8th October & 11th October
------------------------------
Yep, Mayday Parade were double-headlining alongside The Maine. I decided to write them up separately. For me, these were dream gigs. Two of my top 5 bands playing on the same night.
I love both the Mayday Parade albums, they are two of the favourite albums that I own, love every song from both of them. The last time I saw them in April, the sound in the Forum was terrible. I wasn't sure what to expect this time.
Almost as soon as The Maine had left the stage, the pushing forward started. It was the same in April, I don't know what makes these fans go nuts for Mayday, but the queues round the block and the crazy fan moshing are unlike anything I've ever seen for any other band. It's like they spray some magic potion into the air. The thing is, Mayday are good live, if you know the songs, but they are not the most brilliant band ever - at some points they sound like just a lot of noise. They are a bit wild, a bit wacky, they jump around a lot and play their guitars over their heads.
Yes, I love the songs, I really get into it and sing along, and jump a lot, but whereas The Maine improved on their songs by singing them live, this wasn't the case for Mayday - which was disappointing for me - the recorded stuff sounds much better. A couple of times, the band stopped mid song to speak to the audience, which felt a bit gimmicky and I don't think went down particularly well.
However, they did pull together an impressive setlist from their songbook, and it made the set seem longer than just over the hour that it actually was. Everyone got to sing along to the hugely popular 'Miserable at Best', which was pretty sweet, and with both Black Cat and Jamie All Over in there as well, it made it a good gig for me. Given that the tickets for both The Maine and Mayday Parade were only £12, I'm giving it 7.5/10.
Saturday, 16 October 2010
The Maine, Islington O2 Academy
8th October & 11th October
--------------------------------
Tight.
That was the thought I had. It was the same comment that Steve made on Monday. Rob was also impressed with the live show and said he'd see them live again.
It's the first time I've seen the same group more than once on the same tour. I wouldn't do it for just anyone. But there's something about The Maine.
They were only on the stage for just over an hour, but they blasted through all of my favourite songs from both Can't Stop, Won't Stop and their new album Black and White.
They also kickstarted the evening with a romping, stomping new track, a bit of audience participation, and given that there was no support act, this was a great way to kick off the show and get everyone moving.
It's pretty clear how seriously The Maine take their jobs. They look like they are having fun, but everything is spot on. They've grown up a little with the second album - in every sense - music, lyrics, visually - gone is the long hair and young band look, replaced by something a bit mature, a bit edgier. John's voice has matured, it's more rock-n-rolly, quite a unique sound to it, and I actually thought that many of the songs they sang from the first album sounded better than on that album - whether this was more down to the 'liveness' or the maturity, I'm not sure.
How well known the band are over here in the UK is hard to say. This is their second trip to the UK, and certainly the songs from Can't Stop, Won't Stop were well known amongst the audience, the newer songs that were played have been publicised on www.wearethemaine.net, but I've not really seen Black and White selling over here in retail stores, I had to order mine from the US. Having said that, it didn't seem to stop the members of the audience getting right into the newer music, all the people right next to me were very much getting involved (the boys and the girls).
I can see massive potential in these guys, and I hope that they continue to tour the UK periodically. I'd love for them to get enough of a following to play somewhere like Somerset House and record a live album once they have another album or so under their belts. More than anything else, they work damn hard and they are likeable guys. I want them to succeed :)
Their live show was one of the most enjoyable I've seen, I just wish I'd been closer to the front. I woke up at 6am the next morning, grinning, counting myself lucky, and unable to get back to sleep for thinking about how good it was. 9/10
Thursday, 14 October 2010
Eurogamer Expo, Earls Court
At the beginning of October, I headed on down the Earls Court for this years Eurogamer Expo 2010. A whole roomful of fun, many teenage geeky boys and a handful of bored looking girls tagging along after them. Ok, I'm being sexist, there were some girls like me who went to actually have a go on the games, but the majority of the crowd were the boy variety.
This was a chance to see what's up and coming on the gaming scene, to oooh and aaaah at the graphics and to try on some of those silly 3D specs, which actually were a big improvement from the ones you get at the cinema.
I'm not a big fan of playing shoot-em-ups, I find the whole thing rather time consuming and dull and a bit repetitive, but it was obvious that a big focus of the show was the latest Assassins Creed game that took up the most floor space.
