Much Ado About Nothing

Recently I went to Stratford-Upon-Avon for a few days to have a look around the area and see ‘Love’s Labour’s Won (Much Ado About Nothing).’ The production was put on by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

Before the show, I’d gone on a guided tour around the area and seen places such as Shakespeare’s birthplace and where he was buried. This put me in the mood, and there is a surprising amount of interesting history surrounding the area.

I didn’t know much at all about the play before I went, but Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ is about love and marriage, being humorous and light-hearted as it is a comedy, and there are no deaths which is always nice.

The main part of the plot focuses on Benedick and Beatrice being tricked into falling in love with each other, thinking that the other loves them and is too shy/embarrassed to admit it. The scenes where they overheard deliberately staged conversations about them by the other characters were incredibly funny, and Benedick and Beatrice reacted in humorous ways which had the whole audience laughing.

Claudio and Hero are the other main focus, as Claudio is in love with Hero but is tricked into believing that she is unfaithful. You take a disliking to Claudio here for being a fool and being rude to Hero, refusing to marry her. Nevertheless the problems are resolved at the end, and who doesn’t like a happy ending?

The sets were brilliant, and they included a Christmas theme, which was nice as it was only a few days before Christmas (also being suitable because of the month the war ended). Towards the end, there was a slight problem with one of the sets as it stopped working and didn’t go into the floor properly, so there was a short break while it was fixed. This didn’t really matter though, and the show was brilliant.

The actors were convincing and well suited to their roles, and the music accompanying it was beautiful and also Christmassy in places. Different moods and feelings of the characters were portrayed brilliantly.

This play was the second of two plays (‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ and ‘Love’s Labour’s Won’). I feel as though it would have been good to have seen all of them as they include the same actors and it would be interesting to see more development of the characters.

Epica and DragonForce, Concert

Last week I went to see the bands Epica and DragonForce perform at The Forum, London, along with the support act Neonfly. It was an absolutely brilliant evening, and exciting to see two bands I really like (Epica and DragonForce) co-headlining together.

I waited outside for only 2.5 hours, despite originally planning to get there 4 hours early, and I’m glad that I didn’t come any earlier as there was hardly any queue.

By the time I got to enter The Forum, I could barely feel my feet – it was so cold outside! Then we waited by the standing area and observed how empty it was. However, this didn’t really matter as it meant that we were very near the front. The crowd gradually built up.

First of all the support act, Neonfly, who I’d never heard of, performed. They were pretty good, although the sound balance was very odd all the way through and you could hardly hear the vocalist, so I didn’t hear a word of their songs. Also, the ‘Neonfly’ sign in the background was difficult to see and the DragonForce sign was more prominent, which was surprising. They played for around 25 minutes and then we waited for DragonForce.

DragonForce were amazing! I mean, no-one could disagree with me when I say that they were impressive. Being a power/speed metal band from London, their songs are all full of complicated, quick solos. Lots of people on the internet seem not to like DragonForce, but I love their sound, with fantasy-based lyrics and a video-game sound to many of their songs. They suit their image and seem to know what they’re doing.

And all aspects of their performance were brilliant – the high energy, Marc Hudson’s spot-on vocals, and the impressively played guitars, keyboard and drums. I haven’t known about DragonForce for very long, and I was annoyed with myself for not knowing all of their older songs. However, all of their songs were thoroughly enjoyable, and they played with great energy for 1 and a half hours. I also got to admire Herman Li’s ring, which looks pretty cool and seemed to light up. I’ve heard that it helps him play and create the ‘video-game effect’.

And then it was Epica’s turn! For an hour and a half, I listened to and watched the brilliant Dutch symphonic metal band.

I love their most recent album, ‘The Quantum Enigma,’ as the songs have a beautiful balance of clean vocals by Simone Simons, growls/ unclean vocals by Mark Jansen, as well as their recognisable ‘symphonic’ sound, and impressive instrumentalists. I hadn’t known about them for long before their album was released, and I listened to it on repeat when it came out, so it was really exciting seeing them perform live.

It’s always a great moment when you join together with other people with similar interests and sing along with people at concerts. The keyboard was also very interesting (shown in the image above), and I’d never seen an instrument that looks quite like that before.

