Archive for Gigs

Reading Festival 2009

Posted in Music with tags , , , , , , , , on September 18, 2009 by clarkykestrel

Only just realized that I still haven’t put this post up, it’s not good that I am actually able to think of posts to write I keep forgetting to actually put them up. Anyway…

When the weekend began there was a much more placid atmosphere then the year before, without as many random encounters and socialization with complete strangers. Although this didn’t really change the weekend certainly picked up and became a lot more entertaining. The weekend wasn’t without its dramas either but I’m not going to go into that here.

Now for the life source of Reading Festival, the music. There wasn’t a hard-hitting Main Stage like that of 2008, which featured Rage Against The Machine, Metallica, Queens of the Stone Age and The Killers (if they’re your thing), in fact it was a weedy disappointment in comparison with the 3 headliners being Kings Of Leon, Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead. My reaction, along with many others when these headliners were announced was where is the heavy Sunday that Reading is renowned for? Fortunately the smaller stages redeemed Reading this year. Bands such as Alexisonfire, Billy Talent, Atreyu, Rise Against, AFI, Gallows and Lostprophets exerted a much greater draw on me than any of the main stage headliners and these were bolstered by mid-lineup appearances by Funeral For A Friend and Enter Shikari.

I wasn’t really sure how Enter Shikari would fair on the Main Stage of Reading when up to now I have only seen them in small, dark venues but I am pleased to say that their main stage appearance had all the energy of their more secluded shows, as did their new material (this being the first time I have seen them live since the release of Common Dreads). The BBC’s coverage of Enter Shikari, along with Rou Reynolds beaming throughout, can be seen here. Funeral For A Friend are always amazing when I see them live and this time was no exception. It was a show like had never experienced before, being in a mosh pit to Juneau whilst it pours down with torrential rain is an amazing experience. Even when the rain caused a complete power failure on stage the amazement didn’t stop, with the crowd partaking in chants of “You’re no singing anymore” and a rendition of We Will Rock You lead by the drummer of FFAF. This performance being incredible despite technical difficulties, made this Kings Of Leon outburst along with there complaints about the sound quality all the more pathetic.

Very glad I went this year and bring on Reading Festival 2010!

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The culmination of 3 years of college and a long summer of waiting

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , on August 22, 2009 by clarkykestrel

Thought I put this post up on Thursday but I realize that is not correct, so use your imaginations and treat this as if you were reading it on the 20th of August:

First of all I would like to start off by saying that my last post was an angry rant that was written on the spare of the moment when I was in a particularly bad mood and since calming down I have considered deleting it numerous times. But over the last couple of days a few people have mentioned it so I decided to keep it and just write a follow up post that is written under completely opposing emotions.

So the day that I have been waiting for all summer is finally here; A level results day. Woke up this morning just before 7 to look to see my exam results on the Strode’s website, expecting that this would get updated before the UCAS website but found nothing but a blank page when I got there. So while I’m waiting for the Strode’s website to get updated I thought I would log onto UCAS just to check where I am greeted by the following message:

Picture 1
Pure joy occurred following this, despite my mum being incredibly patronizing, and I had a wide smile over my face. At this point I was really wondering what grades I must have got in my exams, after all UEA wanted an A in Computing and a B in Environmental Science to let me on the course. So there I was waiting for the Strode’s website to get updated so I could see the grades which I thought must have exceeded my expectations.

Well I was wrong, I did worse then I had predicted. My grade breakdown is as follows:

Computing A2 – B
Environmental Science A2 – D
Government & Politics AS– C
Java – Pass

This is combined with the A levels I already have from previous years:

Graphics with Material Technology A2 – C
Business Studies A2 – D
2D Art AS – E

So it seems despite falling short of my target grades by more then the odd grade, I have still been allotted a place at my first choice University. For a few minutes, (mostly thanks to my mum’s input) I panicked and thought that UCAS must have got it all wrong and that I hadn’t actually got into UEA but it has actually happened.

