"Once you pop, you can't stop!"
Oct. 15th, 2008 01:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gothams3rdrobinI am trying to stay awake today through various forms of sugar-rush; last night was the much-anticipated Queen gig here at the Cardiff International Arena (or the CIA, to the amusement of many), and it was fantastic! The only downside is that my friend Robert, who'd come all the way down from Staffordshire to go to the show with me, had to be at work this morning (he's a school teacher) and therefore had to leave Cardiff by 5.30! *blinks blearily*
I was relieved that we were able to put him up for the night, since his family have always been so very accomodating when I've visited them, but it did mean sacrificing my not-so-comfy bed in the spare room to go share with Mam in her stupidly-high double bed. I don't share beds well anymore.
Plus Mam's a really bad sleeper anyway, so not only did my going to bed disturb her, but when her lamp automatically went off at one am (and I was able to start switching my brain off to sleep) something disturbed her and she ended up having to turn the light back on again so she could read some more *facepalms. As a result, I had four hours or so of very light dozing and I've felt like crap all day since. I could have gone back to bed once I'd dropped Rowan off, since I took today off to recover from the gig (my work stats are always tricky at the best of times) but that tends to make me feel even more rubbish. So I'm keeping myself awake by reading and munching on Pringles and sour cream & chive dip....something my friend Donna introduced me to when I visited her in Seattle many moons ago. I also have some coconut macaroons, as I was craving coconut when I went to Tesco for the sausages for tonights tea and some milk (we just had enough to go around this morning!).
Anyway, the gig; Robert came and picked me up from my parents house just before seven thirty, so we could get to the CIA before eight. He'd intended to arrive sooner, but he ended up leaving his friends across town much later than planned - no problem, though, as we got inside the arena with more than ten minutes to spare before the band came on stage. And we managed to get a standing spot pretty close to the side of the stage - though, one of these years, I'll learn to make sure we're on the left-hand side of the stage (from the band's point of view), as that's where Brian May tends to hang out the most.
Of course, being the short-arse I am, I spent most of the gig peering at the guys over taller people's shoulders *sighs resignedly* Though at one point a woman stood next to me was kind enough to gently prod the shoulder of this six-footer who'd just manouvered his way in front of me *grins* I gave him a friendly wave, sorta "Hiya, yeah I'm all the way down here!" and he moved away with no complaint at all. Wish I could have done something similar with the strange older bloke who kept yelling "Mooooooooorrrrrrrrreeeeeee!" in between the main set and the encore - I mean c'mon! Of course there's gonna be a bloody encore! They hadn't sung 'We Will Rock You' or 'We Are The Champions', and they always end the gig walking off to the strains of 'God Save The Queen'.
The playlist itself was a very cool mix, with only about six of their new songs in the whole two hour set plus twenty minute encore. Though you can't really say 'Say It's Not True' is a new song, since it got premiered at the last tour three years ago, as it was part of the whole Nelson Mandela AIDS concert thing. They did lose the audience at one point, it seemed, during a three song section of 'C-Lebrity' (The new single of the new album - which Robert and I agree won't make the top forty *sighs* So many other better songs on that album....), 'Schools Out, Surf's Up' (a new album track, and not one of the best) and an acoustic song Paul Rodgers did alone that I didn't recognise. By the time the last song was in full swing, there were people around me having conversations, and hardly anyone seemed to be paying attention to the stage.
However, Brian defly restored the balance by coming out and doing 'Love Of My Life' - a concert staple, where we do most of the singing! *grins* He worried me in his introduction, though, as instead of his usual "Let's do this one for Freddie!" he said "One last time, for Freddie!" I really hope that doesn't mean they're giving up....
I was then overjoyed when he played one of my absolute favourites, which is '39'. And later on he - eventually - launched into the instrumental 'Last Horizon', which takes my breath away whenever I get to hear it live. It's a Queen tradition that each member gets to spend a good ten or fifteen minutes playing solo and just showcasing what it is they can do, and Brian tends to do a mix of his various 'demonstrations' over the years, which will then segue into 'Last Horizon'. Last night Roger also messed around with drumming rhythmns onto the base guitar the support guitarist (the awesome Jamie Moses) was holding - seamlessly tapping out a medely of well known Queen riffs onto the strings with his drumsticks! *grins*
All in all it was a fab night and I am so glad I got to see them again - and with good company. We ended up wandering around town for at least an hour afterwards - not a good thing at about eleven at night, but we were okay - as the queue for the carpark was at least a hundred deep, and that was just at the pay machine! So we decided to go get a drink in MaccyD's, since even if we did wait and queue for god knows how long, we'd still have been at an almost constant standstill for ages afterwards trying to leave the carpark! When we got back, there was still a long queue, but it wasn't as bad. We got home at midnight, after the gig kicked out at about ten thirty... We then chatted over a cuppa for about three quarters of an hour before calling it a night, since Robert had to be leaving so early. Once he was gone, I didn't see the point going back to bed for an hour, so I made a start on Rowan's packed lunch for school and popped on the computer for a little while to keep awake *grins at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
alryssa, lithera and everyone else who was in the chatroom this morning*
Ugh...about an hour before I have to be on the bus to get Rowan again. Then, once I've made tonight's dinner of bangers and mash, I intend to settle down with my new Torchwood book that arrived in the post this morning :-) I've been impatiently waiting for the bloody thing for a fortnight, and I guarantee you I'll have finished it by Friday!
