Bowling for Soup - 20/10/09

The minute i heard that Bowling for Soup were doing another tour i instantly decided i was going. When i found out they were playing a show in Cambridge so i didn't have to pay more than the ticket's worth to get to the show, i was over the moon.

When we got into the show, we got a drink and went to stand near the front. We were only there for about 10 minutes before the first band, The Leftovers, came on. When you ordered tickets for the tour, you were given a free download album, featuring songs from each of the bands on the tour. I listened to this, and decided the Leftovers were pretty good, so i listened to their entire album. They came on stage with so much energy, and were one of the few support acts i'd seen that could get the crowd inerested in the show so much earlier than the actual band come on. They played some fantastic songs, starting with Untouchable, following it with Can't Stop. They then had a little chat and dedicated the next song, Telephone Operator, to "Everyone out there with a phone". They even managed to get the crowd to join in, in a sing and repeat moment with their final song, Party 'til we Die.

Up next, came MC Lars. I first saw him supporting BFS back in 2005, so was happy he was touring with them again. I wasn't entirely sure people would like it that much, as it is very different to the music they came to hear, especially as he favoured his older tracks to his newest slightly more mainstream releases. Anyone who can get away with telling the crowd to "Give it up for Herman Melville" before rapping about Moby Dick, has got something special and should run with it. Then on wanders Jaret for a quick song about music downloading, happily titled "Download This Song". He then played Hot Topic (is not punk rock), Space Game and finished with iGeneration. I was really surprised he didn't play a single track from his newer albums, but i think it is brilliant that he still plays his old stuff to crowds.

After a short wait, Zebrahead came on. I saw these supporting BFS in 2007, but didn't pay any attention. I then listened to some of their music and really like it so was quite looking forward to their set. Unfortunately i was really dissappointed. Before they came on, they played some music that really built up atmosphere and everyone was waiting for something amazing to heppen, then they casually walked on the stage - somewhat dissappointing. The singer spent an awful lot of time with his back to the audience, singing towards the drummer, and for some reason decided it would be a great idea to get everyone in the crowd to sit down. When the venue is full, you can barely stand up, let alone sit down so was this not only uncomfortable, but also stupid as he expected us to sit down, then jump up. It was more inconvenient than fun. They played a lot of songs, but i couldn't really make out when one ended and the next started, apart from the times when they talked. They did, however cover Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" and while this song was significantly better than the original, it seems like they are struggling for ideas as their new album is entirely covers of female pop stars. They are amazingly energetic, onstage, however and i don't think any of them stopped moving for more than a few seconds at a time, but on one of their last songs, they decided it would be great to try and persuade everyone to shout 'Minge' at certain parts of the song. This is a band that would probably be fun if you were drunk, but sober are just annoying and immature, and seemed out of place for an otherwise almost family friendly concert. I will stick to listening to the CD, rather than going to see them, i think.

After a longer wait, a video come up projected onto the screen, and it Showed Jaret and Erik sitting on a sofa explaining about this contest that you could enter. You vasically had to sign up to the mailing list and you would be entered into a competition written specifically about you. They then gave a short example for Ian, that consisted of "Your name is Ian... You really like beeein' outsiide!" Not gold perhaps, but you get the idea of what they were thinking. They then played the most amazing song i have ever heard, introducing the band and the show, then they came on straight into the brilliant "I'm Gay". This was a great song to start with as it got everyone into the spirit of what they were in for and is generally a fun song. Then the Bitch Song comes on, and everyone goes nuts. For the first time, Bowling for Soup played with the aid of a projector, and it played clips of some of their videos, and showed pictures and stuff while they were playing, which was a good idea as it was somethign else to look at while enjoying them, but it meant that they actually used a set list for a change, or the video would all be in the wrong place. They then played Almost and My Wena, with a video in the background depicting a 7 foot penis trying different things and generally failing. They then played No Habo Ingles, which was brilliant, i was so happy they played such a variety of material. Their new album is probably inching it's way to my favourite every time i listen to it, but i would have been dissappointed if it was all they playe,d luckily they threw in some older songs too, for good measure. They then played Ohio (Come Back to Texas) got halfway through, and in traditional BFS style, walked off. The Leftovers came on and finished the song off, when BFS came back on to power their way through High School Never Ends. They then spiced it up a bit by covering Hot Or Cold by Katy Perry, and Punk Rock 101 Halfway through they stopped for an official Bowling for Soup photo break, and all got together to pose for photos. They then wandered back and started talking. After a while Jaret said "Suppose we shoudl finish the song?" to which Chris replied "I suppose.." and they went straight back into it exactly where they had left earlier. They then went into the amazingly popular Hooray for Beer, much to everyone's enjoyment as they all got more beer. If Only, was followed soon after, aided by a video, as parts of the song is recorded answer-phone messages, the video showed these, and the band played along to the other bits. They then calmed it down a bit by playing When we Die, it seemed slightly out of place in amongst the happy jump around style of the show, but it's a brilliant song and worked well. Just before they left, they played the one song i had been waiting for all night. Really Cool Dance Song. As soon as this started playing the crowd went nuts, I really hope it gets released as a single, because it is such a good song, it would just rocket up the charts. They played that and i was so happy. But they stopped halfway through the song as the keyboard bit dropped out, but they finsihed their wonderful set with Jaret saying "If you don't know this song, the guy next to you is going to kick you in the nuts" before going into 1985. Everyone sang along, especially when we were pitted against Ireland to sing it in our best mexican accents. We won. Obviously. Bowling for Soup are simply amazing live and i can't wait for the next tour.

