Bridlington to Dublin to Reykjavik to Rome - 20 Oct 06

Well Helen said that would make a catchy title for a blog and she is probably right....made you look didn't it??

Last week spent a lovely couple of days with my good mate Helen in sunny Bridlington in a caravan.  To be honest we saw mostly the inside of the caravan because the times when it was not raining, we were nursing hangovers from hell.

And if you look at these pics of Helen you can see why there were hangovers!

I have some video footage too of a very intoxicated mate, and as soon as I learn how to compress a video I will upload it so you can all have a good laugh....I am such a biatch!!

Last day before I came home we went for a walk along the beach and here are some of my best piccies.

Well I got back this morning from Dublin for my final Goo Goo Dolls encounter of the year (all say AWW).  I was away for 14 hours and it still cost me £20 to park my bloody car!!!  So much for cheap flights.  It nearly cost me a whole deal more as the guy at the check in desk wanted me th throw all  my make up away as I past through security as no liquids allowed in hand luggage.  Obviously men have no idea how expensive make up is.  So after clearing exactly what I was allowed to bring, too my make up back to the car.

Was met at the airport in Dublin by Mick, who also kindly sorted out these tickets for the Goo Goo Dolls.  I knew that he liked one or two songs, but I had no idea he actually knew 5. 

We went for a nice Thai meal near the Temple Bar area before heading off to the Olympia for the gig.  When we arrived The Tender Box had already started their set and the place was packed and we were right at the back.  I will say that I enjoyed The Tender Box more this time and not entirely sure why...still did not get a CD as the queues for merchandise were far too long, but I am sure I will catch them on their UK tour at some point.  Pictures are not great as they were taken from a distance.  I was actually getting quite upset as I could not get any nice ones from where I was standing.

The Olympia Theatre errupted as the Goo Goo Dolls took the stage and I was beaming from ear to ear as I was singing away to "I'll Stay With You".  The set was a little different and I was delighted to hear "Here is Gone" and "Without You Here" which was sadly lacking from the Nottingham gig.  But best addition was Robby singing "January Friend" which I saw live in Birmingham earlier this year but not in London or Nottingham.

About 4 songs in a guy appeared at the back and handed me an armband.  I got ever so excited thinking it was some kind of aftershow party.  I asked him what it was for and he told me that if I put it on and showed it at the front I would be let into the exclusive area at the front.  So I asked for one for my mate too.  We went past security and stood right up front, BLISS!!

It was quite funny that Johnny never slagged off Ronan Keating before singing "Iris" for obvious reasons.  He does not realise however, that Irish people can't stand him either and he probably would have got the biggest cheer from the Irish lol!

I felt a little sad during the encore and even though "Become" always makes me cry anyway, I felt specifically sad that this was the end.  I managed to wave goodbye to Andy before leaving the Theatre. 

Met up with the Tender Box boys in the lobby and gave Joey hugs from Lizzy and took some pictures.

As we left to the side we saw Johnny's body guard and I am sure I would not have to have waited for 3.5 hours after the show to actually see Johnny there.

We went from the Theatre to a few pubs on Temple Bar and the first one had some live music.  Acoustic covers and the guy singing was brilliant, I knew every song and loved it completely.  It was then time, before we moved to the next.  Only had one drink there and then moved on to Buskers or some place where we drank till 2.30am before waiting in the cold for the bus back to the airport.  We got there about 4am and it was not long before I could check in.  Had McDonalds breakfast before departing.

I had a really nice time tonight, in between the arguing, but that is what happens when you go to gigs with exs.  So thank you very much Mick for organising this, the gig was Super!!  Thanks to Goo Goo Dolls for singing all 5 songs Mick knew :o)

Slept most of today which is why I am awake now.  Saw my friend briefly tonight and just been taking it easy whilst contemplating what to take for Reykjavik as Kate and I are heading for deepest darkest Iceland.  How lucky are we?  So you know why neither of us will be on here till Monday night.  Its gonna be hard but I am sure we can manage.

Then I have a couple of days to recover from all the drunken debauchery with Kate before heading off to Rome for a week.  Jetsetter indeed (thanks for that Helen) - it really is a hard life, I am barely coping...

However before Rome is the next Great Escape at Junktion 7, so get your asses down there for some fab music as usual!

AAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHH - Johnny :o)

Well we all know how much this girl loves The Goo Goo Dolls and seeing them again was absolutely amazing.  First time I managed to get up front which means I have some cracking pictures (despite one of the security telling me during support band to put camera away).

