John Bishop – Portsmouth Guildhall 13/12/10
One longstanding obligation for a comedian is making fun of those people arrive late. The closer they are sitting to the front the better is usually is. This was extra entertaining when 6 people were late for Jason Manford’s show at Portsmouth Guildhall and they not only had seats in the front row, but front and centre – right in Manford’s eye line. However, this obligation can only be upheld on one condition - the comedian has to be on-time himself. Arriving at Portsmouth Guildhall at 19.31 worrying that I would be the late one to face ridicule because the show was starting at 19.30. About 15/20 minutes pass and it is announced that the show is running slightly late so you’ve got time to go and get another drink in. This for me was perfect as I was busting for a slash (that might be too much information, but that announcement was very good to me). I would also like say at this time I found out the Big Four of Thrash (Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth & Anthrax) are headlining Sonisphere so I was put in a fantastic mood by this. At 20.10 the lights went dim, which in the business means either one of two things: 1) the show is about to start; or 2) the lighting guy has probably just overheard the fact I have a hangover and wants to see how loud he can make the crowd scream (that goes out to you lighting tech at Hammersmith, you arsehole!)
Anyway, in this instance it meant the show was about to start, and after a short animation of Bishop, the man himself arrives on stage, apologising for being late. His reason seems somewhat fair – all the other shows on the tour start at 8pm, so it wasn’t until 7.30 that he realised himself that the show started then. What followed was a rundown of a year in the life of a struggling comedian who has made it big; a middle aged parent who’s been married for 17 years; the differences between those people with kids and those without and the embarrassments that can arise from a new-found show business lifestyle. I will discuss two bits for me which was my personal favourites. He discussed arguing with teenagers and how your wonderful little child will turn into a demon. “There is not a parent in the room who in this scenario hasn’t thought that their child is a twat”. That single line made me laugh for two reasons – 1) my parents were in the room but slightly further away from me; and 2) it is probably very true. The other joke which I loved is about offensive words on the BBC and the 2nd most complained phrase is “cunt” and how the first most complained phrase is “Jesus Christ”. “So if you have a joke which has the punch line ‘so Jesus Christ is a cunt’ it is probably not going to get on TV.” Saying much more about the material would be giving it away so I will leave it there and end with saying he was superb and if the chance arises to go and see him, make sure you do. I’m contemplating going again in April if I get my act (no pun intended) together!
Hatebreed – Wedgewood Rooms 15/12/10
Here’s the thing, I didn’t go in the end. Had a ticket, also had a headache. Can’t be helped sometimes. I’m sure they were wonderful and played everything the crowd wanted to hear. Or, they might have been shite, but I’ll never know. Moving on...
Ginger & Friends – Talking Heads, Southampton 23/12/10
This was probably the gig I was most looking forward to of the post-Sonisphere part of 2010 due to how early I bought the ticket. I saw The Wildhearts last year and they were fantastic – it was literally one of the most fun gigs I’ve ever been to. So when I heard that that Ginger from the Wildhearts would be playing in Southampton and the set would consist of Wildhearts songs, it had to be done. The journey wasn’t anything special other than some of the small stations on the way into Southampton really look like they should be in the deep south in America (or at least in the movie Deliverance). Anyway, the Talking Heads is a pretty awesome venue actually. I’ve only ever been there before for a drink. It is a different shape to the Wedgewood Rooms but I’d say it’s not much smaller. The main difference is that the beer there is good! Yes, £3.20 for a pint of fosters is criminal in a standard pub but for a gig venue to charge this price, that is fine, especially when it’s good beer!
Anyway, this gig was the 2nd I’ve seen in the format of the headline act supporting themselves with a band in the middle. Ginger and Hot Steve did an acoustic set before the gig. This was very good – awesome music and fun crowd interactions. Highlights of this set for me (aside from being down the front) were Loveshit, This Is Only a Problem and Geordie in Wonderland. Geordie in Wonderland being the best I’d say purely due to the fact the crowd took over vocals and did a massive sing-along which was just awesome. After a voyage to the bar and the smoking area, I ended up in the back of the room for Oaf. Oaf is a two piece band who plays pretty heavy music. They were fairly entertaining and did a good job of warming up the crowd. I couldn’t see a way back to the front during Oaf so reluctantly went to smoke again, deciding that if I smoked and they finished that people would likely head back to the bar/come to smoke and I could find a way through. Sure enough, that happened. Ginger and Friends came out and played what can only be described as an awesome set. If you love Wildhearts/Ginger music, then this set had it all. Usually I would say the highlights of a set at this stage but it isn’t possible because it was all awesome. This was literally one of the best gigs of 2010 and I am pleased it is the one which closed out the year.