One of the more interesting games for me was seeing Killzone 3 with the 3D gaming. It being my first experience of 3D games, I popped on the glasses and watched one of the other guys having a go. It was a pretty immersive experience, but I'm sure that, like with most of the 3D games I saw, you have to be close to the screen and also that you couldn't play this for any long period of time as it's just too in your face. I tried out the GT5 game for PS3 with the 3D glasses and it was a similar story, really good for a while, but I think it'd get tiresome. However, looking at GT5 without the 3D was a pretty impressive experience. The graphics looked amazing - smooth and sleek, and this will definitely be a game that I buy. When it finally comes out.
Other driving games on show were F1 2010 and the new Motorstorm: Apocolypse, which, if I'm honest just seemed really frustrating - half of the time it was impossible to see where you were driving, so I felt that the only way to win at this game was to learn what obstacles appeared where, which takes the fun out of it a bit.
However, by far the most spectacular demo of 3D was with Starcraft II for the PC. Oh my word, the clarity and the popping out of the screen, I just wanted to put my hand out and touch things that weren't even really there. It stood out way ahead of any of the other 3D games.
I also had a go on the Playstation Move, playing table tennis. To me, it seemed a lot like playing on the Wii, and seeing as I already have one of those, I can't see myself investing in the PS Move any time soon.
The similar offering from Xbox, Kinect, has no controllers, you control it with your body. This made for some interesting demos, as I watched people playing table tennis with their hands, driving a car with their hands but no steering wheel, and jumping up and down in some water rafting game. Not very impressed with this, I like the feedback that I get from holding something in my hands. However, there was also Dance Central, using the same equipment, which looked huge amounts of fun, and was a game that I could really see this tech working for. Having said that, the kit is pretty expensive at £129, I doubt I'll be likely to buy it until it comes down in price or until there are more games that I want to play with it.
Saving the best for last, the new kit for Rock Band 3 was on show, with the extended drum kit (now 4 pads, 3 cymbals), the new keyboard, and of course the guitars for the Pro version. My word the guitars look complex. not only do you now have to hit the right colour, but you also have to hit the correct button (e.g. red 5, blue 3 etc). I'm more a fan of the drums myself, but I'm only just levelling up to medium, so it'll be a while until I get anywhere near pro. All good fun though, and I fully expect to buy RB3.
Most ridiculous looking game of the show I think had to go to Def Jam Rapstar - I imagine if you like rapping it might be quite good fun, but it had me in hysterics even at the idea of it, let alone the couple giving it a go (even though they were quite good!) Just a step too far for me!
Overall then, the show was really interesting and gave me a lot of ideas for what I'll be looking out for in the coming months. Its always nice to go and try out the new stuff, the show was really well organised, with a separate area for the over 18 games, everyone was well behaved and the queues weren't too big for any of the games. There were also some workshops and developer sessions, although I didn't attend any of these. And for £8, I thought it was an absolute bargin.
This was a chance to see what's up and coming on the gaming scene, to oooh and aaaah at the graphics and to try on some of those silly 3D specs, which actually were a big improvement from the ones you get at the cinema.
I'm not a big fan of playing shoot-em-ups, I find the whole thing rather time consuming and dull and a bit repetitive, but it was obvious that a big focus of the show was the latest Assassins Creed game that took up the most floor space.
One of the more interesting games for me was seeing Killzone 3 with the 3D gaming. It being my first experience of 3D games, I popped on the glasses and watched one of the other guys having a go. It was a pretty immersive experience, but I'm sure that, like with most of the 3D games I saw, you have to be close to the screen and also that you couldn't play this for any long period of time as it's just too in your face. I tried out the GT5 game for PS3 with the 3D glasses and it was a similar story, really good for a while, but I think it'd get tiresome. However, looking at GT5 without the 3D was a pretty impressive experience. The graphics looked amazing - smooth and sleek, and this will definitely be a game that I buy. When it finally comes out.
Other driving games on show were F1 2010 and the new Motorstorm: Apocolypse, which, if I'm honest just seemed really frustrating - half of the time it was impossible to see where you were driving, so I felt that the only way to win at this game was to learn what obstacles appeared where, which takes the fun out of it a bit.
However, by far the most spectacular demo of 3D was with Starcraft II for the PC. Oh my word, the clarity and the popping out of the screen, I just wanted to put my hand out and touch things that weren't even really there. It stood out way ahead of any of the other 3D games.
I also had a go on the Playstation Move, playing table tennis. To me, it seemed a lot like playing on the Wii, and seeing as I already have one of those, I can't see myself investing in the PS Move any time soon.
