Monday, 16 July 2012

Franz Ferdinand

I always think I don't really like FF, and then I hear them and I remember I do. Just take this for instance, I've been putting off writing this blog entry for months because I can't be bothered recalling that night I spent with them (not like that...i'd need a penis for that apparently) anyways, where was I? Oh aye, Franz Ferdinand. So yeah, I do actually like them I just forget some times because they've never made me stop and think about something or particularly influenced me in anyway (well except maybe they're the root of my fantasies of becoming a gay man...) But then I hear that Bass and i'm like
BUM- BUM-BUM TAKE ME OUT! [Notice i'm talking about bums :S so gay!]

I went to see Franz Ferdinand on a chilly day (8/12/05) I went with my sister and my friends Erin and Rebecca. We made a day out of it because the latest Harry Potter film was also being released that day too. So we went to the Odyssey in Belfast and saw the new HP movie, then as tradition we wen't to Pizza Hut and we had this epic dessert platter. (yum), After that we went and played this little game thingy, you know that one where you put in a quid and the claw comes down and grabs a stuffed animal? Well it was one of those. We all got little toy hedgehogs ^_^ oh how cute!

So yeah, we went and saw the band then. It really sucks that my Alzheimer's is so bad now because I remember very little about that night.

I DO remember Alex had a lovely red shirt on
I DO remember it was loud, very loud and I seriously damaged my hearing that night and now must wear ear protection at gigs! (for real)
I DO remember Alex saying "This next song is about a girl..." and the crowd went "JACQUELINE!"  and I yelled "ELEANOR!" and then I felt stupid for like three seconds until infact 'Eleanor' came on and then I was triumphant
I DO remember having a pack of glowsticks and becomming very popular with a group of lads behind me, they names me "The glowstick queen" I was very flattered.
I DO remember Rebecca yelling really loudly and Alex looking at her (that's a lie, Erin actually reminded me of this because I had indeed forgotten again, so hilarious though)

That's about it I think, I've been listening to their two albums that I own (Self titles and You could have it so much better) and I really forgot how catchy their stuff is. I really must get it on the ipodius. stat.

So that is that.

Signing out!
Jo the one&only (can't clone me y'all)

Thursday, 17 May 2012

Green Day

I wanted to see Green Day. American Idiot had just blown up and I really wanted to see that band live, when they announced the Milton Keynes shows I was interested. The day the announced that Taking Back Sunday and Jimmy Eat World were supporting them I nearly had a brain hemorrhage. Within that day we booked 4 tickets. My sister's friend dropped out on going so Me, Sarah, Erin and Nikita went.
As soon as we stepped of the plane (10/05/05) the heat hit us. It was early in the morning and it was roasting. By the time we made it to the MKB it was scorching. I was wearing black jean, green day tee and my converse. It was far far to hot and we were crushed against the barrier waiting to get in. I remember my head felt really fuzzy and everyone voices sounded really slow and far away and my eyes went all prickly, I have no idea if I somehow fainted standing up or what but the heat just got to me so bad. it was scary!
We eventually got "in" and went and found a spot. We basically sunbathed (much to our dismay) for ages, we really started to burn and I got up and marched over to this couple and said "Excuse me...please can I have some of your sun cream?" and the girl went "hmm...well it's not really mine...." and the boy just shrugged so I lifted it and squirted a dollop into my hand and took it back and we shared it but it was too late... alas we were crispy eared. A cup of HOT water cost £3 (we used our converse as cup holders) and 4 ice lollies cost TWENTY QUID!! yes £20.00! But we needed them... so fucking hot! Simple Plan were up first but they had to pull out of the show so Hard-Fi were opening. They were shit and every time I hear them on the radio I get a sudden attack of "sunstroke" haha, The singer wanted us to all shout "hello mum" into his camera...that's about all I remember of them. Honestly.
TBS were up next. I'd been a HUGE fan of theres and it was a huge treat to see them for the first time. Adam was all shaven and lanky and "Where you want to Be" was just out. Me and Sarah sang our hearts out. Next Jimmy Eat World came out. They were amazing... When the did "A praise Chorus..." Well Oh my god... Adam Lazzara came out and sang with Jim and Tom and it was just magical! Jim went "So come on ADAM sing me something that I know..."*


The sun had just gone down behind the stage when Green Day came on. From the second they stepped on it was incredible. They never stopped for a second. BJA... no man can command an audience like that man. If he had shouted "Kick yourself in the face" we'd all have dislocated hips and bloody noses.


OH! and there was an epic fireworks display after too  ^_^


Getting back to our hotel wasn't fun. 75,000 people walking out of a stadium took...a while... we had to follow this forest trail, it was so dark no one could see, then we walked streets and streets and finally got a taxi...it whizzed us down the street and charged us a fare! :) but we didn't give a damn we were exhausted! In the hotel there was a mini bottle of moisturiser and we fought over it. Our legs were burned through our jeans but it was so worth it. To this day it remains one of my all time best times. :)


*Sorry Green Day but this might just be my best memory of the day! <3


anywho...
JoBot X

Tuesday, 15 May 2012

Good Charlotte

It's not secret that the first band I ever loved was Good Charlotte and to this day I still adore and admire that band. I always feel grateful to them as i genuinely believe they help shape me as a person.
Anywho, yes, where where we? oh...
So, GC were touring the UK with their Chronicles of Life and Death album and I was desperate to see my idols. We booked a flight and a hotel room and we flew to Glasgow (22/03/05), I remember Erin almost didn't get to go because she only had a birth certificate instead of a passport but luckily we struck gold and they allowed us all to go. YAY!
At the time Chris Wilson was still the official drummer for the band and it had been reported that he was suffering from joint problems (actually he was just a junkie) and he wouldn't be able to play with them for the meantime, as soon as we arrived at the academy we were asked by some girls to sign a card for Chris which we happily did. (i wonder what ever happened to that card, I'm sure they just tore it up...) We then joined the queue and I was beside this MASSIVE Scottish man who looked like a wife beater. He said to me "Do you mind giving me a bit of room here?" and we hastily side stepped away from him. As the afternoon progressed I started complaining about all the rubbish under my feet. You know like really loudly "Isn't it ridiculous that people throw down all their crap, look! It's everywhere!" then I kicked some of the rubbish and the big scary man went "Excuse me that's my stuff..." HAHAHA oops.