The Brink - WatStock '09.

When i was first told about WatStock, i didn't think it would work. Watlington is a small village, in between Kings Lynn and Cambridge, and i didn't think it would be a good places to hold a music festival. When it started out, it was a half day thing, an the organisers had to pay the bands with alcohol because they couldn't afford to pay them with money. This year was the second attempt, and it was extended to two full days. The main difference being instead of having to beg bands to play the festival, they had to turn down many of them. Over 70 bands applied to play the free music festival and had to be turned down due to lack of set time. I was only there for the second half of the second day of the festival, but what i saw was amazing. The bands were all local, and not all great, but everyone seemed to be having a nice time. It wasn't hot, but it wasn't freezing so everyone was quite chilled an happy to just sit around listening to the music. As i went only on the sunday i missed the 2thousand strong crowd that turned up the day before for the festival. I sat around for a while listening to a few bands, until one came on that particularly caught my attention. Ed Butt, i'm sorry, Edwin Butler, as he is now known, came on and was incredibly brave. He walked out all on his own and seemed to be trying as hard as he could to get the crowd going. Some of his songs were ok, but some justmade you wince, possibly the work of him, possibly the soundman, i can't decide. He went off and a band called the PunkyNuts came on. These guys basically covered Punk songs. Most of them were good, however some were quite bizarre, and i have never heard such a heavy rendition of a Blink 182 song in my life. They continued playing a variety of songs including +44, Green Day and Kings of Leon. These guys got a bit of a reaction and i think are quite good. It was quite unfair that it started to rain halfway through their set so a lot of people decided they were better off indoors, so thewy could still hear everything but the band was essentially playing to a field, which, even if you're getting paid can't be the most rewarding gig in the world.

The headliners of the festival, however were simply fantastic. They first caught real mainstream attention on Britains Got Talent, where they got 3 yes' from the judges. Their seconds EP, One Night Only was recently released and they agreed to play WatStock as Sundays Headliners. These guys already had a group of fans ready at the front of the barriers before they were even announced onstage, and they went nuts when they came up.

Now, i've been to a lot of gigs, i i can honestly say these guys were brilliant. I struggle to say they were better than any big bands i've seen, but they were far better than practically every support band i have seen at a show, even betetr than some bigger ones. Firstly, when they were playing they seemed to be enjoying themselves. They were moving around and having fun, a lot of bands i've seen playing small shows seem to have realised they're playing small shows and don't put much effoert in. These guys came out, knew what they were up against and even in the rain managed to get a large crowd and a massive reaction.

Another good thing about this band, is that they are complete posers. Not in a sense that they aren't a real band and are just pretending, but in a sense that they seem to have watched rock videos, realised people are going to be taking photos of them and try to make the photos as visually interesting to ensure you have a good memory, and a great photo to remember them by. This is great, as i photo of a band doing something cool is uch more impressive than of a guy standing still behind a mike, which i've seen several bands do.

When these guys first started playing, i was only interested because i had to take picture of them. I had never heard of the band before and i wasn't that bothered about hearing them, but i wandered over and took some photos and, naturally, listened to the music. It was brilliant. They started playing through some of their songs, which were kinda catchy if you weren't really paying attention, but when you stop and actually listen you just can't get the songs out of your head.

About halfway throught the set, the singer, Matt, stopped and decided that during their albums title track "One Night Only" the merch stand would be half price. This was a good idea on every level. They managed to attract the attention of people who like the music, but not enough to pay £7 for it to go buy it half price, so they still sold copies, but they also got the fans who like them enough to wait for their set to end and pay full price. After playing a few more songs, the festival organisers decided they would open the barriers and allow the fans right up to the stage. This was great, as while the band were good on their own, Matt seemed so much happier when the crowd were allowed up close and he could associate himself with them. They played a few more songs and then walked off the stage.

