Epica, The Ultimate Enigma

Epica, the epic symphonic metal band fronted by the incredible Simone Simons, announced that they were to do another tour of the UK after their successful ‘Quantum Enigma’ tour last year. Being one of my favourite bands and also having an exciting-looking folk metal band, Eluveitie, as the support act, I knew that I had to see them again. I must admit that it would have been cool if they had performed in a different venue, as they performed in London’s O2 Forum, the same location as last year, so it felt as though I was rewatching a memory from a year ago. Déjà vu!

The first support act, Swedish metal band Scar Symmetry (photographed above), were surprisingly good. I mean, I had listened to some of their songs prior to the concert and thought nothing much of them, but live they had good stage presence and surprisingly strong vocals. They certainly had the audience engaged.

After a brief discussion with other audience members as to the right pronunciation of Eluveitie (which I got right 🙂 ) they came on stage and wooed us with the variety of instruments they lugged around with them, including various types of whistles, a bagpipe, violin and of course Anna Murphy’s famous hurdy-gurdy!

It was a shame that I didn’t know their songs better, and when they got to one which I knew well (‘The Call of the Mountains’) they announced that they were going to play the Swiss German version, so of course I didn’t know the lyrics. The audience were till encouraged to yodel along on cue, which was a lot of fun.

Eluveitie were absolutely incredible, and the many members of the audience were clearly mainly there for Eluveitie rather than Epica, sporting their merchandise and shouting the lyrics along with the band (particularly the two extremely sweaty guys next to me). Several mosh pits later, Eluveitie’s set was coming to an end, which was a shame as they were freaking awesome. I’ll definitely try to see them again in the future.

Then of course the much anticipated headliners, Epica, made a dramatic entrance onto the stage, making appearances one-by-one.

The performance was phenomenal, and the band showed off their tight guitar work and impressive shredding, getting the audience hyped. The beautiful contrast of the delicate symphonic elements and harsher, more typical metal and guitar solos make Epica an incredibly impressive band. Although I understand that symphonic metal is a genre ever growing in popularity, with many new bands emerging, Epica, to me, still seem to stand out, knowing how to perfectly execute a song and exactly how to balance the growls, cleans, heavy riffs and melodic, symphonic parts.

I found it incredibly moving how Simone Simons announced that we should have a moment of silence for the victims and family of the victims affected by the Paris terrorist attacks, as the concert was only a few days after the dreadful occurrence at the Eagles of Death Metal show in Paris which took the lives of many attendees.

Epica worked their way through many of their most popular songs, including some of their new songs such as ‘Victims Of Contingency’ and ‘The Essence Of Silence’ (some of my personal favourites) as well as some of their older material such as ‘Unleashed’ and ‘Design Your Universe.’ The audience were encouraged to headbang along, so there was a lot of hair flailing in every direction. I found it hilarious how people in the audience were trying to sing along, but of course couldn’t reach the high notes of Simone Simons, so there was a lot of weird whining and screeching going on.

Then Coen brought out his epic curved mobile piano, which gives him the chance to be at the front of the stage rather than just hanging around on the keyboard at the back. It looks like he has a lot of fun playing it.

The simplicity of the staging, comprised of different patches of lighting which created dramatic silhouettes against the dark stage, added to the awesomeness and beauty of the symphonic metal. One of the highlights was ‘Cry For The Moon,’ one of Epica’s most popular songs, as it’s a song which the audience always anticipates, and it was made even more exciting through the inclusion of Eluveitie’s violinist, Shir-Ran Yinon, who accompanied the piece beautifully with her violin.

When the show was at an end, all band members were brought back on stage for a group picture with the audience. And I can actually see myself in it. I mean, I look terrified, but who cares, it’s a good souvenir.

Garbage, 20 Years Queer

So I went to see Garbage! Yeah, that alt-rock band that just celebrated the 20th anniversary of their first, self-titled album!

After first hearing about them a few years ago, I was super-stoked to hear them announce that they were going to do a handful of 20th anniversary shows, one of them being at the London O2 Academy Brixton. Of course, after I bought tickets, they announced several other dates all across the country, so the show which I thought was going to be a special, rare thing wasn’t quite so unique. The ’20 Years Queer’ tour had two dates at the O2 Academy Brixton due to the high demand, and I went on the first one.