The first support act were a band called the Explosion and they were followed by Millencoln. They were both alright I suppose.
We were in near hysteria by the time G-to the mutha fuckin- C came on. It started in pitch black while "The battle of life and death" played out in that beautifully haunting Japanese sound. Then the boys came out and smashed us into The Anthem. We were front left just under Billy and it was just incredible. They said all this funny/cheesy stuff about Scotland and it was just brilliant.
I also remember going back to the hotel room and we lay in the dark singing songs from the Lion King. We're crazy mofos I tells ya.
 Benji had a cold and I woke up the next day in the hotel room with the sniffles. I thought it was amazing...I'd caught Benji's sexy germs...

Toodles
JoBot x

Monday, 14 May 2012

Jimmy Eat World (Ulster Hall)

Now although this was my 3rd gig I technically believe it to be my first real one. It was on a school day and I was sitting in Home Ech when my teacher came over and told me my "mother" had called the school and I needed to go home. It was in fact my sister busting me out of school because we wanted to get to the gig asap.
This time we were going with Erin, Nikita and Karen. We queue up outside for ages in the pouring rain and we were soaked to the bone by the time we got inside. The whole venue was packed and the heat was almost unbearable. The whole place was like almost full of condensation as we all dried off. The support act were some shitty local band called Element (now the much better In Case of Fire) and I somehow managed to wander into the mosh pit during their set and stumbled out in terror! (haha!) Also a girl from Larne helped me and Erin to get to the front, it was lesson one oh one in elbowing, pushing and stamping on feet.


Jimmy Eat World were just incredible and my love for them multiplied that night. I also remember Karen apparently collapsed (lolz) and funnily enough she never went to a gig again. :P


Bye now
JoBot. X

Living room gig

My second gig was Common Rotation again on 09/10/04
This was a really unusual gig as it was in a fans living room! Really. Some Buffy fan had applied to host the band in her house and they accepted as part of their living room tour. They said something along the lines that they were tired of all these record labels taking musicians money and then when they were sent on tour the venue took some more money so they decided to be completely indie and do their own thing,
So my parents took me and my sister and my friend Nikita to Banbridge. We drove around until we saw a house with lots of balloons tied to the posts at the drive way. So we knocked on the door and went inside, there were about 20 people there and we all sat down, we had chairs and the rest sat on the floor. The band came in and stood at in front of the living room window and did their set. It was bloody brilliant. One of the crew had his tee shirt inside out and when someone asked why he had it like that he said he was told it might offend people in Northern Ireland so he'd be asked to turn it inside out! haha


At the end of the gig we were in the hallway and Eric the guitar player/vocals accidently smacked my with his guitar, he said "sorry" but I thought it was the coolest thing that had ever happened to me ever. (Dramatic I know) then after that Adam came out and spoke to us. Being fourteen i was really nervous and he made us promise to come and see them again and we agreed happily, I wish I could get the opportunity to speak to him again now i'm older and wiser (ha!) and have some people skills. Maybe someday. :)


Until next time
JoBot X

Commom Rotation

The first gig I ever attended was on 02/10/2004


At this period of my life I was head over heals, completely and utterly, madly deeply in love with the Lord of the Rings trilogy and myself and my friends and sister had been attending this utlra geeky but awesome convention called Collectormania in Milton Keynes.
This was the 2nd year we'd been and we'd somehow managed to bag ourselves VIP tickets to this party with all the celebrities. Anywho, the party was really crap and awkward so we decided to go upstairs and that's when we discovered Common Rotation.
To be honest I was only interested firstly because the "front man" for lack of better words is Adam Busch a very talented actor who was amazing as Warren in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. By the end of the night we were hooked on their music and we we're extremely excited to find that they were infact playing a gig one week later in good old norn iron. The coolest thing about this night* was I went and got served at a bar for the first time in my life and I was barely fourteen.


*not really, well I mean I did, but it wasn't that cool.


Cya
Jobot X

Post- the first...

Howdilydoodily reader and welcome to this blog.
Firstly let me explain the name of this blog: OhFourAndOnwards is reference to 2004 and onwards meaning this blog will be ramblings about every gig I've been to from that year on.


Before I officially start posting about the shows let me say hello, HELLO!
So should I explain a little about myself then? Okay...
My name is Jo. I'm currently 22yrs old, I shall be 23 in September. (scary biscuits I know.) I am notoriously and eternally single ;) Cat owner and worshiper. I work in retail, it might not be the coolest of jobs in the world but i meet lots of people daily and have some excellent stories from the job. I love going out with my friends and having the odd *snigger* alcoholic beverage. I obsessively follow quite a few American t.v. show/dramas. My number one passion in life is music. Going to gigs is my favorite pastime and I try my damn hardest to get to everyone I can.


I have a journal with references to all gigs over the past year and a half but I just figured it was time I noted down all the memories I have from them, I'd hate to forget anything...


So there we go matey.


Over and Out
JoBot. X