London Lowdown

This post is a totally disorganised one with crappy iphone photos!  I would apologise, but as most venues don't allow anything better than a point and shoot in for gigs, this will have to do!  This annoys me to no end, as the only digital camera (other than ones on my phone) I've ever owned and used is a DSLR (is that weird?) so I don't know how to use a compact camera, and it makes little sense to me.  Plus I constantly lift the camera to my eye as if it has a viewfinder.  Ah well.

The point I'm trying to make is that I end up taking better photos with my iphone than with my compact.  For some reason the iphone tends to pick up light better than my compact samsung one.  

So, in conclusion (!) this post is essentially a run down of why I was in London this past weekend.

Good times were had by all!xoxo

My tickets for Fri and Sat night

Gruff Rhys (be still my beating heart)

Pretty stage set up at the Royal Festival Hall

The gig was part of Brynfest, and it was Gruff playing his latest album, 'Hotel Shampoo' in its entirety.  Hence the 'hotel' themed stage set up.

Gruff always uses placards.  My favourite (the photo didn't come out well) was 'Ape Shit.'  Haha.  Twas an instruction to 'go ape shit' with applause and admiration!

Salted caramel ice cream.  Food is central to achieving a good weekend.

Lots of lights whilst on the night bus

Prettiness at the V&A Ballgowns exhibit

Photos were prohibited (don't tell anyone I broke the rules) so I had to take them sneakily and hastily

That feathered number is Daphne Guiness' 

Brian Jonestown Massacre.  I HAD to be at this gig.  Momentous.  I hope I get to see them play again, but you can't guess when amazing bands will tour!

Sorry for the bad quality, but at least it's a (grainy) glimpse into the weekend's activities xoxo

A Year of Music

Hi lovelies

At the end of last year  decided that 2011 would be a year of music for me.  Music plays such a big part in my daily life and being able to see some of my favourite bands play is my idea of a perfect night.

Please excuse the crappy photo quality.  Most of these were taken with my old BlackBerry.  Boo.

I started off the year with Mogwai in February

 

Then Gruff Rhys a few days later

Following this I was super excited to get these through the post...

For my birthday (and my birthday weekend, if you will)  I got to see both Explosions in the Sky and Mercury Rev. For various reasons, both of these concerts are very significant to me and experiences I will treasure forever.

Explosions in the Sky, on my birthday!

Mercury Rev two days later.  These photos are super crappy, but you get an idea of how amazingly they used lighting throughout the gig.

The Flaming Lips performing the Soft Bulletin at Ally Pally.  This was by far one of the most moving experiences of my life, particularly when they performed Do You Realize? as a finale.

I'm so happy that I was a (small) part of this truly historical gig.

Plus my crush on Wayne Coyne got even bigger.

I was supposed to see Spiritualized and The Olivia Tremor Control in Novemeber, but both have been postponed until March.  

My musical year ended with Explosions in the Sky (again!) 

I have some pretty amazing video footage of this gig too, but am having uploading issues.  Will persevere!  I'm so grateful that some of the most inspiring musicians int he world decided to tour this year, and that I got to see them!  As much as I was disappointed about the postponed gigs, it worked out for the best with my job hunting situation and now I have at least two incredible gigs to look forward to next year!  Yay!

I hope this isn't too photo heavy post (but who am I kidding, of course it is) but just a sneak peak into my musical experiences this year.  I'm hoping to continue with this in 2012 and forever.

Again, sorry for the crappy photo quality, but this is the best I have!

have a nice Christmas weekend

xoxo

gwynypie