111st
Apr

On Tuesday I went to see Patrick Wolf at Koko (my 200th gig!) as part of his Lupercalia tour. It’s supposed to be promoting his new album, but as it’s not actually due out til May this tour feels pretty much the same as the gigs at the end of last year, with the fans only being familiar with the two singles ‘Time of My Life’ and ‘The City’. Although it had an almost identical setlist to the Bloomsbury Ballroom show, I much preferred last night due to a more responsive crowd and the inclusion of the seldom-played ‘To The Lighthouse’ and ‘Godrevy Point’, the latter being dedicated to Patrick’s father who was in the audience. Patrick also revealed to us that he chose that particular venue as it was where he met his current boyfriend, and described it as “love at first sight”. It was a decent performance, not the best I’ve seen, but by no means the worst, and I particularly enjoyed the more up-tempo rendition of ‘Who Will?’ and the remixed Hard Times. I have a feeling I’ll enjoy the newer songs once the album is out and I’ve had a chance to explore them more, as at the moment they seem in stark contrast to the older, more melancholic tracks. All in all it was a good night, and I have managed to bag myself tickets for his exclusive show at the Garage in May so there are plenty more Wolf gigs in my future.

Armistice
Time of My Life
The Bachelor
Tristan
Who Will?
Together
To the Lighthouse
Godrevy Point
Accident & Emergency
House
The Bluebell
Bluebells
The Libertine
Slow Motion
Bermondsey Street
The Magic Position
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Hard Times (remix version)
The City

It was my payday yesterday and I celebrated by doing what I do best, spending lots of money! I bought myself a Tate membership with a guest pass, so myself and a friend can go and check out the exhibitions and then go to the members room for a drink afterwards. It lasts for 15 months, so even if I only go and see five paid exhibitions in that time, It’s already worth the cost. We’re going to start by going to see the Gabriel Orozco exhibition at the Tate Modern next week, and then there is a Miró exhibition opening soon as well.

I also paid for a flight to France in May to go and visit my friend for a Queens of the Stone Age gig. It’s currently my only holiday this year (excluding festivals) so I’m quite looking forward to it. I’m considering going to Dublin in August for my birthday but nothing has been confirmed yet. My Glastonbury ticket got paid off too so now I just have to book the time off work and wait for June!

Finally Tatty Devine had £10 off their name necklaces for April Fools Day, so I bought one at long last. I never bothered before because I had a whole host of other (cheaper) name necklaces and I could quite easily make my own acrylic ones. I finally caved into the temptation though at the lower price and got a purple necklace spelling out ‘Evilduck’, my nickname. I figured I have so many necklaces with ‘Amy’ on them that it was time for a change!

I’ve been a blog writing machine over the past week! I have been quite bored at work, I’ll admit.

I have big exciting news; my Ai ball jointed doll has been shipped. Luckily his clothes, wig and eyes arrived earlier last week, and I bought some pastels and sealing spray at the weekend for his faceup. Since buying him in January I’ve slowly been purchasing various items of clothing, accessories and art materials and now I have pretty much everything I need. I estimate he will arrive sometime during the week (depends on how long customs keep him) so I can get a good start on him at the weekend.

Another tidbit of exciting news, the creators of Tatty Devine have signed a deal with Virgin for a book on how to make your own jewellery. It’s not out until October but it sounds like the perfect thing for crafty jewellery-DIYers.

I watched Girl Walks Into A Bar on Friday, and was pleasantly surprised by it. It was very funny in places and slightly reminiscent of a Tarantino film with the mysterious, punchy dialogue. I enjoyed how the plot linked the main characters together, but I do feel that some of their individual stories were not resolved very well, simply ending with a tacked on line from another character. All in all it was a pretty good film and definitely worth watching as it is free!

Youtube Channel

On Sunday I finished Supernatural Season 2 and I think I enjoyed it more than the first season. The arc was more interesting and it had some brilliant individual episodes (like Heart which had me bawling, and Tall Tales which had me crying with laughter). I’ll move onto the third season this week, which is slightly shorter due to the writers strike so it shouldn’t take me that long to finish.

Afterwards I watched Howl, the experimental biopic of Allen Ginsberg starring James Franco. It is made up of scenes from the obscenity trial on ‘Howl and Other Poems’, faux-interview footage with Ginsberg (Franco) during the trial and animation to accompany the poem. Despite the hodgepodge of formats it was still quite interesting, and I think the animation was particularly effective. My problem with the film was that it was too short and didn’t touch on each subject enough. They could have gone into more detail about the trial or Ginsburg’s life, but they didn’t. It left me wondering what the point of the film was.

Next Monday is one of the most exciting days on my music calendar; the lineup of Reading Festival is revealed. Rumours are certain that Muse will headline the Friday, The Strokes on Saturday and My Chemical Romance on Sunday, but any news on other bands or stages has been scarce. I’m hoping for some Death From Above 1979, Blood Red Shoes and The Kills. Luckily I’ve only got one ticket to buy in the general sale as everyone else bought theirs in the presale last year. It’s always a stressful hour trying to connect to the rubbish Seetickets servers.