So now I have a month until I start at UEA which will most likely fly by, partly due to the fact that I’m going to be wishing Bon Voyage to a few of my good friends over the next couple of weeks, and also that I am going to be at Reading Festival next week. If there was enough goings on there (which I’m sure there will be) and that it doesn’t take me to many days to recover, I’ll do a blog post about it.

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Post Writing Lag

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , on February 21, 2008 by clarkykestrel

The frequencies of my posts lately has been quite poor. I blame this on two things; firstly I find my self being engaged in more social events and I am therefore in front of my computer killing time less, secondly I blame this on the fact I haven’t got much to ramble and complain about. Damn my hide to Hell for being happy!

Due to the fact I have been writing less I have missed out on writing some humorous stories in blog form. One such story being that I got a new phone and my mum saying to me “You better not lose this in the next 2 weeks or something” and me replying “I won’t, I have never lost a phone before”. Then 6 days passed and I went to see 30 Seconds To Mars and sometime between the beginning of 30STM’s first song and then end of it I had managed to lose it already. Sods law at work again. I must take this moment though to commend Vodafone on their excellent customer service and by 18:00 the next day I had a replacement phone and sim card.

The key factor in me writing less frequently would be Laura. I find myself spending a lot of my time with her. She seems to come around mine at least twice a week and we see each other more when we can. At the moment I am very happy with her and I hope it stays that way for a long time to come. On Monday I went with her to get her tattoo which actually annoyed me because she beat me to getting one. *throws a sulk* She had a vine of ivy done around her wrist and while I was there the guy told me if I come in with a picture of what I want my tattoo to look like he will knock up a design. So hopefully will be doing that shortly. Me and laura have been back together a month already and a great month it has been. I do realise most of my readers that I know of truly don’t give a shit about affairs of the heart so I shall stop that now. Anyway any complaints about the rareness of my posts can be forwarded to: Laura Glennon.

Right now I have to think of something to write about Josh so his name in the tag cloud isn’t going to lose out to Laura’s. Ah got something, my plans for tomorrow are to go around Josh’s house and watch the 3rd episode of lost Season 3. Friday I am spending the evening with Laura as it’s one month on and all that, Sunday I am going to see Enter Shikari which is going to be crazy, I am probably going to be a bit battered on Monday. Saturday is reserved for all the coursework I have procrastinated doing thus far.

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Crazy Foooool!

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , on February 5, 2008 by clarkykestrel

Hello ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls and Babb. Hope all is well with you all. I couldn’t think of a good title so I picked something that describes my current attitude. Some of you, such as Josh, shall be able to picture me saying this as I do so well.

The reason for my weird mood is unknown. Maybe it’s something to do with this weird thing called “being happy” that I am told you can experience. I know some of you aren’t her biggest fans, but I am very happy with Laura. I some of you won’t be very fond of her because of stuff I have previously written in this blog and also due to the fact that you are awesome friends and are looking out for me. I should really stop talking about Laura in my blog, as Josh frequently reminds me I talk about her much more and that Tag Cloud over there –> will consume the world.

Right on to talking about other comings and goings in the life of The Rambling Grumpy Adolescent. Tomorrow I am going to see 30 Seconds To Mars. I haven’t been to a gig in bloody ages now so it will be nice to get back into the swing of things. Get myself prepared for Enter Shikari on the 24th. Good times will be had. I am not liking the fact that the 24th happens to be the last day of half-term and I am going to have to drag my arse into college when I am surely going to be a bit beaten and bruised.

I had an interesting phone call from Babb the other day. The gist of the conversation was that he gave me a number to ring and then I go to this persons house on Thursday with him, when I am at this house I will spend the evening drinking beer and I get paid £40 for it. Ah market research, it’s a tough job but someone has to do it.

Right I believe I have rambled on sufficient amounts now. Just one thing left to say… 3 day weekend WOOT!

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