I also met Robby and Brad beforehand and got this picture taken with Robby.  Story of my life - I always get the ugly one!!!  But he is sweet and I love him anyway. 

Then sat in the queue from about 4pm onwards to ensure my spot up front and it was so bloody worth it!!!

Support band were ok but I did not like the front man which sort of detracted from the music a little.  But The Tenderbox will no doubt be selling some records so check them out.  They sang one song which was sort of very New Order towards the end, featuring the keyboards and I really liked that one.

I have no voice left after screaming my head off as soon as the Goo's took the stage.  They opened up with "I'll Stay With You" and then Flowerpot's fav "Slide" - Ok so I also have a set list - a SIGNED setlist :o) so not gonna bore you. 

Will mention we got "Name" which I love and I finally got to hear "Can't Let it Go" live which to me is the catchiest tune on the "Let Love In" album and for sure has to be a single at some point.  We had classics like "Iris", "Black Balloon", "Broadway" but sadly no "Big Machine" or "Here is Gone". 

Encore consisted of my fav song "Become" which I managed to video most of thanks to Tom :o)  Night was finished off with "Give a little Bit" and everyone knows this one so the singing was superb.  Setlist had "Without you Here" on but they went off stage as it was curfew.

Anyway here is a small sample of my 120 pictures :o)

Robbie - a face only a mother can love ;-P

Mike on drums

The gorgeous Brad on guitar

Everytime I try to get a picture of Johnny he had his hands in front of his face!!

Finally one of Johnny's beautiful smile :o)

My finest one...

We then proceeded to the car park to wait as I was not leaving until I met Johnny.  First out was Robby and I took loads of piccies for fans.

Then came Mike and it was his birthday so more hugs and birthday wishes and he was lovely too.

Finally a good hour after everybody else came the man himself.  Johnny Rzeznik, a little on the flying side, claming that people made him smoke lol.  He was hillarious and very entertaining. 

I grabbed hold of him as I was freezing so he lifted up his shirt and told me to warm my hands.

He then leaned over and kissed me very nicly on the lips, pulled away and repeated it again just a little longer.  Why don't people take pictures of these things!!!

He then posed for a picture and I think you can see his mood in this one lol and I am giggling like a school girl!!

Love this pic with Mike, who was an absolute star and humoured me throughout the day, first having lunch together and then sitting on the steps outside the venue all afternoon and waiting for hours afterwards.  Thanks mate - you are awesome and I will never forget this.

Last picture of the night was taken with Andy whom we befriended in the car park earlier as we went lurking.  He is stage crew for Robby and such a nice guy.  He gave us all sorts of Goo Goo Dolls goodies as well as some cd's of his own band The Bottoms - I have had a listen and love it!  Hopefully they will be touring at some point.

Dublin on Wednesday can't come soon enough.  Thanks to all my mates Mike, Tom, Mark, Linda and Flowerpot for sharing this with me and to the random boys from Barnsley for selling my spare ticket and keeping us amused in the queue outside.

Ok now I am off to Bridlington to join my mate Helen for a couple of days of resting, armed with 5 litres of wine and some pizza.  Taking laptop but if you  need me, you will probably have to call me.  Is there internet in Bridlington??

Chat up lines....

Hmmm no music theme here tonight.  However will mention that I just saw Ben of The 45 Rebellion doing an acoustic gig in Derby and he was fooking awesome!!  "I'll be gone" - WOW!!

Ok title of blog is chat up lines.... come on you must have all had some crackers in the past, I know I have.  But in all honesty tonight's one will take some beating.

Wait for it.....*drum roll*...."come back to my place I will buy you a take-away!!"  How smooth is that??

I suppose it beats other "great" ones I have had in the past such as...

"You don't sweat much for a fat chick!"

"You are very pretty, you have Bruce Lee cheekbones!"  wtf?

"I wanna bang ya babe!" and if that was not bad enough it was follwed by "yeah I wanna slip you a length"

Come on amuse me here with some of your best chat up lines, either ones you have given or received in the past.  I wont tell anyone...

Censoredmania and other amazing bands....THIS WEEKEND!!! - 1 Oct 06

Well where does one start to describe this weekend of gigs?

We started off on Friday night at the Vic Inn in Derby and I have never seen the place so packed before.  We had 148 through the door (just two short of capacity). 