The fans clearly were unhappy with this, and thus started chanting "One more song! One more song!". I was backstage taking photos, so they walked off and started talking amongst themselves, debaiting wether or not to go back up and play some more, in the end, they decided they would play "One Night Only" again. Now i think that if you were in a band playing the same songs day in day out would get really boring, and each time you played a song you would lose a certain amount of enthusiasm, so i couldn't imagine how bored the band would be playing the same song twice in a show. I was totally wrong, the band ran back onstage and put just as much, if not more enthusiasm into the song second time around than they had first. By this time, the crowd had grown from a few previous fans and a couple of people who wanted to know what all the noise was about, to a good strong crowd all swaying and jumping and singing along to the bits they had picked out already.

The fontman had already started wandering up and down the front of the stage where fans were screaming and stretcyhing their arms as high as they could in a hope that the man would hold their hands or high five them. He did. In fact, i was surprised the guy didn't start crowd surfing, if he had done it wouldn't have seemed at all out of place. After the song, they again, wandered offstage to decide what was going on, and again decided to go back on. This time, they decided to cover "I believe in a thin called love" by The Darkness. I have to admit i think i liked it more with them singing than the original. Once again, offstage talk, then back onstage, only this time with a slightly drunk singer from Birkenhead. The previous nights headliners. They did a bit of a sing-song and had a little dance, but then it was time for them to leave. As soon as they got off stage, the were flcoked by fans begging for autographs and pictures, that they seemed more than happy to give away.

These guys definately have what it takes to become a successful band and i strongly recommend going to see them and giving them support if they do a show near you. I would definately recommend checking out their website and listening to their music. Www.thebrinkband.net.

TYR & Alestorm

Once again i apologise for the quality of my pictures, they aren't my best but i do what i can with limited resources :)

When i heard Alestorm were touring again, i decided it was one of those gigs i just needed to go to. I'd seen them twice before, once at the Metal Hammer Awards and once in Peterborough. So we all decided we were going to go, but when it actually got around to it, only two of us actually went... So we had to go on the train and then figure out how to get to the Park, a small club that holds perhaps a couple hundred people, maybe less.. So we are walking around Peterborough and see some kids in Alestorm shirts wandering about so decide to follow them. They'll know where to go, right? Well we followed them, then see the former bassist (now guitarist) Dani, walking along the road. So instead of following him, we kept following these people and got lost. When we finally got in we looked at the merch stand and managed to get a shirt for £9 and a twirl instead of the £10 they were asking. Result.

So the first band come on (Above), and they were awful. This is completely my opinion but i simply can't stand the kind of "music" they were doing. Their set was pretty much people playing instruments, and a fat guy growling at a microphone. The rest of the band seemed pretty out of place if you ask me, they seemed to be in the wrong genre but i thought it was awful... The singer decided to inform the crowd we could buy their t-shirts, yet didn't other to say who they actually were..

The next band wasn't any better, these were at least older (the first band seemed to have a combined age of 30) but it was still mindless screaming and growling which i really don't like.

After a short wait, the third support act came on. After the first two i honestly wasn't expecting much. I'd heard these guys (TYR, Right) were sort of viking metal so wasn't hopeful. When they came onstage in their chainmail and battle armour, the first thing that i notice was that the singer held a remarkable resemblance to James Hetfield (Metallica), and i was sat their going "Please be singing, please be singing etc etc) and they started to play. My god. They were amazing. Before each song, the singer introduced it by explaining what the song was abut (a specific piece of folklore, some mythological thing or whatever) and then they played it. Now normally i only really listen to music in English, because i like to know what is being said, but they way these guys had written and sung these songs was just mesmerising. I couldn't take my eyes off them. They seemed to be having a great time, and were clearly well known amongst the crowd. Halfway through the set, the singer finished his drink (from a horn type thing) and simply said "So who has alcohol for me? No beer!", and passed his drinking horn into the crowd. When someone complained it was empty he laughed at said "haha i know, that is my problem!!" When he got himself some drink, the songs returned.

They played a mixture of old a newer songs, such as Hold the Heathen Hammer High, and Hail to the Hammer, and many more, but as i am not familiar with the band, i don't know the names. Also, many of them were in different languages, which just made the whole scenario more amazing. Slightly later on, the singer took off his armour, and someone in the crowd shouted "Strip" to which the response "Oh no, you first" was given, which the crowd thought was hilarious. They played for about 45 minutes, then left. This, however, was the first time i had seen a support act do an encore before. They ran back on and said "Do you guys mind if we play another song?" everyone cheered. Now, remember i said the guy reminded me of James Hetfield, the song they chose for the encore was "Whiskey in the Jar" by Metallica. Conicidence? I think not!