It’s quite exciting that the last concert I went to, before this, was at the same venue for another 20th Anniversary show (for Korn). Pretty crazy eh?

To add to the excitement a few months prior to the concert, there were signs up around stations for the special edition release of their first album. I found that quite exciting as I rarely come across adverts for music I like.

Anyways, I asked my friends if they wanted to join me to the show, but with a band name like ‘Garbage’ they claimed that they must ‘sound like trash’ or ‘be rubbish.’ Woa, original, I know 🙂 In the end I persuaded my sister to join me (though she dropped out last minute and I had to sell the ticket off super-cheap to a dodgy guy on the streets. Darn).

The show involved the entirety of their first album complete with all the B-sides released alongside, which was pretty cool I’ll grant you, although I didn’t know all of the songs.

I loved the diversity of the crowd – people of all ages, goths, punks, and many out and proud members of the LGBT community. In the queue it was interesting to note the multitude of people with dyed pink hair wearing pink feather boas – you knew you were definitely at the right place!

The support act was Dutch Uncles, who were pretty good fun, with the lead singer having some weird, crazy dance moves. However, they weren’t very good at engaging with the audience and their songs were often very similar. Nevertheless, they got the audience warmed up and people enjoyed trying to replicate the dancing.

Then Garbage were here! Hell yea!

Shirley Manson has an incredible voice! And it’s always exciting watching live music being performed. After the first few songs, she told the audience that she had to go and put some knickers on because she had somehow forgotten to (with the excitement of having her parents here to see the show) and was becoming conscious of her skirt with the wind machines on stage. ‘Twas a good laugh. After putting on her pants, the show continued.

Another unusual addition to the show was the appearance of Shirley’s niece, who was brought onto the stage and shyly said ‘Hello’ into the microphone. Aww, it was really cute.

The highlights of the show, to me, were probably the performances of ‘Queer‘ and ‘Only Happy When it Rains,‘ as I feel as though these hits are what makes the album stand out and they really resonate with the audience. Every one was singing along and having a good time, and it was a really happy atmosphere (even when the lyrics weren’t quite so jolly). The frequent use of pink lighting and simplicity of the staging added to the old-school feel and really tied in with the album.

Finally the band rounded the show off with an encore, which consisted of more recent songs such as ‘Automatic Systematic Habit’ and ‘When I Grow Up.’ It was ‘When I Grow Up’ that particularly got the audience moving, as all of the mismatched outsiders seemed to relate to the lyrics and really connect with each other.

Garbage have been making videos of their journeys and so below is the one for London. It was a thoroughly enjoyable night, and I’m looking forward to their new album which they plan to release in 2016!

Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum

If you’re a keen salt and pepper enthusiast or just like cool, random displays then you should definitely take a trip to the Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum in Guadalest, Spain. I’ve been meaning to write about it for a while because it was such a fun experience.

It’s the only salt and pepper shaker museum in Europe. That’s quite an impressive thing to be able to boast about. It sure is a pretty unique museum.

The array was absolutely brilliant – it had creepy-looking fruit and veg, cats in cars, batteries, chess pieces, cows in rubber rings, toilets, ironing boards, fancier silver and gold ones and ones specific to particular areas.

The way in which they were set out really added to the experience, through the great range of colours and similar themes side-by side.

I don’t know what more you could want from a salt and pepper shaker than a happy-looking cat playing the piano. Just look at it!

As much as I wouldn’t want to own most of the tacky, random salt and pepper shakers, they look really impressive next to each other. The collection includes over 20,000 of them! Wow!

So next time you’re in Guadalest, I highly recommend that you consider looking at this museum – you won’t be disappointed.

Rum Bunch, Radio Recording

When hearing about the new radio sketch show, ‘Bun Club’ I hastily applied for tickets, being a fan of other sketch shows such as ‘John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme’ and ‘That Mitchell and Webb Sound.’ Despite not winning tickets, my friend was ill and so let me have his (cheers Philip! 🙂 ).

On arrival at RADA Studios, we were notified that the title of the programme had been changed from ‘Bun Club’ to ‘Rum Bunch.’ Interesting. The cast consisted of Mel Giedroyc (half of the brilliant ‘Mel and Sue’), Justin Edwards and David Mounfield, as well as a keyboard player and drummer. The surprise guest was Clare Grogan, who I recognised but don’t really know much about.