2010 is at a close, the next post will be a year summary type of deal where I’ll talk about my favourite memories of 2010 and looking to 2011.
Thursday, 30 December 2010
Saturday, 18 December 2010
Students, Snow and Football Thoughts
Haven’t really blogged in a while about current affairs or every day goings on. Truth be told I’ve not found an issue which has really mobilised me to write a whole blog giving off my opinion. There are a number of events which have occurred which I’ll blog briefly about. Some of these are a bit dated now but I have thoughts on them - not many which is why it will be brief. I discovered today that I am unable to drink alcohol like I did in-between the ages of 17-22. It was a shocking revelation. I thought I’d be ok to just get particularly drunk and while anticipating a hangover, I didn’t count on it being this bad. It is probably a sign that I shouldn’t drink like that again which, while probably the more healthy option is definitely the least fun of the two. Ach well here’s the actual content.
World Cup 2018 – They think it’s all over....it is now.
This one I’d say is the most dated now. England had another unsuccessful bid to host the world cup in 2018. I seem to recall a failing bid for the 2006 world cup as well which suggests England don’t have many friends where it matters in FIFA. I did think that we had a really good chance at winning the tournament this time and I thought that, if successful, we’d have put on a damn fine world cup. But, at the end of the day we didn’t win and by the sounds of things, we never even stood a chance. I would like to congratulate Russia on getting the world cup and I also like to say that I think there is no worth in our bid team and the FA acting like petulant children over not getting the world cup. I feel that if there is a legitimate belief in FIFA that the world cup competition should visit new lands then it seems somewhat worthless countries that have hosted the competition submitting bids. It could be argued as unfair but if FIFA don’t want countries that have hosted it before hosting it again, then England are wasting their time submitting a bid. What England needed to do is just accept the bid decision and spend future bid money on actually improving grass roots football. But in one swoop they have not only made themselves look ridiculous by shouting “BUT ITS NOT FAIR” in Russia and FIFAs direction, they have managed to make themselves look like basket cases who aren’t capable of holding a world cup. Good work if you ask me (and yes, that was sarcasm). One day the world cup will come back to England, and I hope that the countries bids that are defeated by England’s will moan bitch and suggest they have bribed FIFA.
I read today on a follow up to this typing that FIFA are contemplating moving the Qatar World Cup 2022 to January/February. Now, I offered congratulations to Russia on getting the 2018 WC and I feel it would be slightly hypocritical of me not to offer congratulations to Qatar, so congrats to them. However this one does seem slightly fishy. It has long been an assumption that when a footballer moves to a team in Qatar, they are getting paid a fortune to do so. Hearing the news that the WC was going to Qatar surprised me quite a lot but I must confess I feel this announcement is fishy. I think it should have gone to Australia (it would have been too easy!) Oh well, too late for that now. But moving the tournament start dates is idiotic and will screw with every club team and every league that operates an August-May season (so almost every league in Europe). Nice going FIFA – way to make a bad situation worse. I didn’t even take this into account (I was thinking more about my own club team again) but what about the African Cup of Nations? Oh, FIFA fail.
Student Fees – The violence
This one is an awkward one for me as I work for a university so I don’t particularly want to be on the record as having a massive go at students and then go back to working with them. However I must admit I’ve found myself wondering what the students that have been protesting the fees are looking to achieve. I’m not entirely sure that bringing London to a standstill is going to make the government say “well actually, the fee’s hike we are proposing is too high, let’s scrap them all together!” That just is not going to happen. I would just like to state again, like I did in the last blog, that I do not support the policy of student fees reaching the possible heights of £9300 per annum but I also am aware we have a massive budget deficit in this country. 13 years of Labour rule has fucked this country to an extent that we have to take some very painful medicine to sort it. Anyway, this wasn’t written as a hidden way to attack Labour, and I don’t feel the need to hide the fact I hate them anyway. Moving on...The protests against the fees are a good thing. Protesting against a government policy which you do not agree with is fine in my eyes. When these protests turn violent though it just turns into little more than an attack on democracy. Why I say this is simple – in a democratic system with free and fair elections, there are winners and losers. If you vote for a party that then does not form government, then it’s not fair on everyone else to cause trouble because your team didn’t win. I can see why the students are unhappy if they voted for the Lib Dems but that was discussed in a previous blog so I don’t feel the need to bring it back up again. So yeah, I somehow feel by smashing up parts of London and attacking the police, the students who are protesting in this manner have probably weakened their argument and ruined any chance of coming to the negotiating table. I would just like to stress again that the very poorest of potential students will not be lumbered with this fee increase – seeing as that isn’t said enough. Strange that the argument that this policy will restrict the opportunity of those from poorest backgrounds to go to university is the one which is used the most – when it simply is not true.
