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!

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1129th
Mar

Following their announcement as Reading Festival headliner last week, Matt Bellamy (on his new twitter account @Bellamy_Matt) has stated that they will play Origin of Symmetry in full as a celebration of its tenth anniversary. Words cannot describe how excited I am for this! It’s widely regarded as their best album and the rare chance to see some of the lesser played tracks will be a great draw for many of their fans. I’m assuming they will play a selection of hits as well, which should hopefully keep the level of Resistance songs to a minimum.

I haven’t really been up to much over the past week. On Friday I went to the Tate Modern on my lunch break (it’s just round the corner from my workplace) to take some photos of the Sunflower Seeds installation by Ai Weiwei. It’s a pretty spectacular sight, and I was very tempted to take one as a souvenir. I had a look at the upcoming exhibitions and I think I might buy a Tate membership as it would probably save me money. Plus it would encourage me to go to more exhibitions in the future.

This week sees my gig draught finally come to an end, with Patrick Wolf tonight and a whole host of others over the next eight days. Sadly there will probably be no photos as my small camera is gone and I don’t fancy trying to smuggle my large camera into most of the venues, but there will be enthusiastic reviews to make up for it!

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1123rd
Mar

I’ve been a bit sad over the last couple of weeks at the lack of gigs on my calendar. It’s quite difficult to go out with my friends during the week due to location and work problems, so a nice gig every now and then helps to break up the monotony. Unfortunately my last one was a month ago at the NME awards and my next isn’t until the 28th March.

I suddenly seem to have a rush of them at the end of March and beginning of April now though! Me and my mum decided to go and see Carl Barat again at Koko on the 4th April, and now today I bought a ticket for the Japan Tsunami benefit gig on the 3rd April, featuring Beady Eye, The Coral, Paul Weller, Primal Scream, Graham Coxon and Richard Ashcroft. I’m not a big fan of Beady Eye but the other acts look brilliant. The ticket was a bit pricey at £40, but it’s all for charity and I got two jewellery orders come in afterwards so I don’t feel so bad.

Now my gig calendar for the next two weeks looks like:

28/03 – Patrick Wolf, Koko
31/03 – The Kills, Heaven
03/04 – Japan Tsunami Benefit, Brixton Academy
04/04 – Carl Barat, Koko
05/04 – Micachu and the Shapes, Southbank Centre

You wait ages for a good gig, then five come along at once! I’ve also realised that I’ve missed out on tickets for Battles at the ICA on the 20th April, which I imagine sold out super quick. Efestivals has them pegged as a strong rumour for Glastonbury so I’m hoping I can catch them there. They are one of the rare bands that are on my ‘Need to see live (and have never seen before)’ list.

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1121st
Mar

The Reading Festival lineup was leaked early yesterday afternoon, and there was only a short wait until the official announcement confirmed that it was true. A lot of naysayers are claiming that The Strokes and My Chemical Romance aren’t big enough to headline, but everyone said that about Arcade Fire and Blink 182 last year and look what happened.

Personally I am very excited about the initial run of bands that are playing, as there are some of my favourites in there. Everyone in our camp has already agreed that The Offspring is the place to be on Friday evening! The announcements of Patrick Wolf, Death From Above 1979 and The Kills back up the predictions I had, and I’m so happy to be seeing them all again.

The best of the lineup so far:

Muse
Elbow
Friendly Fires
Enter Shikari
2manydjs
The Streets
DFA 1979
Warpaint
Chapel Club
Peter Doherty
The Strokes
Pulp
Madness
Two Door Cinema Club
The Joy Formidable
Janes Addiction
Crystal Castles
Bombay Bicycle Club
The Kills
The Offspring
White Lies
Metronomy
Patrick Wolf
The Horrors

Speaking of Death From Above 1979, they played their comeback show in a secret slot at the SXSW festival this weekend and it looked insane. Check out the footage below for the riots and massive crowds of people who tried unsuccessfully to get in.

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117th
Mar

I went to see Richard Ayoade’s directorial debut, Submarine, on Friday at the ICA for the latest Ultra Culture Cinema instalment, and good times were had. To quote the free zine we got inside, “I saw it two weeks before it opened, and got a free custard cream chocolate bourbon in the foyer”. It’s a coming of age story set in Wales, about a boy who struggles with his feelings for his unromantic girlfriend and tries to prevent his mum from having an affair. It was truly a beautiful film, full of laughs and touching moments and the melancholic soundtrack by Alex Turner fit perfectly. My friend was most pleased by the free bottle of Irn Bru she got given for being Scottish. I would definitely recommend that everyone see it anyway.

I have realised that my 199th gig has been and gone, which means my next will be my 200th! Currently it will be Patrick Wolf at Koko, which is a pretty awesome 200th gig in my opinion.

At the weekend my friend decided to have a Mexican-themed party as we were poor and didn’t want to go to the pub. We probably ended up spending more money on tequila and sombreros, but it was so much fun. There were stick on moustaches galore, tequila-filled water pistols and more chilli than you can shake a pinata stick at. Here is a selection of photos from the night.

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