The show consisted of a series of sketches which were all linked to the same characters and based around the fictional town of Clenton (hooray!), which the audience cheered at every mention of, imagining that we were locals of the area.

Although this was only the pilot, it was brilliantly executed and absolutely hilarious. Recent radio comedy has been seeming to go downhill in my view – either that or I’m less easily pleased nowadays – but this sketch show was absolutely brilliant. There was everything you could want – great puns and word-play, unique contrasting personalities of characters, and recurring themes or topics to tie it all together. Not to mention the fact that the songs were pretty decent and cast could actually sing, with Justin Edwards on guitar and the drummer and keyboard to enhance the tunes.

I won’t say any more as not to spoil it, but do listen to it if you get the chance (I really hope it gets a full series).

After the show, we hung around in the bar with Mel for a bit and had a good ol’ chat. I can now say that I have met both Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins (who I saw earlier this year), so it seems as though my life is somewhat complete.

Art Al Vent XII

Whilst on holiday in Spain, I decided to visit an exhibition of contemporary textile art in the streets of Spain. Part of Gata de Gorgos was transformed into a display of 129 pieces of modern art, taking the form of textiles. The artwork was all formed on uniform pieces of fabric, and 26 countries participated in creating the art.

Evolving from a tradition, the hanging tapestries on balconies is a part of the local processions of festivities, occurring each year.

I really enjoyed the display, as the modern art really stood out and was juxtaposed against the traditional appearance of the streets. I find it interesting how it occurs each year in the same location, with only the artwork being changed.

To me, the location of the art on the streets really enhanced the pieces, allowing the viewer to admire the art and Spanish architecture simultaneously. The outdoor location of the pieces was also different to many other galleries and exhibitions, which usually display work indoors in set rooms. I felt as though the atmosphere of the streets brought the pieces to life, adding colour and movement (with cars and people moving past, and also movement from the wind).

It was really intriguing seeing how different artists created their pieces, as there were classic patterns made of fabrics and realistic paintings, as well as other more unique pieces, such as patterns made through cutting out fabric and even patterns formed of eggshells!

Korn, 20th anniversity show, London

Last month I saw Korn at the O2 Academy Brixton, performing the entirety of their self-titled album in celebration of their 20-year anniversary. If you don’t know of Korn, they are an American nu-metal band which combine lots of different genres of music, such as hip-hop, rap, metal, rock and grunge.

I had seen Korn perform earlier on this year as well, supporting Slipknot in January, and I was amazed by how great they sound live and the energy they put in.

Supporting Korn were Sunflower Dead, a fairly new band who I hadn’t heard of before. I liked their sound, although they reminded me of other bands such as Disturbed. They were memorable for their painted faces, interesting clothing and good balance of clean vocals and screams. They also brought out an accordion for some songs, which was a unique addition to their music.

After Sunflower Dead, Snot performed. Snot are a nu-metal band, more similar to Korn, but I’m not fond of their music, as, in my opinion, lots of it sounds the same and the lyrics don’t interest me much. Because of this I didn’t enjoy their performance too much and was just waiting for Korn to come on stage.

Finally Korn were here, starting with the gradual build of ‘Blind’ and the familiar opening line “Arree yoouuu reeeaaadddyyyy?” to get the crowd going. Korn’s debut self-titled album includes songs based on personal experience, such as ‘Faget’ which relives the hate and bullying that singer Jonathan Davis was subject to as a child, as he used to wear eyeliner and earrings and never seemed to fit in with the norm.

The main song which I wanted to hear, however, was ‘Daddy’. This song focuses on how Jonathan Davis was abused by a neighbour, although his parents refused to believe him when he told them. The hurt he expresses through the delivery of his lines allows you to feel his pain. Korn hadn’t performed this live for 20 years, only performing it right at the start of their career, as it was too painful an experience for Jonathan to relive, so I really wanted to see this rare performance. Jonathan performed it with such raw emotion and anger, putting down the mic and leaving the stage as soon as the song ended, reminding the audience of how traumatic the event still was to him. A recording of the performance can be seen below.