Their setlist was:
1. Originem
2. The Second Stone
3. The Essence of Silence
4. Unleashed
5. Storm the Sorrow
6. Fools of Damnation
7. Victims of Contingency
8. The Obsessive Devotion
9. The Fifth Guardian
10. Chemical Insomnia
11. Sancta Terra
12. The Last Crusade
13. Design Your Universe

Encore:
14. Cry For the Moon
(Drum Solo Outro)
15. Unchain Utopia
16. Consign To Oblivion

Epica’s lighting was also really cool, with different panels on the walls used to create different patterns, as well as the other, more traditional coloured lighting.

So it was a thoroughly entertaining night, and great to be so close to the front. The show overran, which meant that I just missed my train and so got back home rather late, but it was worth it!

‘Tis a bit of a shame that you can’t see me in the group photo they took at the end, as I would have been close enough to be in it but am covered by some of the members. It doesn’t really matter though.

Asking Alexandria Concert, London

Last Thursday I went to see Asking Alexandria performing at The Roundhouse. Asking Alexandria are an English metalcore band, consisting of Danny Worsnop (vocals), Ben Bruce (lead guitar), James Cassells (drums), Cameron Liddell (rhythm guitar) and Sam Bettley (bass guitar).

When I bought tickets, the support acts hadn’t been announced, so I was very happy when I heard that they were to be Secrets, Crown The Empire and The Ghost Inside as I’d heard of them all before (although am only a fan of Crown The Empire).

I’d wanted to watch all support acts, but I’d come straight from college to try to get there as soon as possible and despite being there an hour early the queue was already really long. It took us a while to get let in, so I missed Secrets.

Nevertheless, I arrived just in time to see all of Crown The Empire, the main support act I’d wanted to see. They were really good, and I love Andy Leo’s vocals which sound just as good live as recorded. The amount of energy that they put into their performance was admirable, as they kept the crowd moving, jumping, singing along and moshing. However, I must admit that I’m not as much of a fan of their new album ‘The Resistance: Rise Of The Runaways’ than their previous one ‘The Fallout,’ so I wish they could have performed more of their older songs.

Then The Ghost Inside came on and performed a few songs. They were quite impressive and you could feel the songs vibrating through your body, but I personally prefer songs with more clean vocals which aren’t purely shouting. I enjoyed their last song the most, ‘Engine 45’ as I recognised it and it’s also quite catchy.

 Then there was the big wait as Asking Alexandria’s stage was set up. They came on to the dramatic opening of ‘Don’t Pray For Me,’ which built up the anticipation, and the audience cheered and sang along as the vocals began.

The setlist was:
1. Don’t Pray For Me
2. Run Free
3. Breathless
4. Break Down The Walls
5. To The Stage
6. Dedication
7. Someone, Somewhere
8. Moving On
9. A Prophecy
10. The Final Episode (Let’s Change The Channel)
11. Not The American Average
12. Killing You
13. The Death Of Me
14. Poison

There’s been a lot of talk recently as fans have been saying that Danny ‘can’t scream anymore’ after breaking his vocal cords and having to get them fixed. From the performance I saw he can definitely still scream, but he just doesn’t do quite as much of it and has a different style.

I like how Asking Alexandria seem to get a different sound with each album as this means that their albums aren’t exactly the same and their sound develops. Now, Danny has more of a classic rock voice which definitely suits the new songs. It’s also interesting to see him incorporate this new style into their old songs such as the classics ‘The Final Episode’, ‘A Prophecy’ and ‘Not The American Average’.

It was great how energetic the crowd was, although I was a bit disappointed that I wasn’t near a big mosh pit, as I’ve never been in one and wanted to give it a go. Despite being between two when Crown The Empire were performing, there were more on the other side when Asking Alexandria were playing.

I was very impressed with the performance AA gave, as Danny was very much in tune, and each member was full of energy. In between songs, Danny and Ben gave random comments and joked with each other, and it was a very enjoyable show. I feel as though they have improved live and their new style may make it easier for them to give consistent performances. I’m very glad I went.

Three Days Grace, London

A few months ago I found out that one of my favourite bands, Three Days Grace, were going to be coming to London to perform at the Electric Ballroom, and I was so excited and bought tickets immediately.

Three days Grace is a Canadian rock band, originally named Groundswell in 1992, and regrouped in 1997 as Three Days Grace. It consists of the members Barry Stock (lead guitar), Brad Walst (bass), Neil Sanderson (drums and backing vocals) and Matt Walst (vocals). Adam Gontier used to be the lead vocalist but left the band in 2013, which is a shame.

