Live Performance

Yesterday night I performed live in front of an audience for the first time in my life and I loved it :D

It was for our music class coz our teacher has this thing about the final exam being more a performance than an exam. Therefore, if we perform live we will be more used to it by the exam. I'm not complaining. It means we get more time to play as a class which I really enjoy.

Advanced Music honestly is just like being part of one big band of really talented musicians. It's easily the best subject I've ever taken in high school. We actually call it Advanced Bant (banter) because we don't really do any work, we just chat, have a laugh and play music.

Anyhow, we performed as a class to about 300 people yesterday. It was before the school's annual fashion show which wouldn't usually have a band playing as pre-show entertainment but it was to raise money for people going to Africa next year and to experience playing live.

There are, of course, people in the class who have performed live many times before but for a number of us it was the first time and I'm among them.

I played bass by the way, which I do for most songs we play in class since I like to think I play well and am pretty comfortable playing bass :P

Yet, I got quite nervous before going on. Someone earlier in the day said only about 50 tickets had been sold but there was a near full attendance of about 300-400 people.

Once we got playing though, I was fine. We've performed these songs non-stop over the past few weeks and I brought my own bass and amp so I felt quite at home, in a sense.

Since it was pre-show entertainment, we only performed a handful of songs. The setlist was:

Walk of Life - Dire Straits
5 Years Time - Noah and the Whale
Free - Nina Simone
Fix You - Coldplay
One and Only - Adele
Fairytale of New York - The Pogues

Walk of Life was a great opener and easy to play (for me) so I settled in nicely. I'd say we played it flawlessly, too.
5 Years Time was a bit messy i think but it's difficult to play it live as we tend to always speed up. Plus, the crowd wasn't great. A bit ignorant if i'm honest but by the same token, they probably didn't even know we would be playing and they were there for the fashion show. But still.
Free went well. About all I can say.
I was nervous for Fix You since I have a solo at the start (which is usually played on an organ I think) and I know I messed a bit of it up but no one else seemed to realise :P
One and Only was probably my favourite of the night since the girl who sings it has a great voice and the bass part is really fun... and coz Adele is brilliant xD
Obviously Fairytale was great, but then, it always is!

So there you have it. My first ever live performance \o/
Apart from a few little mistakes and an average crowd, I'd say it was a great first experience and I honestly can't wait to play again.
It hopefully won't be too long until that opportunity presents itself again. During the last week of term, we hope to be performing to each of the school's year groups so there might even be five shows in a week of about 10 songs each!
Looking forward to it.

But the big one is in February/March where we'll be putting on our own show, over 2 nights I believe, and will do about 20 songs. That will be something else because we can use the lights as we wish and we'll get a proper sound engineer in - we didn't have any of that yesterday so if last night was pretty good, this will probably be even better!

I'm glad the people I talked to who are used to performing were right. They told me I'd love it and the nerves would disappear after a minute or so and they were damn right. It was a great evening, and a great start to December after a pretty disappointing November if i'm honest. Perhaps up there with one of the best days of the year so far and that's saying something.


Rowan <3


P.S About the film group video I was in. I'm not entirely sure if the video will go on Youtube or anything. The reason being is that there are people under 16 in it so the guy who takes the group is hesitant to put it online. If that's why then i'm afraid there's not much I can do but either way, if i'm honest, I don't know if I want to post a photo or video of myself. I haven't so far. I'm a bit shy about how I look so i'm surprised at myself for ever volunteering to be in the video in the first place.

Thought I'd fill you in since a few people were asking ^^
Sorry if anyone finds that disappointing.

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

My Chemical Romance Gig

Before we go any further, i want to make one thing straight: Out of all the gigs ive been to, id probably say this was the least enjoyable.
The band put on a great show and it was still a good gig but for a concert night as a whole, it's probably the worst i've experienced.

So i think i said i was going with Bryan... anyway, i did.
However, Bryan decided (or perhaps his friend did) that it would be a good idea for said friend to come along. This friend... really, he's a bad influence, particularly on Bryan.
He smokes, so Bryan does.
He calls things "gay" so Bryan does.
There's a list, i guess he's ok but he's not the kind of guy id be whooping for joy to hang out with. He'd probably say the same about me but I don't know what Bryan sees in him at all, coz he certainly doesn't seem like a good friend.

Anyhoo, the appearance of this friend lead to what probably annoyed me the most. Some background: Few months ago, Bryan and I were somehow on the topic of smoking and we both pretty much agreed that it was pointless and a waste of money.
Yeh.
3 separate occasions did Bryan and his friend leave the concert hall for a cigarette. I felt rather let down.
If he wants to smoke, shorten his life, make his teeth yellow, make himself stink, then fine, i'm not going to argue with that. It's fucking stupid but if he wants to do it then im not going to stop him.
I'm annoyed because, yeh, he lied to me.
If he had just said that time "Oh, actually i smoke" or something then id have just went with his decision, not argued. Although in fairness, it probably would have been difficult to say that during the conversation, a lot more easier to just agree.

Anyhoo, there was a point after one of the support bands played (btw The Blackout are absolutely shit, first band - Lost Alone were ok) when i was alone with Bryan and i said, "Hey man, im not angry with you or anything but why did you lie to me about the smoking?"
Obviously, putting him on the spot he stammered about and said he thought i knew.
I told him i didn't, and basically told him what ive said above. - Its his choice and thats fine - but i told him why i really disagree with it strongly, because smoking killed both of my dad's parents at very young ages and to an extent, my mum's dad as well.
He said sorry but i told him he didn't need apologise, just that he needn't of lied in the first place.
An awkward few moments ensued, but i had to clear the tension, "Im sorry man, if i annoyed you there, but i just didnt know, im not annoyed at you either... we still friends?"
"Yeah man" he replied and i got a little hug :)

Not long after that, MCR were on and the reason i didn't enjoy as much were for 4 reasons.
1. We were fairly far away (due to leaving the crowd several times for a cigarette)
2. I knew the words to literally a few songs (Teenagers, Na Na Naa, I'm Not Okay) so except from those i was just an onlooker i guess.
3.They didn't play my favourite, Bulletproof Heart :/
4. The whole thing with Bryan was still in the back of my head.
However, MCR had pretty good energy as a band and played their songs well. I at least recognised most of them.


I'm gonna say, the biggest disappointment was really what i first mentioned: Bryan's friend. I do get on with him, but im really indifferent to him, personally. It was his appearance that ruined most of the night.
I bought my ticket originally, not because it was MCR playing but honestly because Bryan was going and i thought id be able to spend a good night with him. I still did, but just not in the way i would have liked.

Perhaps i had too many expectations after the amazing concert that was Biffy Clyro back in November, with Bryan also, but this night just didn't live upto it.

Hopefully another time will come. Apparently Foo Fighters are in talks for a UK tour and Bryan said he'd be interested so maybe then.

I still got a good hug from Bryan at the end when we had to go. His friend's dad was giving him a lift (but not me...yeh...) and i had to rely on the train. Bryan gave me a hug and some money for a taxi in case i didn't catch my train, so at least there's some positive to gain from this :P

Gotta return his money tho coz i did catch my train. /typical


Anyhoo, i suppose this was all a bit ranty and i guess i'll still be a bit hurt for a while in the knowledge that Bryan did openly lie to me but I did still enjoy my night. Maybe not as much as other concerts for various reasons but im sure there will be another time. But now, i must really go to bed coz school starts back tomorrow and so do Prelims. Joy, i'm sure i'll be bright eyed and bushy tailed for that in the morning... yeh, right.


Rowan <3


P.S Gerard Way is hot. I would ;)