Another of my favourites, ‘Shoots and Ladders,’ brought out Korn’t trademark unique sound, through the inclusion of the bagpipes played and interesting mix of nursery rhyme lyrics. Finally, after the entirety of the album, Korn finished off with a few of their most popular songs from other albums, ‘Falling Away From Me,’ ‘Here To Stay’ and ‘Freak on a Leash.’

It was an emotional and thoroughly enjoyable night, and I spent the majority of Korn’s performances in the mosh pits, being covered in everyone’s sweat. It was great to feel everyone’s excitement and enjoyment as the songs were played. It was really interesting seeing Korn perform an album which was released before I was born, and the simplicity of the stage decoration added to the old-school feel.

The Lentil Sorters

I went to a recording of the new BBC Radio 4 sitcom, ‘The Lentil Sorters,’ at RADA Studios in London. The sitcom focuses on workers in the Office of Local National Statistics, consisting of Graham (played by Vincent Franklin) and his assistants – Daniel (Kieran Hodgson) and Audrey (Rebekah Staton), as well as tealady Mrs Wilkins (Julia Deakin).

I was really looking forward to the recording as I recognised some of the cast (such as Vincent Franklin from Cucumber and Julia Deakin from Spaced), and it was run by Pozzitive Productions (who have helped to produce great radio programmes such as John Finnemore’s Cabin Pressure).

Well, I didn’t know what to expect, but the plots were pretty interesting. I mean, illegal dog fights, violence-inducing strawberries, potential terrorism and strange foods being grown in a home. What more could you want? I mean, it wasn’t amazing but we had a good laugh and there were some good jokes scattered throughout.

And of course we stuck around in the bar area for a bit and got to chat to and get pictures with some of the cast. Ah, it’s good to have met Rebekah Staton and Vincent Franklin (as photographed above). Well, is The Lentil Sorters going to be a great hit? Probably not. But I would recommend that you give it a listen when it airs later this year, as it is quite amusing.

Pierce The Veil, Sleeping With Sirens

Fairly recently I went to see the bands ‘Pierce The Veil’ and ‘Sleeping With Sirens’ for part of their world tour. They performed at The Forum in London along with support act ‘Issues.’ I’d never seen Pierce The Veil perform before, although I saw Sleeping With Sirens last year and met the lead singer, Kellin Quinn.

As expected, it was a great night. I queued outside for a fair amount of time and saw people I recognised from college, which was quite cool.

After Issues (who I’m not a massive fan of), Sleeping With Sirens came on stage, starting off with the song ‘Kick Me’ from their most recent album. I must admit that the lighting used was quite amusing, as panels had been put up above the stage, which spelled out some of the lyrics of the chorus in time with the band – ‘Kick me when I’m down’, etc. Ah, good times.

The played 12 songs, including some of their classics such as ‘Do it Now, Remember it Later’ and ‘If you can’t Hang’. In addition to this, they added a Goo Goo Dolls cover of ‘Iris’ to their set, which had the whole audience singing along.

They were consistently good, although there were a few high notes which Kellin couldn’t quite reach and so moved the mic away from his face (which is understandable as the songs are so high). I’ve gotta say that some members of the crowd were a bit annoying as the group behind me kept saying things like ‘I can’t even’ and ‘Kellin, why u do dis?’ which I didn’t realise people actually said off of the internet in real life.

Then we waited for Pierce The Veil. The screen put up while we waited was pretty cool.

Pierce The Veil performed songs such as ‘Caraphernelia,’ ‘Hell Above’ and ‘A Match Into Water,’ putting a lot of energy into their performances and keeping the crowd moving, such as by starting circle pits. It was good fun. They also performed an acoustic version of ‘I’m Low On Gas and You Need a Jacket,’ where there was a really nice atmosphere and the audience all sung along.

As they neared the end of the set, Vic asked a member of the audience to join them on the stage and he sung some of ‘Bulletproof Love’ to her (and she was so happy that she was almost in tears). She got to receive signed drumsticks and a setlist – Maan, she’s lucky.

And of course PTV and SWS finished off by performing ‘King For a Day’, which was freakin’ amazing! I really like the good chemistry that the bands have, as you can clearly see that they enjoy being around each other.

