1429th
Apr

It was the Glastonbury resale at the weekend, and although I’ve had my ticket since October, it was tense moments all round as a large number of my group were still without. Luckily we managed to get through fairly quickly and got all but two of the remaining tickets that we needed, and everyone is now on high alert for the ‘secret’ May sales for the last pair. I think we’ve got around 30 people now in our camp so I really can’t wait to get back to those magical fields and have an amazing 5 days.

glasto14

1127th
Nov

Earlier on in the week I went to see Yuck at the Electric Ballroom. Their album has been one of my favourite things to listen to, so it was very nice to see them at their own headlining gig. It was a short but sweet set, and the songs resonated with something that doesn’t quite come across on record. Hopefully they will continue on to good things.

Last night was a bit of a different gig; Friendly Fires at Brixton Academy, the end of a triumphant four night run. It was a late night affair with the doors not opening until 9pm which gave us plenty of time to get ready and head to south London. Unfortunately my friend managed to trip up the stairs on the way in, so we missed all the support acts and DJs as we were in the medical room backstage! We got released just in time to run out and hear the first song, so thankfully nothing important was lost. Ed was on true hip-shaking form, and the whole of the venue bounced in time with him. It has already turned into a blur of singing and dancing in my head but the songs take it up to a whole new level live, pushing you higher and further. There were hula girls handing out garlands during Hawaiian Air at the end, and Kiss of Life seemed to stretch on forever in a maddening frenzy, but of course it must have ended at some point and we were left with ringing ears on the nightbus home.

The setlist for Friendly Fires was:

Lovesick
Jump In The Pool
Running Away
Blue Cassette
True Love
On Board
Chimes
Skeleton Boy
Show Me Lights
In The Hospital
Pala
Live Those Days Tonight
Hurting
Pull Me Back To Earth
Paris
———————————–
Hawaiian Air
Kiss Of Life

It’s been a busy past few days for me as I’ve had a friend over to stay and it feels like we have been over the whole of London! On Tuesday we went to the Olympia for the Doctor Who Experience and I’m glad we went during a weekday as it meant we had a lot of time and space (hah) to look over everything. It started off with an interactive adventure where you join the Doctor on a mission to find his TARDIS and stop the Daleks, and it really was so much fun. I am not ashamed to say I pushed a child out of the way so I could help pilot the TARDIS.. After it has finished you get to look around an exhibition filled with props and costumes from the old and new series, and we spent a very long time just enjoying it all. Once that was over it was the cursory trip to the gift shop where I delightedly bought an eleven doctor mini figure set to go with my larger figures at home, plus a few pencils and badges and the like. We took the overground to Shepherds Bush and spent some time wandering around Westfield where I got to indulge two of my shopping favourites: MAC and Lego. I picked up a nice MAC holiday gift set and a Lego Harry Potter set, plus some Lego keyrings for Christmas presents. Once we had exhausted all our money we went upstairs to the cinema and saw The Ides of March, which I enjoyed a lot despite the fact it was some kind of political thriller.

The next day we went on our customary trip of Camden and because I couldn’t find a pair of converse that I wanted to buy, I decided to get my tragus pierced instead. It seemed logical in my head. Not much pain anyway, and I’m very pleased with my new bit of metal. After that we headed to Oxford Circus where I tried on a lot of things that looked terrible in Primark, and bought some more toys and Lego in Forbidden Planet because I cannot help myself.

On Thursday we decided to be a bit cultured so we stopped by the Museum of Natural History. It was weird to walk around because I have bits and pieces of memories from childhood visits, and of course all the dinosaur skeletons seemed so much smaller. We had fun taking photos of the weirdest things we could find and sending them to another friend. We did try to visit the V&A museum afterwards, but got bored quite quickly so we went to Hyde Park instead for some hot chocolate by the lake. All too soon it was over, and there ended my touristy visits of London for another few months.


Trying on the sorting hat in a Harry Potter pop up shop in Harrods.


Massive lego portrait

115th
Nov

Last night I went to see Patrick Wolf at the Roundhouse, and it was a lovely evening for a number of reasons. Firstly, I had somehow won a meet and greet for before the show, so I eschewed the queue in order to huddle with a small group of people by the entrance to be let in early and meet the man himself. It was a bit of a strange setup with Patrick standing over by the merch stand, and the rest of us stood in a nervous bunch while we waited to go up one by one. I got my ‘The City’ vinyl signed and had a quick photo before I skipped out of the venue and back into the queue. I’m not great with meeting my idols so I kept the chat to a minimum, which suited me fine really! When I got back outside, I discovered that an old friend was also there for the gig and so I joined her and we spent the evening catching up.

The gig itself was the usual audio treat I have come to expect, with a nicely varied setlist and a wonderful backing band, but the stage setup was also a nice surprise. They had made use of the large Roundhouse space with a giant hand-drawn backdrop and some eclectic props scattered amongst the varied instruments. Add in Patrick’s penchant for over the top outfits and it really was quite the spectacle! I also got quite close to the front so I have some decent compact photos for once. I think this was a very grand, fitting gig to end the Lupercalia tour, although I’m certain that I won’t have to wait long before the next Patrick Wolf gig.

Setlist:

Armistice
Time Of My Life
Time of Year
The Bluebell / Bluebells
Pigeon Song
House
The Gypsy King
The Bachelor
Tristan
Accident & Emergency
Godrevy Point
The Days
Get Lost
The Future
The Falcons
Together
——————-
Bermondsey Street
The Magic Position
The City


(I like how much he had to bend down next to me!)

1131st
Oct

It’s Halloween, my favourite time of year! As is now tradition, we made our friends throw a party at the weekend so we could get dressed up and drink copious amounts of alcohol. I threw together an outfit the week before with an ebay wig and a cheap dress from the ASOS sale, and my brother and his friend dressed as another double act, although a lot less funny than their Batgirl/Supergirl combo from last year!

Here is a selection of the best and worst photos for your viewing pleasure.


Me as bride of frankenstein, Nik as me!, my brother as Luigi, Nev as Mario, Jen as a pirate wench


Creepy doll


Pacman and a ghost


Skeleton and a pumpkin


Papa Lazarou!