The similar offering from Xbox, Kinect, has no controllers, you control it with your body. This made for some interesting demos, as I watched people playing table tennis with their hands, driving a car with their hands but no steering wheel, and jumping up and down in some water rafting game. Not very impressed with this, I like the feedback that I get from holding something in my hands. However, there was also Dance Central, using the same equipment, which looked huge amounts of fun, and was a game that I could really see this tech working for. Having said that, the kit is pretty expensive at £129, I doubt I'll be likely to buy it until it comes down in price or until there are more games that I want to play with it.
Saving the best for last, the new kit for Rock Band 3 was on show, with the extended drum kit (now 4 pads, 3 cymbals), the new keyboard, and of course the guitars for the Pro version. My word the guitars look complex. not only do you now have to hit the right colour, but you also have to hit the correct button (e.g. red 5, blue 3 etc). I'm more a fan of the drums myself, but I'm only just levelling up to medium, so it'll be a while until I get anywhere near pro. All good fun though, and I fully expect to buy RB3.
Most ridiculous looking game of the show I think had to go to Def Jam Rapstar - I imagine if you like rapping it might be quite good fun, but it had me in hysterics even at the idea of it, let alone the couple giving it a go (even though they were quite good!) Just a step too far for me!
Overall then, the show was really interesting and gave me a lot of ideas for what I'll be looking out for in the coming months. Its always nice to go and try out the new stuff, the show was really well organised, with a separate area for the over 18 games, everyone was well behaved and the queues weren't too big for any of the games. There were also some workshops and developer sessions, although I didn't attend any of these. And for £8, I thought it was an absolute bargin.
Saturday, 2 October 2010
Innocent Cafe
A couple of weeks ago, the Innocent newsletter plonked into our inbox containing some good news. Innocent were opening a cafe for a week, and oh, how much excitement, it was just around the corner from our office. Two things excited me about this... the mention of food, and the fact that they were offering 5 portions of fruit/veg for a fiver, to show people how easy it is to get your five portions a day. Can't really go wrong then, can we?
Yesterday, 6 of us headed out for lunch at the Innocent 5 for 5 cafe in the Tramshed just close to Hoxton Square. It's only open for a week, and this was their first day.
We were greeted by some very happy smiley innocent employees, all far too hyped up, but well they should be because the Tramshed looked great. All big long wooden tables, twinkly fairy lights, lots of cute little pot plants, and well, it looked magic.
The deal is that you get two courses, either starter and main or main and pudding for £5. Drinks are an extra £1.50 on top, and you can choose from one of the innocent smoothies, some This Water, or else if you want to bring your own wine or beer, they charge £1.50 a head for that too. All is good so far. The menu sounds great, and we are seated opposite a big hotplate where the food comes out before delivery. We spot food that looks delicious, fresh and colourful. We get excited.
Ok, it's their first day. but it seemed to take a long time to get anyone to give us any attention. We were one of the first groups of people through the door, and we had to ask someone to come and take our order. And it seemed that he could only do drinks. We had to ask again for someone to take our meal order. Three of our starters arrived. We had to ask for the other two. The drinks weren't all right. It was sort of funny really. A bit fawlty towers. If you had been in a hurry, it would have been a problem. But, it was their first day, and the tramshed is huge, a lot of pressure and the waiters looked a tad lost and all very stressed out. I'm sure they just need to work through it.
The food itself was really tasty. I enjoyed Beetroot and horseradish pierogi with sour cream, pickled red cabbage and paprika.
This was followed by Sweet potato brik with roasted pepper, courgette and chickpea salad. Here's a photo:
The brik was really great, I thought very tasty and something I'd consider making at home. Which is cool really, cos on the way out we also were given a pack full of tasty recipes that they are preparing this week, one of them being the delicious sweet potato brik. You can also find a whole bunch of recipes on their website here.
So, I guess that I'd say that it was a lunchtime well spent. Apart from the few hiccups with the waiters, the atmosphere was great and fun and exciting, the food was really very tasty and the price was a total bargin. The cafe will be serving until the 8th of October, but is sadly sold out now, so if you're one of the lucky ones who bagged yourself a £5 lunch, enjoy it!
Yesterday, 6 of us headed out for lunch at the Innocent 5 for 5 cafe in the Tramshed just close to Hoxton Square. It's only open for a week, and this was their first day.
We were greeted by some very happy smiley innocent employees, all far too hyped up, but well they should be because the Tramshed looked great. All big long wooden tables, twinkly fairy lights, lots of cute little pot plants, and well, it looked magic.
The deal is that you get two courses, either starter and main or main and pudding for £5. Drinks are an extra £1.50 on top, and you can choose from one of the innocent smoothies, some This Water, or else if you want to bring your own wine or beer, they charge £1.50 a head for that too. All is good so far. The menu sounds great, and we are seated opposite a big hotplate where the food comes out before delivery. We spot food that looks delicious, fresh and colourful. We get excited.
