Browsing the archives for the Personal category

Uprising rock show

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19 Sep, 2010
Events, Personal

Three years ago, I went to see a truly spectacular rock show from Muse at London’s Wembley Stadium. It was an amazing experience and even the special recorded album H.A.A.R.P. made the gig even more memorable.

Fast-forward to 2010 and with the recent success of the band’s fifth album The Resistance, it’s great to hear the new tracks like United States of Eurasisa, Uprising and Undisclosed Desires live in front of thousands of enthusiastic Muse fans.

The popularity of Muse made it quite a challenge to purchase the tickets and in fact, it was a stroke of good luck that I managed to get through straightaway at Seetickets minutes before the tickets were made available to buy!

It was a nerve-racking experience as all the hotlines were jammed and many ticket websites crashed due to the rush of tickets…

Luckily I made that important phone call just before 9.00 am and I decided to purchase a group ticket for my close friends and to attend both dates – Friday, September 10th and Saturday, September 11th.

After receiving a confirmation email, I was able to relax about the prospect of attending the gig at Wembley Stadium. Not surprisingly, the tickets were sold out in a matter of minutes and yet the event wouldn’t happen until TEN MONTHS LATER! For your information, tickets went on sale in November 2009.

Over that long period, Muse played at many festivals around the world including headlining Glastonbury and playing at the London O2 Arena.

When it was time for a return back to Wembley, you knew that the band were planning something special with rumours of UFOs flying around and playing the whole Exogenesis for the first time.

In the actual event on that September 2010 weekend, Muse put on an incredible show (see the photographs) and my close friends loved every moment of it.

The band opened with Uprising, a thrilling hybrid of glam-rock guitars. Muse front man Matthew Bellamy was brilliant. He was certainly enjoying himself in front of an enthusiastic crowd. As for Chris Wolstenholme (bass guitar) and Dominic Howard (drums), the pair even had a jammin’ session on a small, moveable platform with flashing lights!

There were many highlights including Stockholm Syndrome, Time Is Running Out and the brilliant Knights of Cydonia. The huge crowd in the ‘mosh pit’ went crazy with the guitar riffs from Plug In Baby. In addition, the magical trapeze artist suspended from a UFO when Muse performed Exogenesis: Symphony Part 1 (Overture).

It was an incredible gig, complete with two encores, spectacular lighting from the giant stage with superb video projections made this rock show so memorable.

The complete set list played on Friday, September 10th:

Uprising
Supermassive Black Hole
New Born
Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)
Butterflies & Hurricanes
Guiding Light
Hysteria
Nishe
United States Of Eurasia
I Belong To You (+Mon Cœur S’ouvre à Ta Voix)
Feeling Good
MK Jam
Undisclosed Desires
Resistance
Starlight
Time Is Running Out
Unnatural Selection

Encore 1:
Soldier’s Poem
Exogenesis: Symphony Part 1 (Overture)
Stockholm Syndrome

Encore 2:
Take A Bow
Plug In Baby
Knights of Cydonia


And this is the set list on Saturday, September 11th:

Uprising
Supermassive Black Hole
MK Ultra
Map of the Problematique
Bliss
Guiding Light
Hysteria
Citizen Erased
Nishe
United States Of Eurasia
Ruled by Secrecy
Feeling Good
MK Jam
Undisclosed Desires
Resistance
Starlight
Time Is Running Out
Unnatural Selection

Encore 1:
Exogenesis: Symphony Part 1 (Overture)
Stockholm Syndrome

Encore 2:
Take A Bow
Plug In Baby
Knights of Cydonia

http://walkingleaf.co.uk/2010/09/19/uprising-rock-show/

Bring on the noise!

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10 Mar, 2009
Events, Personal

I went to see one of the most famous metal rock band in the world, Metallica, at the former home of the Millennium Dome this month. The gig itself was simply spectacular with impressive fireworks, lighting effects and of course, the epic guitar solos from the band.

The O2 Arena itself was also amazing as I’ve never been to the Millennium Dome before. The sheer number of bars, shops and restaurants at the venue heavily distracted me. So much in fact, I’ve missed one of the support bands on stage! Not to worry of course, as I had a seat allocated for me.

In one particular bar, a special tournament was being held offering the chance to play the new Guitar Hero: Metallica video game. I didn’t have the opportunity to play the music rhythm game, as it was more fun watching the other people performing on stage to the ultra tricky Metallica songs!

As for the real deal, it was fantastic to see Metallica performing their greatest hits in front of thousands of enthusiastic Metallica fans. The atmosphere was electric and I loved every moment of it!

The highlight was Cyanide, The End of The Line, One, Master of Puppets and of course, the epic Enter Sandman.

After the two-hour performance, I was left feeling more. And thanks to this ace link on the official website, you can now download the complete set list. I would recommend the FLAC format for the true sounding experience!

http://walkingleaf.co.uk/2009/03/10/bring-on-the-noise/

Autosport International 2009

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10 Jan, 2009
Events, Motor Racing, Personal

My annual visit to Birmingham’s NEC to attend the Autosport International Show is often the highlight of the new year. As this is my opportunity to meet up with my good friends and see some racing cars/stars up close and personal.

