Gigliography

So to kick this blog off, I’m going to share with you my gigliography (see what I did there?) starting as far back as I can remember!

·      November 2011 – Arctic Monkeys with The Vaccines supporting – this was my first ever proper gig! Let’s just say the Vaccines are very good recording artists… not so brilliant live; nevertheless I was 13 and any gig is exciting! Arctic Monkeys were my ‘first love’ and I still am obsessed with them (In particularly Alex and Matt) but it seems so strange to think that Suck It and See is 4 years old?! AM were absolutely incredible though - and as a first gig, I couldn’t have asked for anything more brilliant!

·       October 2012 – The Enemy with States of Emotion supporting – my first standing gig. To this day, the Enemy still hold the top spot for the best crowd atmosphere! Tom’s only a little lad but he’s got a belting voice! The Enemy were also my first ‘souvenir’ after Andy gave me his bass pick! States of Emotion are some of the loveliest lads ever – former drummer Luke Lloyd told security I was his sister so he could come and have a photo with me and a chat, and since the gig, me and frontman Olly have spoken frequently, even skyping me to sing ‘The Way That I’m Wired’ *fangirl*, but in seriousness, that man sings from the bottom of his heart and with such raw emotion it is beautiful.

·       November 2012 – Rizzle Kicks – I’m not even ashamed. These lads are a bit of a guilty pleasure for me because of their insane energy! They’re so fun to watch perform! Real feel good vibes. My personal favourite cover by them is currently their reggae rock take on Lana Del Rey’s ‘Summertime Sadness’.

·    September 2013 – Paramore – after Paramore’s reformation, there was no way I was missing this tour… or so I thought until I passed out at the gig during ‘daydreaming’ which was pretty ironic because that’s what fainting feels like… I viewed half the show from the side until security let me back in the standing section. Despite the obvious, it was a fabulous night and I’d definitely go and see them again, even if it’s just to stare at Jeremy’s face.

·     October 2013 – Madina Lake with Fearless Vampire Killers supporting – I can’t even justify why I went. It was the Madina Lake farewell tour so I thought ‘why not’, then realised why not. FVK are the most bizarre act I have ever witnessed. I watched the entire act in horror and disgust. The frontman was touching fellow bandmates in places that need not be touched and making vulgar hand gestures. That’s honestly all I remember from that gig. It’s forever burned into my memory, although I have tried to file it away never to be seen again.

·      October 2013 – Arctic Monkeys with The Strypes supporting – yet another amazing performance by AM, the AM album is a contender for favourite by them (up against Whatever People Say I am…) because of the new rock vibe they developed. Unfortunately, I missed the majority of the support act (The Strypes) because we arrived late, however I remember saying ‘This is pretty catchy’, little did I know that a couple of years down the line I would have met them twice (I’ll discuss this later).

·      March 2014 – Maximo Park – I just remember singing my little heart out all the way through this gig. Paul’s voice is so beautiful and captivating. His stage presence (and his hips) is (are) insane. Unfortunately, Paul had a condition with his eye with prevented him from performing to his usual capabilities (he was supposed to cancel the show), so he wore sunglasses exclaiming something along the lines of ‘yes, I’m wearing sunglasses indoors. No, I’m not trying to be Bono’.

·     March 2014 – Nina Nesbitt – Nina is a little Scottish beauty with the most unusual voice! With her being rather ordinary and young, I feel I can relate to a lot of her songs, so this cute intimate little gig was lovely! This intimacy was accentuated by Nina’s slower songs on the piano, especially her cover of ‘Say Something’. This really did contrast to her more upbeat tracks in which she would often play the drums during the instrumental – her talents are endless. An added personal touch was that during ‘Selfies’ there was a film of images running behind which included images of the crowd when we were outside queuing!

·     May 2014 – Professor Green – Whilst I enjoy Pro Green’s music (and face), I was pretty disappointed with the atmosphere at the gig – this was no fault of Pro Green whatsoever, his performance was spot on, I just think the crowd needed to be a bit more enthusiastic… I’ll probably just stick to YouTube; try to learn/rap all of the lyrics to his songs and try to pronounce pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis.

·     June 2014 – The Enemy with The Ends supporting – Absolutely cracking couple of tunes from the Ends here, in particularly ‘You write the hits, I write the B-sides’. The performance by The Enemy was even better than the first time I’d been to see them (didn’t know that was possible), I think this was also due to Manchester being a little more energetic than Stoke! I also met Tom’s brother which was pretty rad, as well as gaining another of Andy’s bass picks for the collection.

·       March 2015 – Johnny Marr – The best gig the Sugarmill (Stoke) has ever seen. I was always a huge fan of The Smiths anyway, but we all know Johnny is better than Morrissey. He did a few Smiths tunes as well as a few of his own tracks such as ‘Easy Money’ and ‘Use Me Up’ which I decided to buy on 7” vinyl after the show. His guitar playing was absolutely immense and I pretty much spent the majority of the gig just staring at him, absolutely mesmerised as his fingers glided up and down the guitar with such ease! This man will always be a legend in my eyes. Truly amazing.

·       May 2015 – The Strypes – I’d not really listened to The Strypes much since the AM gig in 2013, however a few months before going to see The Strypes I really got into their bluesy rock music. I took 3 trains to get to Wrexham and waited outside the venue from 4:30pm, but it was definitely worth it! Managed to meet the band and get a signed shirt and signed tickets and had a lovely little chat! The lads are of a similar age to me and it’s great how modest they are, it was just like talking to a few of my mates! Their stage presence is brilliant and the choreography and bromance between Ross and Pete is adorable. How Pete doesn’t end up with brain damage after a performance I will never know, but it’s always an exhilarating experience!

·       V Festival – best weekend of my life so far. I will definitely be returning! Over the weekend I had the pleasure of viewing Ella Eyre’s performance, whose choreography and energy is always fabulous. Clean Bandit (fairly average) but still a lovely vibe! The Kooks, which was a cute, nostalgic, feel good performance. Calvin Harris, who blew up the generator on the second song… he made a joke of it though, and proceeded with a fantastic performance with stunning lighting shows. Reverend and The Makers, I couldn’t miss this one – Heavyweight Champion of the World was definitely the highlight of this set. The Courteeners was absolutely mad, I love their sound and Liam Fray’s voice is just golden. The flares from the crowd definitely added the v-fest vibe, even if they made me ill… Their cover of Oasis’s ‘Champagne Supernova’ was also an added bonus as they really did do it justice. Finally, KASABIAN. I literally have no words to describe this experience. I get excited just thinking about it! The Intro to ‘Treat’ always reminds me of this amazing weekend with absolutely incredible people. If you’re ever undecided as to whether you should go to V or not – do it. You will not regret it and it will give you some of the best memories of your adolescence. 

·      September 2015 – The Strypes – I introduced my Dad to The Strypes’ music after the gig in May, and because he loved it so much, I thought we should go to this gig together. It was another beautifully intimate gig and they didn’t fail to provide another extraordinary show! What shocked me most though was, after the show, I met with the lads again and they remembered who I was! After the May gig my little niece vomited on my signed shirt and so the lads sent me a new one in the post because they are ABSOLUTE GEMS, however I will forever be known to them as ‘Beth, the girl who got sick on her shirt’, and I’m fine with that because at least they remember me.

I have a few gigs coming up soon too! The Courteeners, Rudimental and The Stone Roses!

Let me know in the comments section what your first gig experience was and what you thought because I love hearing about this kind of stuff!

I went to see Maximo Park again on Sunday 15^th so my next post is going to be a gig review which is something I’ve never tried before so that’ll be exciting!

Thanks for reading!

Bethan xx