After waiting about 15 minutes, Alestorm came onstage. When i saw these guys first 2 times i thought it was brialliant, they seemed to be having a really great time, and so did the fans. I'm not sure why, but this gig was slightly dissappointing. It may have simply been because the crowd was much more violent then the previous 2 times i had seen them, and i ended up being crushed into one corner. Luckily, i'm tall enough to see pretty much wherever i am in gigs, so my view was still pretty good. Unfortunately, Chris, the singer seems to have taken to swearing much more than normal, which really ruined to whole atmosphere. Instead of being like the last time filled with piratey childish jokes, this time the show was just filled with as many profanities as he seemed to be able to fit in. They seem to have cut the piratey jokes out of the show altogether, which sucks, they've kept the voices and seemed to be trying to make it funny by doing a song about swine flu, but in my opinion they couldn't recreate the effect their last show had on me. Halfway through the show, some genius decided crowd surfing would be a good idea, and as there is no security at this venue, there is no gap between the stage and the crowd so this guy got thrown forwards and crashed into Dani and Chris, Dani almost falling over and looking incredibly uncomfortable for the rest of the show. Some guy did run onstage and throw the guy back into the crowd though, but it's people like that that make security a necessary precaution at most gigs, which i think just ruins it for the other people there.

They played a very mixed selection of songs from all their albums, including Captains Morgans Revenge, Nancy the Tavern Wench, Wenches and Mead, Huntsmasters, Leviathan, Keelhauled, Pirate Song and That Famous old Spice. For the end of their set, however, TYR joined them onstage and altoghether they sang Wolves of the Sea, which was awesome. There were about 5 people playing Chris' keytar and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was a very entertaining evening, but not as good as previous times i'd seen them. I was surprised they didn't even mention that Gavin (Former Guitarist) had left, they just walked on and it seemed they didn't really care, which i thought was quite bad. I would gladly go see them again, i just hope they haven;'t started to take themselves too seriously as that will be their downfall.

MC Lars & The Aquabats

Firstly, i want to apologise about the quality of the photos, the lighting was horrible for pictures :)

When i first saw MC Lars supporting Bowling for Soup in 2005, honestly, i didn't think it was

that good. A few months later, i decided to listen to some again and realised it was actually very good. So i went and bought some CD's. I then went to see him live at the Met Lounge in

Peterborough and thought it was great. Since then, i have been waiting for his new CD and hopefully a tour. A year or so later, i sent him an e-mail asking about a tour, and he promised one in 2009. So i waited. Out comes the new album, so i download it straight away. While different to previous albums, it has the same vibe as the old ones and is fantastic to listen to. When i checked up on his tour dates, the only one i could see locally was in London with some group called 'The Aquabats'. I had never heard of these guys before, so i checked out their Myspace and decided i was going

to like it before i had even heard anything. I listened to one song, 'Look at Me (I'm a Winner)' and decided i needed to go to this gig. I went off to London and bought a couple of tickets, and couldn't wait.

When i got there, i had a questionable burger from a kebab shop nearby, and waited outside. When it comes to going in, the merch stand is significantly better than the previous gig i went to, so i bought the CD and went on inside. I wandered in as some band called 'All Bright' were playing. It was alright. Nothing spectacular, i thought, but the frontman was very funny. He must have realised that people wouldn't be all that interested in them, and yet somehow managed to gain the attention of the entire audience with apparent ease. By the end of their short set, the whole crowd was swaying and cheering in unison.

On come the next band, Failsafe and they are quite good. The singer comes on jumping and shouting and doing the usual things. Though after a while, they just got boring. None of the songs jumped out at me enough for me to remember them after they finished, let alone after the show, and therefore the haven't done enough to impress me. However, the band did have two sets to perform as they played the instruments for MC Lars, which was good.

After a bit of a wait, out comes Lars dressed in the Aquabats costume. The light blue licra perhaps not the most flattering of all outfits, but it doesn't stop him. He comes out onstage and plays one of the best set i coudl have hoped for. Easily flowing between new and old songs, the set was as much for fans of the enw album as those who prefer the Graduate/Laptop etc. Once he got the crowd going, he did a very impressive song introduced by "This is our take on a poem by Edgar Allen Poe" - you guess it. Mr Raven. The song that got me into Lars, and i was glad he played it, he also played Hot Topic is Not Punk Rock, Download This Song and iGeneration. The large screen behind them played through music videos while the song was playing, and other helpful videos either for comedic effect or to get a point across. This Gigantic Robot Kills is so much better to sing along to when there are a thousand or so other people and it is ridiculously loud. Hearing the near deafening cry of hundreds of Lars fans screaming "Ska is not dead!" as loud as they can was awesome. This, however, was topped only by the fact that MC Bat Commander came onstage for the chorus, due to the lack of Suburban Legends who recorded it. Then we got It's not easy being green, and True Player for Real, both of which went down very well and got a huge response from the crowd.

