each of their heads and if they felt the need, which Jeordie did a hell of a lot, they had ropes to swing the lights around making the set look even madder. (Clearly, it's hard to describe but WELL worth going to see if the chance were available).

AMAAAAZING lighting

Half way through the set there was a mad drum piece.. I was watching the guy play thinking he was absolutely amazing and that his playing looked so familiar... turns out my suspicions were correct.. it was Josh Freese. As IF I was in the presence of two of my favourite musicians of all time on one stage. I was literally in heaven.

To add to that, while we were standing by the bar Az saw a tour shirt on the ground that people were stepping on and noone seemed to own. So, he points and goes 'Rez, you dropped your shirt!', I picked it up and noone batted an eyelid... so I ran to the merch stand, swapped it for a smaller (and cleaner) size! Bingo was his name-o!

They ended with Hurt and Head Like A Hole and the place went FRICKING MENTAL. It was brilliant. We walked away thoroughly content, complete with a new addition to our rock 'n roll hallway of fame (Trent, you'll look amazing on our walls) and ready for ROCK's NIN album launch in April. BRING IT ON!!

Edit:

Trent, after being mounted in our Rock 'n Roll Hallway of Fame (unfortunately we do only mean mount in the picture-hanging sense)

"The exits are at the front..... and the rear..... of the craft"

Well... Kylie's been and gone. I can't believe it!! After a year and a half from the date I was originally to see her I finally got my chance at Wembley Arena both Monday and Tuesday night. The setlist was the same for both nights but there were differences in both shows (particularly given that that the Tuesday night was her last in London)

Monday
Bevs in hand Dyl, Az and I trotted up to our seats... we were right at the back of the block, but directly opposite the stage - perfect for seeing back and under stage activity (Including nudity between changes!).

Highlights:
- KM forgot the words during 'I Believe In You'. "Sorry! I'm too busy reading your signs!"
- At one point she (unfortunately) said "I know a lot of you have travelled a long way.. are there any Australians here tonight?". Azza and I decided this would be the perfect time and place to disgrace ourselves (and our country). We screamed our guts out... and got looked at by everyone within a 50m radius. Twats.
- Her storytelling.
"I sang with Bono in Sydney.. we asked him what kind of mic do you want? He said 'A plain one'. Later that night he came out on stage and he had a sparkly one.. one of our people told him 'It's a Kylie show. There are no plain ones!'. Around here if you sit still long enough you'll be bedazzled. Like my drink bottle... *picks it up to drink.. notices the sparkly L has fallen off* ohhh (kids voice) it's broken. KY - IE'".

Tuesday
Another day, another rush home from the office to get glammed up. This time Carol accompanied me as did our feather boas. We were seated close to the crowd but further from the stage, still, we had a pretty good view and we prepared the people around us to get up and get dancing (noone sits down for Kylie!!). The guy next to me had been to the Earls Court performance last year so was very excited to be seeing her again... he was equally excited that I was Australian (although disappointed to hear I hadn't travelled over especially to see her - I should've blagged).

Because it was her last performance in London I was hoping for a Robbie special appearance, instead we got Danni for Kids ("Next time we need diamonte encrusted hairbrushes.. it feels more natural!"), which was still pretty surprising.

Just before saying goodnight to the audience Kylie pulled a kid out of the audience. 'Christian' wanted to sing Can't Get You Out Of My Head.. and did, acoustically, to 12,000 enthusiastic fans whilst Kylie danced around him. It was the most spectacular thing I've seen in a while!

Both nights

Favourite moments include

- the Vogue rap
- "Did anybody here disco in the 80's??? Big hair, shoulder pads, earrings?! You should know this then! .... THE ONLY WAY IS UP!"
- KM dressed in 80's garb (complete with Debbie Harryesque blonde spiky wig) doing the shuffle dance (imitated many times since)
- Kinky locomotion with jazz voice
- Someone handing KM a homemade t-shirt parodying her tour shirts (she reads it aloud in EXTREME Australian accent) "Charlene says Relax. OK?!"
- Light Years as the second to last song!

Overall I had a blast - I knew I would! And it made us feel a bit closer to home, even if Kylie does have that annoying International accent now. The only negative is that Matt didn't get his arse over for it...