The support act were Colt 45, the 3 piece alt rock band from Cumbria, and they were a good start to the show. I’d never heard of them before, but they had nice accents and quite good songs.

After their performance, the audience eagerly anticipated the arrival of Three Days Grace onto the stage, chanting and cheering. ‘Twas exciting.

The setlist was:
1. Just Like You
2. Chalk Outline
3. Painkiller
4. Break
5. The High Road
6. Let You Down
7. Pain
8. Home
9. Drum And Piano Interlude
10. Drum Solo
11. Misery Loves My Company
12. Break Stuff (Limp Bizkit Cover)
13. World So Cold
14. The Good Life
15. I Hate Everything About You
16. Animal I have Become
Encore:
17. Never Too Late
18. Riot

I’m really glad they played some of my favourite songs (which was probably quite likely as many of my favourite songs are 3DG ones). Pain was the first song I ever heard of theirs and I have since loved it, and Misery Loves My Company and The High Road are my favourites from their last album, Transit Of Venus.

Although Three Days Grace no longer have Adam Gontier’s great and recognisable vocals I think that Matt Walst is a good replacement, as he sang very well and his voice also matches their most recent song, Painkiller. However, I must admit that Adam’s voice was better in terms of displaying emotions and meaning for the song as although Matt sings well he doesn’t give quite the same feel to the music, but that’s just my view. 3DG now have a slightly different sound, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but I’m just not too used to it yet.

I would’ve loved to have been slightly further forward in the crowd, but couldn’t get there any earlier as it takes me a while to get there from school. Oh well, I really enjoyed it and it was so great actually seeing them and singing along with other fans.

It was a brilliant night and I’m so glad that they came to London, not having performed there in 10 years! The person in front of me caught a drumstick and person behind me caught a t-shirt (note to self: learn to catch) and the audience moved around so much and kept knocking into people by me, as I was at the side of a mosh pit, so there were a load of sweaty people brushing past me. Lovely. 🙂

Sleeping With Sirens Concert, London

Being a fan of Sleeping With Sirens, I was pretty excited when I heard that they were going to perform at a small club in London, The Underworld, Camden. And it was on GCSE results day, so I chose to buy tickets so that I had something to look forward to and do after results, whether my results were good or bad. Luckily my results were good and I was pleased with them so was in a better mood.

It was a bit annoying, though, that results day was on the same day, as I had to go into school at 9 am but if I’d been at The Underworld before 8:30 am I might have been able to be in the music video they were shooting for a new song, ‘Kick Me.’ Oh well.

The support act wasn’t amazing really. I mean, I’m sure he’s good at what he’s doing but he was a DJ (DJ Scout, also a member of the band ‘Issues’). It’s kind of a weird act as the audience is quiet, not being able to jump or sing along much, as they wait for the main act to come on. I’d watched a video of DJ Scout before the event and he played basically the same things, whilst the crowd picked up and started joining in towards the end, when the Bring Me The Horizon song, ‘Can You Feel My Heart’ was played. But the track was mixed up a lot so as soon as the crowd started jumping it quietened down again and so everyone was still again.

After DJ Scout had finished his performance the crowd waited for Sleeping With Sirens to come on stage, and as soon as they did they started with ‘If You Can’t Hang,’ which they performed very well and the crowd jumped around and sang as loud as they could.

I must admit that I’d been a bit worried that Kellin Quinn (lead vocalist) wouldn’t be able to sing very well or get all of the notes as I’d been watching videos of fairly recent shows and he couldn’t always stay in tune properly, but I was really impressed with how the whole show went. Sleeping With Sirens seem to be good live performers.

The playlist was:
1. If You Can’t Hang
2. Congratulations
3. Here We Go
4. Low
5. A Trophy Father’s Trophy Son
6. Tally It Up, Settle The Score
7. With Ears To See and Eyes To Hear
8. Kick Me (live debut)
9. Do It Now, Remember It Later
10. If I’m James Dean, You’re Audrey Hepburn

It was surprising when the show ended after only 45 minutes as Kellin had said that he really meant it when he said it was the last song, though the audience waited for another 10 or so minutes, at the beginning chanting ‘One More Song,’ then seeming disappointed and leaving.