When Lars left, we had a half hour or so wait while the stage was set up for the Aquabats. I hadn't seen these before, but had heard their stage shows were ridiculous so had quite high hopes for them. The lights go down and a video starts playing on the screen. It shows the Aquabats riding horses across some dirt field thing, tieing them up and running into a building. When they go through the door on the video, they run onto the stage. It was well planned, but i think funnier because they were performing at a venue in a shopping centre so the video made even less sense than it normally would. Again, the Light Blue licra suits were perhaps not the most flattering costumes for the band to wear, but when your band identitiy is a superhero, what else is there?

Even after the first couple of songs i could tell the Aquabats were a band that went to a gig and gave it their all, especially the frontman Mr Bat Commander. That guy didn't stand still for longer than 5 seconds at a time all night. What amazed me most about these guys is despite having been going for 15 years or so, they appear to put more time and energy into their stage show than most new bands whoa re just starting out. Which is odd, because usually bands who are just starting out try hard because they want to be noticed. These guys have been noticed, and the fact thaqt they still appear to try so hard just shows how worthwhile it is going to their shows. For the most part, however, the show was quite normal. Song, talk, song, song, etc. However about halfway through, a giant golden buddha wandered onstage.

After a slight disruption to the show due to the "haunted idol" beating up most of the band, they realised the only way to defeat the idol was to use the last loaf of "Magic Bread" they had. Unfortunately, it had run out of magic, so the audience needed to touch it to get magic back. This was never going to work, as soon as the loaf of bread got near the audience, it was ripped to shreds and shared between the crowd. The fate of the Aquabats was nearing a deadly end, with the bread gone they had no way to detroy the Idol. Suddenly, a weird green thing comes onstage and Bat Commander just yells "Look - It's Brobee!" Now, to most people this won't mean anything, but 'Brobee' is a character from popular childrens TV show 'Yo Gabba Gabba', and apparently is strong enough to defeat Haunted Buddha Statues. One the green thing had defeated the evil idol, Brobee and Bat Commander decided it would be an appropriate time for a dance. And dance they did.

A short while after this, Bat Commander looked into the audience, and told them to put their hand in front of their face and repeat a sentence about the confidence. Ending with the line, "I will look at myself and think 'Look at me... I'm a winner". After the audience recited this, there was a momentary pause as they realised what had actually been said, then they went nuts. After that song, everyone went quiet and a new song started about pirates. Halfway through this song, everyone went quiet and there was a struggle to look between the band and the large attraction growing in the centre of the floor. The band looked very confused as to why there was a large gap in the audience with not much going on. Then Mr Bat Commander shouted "Are you breakdancing?! About time!!", so some guys were breakdancing, then someone did a frontflip and everyone cheered. Bat Commander then cleared his throat to get everyones attention and said "So ANYWAY", to which everyone burst out laughing and the song continued. This was nearing the end of the show, and i was glad to see i had finally gone to a gig and managed to stay til the end (trains tend to force me to leave early). The video came back on and they got onto their horses and rode off into the sunset.

I think that gig was one of the best i have been to in a long, long time, and the Aquabats deserve every bit of attention they get and so much more. There is so much potential in that band i can't believe they aren't bigger. If you get the chance to see them Aquabats i strongly reccomend you do it - i know i will next time they come over.

Teenage Cancer Trusts Evening of Comedy

So i'm sat at my computer, barely paying attention to what i'm doing as i scan various websites for competitions that i can enter for no apparent reason other than the fact i like getting post, thus winning competitions increases the amount i get. So i find this competition for tickets to the "Teenage Cancer Trust" and a list of various dates i could go to and what is going on on that day. So i almost enter to win tickets to some band that i haven't listened to, simply because i've heard of them... Then my friends says i should enter for the "Evening of comedy with Horne and Corden" so i'm like "What the hell, i won't win anyway". Turns out i did, and i'm so glad i won. It was an unbelievable good night, compared to what i though it would be. When i found out the line-up cosisted of Horne and Corden (never seen the show, don't care), Sean Lock (seen on QI, very funny), Noel Fielding (Mighty Boosh is great, and their live tour was amazing), Jack Whitehall (Guy from BB something or other - don't care) and Nick Mohammed (never heard of him) i was kind of exited, but not too much because i'd never heard of most of them. I decided to go, however for Noel and Sean.