The snow
Well, I was going to talk about the previous snow we had and how ridiculous it was that it bought the country to a standstill but it did. There always seems to be a shortage of road salt when this occurs – you’d think now snow is slightly more frequent they’d build a surplus of this stuff up and save it for a rainy day (well a snowy day actually....oh leave it!) What happened out of the last set of snow is that I had 1.5 days off work, and was stupidly bored. However, I did manage to watch The Shawshank Redemption which was very awesome. We have snow again and it has cancelled my plans for the evening which sucks (in all fairness, the hangover and subsequent other affects of a night drinking also helped cancel said plans). I’m hoping that the snow pisses off fairly quickly and the streets don’t ice up. I haven’t got much to do but I won’t be overly favourable towards the very little I have to do being cancelled because of snow and ice! Also, it is quite funny that in Canada, they had to close schools and businesses after it got “unmanageable” over there – it was -39 degrees and there was 12ft of snow. How is it that say, hypothetically, the temperature could be -25 and the snow could be 7ft and life carries on? That to me sounds nuts (but then I live in a country that shits itself following 7 inches, let alone 7ft!
That’s all folks. I probably won’t blog again until after Xmas now so have a good festive period. Have an awesome new year and I will be back with a reviews blog (which due to my laziness has already suffered) covering John Bishop and Ginger. Just wanted to tag a quick bit on the end to say that the Sonisphere 2011 ticket has been purchased and I couldn’t be happier about my decision. I have been reading thoughts about people annoyed with the booking of festival headliners and bands this year but here’s my rational. The Big 4 is a big announcement (no pun intended). Metallica are always a festive headline band that makes any lineup look stronger (imo – but then I am biased). Slayer and Anthrax might be the questionable choices due to their previous performances at this festival but I’m prepared to look passed that as long as they mix the set up a little (Damnit slayer, play Disciple and New Faith!) Megadeth is also a strong booking as they are a genius live band (I heard they were poor at DL2010 but I wasn’t there so can’t really comment). All four of these bands on the same stage is immense and when I heard it was going to happen, I was excited and hoped I could see it. The other headliners I have already discussed so I won’t go into it again. Also, my choice to go to Sonisphere means I can go and see Judas Priest at Victoria Park and pop by Hyde Park and listen to Bon Jovi. Might even be able to squeeze in a quick jaunt to Download to see SOAD (as I failed to get a ticket to their Paris date) which will be quite nice.
Right, I’m off – Happy Priority Gifting Period to you all, I hope Winterval treats you well.
World Cup 2018 – They think it’s all over....it is now.
This one I’d say is the most dated now. England had another unsuccessful bid to host the world cup in 2018. I seem to recall a failing bid for the 2006 world cup as well which suggests England don’t have many friends where it matters in FIFA. I did think that we had a really good chance at winning the tournament this time and I thought that, if successful, we’d have put on a damn fine world cup. But, at the end of the day we didn’t win and by the sounds of things, we never even stood a chance. I would like to congratulate Russia on getting the world cup and I also like to say that I think there is no worth in our bid team and the FA acting like petulant children over not getting the world cup. I feel that if there is a legitimate belief in FIFA that the world cup competition should visit new lands then it seems somewhat worthless countries that have hosted the competition submitting bids. It could be argued as unfair but if FIFA don’t want countries that have hosted it before hosting it again, then England are wasting their time submitting a bid. What England needed to do is just accept the bid decision and spend future bid money on actually improving grass roots football. But in one swoop they have not only made themselves look ridiculous by shouting “BUT ITS NOT FAIR” in Russia and FIFAs direction, they have managed to make themselves look like basket cases who aren’t capable of holding a world cup. Good work if you ask me (and yes, that was sarcasm). One day the world cup will come back to England, and I hope that the countries bids that are defeated by England’s will moan bitch and suggest they have bribed FIFA.
I read today on a follow up to this typing that FIFA are contemplating moving the Qatar World Cup 2022 to January/February. Now, I offered congratulations to Russia on getting the 2018 WC and I feel it would be slightly hypocritical of me not to offer congratulations to Qatar, so congrats to them. However this one does seem slightly fishy. It has long been an assumption that when a footballer moves to a team in Qatar, they are getting paid a fortune to do so. Hearing the news that the WC was going to Qatar surprised me quite a lot but I must confess I feel this announcement is fishy. I think it should have gone to Australia (it would have been too easy!) Oh well, too late for that now. But moving the tournament start dates is idiotic and will screw with every club team and every league that operates an August-May season (so almost every league in Europe). Nice going FIFA – way to make a bad situation worse. I didn’t even take this into account (I was thinking more about my own club team again) but what about the African Cup of Nations? Oh, FIFA fail.