Ok, it's their first day. but it seemed to take a long time to get anyone to give us any attention. We were one of the first groups of people through the door, and we had to ask someone to come and take our order. And it seemed that he could only do drinks. We had to ask again for someone to take our meal order. Three of our starters arrived. We had to ask for the other two. The drinks weren't all right. It was sort of funny really. A bit fawlty towers. If you had been in a hurry, it would have been a problem. But, it was their first day, and the tramshed is huge, a lot of pressure and the waiters looked a tad lost and all very stressed out. I'm sure they just need to work through it.
The food itself was really tasty. I enjoyed Beetroot and horseradish pierogi with sour cream, pickled red cabbage and paprika.
This was followed by Sweet potato brik with roasted pepper, courgette and chickpea salad. Here's a photo:
The brik was really great, I thought very tasty and something I'd consider making at home. Which is cool really, cos on the way out we also were given a pack full of tasty recipes that they are preparing this week, one of them being the delicious sweet potato brik. You can also find a whole bunch of recipes on their website here.
So, I guess that I'd say that it was a lunchtime well spent. Apart from the few hiccups with the waiters, the atmosphere was great and fun and exciting, the food was really very tasty and the price was a total bargin. The cafe will be serving until the 8th of October, but is sadly sold out now, so if you're one of the lucky ones who bagged yourself a £5 lunch, enjoy it!
Sunday, 19 September 2010
Muse, Wembley Stadium
Any die hard Muse fan will probably tell you that this was the best gig they've ever been to. I knew almost nothing about them, apart from the odd song I might have heard Rob play in the house, but that I wouldn't necessarily have known was them.
Support was from I Am Arrows, White Lies and Biffy Clyro who I've not seen live before but thought they were all really good and got the crowd geared up for the main act... although they didn't turn the volume up until they played Green Day's Holiday right before Muse came on.
So, it was September 11th, and Muse kicked off their show with silver suits, a procession of flags and the song Uprising. All at once, everyone on the pitch standing put up an arm, and there started the sound and lighting spectacular that would carry on for 2 hours.
The pace was pretty furious as they went through their songs, and then a few slower ones which kicked into crowd stompers half way through. But by three quarters of the way through the show I was really ready for a break. Even from the back of the stadium, it was so loud and so full on that it made me feel a bit sick, so I can't imagine what it would have been like in the pit.
The thing I took away from this, not knowing much about them was that Muse are space-agey. The set was an impressive spacey looking building built in a V shape pointing out toward the audience, with screens down both sides and lights over the band pointing out towards the audience. There was a flying saucer complete with alien girl doing acrobatics on a wire which came all the way around the stadium, and a very bright light up suit on one of Muse, which made my eyes go all funny, so I have no idea how he coped with wearing it while playing the guitar. Also a podium in the middle that spun round in a spaceship fashion, and the usual streamers and big balloon type objects filled with paper. All in all though, there wasn't much talking to the crowd, they just came in and got on with it. They know how to command the stage and the audience though - I've never seen a mosh pit where the entire floor from the front to the very back was jumping in unison, but this was it.
I think perhaps had I known more of the tracks I'd have found it better, but by the end, I was just tired of the lightshow, and the songs were beginning to sound the same. So for die-hard fans of Muse, it was probably the gig of their life. I thought it was pretty good, but definitely not gig of the year, for me anyway. 8/10.
Here's one of the videos to give you a feel for the show, and this was probably my favourite part, but there are plenty on youtube so go have a look.
Support was from I Am Arrows, White Lies and Biffy Clyro who I've not seen live before but thought they were all really good and got the crowd geared up for the main act... although they didn't turn the volume up until they played Green Day's Holiday right before Muse came on.
So, it was September 11th, and Muse kicked off their show with silver suits, a procession of flags and the song Uprising. All at once, everyone on the pitch standing put up an arm, and there started the sound and lighting spectacular that would carry on for 2 hours.
The pace was pretty furious as they went through their songs, and then a few slower ones which kicked into crowd stompers half way through. But by three quarters of the way through the show I was really ready for a break. Even from the back of the stadium, it was so loud and so full on that it made me feel a bit sick, so I can't imagine what it would have been like in the pit.