Firstly, some annoying woman came on and started talking - she was annoying, though she left quite quickly and Horne and Corden came on. They wandered onstage and wasn't quite sure what to expect - i'd heard very mixed reviews about them. But they came on and started doing their thing, then got in an arguement about James doing his "comedy rap". Halfway through a dull speech by Matthew Horne, mr Corden decided to rap away anyway, and it was fantastic. I couldn't quite make out what he was actually saying, but you could tell he had practised it because it flowed flawlessly, and it just shouldn't have. When this was met by a massive cheer from the crowd, he smugly looked at his accomplice, he had to admit it was good - scripted or not, he looked impressed.

They then introduced the first stand up act of the evening, Nick Mohammed. This came with a murmer of a cheer, as he appears to be a little known comic, but quickly won the audience over with his fast talking bizzare style of characteristic comedy. Changing character in nothing more than a few seconds after picking up a random prop from a table at the side of the stage. While, perhaps not comedy gold, his characters did get a good laugh, and a well deserved cheer and applause after his set.

Back come Horne and Corden, this time in character as, i assume, one of the characters from their show, or perhaps just characters they though of for the night, but Horne pretednging to be some fashion guru, who pretty much called up two audience members and insulted them. While not particularly funny in itself, Gok Wan then appeared to defend them and basically laughed Horne off the stage. They then introduced Sean Lock, who's set was marvellous.

He casually wanders on and looks around his first joke was something along the lines of "My wife is so fat..... *dramatic pause* She sit's in her room crying". Now, in essence This really isn't a very funny joke, but there was something about the way he said it, and the 'pause for effect' that everyone expected the punchline to be amazing. When it turned out to actually be quite a depressing punchline, it seemed to get an even bigger applause. His style of comedy seemed strange, though it seemed to mainly consist of various anecdotes, combined with a few one liners, which worked. Some of the more 'un-PC' jokes appeared to get some of the biggest laughs, however quoting them on here just won't do them justice - so i won't. His final line get very little response, as it seemed like it had just been tagged onto the end of another joke, but when he said "Oh, that was my ending line" everyone found it incredibly funny, and he got a massive applause.

Again, on comes the annoying woman fromt he start, to introduce the break. 20 minutes later, Horne and Corden are back on, Horne being some sort of historian explaining about the hall, while Corden stumbles in through one of the audience entrances and pushes his way through one of the rows to get to the stage, telling one woman to "Get the **** out of the way" and screaming at some other guy for 'trying to touch his cock'. This got a big laugh from the audience, as did the 'reunion' when the two schoolchums got onto stage and started talking. He then leaves to get driunks, and you can hear him screaming at the secuity guards to let him go, kicking his way through the backstage area just to tumble out on stage again with some drinks and embarass Horne some more. They then stumbled off stage to allow Jack Whitehall to come on and do his set.

I didn't have great hope for this guy, as i only knew he'd done something to do with Big Brother and couldn't care less. Turns out the guy was actually very funny. At only 20 he is still starting out as a comic, and yet comands the audience and is able to conjure images and make people laugh as if it's nothing. After ranting about how ridiculous some of the news is, and his take on the given scenarios, that, while a very simple thing to do - heres something lets laugh at it, the way he phrases things and the words he uses just make it so much funnier. It must be difficult to stand up to a 5,000 strong crowd and do your set at just 20, but he manages and seemed to cope easily.

Back come Horne and Corden, as themselves this time, to do some more of their act - more to fill the time than anything, i think, but it was good they were there - it was very funny and then they introduce the wonderful Noel Fielding.

Possibly the most bizzare comic i've ever seen, as he seemed to just fade in and out of various stories and go off onto seemingly random rants about other things mid sentence. He also seemed to lose where he was a few times, and mumbled around explaining things that didn't necessarily need explaining, possibly because he though it needed explaining just because it looked odd, or he was just trying to gether his thoughts i am not sure. It could ismply be that that is how he scripts his shows and tries to be funny by appearing so innocent and childish throughout most of his sets. There appeared to be 3 main stories to his set, all mixed up with many smaller jokes about completely irrelevant subjects or topics. Predominantly, though, he was explaining that as he was bored after finishing the Boosh tour, he had just gone into his garden and started turning rocks over, just to find and squish small spiders and insects. There was also the unwritten law that no matter what situation you find yourself in, even if it potentially dangerous, you can always calm it down by simply qhispering to someone, as they have to reply in a whisper. He then did a piece of material that he aditted didn't get many laughs, but was his favourite piece so he did it at every one of his shows about sea monkeys or something. Most of his material really shouldn't have gotten many laughs, and i think very few comedians could pull it off, but everyone who knows anythign about Noel Fielding would understand that his mind works in a seemingly random way itself, and he can do pretty much anything. Whether it's laughing at himself or something funny he saw on the street, for some reason it's amazing. Despite it seeming random and poorly though out or pieced together, when you think about it, it is actually incredibly well done and he deserves all the credit he gets.

