Concert of a Lifetime

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It's that time of the week. I am, once again, sitting in Starbucks writing my weekly blog post for you lovely people!

So, this week was kind of rough. After spending the week before traveling all over Europe, it was difficult to make myself 'settle down.' Though I will admit that it was very nice and refreshing to be 'home.' Though spring break was amazing, it feels good to have a routine again and have a fixed plan for mostly every day.

My internship was fine this past week. I'm having more people come to me with stuff to do, so I appreciate that, but I still haven't figured out my 'project' that I am going to do. Our internship coordinator suggested we try to find something that we can improve in the company to make our mark...As this is my first internship, I'm really just learning, so I don't have anything to compare it to...Hopefully I will find something!

Classes were fun this week. We started writing our final paper in my GST class (the Thames class)...such fun! However, for the theatre class, we went to see Blithe Spirit. This was probably the best play that we have seen so far! It is about a writer who is writing a book about someone who can talk to the dead (do a seance). However, the writer is expecting a crack pot, and ends up getting the ghost of his dead first wife...who wants him back. The play was brilliant! I would definitely recommend this play. It's a good 'escape.' Even though it deals with the issue of life beyond death, it isn't one of those plays that you really think of the next morning and wonder about deep issues. It was meant to be like this. The play was written in 1941 for the people of Britain to use as an escape from WWII.

So, onto the weekend!

As you can tell from the pictures, and the title, I went to a concert at Wembley Arena. Bands like the Beatles have played in this arena. It is huge! Of course, the band I went to see is McFly. I bought my ticket in December during a pre-sale for certain fans, myself being one of them. However, I figured since this is probably the only time that I am going to see them in person, I should have a good time. Instead of buying a seated ticket, I bought one for the standing only area in the front of the stage. This, of course, could have backfired on me and I could have been stuck behind a super tall person in the back of the arena. However, since unlike a good 85% of the fans, I don't have class or work on Fridays! This definitely played to my advantage.

The doors to the concert opened at 6 with the first band coming on stage at 7:30. McFly had three supporting acts: That Sunday Feeling, City Stereo, and The Struts. I got to the arena about 2pm. There was already about 30 people in front of me. This was around 4pm, because for the first two hours I realized I was chillin' in the wrong line, go figure...It wasn't that bad just sitting around outside waiting. The good thing was that it was sunny, and though chilly, it wasn't cold to the point of being uncomfortable. There were some people there that were on their third or forth concert of this one tour. Many people had made shirts and signs, and were talking about ways to try to meet McFly...I was just sitting there in my jeans and t-shirt, with no McFly anything, reading a book about a country western star (the book Crazy Heart...it's a bad book, don't read it....). I had some snacks if I got hungry, a bottle of water, and my ipod that had music ranging from musicals (ie Wicked) to Green Day...I was set, and pretty happy.

When the doors started to open, I just walked at a kind of fast pace to the arena. I didn't push or shove like most of the people. I was actually very proud of my behavior...my mother taught me well. I ended up being in the second row, a little off center to the right of the stage (in stage directions this is stage left...or if you are looking at the stage, to the audiences right). I was shocked that I got this close, but I guess most people wanted to be center...I just wanted to be close and be able to see them all. While we were waiting for everyone else to take their seats and the show to start, the big screens to the sides were showing different music videos. It amazes me that boy bands are still so popular in the UK. It was interesting to compare the different music that people seemed to respond to. I got excited over some of the videos, while everyone else got excited over others. People are wrong when they say that the UK and US are the same...they are two completely different countries in pretty much every aspect.

The show started with That Sunday Feeling. This is a small band from Nottinghamshire. They had one or two original songs and then played covers of other songs. They are a rock band. I really liked them and will probably have to start looking for some of their songs...

The next band was City Stereo. This is another smaller band, but from Salisbury. They are a more pop-rock band, and had more original songs. Like That Sunday Feeling, I'm probably going to have to look for some of their songs!

The last band was The Struts. This band is from Derby, and are more rock...They had the most original songs, but while I liked the songs, the lead singer was just weird...He had on these tight gold pants and a mullet...I might look into their songs...but will probably never go see them live again...

Finally, at 9pm McFly came on stage! After almost eight years (of which I have been a fan for about 7...), they have come very close to mastering how to put on a good show. The music was a mixture of all of their past albums ranging from the surfer sound to the more electronic rock. There was fire, confetti, smoke, and an extra stage that lowered over the people in the standing area. The guys were bouncing around the stage, and you couldn't help but want to jump right along with them. They even had one of the lead vocals/guitar's dad come out on stage and sing a song with them. It was probably the most fun I have had on this side of the pond....or ever really!

However, the fans are nuts. I was easily reminded of the videos I've seen with girls screaming, crying, and fainting over Elvis and the Beatles. During the show, the guys shot t-shirts out into the audience. One of them used the shirt to wipe some sweat...and many of the girls screamed louder for it...I was kind of disgusted...I may be a big fan, but I still thought that was disgusting and was glad when they tossed the shirt to the opposite side of the crowd. After the show, a fight broke out. The drummer (Harry) had tossed his sticks out into the audience. Three girls were physically fighting (punches and all) trying to get that stick...Then, as I was walking out towards the merchandise, this girl was showing her friend a water bottle cap...It was one of the boys and she was just sooooo excited about it....Is all this obsession really necessary? I mean, I understand liking the music, thinking they are super sexy, and daydreaming about meeting them and being swept off your feet....but still...some people go a little far in their fandom....

So, I barely made it to the last train of the night, and ended up getting back to the flat about 12:30am...It was the best night ever!

The next day, my flatmate Hayley and I spent a good portion of the day at Portobello Market. I really love this market. It has some great food and awesome finds! A definite must visit if you ever make it to London on a Saturday!

Sunday was spent doing homework...joy.

So that's basically my week in a nutshell!

Cheers!

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