Cancer Bats

This is the first post of 2012 and I will start it off much like I did the first post of 2011 and give a customary new year’s greeting. I hope anyone that opted to celebrate the changing of the year had a good time doing so. I did what I did last time around with the addition of a Jim Jefferies DVD – all in all it was a nice relaxed evening. I opted not to set any fixed new year’s resolutions as I feel that is just setting me up for a fall. There a number of things I would like to achieve and little by little but I’m not setting resolutions to do them. The overall aim is to be in a better life place by the end of the year. There are a number of ways that can be achieved which is good. At the beginning of last year, I was introduced to the 365 project (1 photo for every day of the week) and dropped the ball with it and thought “maybe next year” – well that time is now and I’m not doing it. Oh well.

Almost every post to this blog is about live music as of late and that will be something which no doubt will continue. The only live music discussion for this post will be about Cancer Bats and their planned UK Tour of London. Traditionally, when a band plays a gig, they play one show in the evening. Every now and then, a band will do a matinee show and do a gig early in the afternoon as well as one in the evening (one such example that springs to mind is Fozzy in 2010 on FA Cup Final day). It has to be said though that this is a rare occurrence. I heard mumblings about a Cancer Bats tour and hoped that a date nearby me would happen. I saw them in 2009 at the Wedgewood Rooms and they were superb. The mumblings then changed from UK tour to London residency. Now, I thought that was a shame but going to London is do-able. When I heard this rumour, I assumed they might do a number of evening shows over the space of a week/fortnight in one venue. About a week before this announcement, a gig in the little venue upstairs at The Garage got put on sale and taken down quite quickly. What got announced I think caught everyone by surprise...



They are going to play 6 shows in one day?! That is unbelievable - 6 gigs in 5 really small venues. I mentioned the upstairs room of the Garage – that holds 125 people. That is just smaller than the Joiners in Southampton (which I am struggling to comprehend). I booked tickets for the Garage gig, as well as the ones taking place at The Old Blue Last (11.30am – 100 capacity) and the Notting Hill Arts Club (2.30pm – 220 capacity). Seeing a band like this in an intimate venue is a chance which should not be missed. The fact that I will be seeing them in very intimate surroundings 3 times on that day, well that’s just awesome! The travelling in between the gigs won’t be too much fun, but I’m sure if the band can do it, I’ll cope somehow.

Right, subject change! Over the Christmas period, I went to Twickenham to watch the LV Big Game, which was Harlequins v Saracens. I didn’t realise this was being treated as a Harlequins home game, but looking back on it now, it makes sense as they play their home games at the Twickenham Stoop. Anyway, there were 82000 people there for what was going to be a superb game between these two rival teams. Quins were undefeated in the Aviva Premiership all season and only had one team left to beat in order to have beaten every team this season and that was Saracens. On this occasion they did not get the job done. They were clearly 2nd best in the first half, and didn’t quite do enough in the 2nd to overturn the Saracens dominance. The return game is taking place at Wembley Stadium in March and due to an early bird ticket offer, I have a fantastic seat for the game which cost me £19. If the return game is even a patch on the first contest, then me, and everyone else going to Wembley will be in for a really good day. At Twickenham, they had X Factor finalists, a Queen Tribute band and an opera singer for the pre match/half time entertainment. I saw the opera singer. I was not interested in the slightest in the X Factor stuff and the Queen Tribute band were on before the X Factor girls, so I ended up missing them. It is slightly more high profile for the Wembley match as it is McFly. I’m not a fan of theirs but I can guarantee it will be 69.7x better than the X Factor tripe! The return game is on the 31st March. In between now and then, I will be going to 5 Bath games at The Rec. The next one is a week on Saturday against Glasgow. I’m fairly certain that we are out of Europe this season but I am hoping for a strong showing regardless. After that, it is Northampton Saints in the LV Cup. On Xmas Eve, Bath got torn apart by Northampton at their ground so I am nervous about this one, but a win should see us into the semi finals of the LV Cup which would be excellent. After that it is Newcastle Falcons, Gloucester and Worcester Warriors. With any luck, I will see Bath win at least twice, but hopefully more. Winning all 5 would be very nice indeed! Including the Aviva Premiership final, I will be at 7 more games of rugby before the season ends and that is good news.

That is all I have for this post. Happy New Year again, and I hope that even though it is early doors, you are having a good one.