First Week of Summer

The past week has been rather awesome. First, there was last weekend which i posted about and then this week was good as well. A combination of lazing around and being active. The latter coming in the second half of the week.

Thursday and Friday were the biggest talking points.... Tickets for Leeds Festival arrived! I could not believe it. I was half waking up when my dad went, "Oh, there's something about Leeds downstairs for you". I was there in about 3 seconds. Can't quite explain the happiness, and relief tbh, of getting them so early.

The Reading tickets are another matter but thats for another time.

So i also went to Josh's on Thursday for like the first time in 2 years. Going to his was always an occasion coz he lives in the bloody back o' beyond. Honestly, about 20 miles away from my house. The drive to his house was actually the first time i ever listened to Muse's "Origin of Symmetry" so it was a nice coincidence that i should be going to his after my tickets just arrived :P

Anyway, t'was the first time in a while i'd been there and it was exactly as i remember: messy as hell.

Didn't matter. Just like old times we played Rock Band and Guitar Hero into the early hours of the morning but not before we had a jam (and no that is not a sexual euphemism!)
I brought my bass round, and a banjo - coz it was Banjo Appreciation Day - and lastly, my amp.

Now, since i got my amp nearly 18 months ago the only time it has moved was when i was moving room and that was bad enough. It's quite a monster. Barely even fit in the back seat of the car :P

So with him on drums and me on bass we proceeded to make a load of noise, churning out some Queens of the Stone Age, Arctic Monkeys, Muse.

This was all our kit, without the mega drum kit and amps in the photo!

I think we're kinda in a band tbh. It's not official but we're thinking of asking Alex if he wants to come and jam one day and we'll see where it goes from there. Never been in a band, me :P

So that was Thursday at Josh's. We were accompanied by 18 bottles of Lucozade in the space of about 24 hours. It's out drink. Always has been, always will be. On the fast track down Diabetes Lane!


Friday was exciting. We had to get back to mine and we got a lift off my dad thankfully (what a god!)

This was because we were due to be on the radio! Ok not big, commercial radio but a volunteer station that a few friends go to on a Friday. Alex usually goes but he couldn't coz he's on holiday and so is one of the other guys so the last remaining guy was asking if anyone wanted to so i said yes immediately and Josh did, too.

It was great fun. Even though it isn't commercial, the station is still regulated by OFCOM so we weren't allowed to swear and it was hilarious how many time we came close to doing so. In general we looked up funny/weird stories to talk about. Talked about the tennis even though i don't have much interest in it and of course we played some tunes! Alex is still away next week so Josh and I could be back on this Friday but i don't really know yet. This weekend is busy enough (i'll talk about it at a later date)

After the radio we had quite an adventure getting home. The train we got wasn't on the usual line so we nearly got lost. We had to actually change lines and while we were waiting we ran through a dodgy part of town in search of more Orange Lucozade but everywhere was sold out :(

And when we got the next train, the conductor questioned our ages even though the previous conductor issued us with juniors tickets (which he shouldn't have done :P). Was quite the adventure indeed.

I honestly have Josh to thank for a good opening week to the summer. Without him, i'd have just been sitting around the house, watching films, playing games, masturbating... the usual :P

However, he didn't actually bring up who i "like", which i found odd. I kept waiting on him to question me and as i said, i wouldn't have told him but i was bracing myself for a while to tell him that i do in fact like guys, but alas, the opportunity never presented itself. Meh, i'm not complaining.


This week is going to be a bit lazier. I don't have much planned, but the weekend seems like it could be quite hectic. We shall see, and i'll post about it soon!


Rowan <3




I do not endorse the lyrical content of this epic song xD

Queens of the Stone Age

So you might remember a while back i posted about Queens and how my mum didnt help me out and get a ticket to go see them.

Well, last night, i still did!

I couldn't just sit in my room while such a legendary band were playing not 5 miles away. I had to at least attempt to get in.

Just took the train down to the arena and scouted for touts, of which there were a few. I will admit i was quite scared. I remember at MCR Bryan's friend managed to get a ticket at the doors for face value (somehow) but i've never had to approach a tout for a ticket. I could have been mugged for all i know! There were certainly a few dodgy looking characters around...

But i know one things for sure: i am never going to a tout again. Fucking robbing bastards. I did manage to haggle a better price however. They first all offered me a ticket for 80 quid when the face value was 30, so i was having none of it.

I knew if i held off for an hour or two i could get better and eventually i got a balcony/booth ticket for 55 pounds, which tbh is still quite disgraceful. Touts! Should be strung up by the balls. However, the balcony/booth is better than unreserved seating. It's a little area along the side of the arena, elevated and to the side giving you a completely unrestricted view of the band so it wasn't all bad (although it was excruciating looking down at the mosh pit)

Anyway. I probably wouldn't have bought the ticket if i knew what the setlist was going to be beforehand. QotSA have just re-released their debut album and are touring it in full. It's an album i'm not too familiar with but nonetheless, it all sounded great. After playing that in full they played some of their bigger hits so there were at least a few songs i could sing along to - Little Sister, Battery Acid, A Song for the Dead, No One Knows which is a song im really happy to have seen live.

So yeh, it was a great gig (certainly better than MCR) Queens have fantastic energy on stage. They're one of those bands i'd say are better live than in the studio but only just coz Songs for the Deaf, Era Vulgaris and Lullabies to Paralyse are brilliant albums.

In the end, i did get ripped off and it probably wasn't worth 55 quid, especially with the fact that i could have had a standing ticket for 30 (thanks mum)
T'was also the first gig i've ever went to alone which is something i'd rather not repeat but at least im now completely in the mood for seeing Wolfmother next week!

Queens are apparently going to be working on a new album soon which would suggest a tour sometime next year. Hopefully i can get a standing ticket for that :)


Rowan <3