The high point was of course was the F1 Racing stand and unique for this year, a special car display celebrating the past British Formula One world champions. From the likes of Jackie Stewart’s Tyrrell, James Hunt’s McLaren, to Nigel Mansell’s Williams and Lewis Hamilton’s 2008-spec McLaren. It’s amazing to see these cars all in the same area and it is fascinating how the advancement in technology and aerodynamics has changed the shape and look of the cars over the past five decades.

Another highlight was the David Coulthard stand, featuring a collection of the Scotsman race cars. Seeing DC’s little go-kart alongside his Formula Vauxhall and Williams-Renault is amazing and you have to wonder how much all these cars, race suits and helmets cost… I wasn’t surprised by the amount of extra security protecting the DC collection from the public.

Unlike my last visits, I wasn’t able to attend the Live Action Arena, as there was a mishap in purchasing the tickets. It didn’t matter anyway, as I spent this free time wandering around, taking photographs and asking for autographs from the racing stars.

This year’s Pistol Head performance car show was quite low-key. Instead of a large collection of exotic supercars, this year it was all about the BMW M3 and Porsche 911.

In fact, the whole Autosport show felt downscaled. The new layout didn’t help and after visiting the main attractions, you are left with little else to see… Which is a shame, as past events made this annual trip to the NEC worthwhile.

Still, at least I came away with some free stuff given out by those promo girls. So I shouldn’t complain too much!

http://walkingleaf.co.uk/2009/01/10/autosport-international-2009/

Racing around Wembley

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14 Dec, 2008
Events, Motor Racing, Personal

Back in 2007, I went with a group of friends to see the Race of Champions at Wembley Stadium. The event was really entertaining as seeing the world’s best drivers from different disciplines of motor racing, competing in evenly matched cars, around a figure-of-eight circuit was a real highlight to the end of the year.

So for 2008, I invited some more friends who have yet to experience this sporting event and even though I purchased cheaper tickets online, the view from our seats was better than the year before!

From our seating position, you can see all of the track and with the competition so close, the atmosphere made the event felt more like a football match than a racing contest.

Just like last year, Team Germany won the Nations Cup thanks to the driving talent of seven times Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher and Grand Prix sensational Sebastian Vettel. In the main event, it was world rally champion Sebastien Loeb who took the honours, but the Frenchman had to fight hard against David Coulthard in the final.

The recently retiree Formula One racer was in a real competitive mood and it was quite surreal to see DC challenging the likes of Loeb, Schumacher and (Carl) Edwards, as previous years Coulthard would have been knocked out in the very first round…

In addition, DC managed to damage his race car throughout the night, including his Red Bull Racing Formula One car! During his demo run, the Scotsman performed a  ‘doughnut’ but as he was spinning around creating lots of smoke and noise for his fans, the car was slowly edging closer towards the wall…The inevitable happened and I still remember the crowd reaction when the front wing got knocked off against the barriers!

Speaking of demonstrations, the pre-event promotional was the ‘man versus machine’ challenge with British Olympic winner Chris Hoy racing his bike around the track against British Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren. Unfortunately, due to the icy track conditions the organisers decided to cancel the event and instead put Chris and Lewis in an open-top Mercedes and perform a parade lap in front of home crowd. It was a real shame, as I wanted to see this duel but Chris had the last laugh as later that evening, the Olympic hero was made BBC Sports Personality of the Year, beating his rival Hamilton!

So a great day out at Wembley and I was pleased to hear that my friends loved every moment of it. The on-track entertainment certainly kept our enthusiasm up despite the winter cold and we look forward to attend the next Race of Champions.

http://walkingleaf.co.uk/2008/12/14/racing-around-wembley/

Experience Goldfrapp for free!

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29 Oct, 2008
Media, Personal

Alison Goldfrapp

If you haven’t heard Alison Goldfrapp’s sensational singing voice, then here’s your opportunity to listen and download classic anthems for free – all thanks to The Guardian website.

The leading news website will feature a new track everyday for only this week to celebrate the release of the Seventh Tree Special Edition album, out on November 3rd.

I am a big fan of Goldfrapp. I’ve been to two live shows earlier this year and it was fantastic, in particular at the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank.

Why do I like Goldfrapp? I just love the different music styles. From the ambient sound in Felt Mountain (Alison’s distinctive breathy, soft vocals and Will Gregory’s multi-layered synthesizer and string arrangements is simply spellbinding!), through to electronic music in Black Cherry to a more glam rock sound in Supernature, and most recently to a blend of ambient, folk, and electronic in Seventh Tree.

I was quite jealous of my work colleagues last week as they had tickets to see a one-off performance at Cecil Sharp House in Camden. The show was recorded as part of the BBC Electric Proms and you can see why I was envious by watching the video and observing the many photographs with this dedicate website.

Feeling left out in missing the event, I immediately booked some tickets after an email dropped into my Google inbox with the news that the band will be playing in Brixton Academy next month. I’ve never been to Brixton Academy before and have heard that this venue is the best place to see live acts.

Funny enough as I write this post, I just received my tickets for the show in the mail today (October 29th). And with that note, it’s time to celebrate with this awesome theme tune!

http://walkingleaf.co.uk/2008/10/29/experience-goldfrapp-for-free/

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