Apocalyptica, St Bart’s Pathology Museum

So as per usual my blog posts are really late, but on the 31st March I was lucky enough to receive free tickets to see Apocalyptica performing in a secret location in London. I’d heard about it on their Facebook page and applied by sending an email in the hope of winning, though I didn’t expect to be chosen. I received an email on the day, telling me that I’d won two tickets. By then I’d completely forgotten about the show and feared that I might not be able to leave College and get to the location fast enough. ‘Twas very exciting though.

Apocalyptica are a Finnish rock/metal band, consisting of 3 cellists, a drummer and now a permanent singer. They’re pretty cool and unique – how many cello metal bands do you know?

As none of my friends like (or know) Apocalyptica, I had to go on my own, but ’twas great all the same. We left our recording devices at the door, so this is the only photo I could quickly take.

So whilst we waited for them to come on stage, people hung around and admired the museum, looking at the collections of skulls and random jarred deformed body parts. ‘Twas a pretty cool atmosphere, I must admit.

Pictures of them performing are from http://www.teamrock.com

Apocalyptica played two new songs from their new album ‘Shadowmaker’ and then two of their classic songs. It was good to be able to hear their new singer, Franky, live, and I was really impressed with him. Their performance of ‘Cold Blood’ was amazing, and I probably even preferred it to the track on the album due to the harshness of his voice which made the song sound a bit heavier and more striking.

‘Tis cool because I can see myself in this image, standing up in the crowd near the centre.

Then we all sat or stood around and listened to the new album being played through speakers. ‘Twas very exciting because it hadn’t been released then. I really enjoyed it, especially the last song (‘Dead Man’s Eyes’) as Franky’s vocals really suit it and I love the way it gradually builds. The whole album is beautiful and I highly recommend that you listen to it if you haven’t already.

At the end, I got to meet the band members Mikko, Perttu, Eicca and Paavo, (though not Franky because he left early), which was hella exciting, even though I was kinda awkward and didn’t know what to say. I got their autographs and pictures with them. Aw, they were such nice blokes. They told me that they are planning on touring in the UK in November, so I really hope that I can see them again! 🙂

Halestorm, London

A month ago I went to see Halestorm performing at the Roundhouse in London. Halestorm are a rock band, fronted by Lzzy Hale, and they’re great! I found out about their music through the Evanescence fanbase, as many Evfans also like Halestorm, and Amy Lee (lead singer of Evanescence) and Lzzy Hale seem to be close friends, sometimes performing together.

First of all there were two support acts – Wilson and Nothing More. I’d looked them up before briefly and listened to a few of their songs. I wasn’t too keen on Wilson, but Nothing More had a really interesting, unique sound, so I was looking forward to seeing them. Wilson’s performance was pretty decent – they were better than I had expected – and Nothing More were freaking amazing.

Although I felt as though Jonny [lead singer, Nothing More]’s mic could have been turned up more, as you couldn’t always hear what he was saying, the performance was brilliant. Nothing More had so much energy and you could feel the emotions that they were putting into  their songs. It was great recognising some of their songs such as ‘This Is The Time’ and ‘If I Were God’.

Nothing More also performed a really cool bass solo, as they all gathered around the one instrument and worked together to create an interesting sound. They also used a gadget to hold the bass, spin it around and rotate it, and it’s really cool that they help to make and design their own gadgets, such as this, for use on the stage.

Then of course the main act, Halestorm, came out to perform. The setlist was mainly songs from their first two albums, as their latest third album, ‘Into The Wild Life’ hadn’t come out then. Some of the latest singles from it were performed though, such as ‘Apocalyptic’ and ‘Amen’.

I really love Arejay’s drumming as he is always moving and puts so much energy into the performances. He was also jumping and standing up to play.

They performed:
1. Mz. Hyde
2. It’s Not You
3. Freak Like Me
4. Amen
5. You Call Me a Bitch Like It’s a Bad Thing
6. Daughters of Darkness
7. Apocalyptic
8. Rock show
9. I Hate It When You See Me Cry
10. Drum Solo
11. Mayhem
12. I Get Off
13. Love Bites (So Do I)
14. I Miss The Misery
15. I Like It Heavy
16. Here’s To Us

I really enjoyed the performance of ‘I Hate It When You See Me Cry’ as Lzzy performed this just using her guitar and voice, without the other members, and she really showed off her vocals and got into it.

Well, ’twas a freakin’ amazin’ show and I’m so glad to have finally seen Halestorm (and now know about Nothing More)!