All in all, i think it was a fantastic night, and was well worth going to. It was also for a very good cause, and even though the evening had a slightly more serious undertone than was perhaps made clear, other than a short film halfway through the night and two of the people in it coming onstage and talking about it. I'm glad they didn't try and force the whole reason for the event on us, throughout the night - while it wasn mentioned, and had stuff coming up on the big screen throughout the night, if they had tried too hard to push the cause on us, i think it would have made the evening slightly less fun.

Lordi

After wining the Eurovision song contest in 2006 with a record 292 points Lordi took the world by storm. Being possibly the most controversial contestant the contest has seen, meant they had lots of problems getting onto the show in the first place. Despite one of their best known songs being called "The Devil is a Loser" they still got called devil worshippers and satanists, by many religious societies as they dress up as monsters to sing.

The first time i saw them live was after their Eurovision win, when people turned up to see what all the fuss was about and hear them sing "Hard Rock Hallelujah". It was halloween 2006 and freezing. I had been waiting for 3 hours in near freezing temperatures when finally the doors openened. After waiting for turisas to stop screaming we waited until 9 o' clock and decided they would soon come on. But no. They waited until 9:30 before gracing us with their presence, but boy was it worth the wait! As soon as they came on stage i knew i was in for the greatest performance if my young life. I was only 15 at the time, so hadn't been to a great many gigs before. As they stomped onstage in their costumes everyone cheered and screamed and clapped and whatever else they do when something good happens. The stage was fantastic, the costumes were amazing and the songs were even better. Unfortunately, as they came on half an hour later than most bands i missed the end as i had to leave to get my train home, so i didn't hear "Hard Rock Hallelujah" anyway.

So when i heard they were playing again in London i figured i had to go. Unfortunately, the gig was either barely advertised, or in the wrong places as i only found out when my friends jokingly said we should go as it was on the next day. I did. Unfortunately, being the next day i had to go to London and hope tickets hadn't sold out. They hadn't. I was so happy. It was at the Islington Academy on Feb 12th 2009, and was once again, cold. When we got in i was amazed at a number of things. Firstly, the fact that they had decided to scrap tour shirts with dates on in prefernece of shirts that simply had a picture of either the group or individual members. I was also amazed at how small the venue was. The Forum only held about 2300 people, and i figured the band must still be at least that big, right? Well this venue held about 1000 people max and hadn't sold out. That gies to show how well it was advertised, right? Well after sitting through 2 bands i had never heard of and could barely understand i was about fed up. Until the singer said they had been out with Lordi the night before, which got me thinking about whether they wear their costumes to go out, because surely they want to keep their identies secret from people and stuff? That kept me thinking for the next half hour or so.

Along comes 9 o' clock, and i'm sat there thinking, they must come on soon, right? Alas, once again Lordi came on a half 9 and once again i missed the end, but it was well worth the £15 i paid for a ticket. Not only did they play some fantastic songs ranging from their oldest to their newest, but hey gave each member a little stage time to show their backstory kind of thing. Each of them came to the front of the stage and did something, which was both entertaining and fascinating. The amount of time and effort they put into their shows, especially when they're so small is phenominal. Most bands wouldn't bother with a stage show when playing to a crows of 800, but then you have to wonder if Lordi would be the same without the stage show and the costumes.

Lordi's live shows clearly have a very horror comedy mix to them, as while they are dressed up as monsters singing about monsters going and eating people and running around with homemade chainsaws, they are also quite silly. Not in a comical sense, mind. I'm not sure what it is about the show that makes it so entertaining, but it is one of the most amazing things i have ever seen. They played such a mix of songs, ranging from their well known songs like Blood Red Sandman and Bringing Back the Balls to Rock they also played some of their less known songs like Haunted Town. The song of the evening had to be It Snows In Hell, though. Not because it's their best, it's not. But because it's the song i had to leave through last time, and this time i got to hear it all the way through with the smoking skull and confetti and everything it was fantastic.

Even the songs from their new album were done with such perfection as if it was something they had done a million time before. Raise Hell in Heaven, Deadache, Devil Hides Behind her Smile and Bite it Like a Bulldog were simply perfect. Even people who didn't know the songs or the words were jumping around and joining in. It was one of those nights when you're just really happy to be a part of something. While i want the band to succeed, i also have to say i love their show, and it is so much better in a smaller venue as you can see everything much clearer. You can't please eveyone in a stadium if your performance relies on your stage show. If people can't see, they don't tend to care as much, which is why i think these guys are more suited to smaller venues.

One thing i do know though, is that Mr Lordi and the gang really know how to make a memorable night. He can command a crowd to do practically anything he wants to do, be it jumps, clap, be quiet, or just go nuts, it's just such a happy atmosphere, which is odd for a horror themed event, but fantastic nonetheless. If i had any way to improve on the gig though, i would recommend them to come on at 9 so i don't miss as much next time.