Pringle anyone? *grins*
I was relieved that we were able to put him up for the night, since his family have always been so very accomodating when I've visited them, but it did mean sacrificing my not-so-comfy bed in the spare room to go share with Mam in her stupidly-high double bed. I don't share beds well anymore.
Plus Mam's a really bad sleeper anyway, so not only did my going to bed disturb her, but when her lamp automatically went off at one am (and I was able to start switching my brain off to sleep) something disturbed her and she ended up having to turn the light back on again so she could read some more *facepalms. As a result, I had four hours or so of very light dozing and I've felt like crap all day since. I could have gone back to bed once I'd dropped Rowan off, since I took today off to recover from the gig (my work stats are always tricky at the best of times) but that tends to make me feel even more rubbish. So I'm keeping myself awake by reading and munching on Pringles and sour cream & chive dip....something my friend Donna introduced me to when I visited her in Seattle many moons ago. I also have some coconut macaroons, as I was craving coconut when I went to Tesco for the sausages for tonights tea and some milk (we just had enough to go around this morning!).
Anyway, the gig; Robert came and picked me up from my parents house just before seven thirty, so we could get to the CIA before eight. He'd intended to arrive sooner, but he ended up leaving his friends across town much later than planned - no problem, though, as we got inside the arena with more than ten minutes to spare before the band came on stage. And we managed to get a standing spot pretty close to the side of the stage - though, one of these years, I'll learn to make sure we're on the left-hand side of the stage (from the band's point of view), as that's where Brian May tends to hang out the most.
Of course, being the short-arse I am, I spent most of the gig peering at the guys over taller people's shoulders *sighs resignedly* Though at one point a woman stood next to me was kind enough to gently prod the shoulder of this six-footer who'd just manouvered his way in front of me *grins* I gave him a friendly wave, sorta "Hiya, yeah I'm all the way down here!" and he moved away with no complaint at all. Wish I could have done something similar with the strange older bloke who kept yelling "Mooooooooorrrrrrrrreeeeeee!" in between the main set and the encore - I mean c'mon! Of course there's gonna be a bloody encore! They hadn't sung 'We Will Rock You' or 'We Are The Champions', and they always end the gig walking off to the strains of 'God Save The Queen'.
The playlist itself was a very cool mix, with only about six of their new songs in the whole two hour set plus twenty minute encore. Though you can't really say 'Say It's Not True' is a new song, since it got premiered at the last tour three years ago, as it was part of the whole Nelson Mandela AIDS concert thing. They did lose the audience at one point, it seemed, during a three song section of 'C-Lebrity' (The new single of the new album - which Robert and I agree won't make the top forty *sighs* So many other better songs on that album....), 'Schools Out, Surf's Up' (a new album track, and not one of the best) and an acoustic song Paul Rodgers did alone that I didn't recognise. By the time the last song was in full swing, there were people around me having conversations, and hardly anyone seemed to be paying attention to the stage.
However, Brian defly restored the balance by coming out and doing 'Love Of My Life' - a concert staple, where we do most of the singing! *grins* He worried me in his introduction, though, as instead of his usual "Let's do this one for Freddie!" he said "One last time, for Freddie!" I really hope that doesn't mean they're giving up....
I was then overjoyed when he played one of my absolute favourites, which is '39'. And later on he - eventually - launched into the instrumental 'Last Horizon', which takes my breath away whenever I get to hear it live. It's a Queen tradition that each member gets to spend a good ten or fifteen minutes playing solo and just showcasing what it is they can do, and Brian tends to do a mix of his various 'demonstrations' over the years, which will then segue into 'Last Horizon'. Last night Roger also messed around with drumming rhythmns onto the base guitar the support guitarist (the awesome Jamie Moses) was holding - seamlessly tapping out a medely of well known Queen riffs onto the strings with his drumsticks! *grins*
All in all it was a fab night and I am so glad I got to see them again - and with good company. We ended up wandering around town for at least an hour afterwards - not a good thing at about eleven at night, but we were okay - as the queue for the carpark was at least a hundred deep, and that was just at the pay machine! So we decided to go get a drink in MaccyD's, since even if we did wait and queue for god knows how long, we'd still have been at an almost constant standstill for ages afterwards trying to leave the carpark! When we got back, there was still a long queue, but it wasn't as bad. We got home at midnight, after the gig kicked out at about ten thirty... We then chatted over a cuppa for about three quarters of an hour before calling it a night, since Robert had to be leaving so early. Once he was gone, I didn't see the point going back to bed for an hour, so I made a start on Rowan's packed lunch for school and popped on the computer for a little while to keep awake *grins at
alryssa, lithera and everyone else who was in the chatroom this morning*Ugh...about an hour before I have to be on the bus to get Rowan again. Then, once I've made tonight's dinner of bangers and mash, I intend to settle down with my new Torchwood book that arrived in the post this morning :-) I've been impatiently waiting for the bloody thing for a fortnight, and I guarantee you I'll have finished it by Friday!
Pringle anyone? *grins*
