1111th
Jan

I got bored of having pink hair, so I whipped out the dye this weekend and did it purple. This is Manic Panic Ultra Violet, with some of my Special Effects hot pink showing through from underneath. I love the colour but I remember how hard it is to maintain, so I may switch to a darker colour with more staying power.

Last night I went to see Does It Offend You, Yeah? at the new venue XOYO in Shoreditch. It almost didn’t happen, as my ticket hadn’t arrived in the post and Ticketweb weren’t replying to my emails. Luckily, 5 minutes before I left work I got an email back saying they had put my tickets on the door. I arrived late anyway as the only support act listed were DJs, and that usually bores me to tears at gigs, and my tickets were waiting at the door for me. Unfortunately although Does It Offend You, Yeah? were supposed to come on at 9pm, for some reason they were running late, so I had to put up with some god awful dubstep DJs for half an hour. All the hip, young 18 year olds appeared to be enjoying themselves, whereas I was bored to tears. They ended soon enough and then it was time for the main act.

It was the band’s first headline gig in about 8 months but they were playing with a renewed vigour. Losing members and going on a break didn’t make them rusty, it only made them stronger. The set was very new album heavy, with some of the tracks seeming almost familiar already as they have been previewing them for the best part of a year. The standout track was definitely the new single ‘The Monkeys Are Coming’ with its catchy chorus and pounding basslines, but there was plenty of room in the setlist for older favourites as well. As the band trooped off stage after the last song, the deafening roars and screams of the audience continued until they were coaxed back out to play an unplanned encore. We bounced around gleefully one more time and then it was finally time to leave, sweaty and sated.

118th
Jan

I’ve been playing with my 15-85mm this weekend and photographing some of my newer toy arrivals.


Spock bearbrick from series 19, and the Kirk and Uhura doublepack that I picked up in New York.


Shaun of the Dead figures I got for my birthday.


Doktor A dunny from the Dunny two tone series.


Iron Man bearbrick from series 20.

112nd
Jan

Finally the new pink and silver acrylic pieces are up for sale in the shop!

Continuing the introspective theme from yesterday, here is my 2010 in photos.

January

Photographing Ok Go at the Shepherds Bush Empire

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More gigs this week! December has been a pretty busy month for me.

Tuesday was Tim Minchin at the O2 Arena. Having seen him on his last tour a stupid number of times, I had gotten a bit weary of seeing the same show over and over, so this was a welcome change. It was mostly new material, beefed out with a 40 piece orchestra and theatrics that can only come with touring arena-sized venues. Tim seemed to make it work, although I do miss the days when I used to see him in tiny 200 capacity rooms. The new stuff was very funny, and I especially enjoyed his religion-based rants and songs about taking things out of context. No doubt some of the dates on the tour have been filmed for a new DVD, so everyone will be able to enjoy it.

On Wednesday I went to Brixton Academy with my mum for the XFM Winter Wonderland. Due to tube fuckups we arrived late and missed all of Mona (not a great loss) and all but one song by The Drums. We slotted into our favourite position (front right, just by the middle barriers) in time to see Two Door Cinema Club. I hadn’t realised before just how many singles they had released, so it came as a surprise to me when all but one of their 6 song setlist was a single. The crowd seemed to enjoy it though and bounced around gleefully. The music may not be a work of genius, but it is very catchy and fun.

Next up was White Lies, who surprised everyone else by not playing many singles at all. It was mostly tracks from their new album, which as it is released in January they are obviously very keen to promote. I’m not sure how well it went down with the XFM crowd though, as the audience seemed to thin out towards the end as people headed for the bar. I liked it and I’m definitely going to be getting a copy of their new album.

The penultimate act was Suede, who unfortunately had to do a quick acoustic set as their drummer was off sick. It was a bit of a disappointment for me as I had been looking forward to seeing them, but it was still pretty good. They played ‘Trash’, ‘Animal Nitrate’ and ‘Beautiful Ones’.

Lastly it was time for the Manic Street Preachers who chose the right route and played a set consisting of their greatest hits, rather than tracks from their new album. There were clearly a lot of die-hard Manics fans in the audience and everyone had a great time. It really got me excited for their rescheduled Brixton gigs next month.


Two Door Cinema Club


Suede


Manic Street Preachers

1013th
Dec

As promised, a few drunken photos with my new lens. It has such a smooth autofocus, I think I’m in love!