Reel Big Fish

I had been to gigs at the Junction before and not really enjoyed it, and therefore had my reservations about returning.. As you are not allowed to smoke in the venue they decided to try and keep the 'smokey bar' atmosphere by pumping loads of smoke into the room with smoke machines. Not only was this annoying, but it stank and really ruined pictures. Which always annoys me, as that is pretty much all i do at gigs now.

So i walked in and looked at the merch stands, wishing they had a black T-shirt with tour dates on, though wishing i had money slightly more. When we decided to go and stand in front of the stage. So we walk over to the fron, but we are right on one corner because there are less people around. Unfortunately, there is a giant, seemingly unnecessary light pole thing right in the way, but we decided to let it slide and just have a laugh. Which was easyier than ithough it would be.

First of all Random Hand came onstage. I was little concerned because they guy who wandered onstage was a skinhead type fellow in shorts and a t-shirt. I was slightly taken aback as this wasn't what i was expecting. Now, thi smay be slightly stereotypical but i was kind of expecting either some dodgey screamo (gallows) or hiphop (any white guy trying to rap). Though the guy was white so the latter seemed unlikely. Then, surprisingly, the guy pulled out a trombone and started playing it. It turns out, that band was actually very good - which goes to show you shouldn't judge a band by their image, unless that's what they want you to do. So when they had finished i decided it was already worth the £13.70 i paid for a ticket and could leave then, quite content. I didn't because that wasn't what i'd paid for. I casually walked back to our spot behind the light bar and waited for the next band - Suburban Legends.

These guy were different. Each and every one of them apart from the singer looked incredibly gay. Not that i have any problems with this, but i was like "what the hell is this going to be". Then the singer walked on, and i was a little concerned. I decidedi probably wasn't going to like this band as the only band i could think to compare it to would be Melt Banana, plainly because they are Japanese, and no offense to any fans, but they're terrible. Obviously at this point i had forgotten that support acts are generally a similar music style to the actual band and was thinking worst case scenario - but that was soon forgotten. This band was amazing.

Trumpets and tromones and those kind of instruments just make everything seem much happier and more lively, and this band clearly knew that. From the moment they came on they had the audience hooked and were just so friendly. Anyone who stops halfway through the set to give people rounds of applause is great, but generally it's just the band - though these guys were getting people to cheer the security guards - much to their discomfort, which made it that little bit funnier as you could just see they wanted to get up or do something, but knew they weren't allowed so simply grinned to themselves.

The songs were brilliant, and the band were really nice. Halfway through one of the songs "High Fives" the singer jumped off the stage and 'high fived' as many people as he could before needed to hop back and and keep singing. You could tell they were one of those bands that really appreciated playing live and loved the fans and were really enjoying themselves. So i was sat there thinking, "How could RBF possibly top these two? Tehy were phenominal" It was the first time i had heard a support act get such a loud encore scream. Unfortunately, they were unable to give an encore as there was time limits to how long each band got so they could meet curfue.

So after going to have another look around the merch stall and getting a drink i pushed my way back to my position only to find the only person in the room taller than me just infront of me. Typical i thought. So i moved to the side slightly and had a much better view. I had never seen Reel Big Fish live before, nor had i seen any of their videos or anything so had no idea what to expect when they came onstage. Well when you see someone walk on in shorts, a leather jacket and flying goggles, you know you're in for a good night so i just sat back and enjoyed it - even though i was standing at the time.

RBF were simply amazing. The songs, while using funny lyrics, can convey some quite sad stories, though in very funny ways. Such as somebody girlfriend dumping them (She's got a girlfriend now) or even talking about how being in a band isn't as easy as it looks (Don't start a band)(The kids don't like it). Other songs they have written simply for entertainment (I want your girlfriend to be my girlfriend) and others i can't decide upon (Trendy). However the meaning behind the songs is nowhere near as important as the way the band fire them off one after the other never missing a beat. Apart from during one of the solos that goes wrong. Though this was very nicely corrected after the song when Barrett turned to the crowd and apologised. Then proceeded to play the chorus again so we "got our money's worth".

Most bands wouldn't do this if they played anywhere let alone an 800 capacity venue, which is a nice change. After playing through more songs than i can remember they player "Beer". Now, for some reason this sent the crowd nuts. This was great fun, and generally quite interesting as i have never seen people moshing to trumpets before. They then walked off stage, only to be dragged back by a constant screaming of "Sell Out" a song Barrett seems to dislike playing - probably as it is their most well known and therefore most overplayed on their part, but they played it and it was amazing. Everyone knew the words and screamed along to it, to the point where you could feel the building shake, not because of the amps, either.