Student Fees – The violence
This one is an awkward one for me as I work for a university so I don’t particularly want to be on the record as having a massive go at students and then go back to working with them. However I must admit I’ve found myself wondering what the students that have been protesting the fees are looking to achieve. I’m not entirely sure that bringing London to a standstill is going to make the government say “well actually, the fee’s hike we are proposing is too high, let’s scrap them all together!” That just is not going to happen. I would just like to state again, like I did in the last blog, that I do not support the policy of student fees reaching the possible heights of £9300 per annum but I also am aware we have a massive budget deficit in this country. 13 years of Labour rule has fucked this country to an extent that we have to take some very painful medicine to sort it. Anyway, this wasn’t written as a hidden way to attack Labour, and I don’t feel the need to hide the fact I hate them anyway. Moving on...The protests against the fees are a good thing. Protesting against a government policy which you do not agree with is fine in my eyes. When these protests turn violent though it just turns into little more than an attack on democracy. Why I say this is simple – in a democratic system with free and fair elections, there are winners and losers. If you vote for a party that then does not form government, then it’s not fair on everyone else to cause trouble because your team didn’t win. I can see why the students are unhappy if they voted for the Lib Dems but that was discussed in a previous blog so I don’t feel the need to bring it back up again. So yeah, I somehow feel by smashing up parts of London and attacking the police, the students who are protesting in this manner have probably weakened their argument and ruined any chance of coming to the negotiating table. I would just like to stress again that the very poorest of potential students will not be lumbered with this fee increase – seeing as that isn’t said enough. Strange that the argument that this policy will restrict the opportunity of those from poorest backgrounds to go to university is the one which is used the most – when it simply is not true.
The snow
Well, I was going to talk about the previous snow we had and how ridiculous it was that it bought the country to a standstill but it did. There always seems to be a shortage of road salt when this occurs – you’d think now snow is slightly more frequent they’d build a surplus of this stuff up and save it for a rainy day (well a snowy day actually....oh leave it!) What happened out of the last set of snow is that I had 1.5 days off work, and was stupidly bored. However, I did manage to watch The Shawshank Redemption which was very awesome. We have snow again and it has cancelled my plans for the evening which sucks (in all fairness, the hangover and subsequent other affects of a night drinking also helped cancel said plans). I’m hoping that the snow pisses off fairly quickly and the streets don’t ice up. I haven’t got much to do but I won’t be overly favourable towards the very little I have to do being cancelled because of snow and ice! Also, it is quite funny that in Canada, they had to close schools and businesses after it got “unmanageable” over there – it was -39 degrees and there was 12ft of snow. How is it that say, hypothetically, the temperature could be -25 and the snow could be 7ft and life carries on? That to me sounds nuts (but then I live in a country that shits itself following 7 inches, let alone 7ft!
That’s all folks. I probably won’t blog again until after Xmas now so have a good festive period. Have an awesome new year and I will be back with a reviews blog (which due to my laziness has already suffered) covering John Bishop and Ginger. Just wanted to tag a quick bit on the end to say that the Sonisphere 2011 ticket has been purchased and I couldn’t be happier about my decision. I have been reading thoughts about people annoyed with the booking of festival headliners and bands this year but here’s my rational. The Big 4 is a big announcement (no pun intended). Metallica are always a festive headline band that makes any lineup look stronger (imo – but then I am biased). Slayer and Anthrax might be the questionable choices due to their previous performances at this festival but I’m prepared to look passed that as long as they mix the set up a little (Damnit slayer, play Disciple and New Faith!) Megadeth is also a strong booking as they are a genius live band (I heard they were poor at DL2010 but I wasn’t there so can’t really comment). All four of these bands on the same stage is immense and when I heard it was going to happen, I was excited and hoped I could see it. The other headliners I have already discussed so I won’t go into it again. Also, my choice to go to Sonisphere means I can go and see Judas Priest at Victoria Park and pop by Hyde Park and listen to Bon Jovi. Might even be able to squeeze in a quick jaunt to Download to see SOAD (as I failed to get a ticket to their Paris date) which will be quite nice.
Right, I’m off – Happy Priority Gifting Period to you all, I hope Winterval treats you well.
Monday, 13 December 2010
Sonisphere Wins
Well, they announced the Big Four. I can only really afford one festival a year at the moment. It is Sonisphere, Knebworth.
Soundtrack - Metallica
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