People hung around outside in the hope to meet them and gathered around the stage door, but were sent away by people working there who told them that they were coming out the front (which of course they weren’t) so we waited just around the corner. Then the members came out, but only Kellin came around to sign (which is kinda understandable as he’s the main guy but also weird as the others are hardly recognised).

BUT I GOT HIS AUTOGRAPH! I got it on a scrap of paper and also my hand. We weren’t allowed photos as there wasn’t enough time so I took a kinda awkward selfie nearby with him in the background. Aw, he held my hand and signed it 🙂 and my sister also got to hug him. Cute. He was incredibly nice and was talking to people and also stopped to cheer someone up and give encouraging words, which was so lovely.

It was a great night and although the show didn’t last as long as I’d wanted, meeting Kellin Quinn more than made up for this.

World Challenge, Iceland

This holiday I went on a World Challenge expedition after (trying to) raise around £1,300 to pay for the costs through helping out, volunteering to work, selling things at fairs, etc. Although I didn’t quite manage to meet the necessary amount I’m now paying it off from my parents as the idea is that you raise it all yourself!

My expedition was in Iceland, and World Challenge operates in many different countries all over the world. There are often community projects involved, such as helping to build facilities in local villages, etc. which sound pretty cool, but as our expedition was only for a short period of time – one week – we didn’t do a community project. Our expedition mainly consisted of trekking around Iceland and admiring the scenery, which was pretty cool and I’m glad to have been able to see Iceland as I’ve never been there before. It was really good fun, and I went with my school and got to talk and get to know some people I hadn’t really spoken to before.

We flew to Keflavik and then travelled to Reykjavik (the capital of Iceland). We stayed in this area for a while and then got a bus to Pingvellir and Þórsmörk and stayed around this area, looking at the Geysirs and magnificent Gullfoss waterfall. Then at the end we returned to Reykjavik and took a plane back from Keflavik.

There was a fair bit of travelling for a week but not as much walking as I’d expected as we often walked around roughly the same places and we went around the Golden Circle in a bus. Nevertheless, the sights were great though it was a bit frustrating having to walk at ‘alpine pace’ which literally meant that we had to walk so slowly that it was frustrating and made walking more difficult, in order to make sure all of the group could keep up and stayed together.

Also, there was a really cool looking area which we started walking down and then were told we had to come back as “looking at the path and looking at the group” it was not safe, basically meaning that our group wasn’t good enough to go down it. I mean, it was kinda understandable as I was leading and sorta expecting to fall down off the edge of the cliff-thing, but I also really wanted to go down it. Our school were split in two groups, and I was in group 2, but group 1 seemed to do much longer and more advanced walks which was a tad annoying.

We arranged our R&R, which was the extra activities we wanted to do as well as the trekking, so we chose to do whale watching, go to the Blue Lagoon and have a meal out.

I must admit that I didn’t enjoy the whale watching much as we gathered around on a boat in the hope to see a whale and only got a brief sighting, though I didn’t see any. I also sometimes get travel sick, and the sea was rough and the boat kept turning round in the hope to follow a whale so I felt really ill by the end of it. Despite this, it was still enjoyable as there were some good, funny people playing guitars and singing downstairs, which was entertaining and we got to wear interesting warm, orange suits!

The Blue lagoon was very nice, with lots to do including a sauna and face mud bit as well as being able to buy smoothies whilst you were in the water. The main off-putting part was the showering as you had to shower nude in cubicles that didn’t lock and the walls were translucent so I found the experience kinda awkward, but everything else was really fun, relaxing and enjoyable!

It was definitely an experience worth doing, and the week went surprisingly quickly. Now to raise the rest of the money to pay off my parents!

Within Temptation, Wembley

Last Saturday I went to Wembley Arena, London, to see Within Temptation perform. If you don’t already know of Within Temptation they are a symphonic rock band who have been around for quite a while, forming in 1996 and having released several albums since then, the most recent being ‘Hydra’, released this year in February. I had really been looking forward to the album and bought the tickets in advance, but was not initially as pleased with the album as I had hoped for some reason. On reflection, it is actually pretty great and I don’t know what else I was expecting it to be.

When queueing up to get in I couldn’t help but notice the recurring theme of people’s clothing – a line of people dressed in black, elaborate dresses, leather jackets and tall gothic boots – it was quite a good sight and meant that I knew I’d come to the right place.

