Apocalyptica, Shadowmaker tour

Three concerts in a month! For me, November was a great month this year, and I got to finish off the month by going to O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire to see the incredible Finnish cello metal/rock band Apocalyptica! After being lucky enough to win the chance to hear their latest album ‘Shadowmaker’ before its release in the UK earlier this year and actually meet them (all of them except Franky) I knew that I had to see them again. They are such nice guys and their music is fairly unique in that they don’t use guitars, just cellos, drums and vocals.

The support act were Vamps, the Japanese rock band (not to be confused with the pop band, The Vamps). I’d heard of them before and even given their music a listen to before but never thought much of them or understood the hype. Whilst waiting in the queue it was interesting to note how many people were speaking Japanese, and I could tell that many members of the audience were mainly there for the support act.

As the queues were disorganised, I ended up queueing in the wrong queue (seated tickets, not standing) and then had to go to the back when a member of staff told us which was which. Darn!

Vamps JPN were kinda interesting. I mean, I didn’t really understand them and they were kinda crazy, but they were a lot of fun, getting the crowd to sing along, shouting out ‘BLOODSUCKERS!’ and ‘Sex, Blood, Rock ‘n’ Roll!’ I’ve never seen such enthusiasm for a support act before.

Then on came the brilliant Apocalyptica! The band consists of cellists Eicca, Perttu and Paavo, drummer Mikko and singer Franky.

The setlist included many songs from their latest album such as ‘House of Chains,’ ‘Riot Lights,’ ‘Shadowmaker,’ ‘Sea Song’ and ‘Dead Man’s Eyes,’ along with songs from other albums such as ‘I’m Not Jesus’ and ‘I Don’t Care.’ Of course the show wouldn’t have been complete without their famous covers such as Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’ and ‘One.’

I love the energy which the guys brought to the stage, and it’s great how close they all are. The new singer, Franky Perez, is a great addition to the band and his voice is perfect for songs such as ‘Dead Man’s Eyes’, one of my favourites. Admittedly I prefer the original versions of ‘I’m Not Jesus’ and ‘I Don’t Care’ to his live versions, but probably mainly because I’m so used to different singers being used, such as some of my favourite singers, Slipknot/Stone Sour’s Corey Taylor and Saint Asonia’s Adam Gontier. Because of this, the songs don’t have quite the same effect with Franky’s voice. However, Franky still did a great job and managed to put a lot of emotion into his singing.

Apocalyptica also brought Vamps back on stage to perform their new song ‘SIN IN JUSTICE’ and it was a fun performance which the crowd got very excited about.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable show, with Apocalyptica putting their all into the performance, headbanging, waving their luscious long hair about, and lugging their cellos across the stage. Only Apocalyptica can look impressively metal when playing the cellos.

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.

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.

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)!

Chain Reaction: Olivia Colman and Sharon Horgan

Well, I went to a radio a fair while ago and never wrote about it, but feel as though I should now as it was very enjoyable and the first recording I’ve been to of ‘Chain Reaction’. ‘Chain Reaction’ is a BBC Radio 4 chat show in which someone from the world of entertainment selects another person that they want to interview. This interviewee then becomes the next week’s interviewer. ‘Tis a good idea.

I wanted to go to this recording mainly to see Olivia Colman, who I am a fan of and have met before. Olivia Colman is a very famous actress who is always on the TV, most recently being in programmes such as ‘Broadchurch’.

Sharon Horgan is an actress, writer and comedian, best known for her work on television series ‘Pulling’ (which I haven’t seen). I hadn’t really heard of her before I went to the recording, but I’ve heard her name mentioned a few times after that. Interesting.

Anyway, the recording consisted of Olivia Colman interviewing Sharon Horgan about her work and anything else that she wanted to ask, and it was quite funny. I must admit that I can’t remember exactly all that was asked and said, but Olivia Colman had prepared a variety of different questions. Some of which she was proud of and then realised that they didn’t make much sense once spoken. ‘Twas great!

When Olivia Colman ran out of questions she asked audience members if they could help her out, saying “one of my friends [insert name of audience member] was wondering…” and ’twas very amusing. However, she was asked to redo this without the names in the retakes.

I enjoyed the recording a surprising amount (I don’t know why I wasn’t looking forward to it) and think I’ll definitely go to another Chain Reaction recording in the future.

As always I met the cast outside (although this time I only met Olivia Colman) and we had a brief chat and got a photo with her. Good times!

 

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.

Library Lecture by Russell Brand

I was invited to the annual Reading Agency lecture in London which was led by Russell Brand, and I was really looking forward to it. Last year’s lecture was run by author Neil Gaiman and I’d heard that they are usually interesting.

I know that Russell Brand has written books but I’d never heard him talk about them so wanted to hear about the importance of reading and his interest in books from his perspective.

The hour or so through which he discussed books, school libraries and read extracts of books were highly entertaining and hilarious. He read an extract of a Famous Five book in which the names of characters had been updated for the modern edition, changing ‘Dick’ to ‘Rick’ and ‘Fanny’ to ‘Franny.’ He read them as the original names and had the whole audience laughing.

Russell Brand explained how he had revisited his school to find that there was no library, saying that he believes that schools without libraries are a ‘disgrace’. He then went on to joke that the empty shelves could have been disguised as an art installation called ‘The Abyss’ and said that the school’s empty shelves drew attention to the lack of books.

He worked his way through a pile of books with pages marked that interested of him, as he read them out to the audience, explained his view on them and what it made him realise, as well as who gave them to him. It was thoroughly enjoyable. Unfortunately he only got through half of them before he ran out of time.

Throughout his lecture he kept referring to the young helpers wearing white ‘Reading Volunteer’ tshirts, saying that he wouldn’t want to wear one and saying that some of the young people may be too young to know the people or things he was referencing to. After the event he was given a tshirt to wear and put it on for a photo before quickly taking it off.

I also got to meet him and have a photo with him, and he was a very nice guy, trying to let as many people as possible have a photo or autograph before he had to go.

But there it is, my picture with Russell Brand, and it was such a good night!