Lets talk about what matters thought - GREAT LIVE MUSIC.  We kicked amazing weekend off with The Burt Bacharak Fight Club who have a great range of entertaining pop songs - such great performers.

They were followed by The Crooks, who as always were outstanding, they just seem to get better and better each time I see them.

We then had London band Zamorano who were a huge favourite with the crowd and their mixture of anthemic and acoustic songs went down a treat.

Censored ended up headlining due to withdrawel of headline band and they truly rocked the Vic Inn.  Opening with classic (yes classic to me) "Your Eyes are Made of Gold" and we also really loved "Time on my Hands".

This great night in the Vic set us up perfectly for the inaugural night at Junktion 7 of The Great Escape.  I am getting tired now so will just mention the amazing line up of bands that played.  Each and everyone gave it their all and played to rapturous applause from a really special crowd at Junktion 7.

Mint Ive (or Ivy as Matt called them) acoustic opening set was amazing and I so looking forward to hearing the full band effect.  They were follwed by The Displacements who we briefly saw at Summer Sunday.  Another top band giving their all but I think they have definitely found a new friend in Helen.  Hollo-who?

The Four Last Things were next on the bill and again they did not disappoint.  As always a bit of a dark sound, but with the most amazing guitar rifts ever.  Not to mention the newly smily front man :o)  Love em, love em love em!

*NOTE TO SELF NEVER LEAVE OUT STARSCREEN AGAIN*

Ok so its the turn of Starscreen whom I have seen a few times before and the guys always put in a great performance.  Gutted to have missed most their set including their cover of Censored song, but I have heard nothing but praise from everyone who saw these guys. 

Also best bit of my Starscreen experience (apart from the music) is that I finally got Scott to give me a proper hug!!!  Victory is mine...

Now Censoredmainia has fully kicked in and the Censored Barmy Army are shouting for their band.  The atmosphere is indescribable at this time and everyone in the joint is enjoying it. I don't remember the song order but I remember an encore of "When You Come Along" great gig indeed!  I felt very proud and honoured that these guys were so fab and helped immensely to pull off such a special night spectacularly.  Next Great Escape night is 25th October - make sure you don't miss another epic!

Now having just returned from the Firebug in Leicester and probably my favourite gig of the weekend.  I was less stressed tonight and with the help of some West Country Cider managed to relax and really enjoy all the bands that were on.

We opened with Wayne Ridgway whom played for me first time round at 10 bands 10 hours gig in Nottingham in January.  Was a great set and started off the night in fine fashion.

Next up were Subjects of The City whom I only discovered one month ago actully in the Firebug, well the guitarist was there that night.  I must say I do not think the myspace tracks did them any favours and really very much enjoyed the live stuff, so if you are not sure go and check them out live!

More Censored after this and my favourite set of the weekend.  To say that Censored blew the crowd away tonight is putting it mildly.  I can safely say there is many a fan made at this gig tonight.  Immense boys immense!!!

The Four Last Things were on next and again were outstanding.  I can see much more to come from these guys and I am quite excited about the future.

We finished the night with Fazed whom I saw first time supporting the one and only Story One at the Charlotte earlier this year (or was it last year?).  Anyway they were tremendous and loved them all esp the "Calm" one :o)  Also loved the "Ever Fallen in Love" cover, but then again I was a little drunk at this point.

Its been a weekend of strange happenings which has left me a tad confused.  There seems to be more men around then I know what to do with (I think its feremones of some description), we seemed to have inherited two 23 year old stalkers (or maybe just hard core groupies), had a song dedicated to the Flowerpot and I check track no 2 here and after consuming an alarming amount of alcohol, I finally managed to get drunk on the last night of this weekend on a mere 6 pints of Cider.

I want to thanks all the bands who played this weekend but especially my favourite young men Censored.  If  you don't know who they are yet, check them out but do make sure you remember where you heard them first, as they are gonna be mega huge!!!  I love you guys :o)

To the hard core groupies who made all 3 gigs this weekend... I will try and remember who you all are.  Helen, Flowerpot, Paul, Jamie and Censored parents.  Thanks you are all truly special.

What is left to say??  Thanks to all the people who came out this weekend, and if you enjoyed The Great Escape or any of the other nights, make sure to leave a comment and tell us your thoughts.

See you all on 25th October, I will announce line up tomorrow.

I think I will sleep well tonight, please come see me Weds at Junktion 7 for my Oxjam gig...go on....its Charidee!!!!