The thing I took away from this, not knowing much about them was that Muse are space-agey. The set was an impressive spacey looking building built in a V shape pointing out toward the audience, with screens down both sides and lights over the band pointing out towards the audience. There was a flying saucer complete with alien girl doing acrobatics on a wire which came all the way around the stadium, and a very bright light up suit on one of Muse, which made my eyes go all funny, so I have no idea how he coped with wearing it while playing the guitar. Also a podium in the middle that spun round in a spaceship fashion, and the usual streamers and big balloon type objects filled with paper. All in all though, there wasn't much talking to the crowd, they just came in and got on with it. They know how to command the stage and the audience though - I've never seen a mosh pit where the entire floor from the front to the very back was jumping in unison, but this was it.
I think perhaps had I known more of the tracks I'd have found it better, but by the end, I was just tired of the lightshow, and the songs were beginning to sound the same. So for die-hard fans of Muse, it was probably the gig of their life. I thought it was pretty good, but definitely not gig of the year, for me anyway. 8/10.
Here's one of the videos to give you a feel for the show, and this was probably my favourite part, but there are plenty on youtube so go have a look.
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Boy Soldiers
Last week I got a tip off about a new show opening up around the corner from my office. I didn't manage to get to the opening night, but I caught the show during the next day.
The idea is simple, 30 Street/Contemporary/Fine artists, each customising Schoony's Boy Soldier. I found the results pretty amazing, just because each piece was so vastly different, imaginative and interesting.
The show moves on to the Graffik Gallery on Portobello Road from tomorrow, it's well worth checking out... As always, the art is so much better viewed when it's right in front of you.
Those of you who can't make it, here's a selection of images.
Thursday, 26 August 2010
Tap Dogs, Novello Theatre
If you've been around in London recently, you'll most likely have seen the adverts as you go up the escalator in the tube stations for Tap Dogs, with Adam Garcia's face grinning back at you. I've never been to a purely dance show, but I saw tickets on lastminute.com for 10 quid to sit in the balcony, so I convinced a friend to come with me and off we went.
I wasn't really sure what to expect from the show, for a start, because it's a dance show, it's shorter than most things you'd see in a theatre at only an hour and a half. But it felt like a full length show. Now imagine the tone of the show. It's like tap dancing, crossed with watching the chippendales (with less nudity). These guys are FIT, there are muscles everywhere. Their precision is impressive, I found myself holding my breath and staring in awe a lot. It was exhausting to watch them, but huge amounts of fun.
The show itself I found very inventive. I did wonder how they would keep us entertained just by tapping for an hour and a half, but there was a huge amount of set changing, cool lighting and sound effects, props... I don't want to give too much away, but I was mighty impressed with what they did. The only thing I'd say to be wary of was that sitting in the balcony, you don't get to see a couple of things... firstly, the girls beating a rhythm on the drums, and secondly there's a short section where one of the dancers is hoisted up - but the others are still on the floor, so I thought it was ok.
For the price we paid, I think it was an absolute steal. I probably wouldn't have gone to see the show if it had been much more expensive, but having seen it, I'd probably have paid maybe up to £20-£25 for a ticket because it feels like a proper full on show like a musical or a gig. I'm so glad that I went, and I can highly recommend it...especially while you can get cheap tickets on lastminute.com (a note though, the trailer REALLY doesn't do the show justice).
Just a warning though, if you're in the front two rows, better get your poncho on!
Grab a ticket now - it's only on until the 5th September.
I wasn't really sure what to expect from the show, for a start, because it's a dance show, it's shorter than most things you'd see in a theatre at only an hour and a half. But it felt like a full length show. Now imagine the tone of the show. It's like tap dancing, crossed with watching the chippendales (with less nudity). These guys are FIT, there are muscles everywhere. Their precision is impressive, I found myself holding my breath and staring in awe a lot. It was exhausting to watch them, but huge amounts of fun.
The show itself I found very inventive. I did wonder how they would keep us entertained just by tapping for an hour and a half, but there was a huge amount of set changing, cool lighting and sound effects, props... I don't want to give too much away, but I was mighty impressed with what they did. The only thing I'd say to be wary of was that sitting in the balcony, you don't get to see a couple of things... firstly, the girls beating a rhythm on the drums, and secondly there's a short section where one of the dancers is hoisted up - but the others are still on the floor, so I thought it was ok.
For the price we paid, I think it was an absolute steal. I probably wouldn't have gone to see the show if it had been much more expensive, but having seen it, I'd probably have paid maybe up to £20-£25 for a ticket because it feels like a proper full on show like a musical or a gig. I'm so glad that I went, and I can highly recommend it...especially while you can get cheap tickets on lastminute.com (a note though, the trailer REALLY doesn't do the show justice).
Just a warning though, if you're in the front two rows, better get your poncho on!
Grab a ticket now - it's only on until the 5th September.
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