I stood in the standing area with a good view (despite the tall guy in front of us). The support act was Delain, who I didn’t really know of and had looked up before, but it was pretty awkward not knowing their songs as people were singing along. Well, they were pretty great and similar to Within Temptation in many ways.

After a 20 minute wait Within Temptation came on stage, introduced by a dramatic dropping of the curtain and a short video about the Dragon to set the Hydra theme.

The setlist was (as found on setlist.fm):

1. Let Us Burn
2. Paradise (What About Us?)
3. Faster
4. Iron
5. Edge of the World
6. In the Middle of the Night
7. Our Solemn Hour
8. Angels
9. Dangerous
10. And We Run
11. Tell Me Why
    Elements Intro
12. See Who I Am
13. Stand My Ground
14. The Cross
15. Covered By Roses
16. Mother Earth
    Encore:
17. What Have You Done
18. Whole World Is Watching
    (Acoustic)
19. Summertime Sadness
    (Lana Del Rey cover)
20. Ice Queen

Within Temptation performed for two hours and were absolutely brilliant, Sharon’s voice being so beautiful. It’s so much better gathering with other fans and listening to music live than on your iPod. The time went so quickly and I actually find it surprising to know that 20 songs were played! Sharon wore three outfits (shown in the image above) which was quite impressive for one show as she went off stage and changed between songs. The Hydra World Tour has been going on for quite a while and I don’t understand how Sharon still manages to sound so great and reach all the notes perfectly!

At the end there was a group picture taken of Within Temptation with the audience to keep as a memory. It was a great night. I love how sweet the members of Within Temptation are, making videos for their fans on YouTube and writing and replying to them on Twitter. Within Temptation retweeted my tweet of a picture of them the next day! 😀 Yay!

‘Jack Whitehall Gets Around’

The other week I went to see Jack Whitehall at Wembley, London, for his ‘Jack Whitehall gets around’ live tour as he’s a pretty funny guy, and the show wasn’t disappointing at all. I think he did a pretty good job of it, but I’m a bit critical and so I’m going to have to admit that I didn’t like all of the jokes – I hate when jokes that weren’t even funny in the first place are dragged out too much. But despite this the good jokes were good and so made up for this annoyance.

The show started with a video being played of Jack Whitehall and his dad, and it was a funny video so all was looking positive. However, the quality of his jokes weren’t all too great or original (having already heard some parts of them in sketches, interviews, radio programmes, etc. of other people before). And I don’t really mind having predictable jokes or non-original jokes so long as he can make them funny or add things to them, which he did in fact do for some jokes. However the jokes which I didn’t like (and I’m probably the only one) was the constant references to his penis and his sex life. Fine, jokes often are about relationships and sex, I know, but constantly going on about it… well I suppose it’s not what I look for in comedy.

Look what I’m doing now, making it seem like I hated the show. I really didn’t hate it. Like I said before, it was overall very funny, but I can’t comment on the good jokes for fear of making them sound rubbish so I’ve instead chosen to express my dislike for the not-so-good-ones.

There were some very funny and original anecdotes as well as a good “Get it wrong, gotta be strong” section in which he spoke about correcting mistakes (or just going along with them) so that you don’t feel awkward. It was also nice how he used members of the audience to ask questions and involve in the comedy. The ending was pretty good as Jack Whitehall dressed up as a lion and showed how the Lion King should have been (which actually in this case improved a not very good joke, so well done him!). The audience seemed pretty happy at the end of it, so I would indeed say that it was a good show, but, like in all comedy, there were jokes that weren’t too good.

Energy Drinks

I’ve never been a massive fan of energy drinks and so haven’t had one for ages. However, everyone seems to love ‘Monster’ energy drinks, so I thought I’d give them a try.

They’re quite nice really ALTHOUGH I REALLY CANNOT WORK OUT WHAT THEY TASTE LIKE. The ingredients aren’t too useful either. It doesn’t really need to taste like anything particular, but every time I tried it, it reminds me of something else (I had to keep it in the fridge and drink it over the course of a day as I can’t manage that much energy drink at one time).

This is really annoying me as I need to work out what the taste is of. Oh well, I suppose it’s just a sweet energy drink taste. And it’s not bad.

Also, it’s nearly 2014, so Happy New Year ‘n’ all that!