Well, it has taken me bloody ages, but I have set up MySpace once and for all, so it is farewell to MSN Spaces.

Everything that was here is now over on:

http://www.myspaces.com/shadowblade9876/

See ya!

First things first: happy birthday Nathan! Hope you had a great time!

Whoa. As Hev quite effectively put it, she was speechless. No way to describe that. These boys sure know how to work a crowd.

Well me and the ever-cool Hev went to see Hard-Fi just now, and yes, once again I must say that it was another fucking awesome gig. Hee hee...

When it looked like we wouldn't arrive, we decided to leave the chaos of the road in favour of the trains. And we made it...or at least we thought we did. When we spotted Brixton Academy, it looked like there wasn't a queue yet; however, round the corner....or round the three corners to be precise...was the queue. Look slike we weren't gonna get to the front after all.

After a rigorous search, we somehow managed to get there, one row back from the front. Hev was oscillating with excitement (about to explode I thought) and I was trying to contain my excitement too. Unfortunately, the first opening act was some super-chav rapper called Professor Green, accompanied by a guy who made "beep" noises throughout. When they did a cover of the Streets 'When You Wasn't Famous', we both felt like we were going to throw up so we went to get a drink. :S

The second opening act? Billy Bragg, who apparantly we were meant to know who he was. Yeesh, he was angst-ridden. Then he tried to brainwash us into funding the military and destroying the BNP (which one neo-nazi reacted rather strongly to). Owch.

The the main act, Hard-Fi. As they came on stage, a huge banner unfolded, the words 'Hard-Fi In Operation' written on it, with the characteristic CCTV camera. All the screens came to life, as did the crowd, as Middle Eastern Holiday rang out: images of the gulf war played out to the music, all pretty effective.

Gotta Reason next, and the guitars were awesome here, making everyone jump up and down...but nothing compared to what was to come.

Next was a new one which we thought was pretty cool but for the life of us cannot remember what it was like at all, nor what it was called! On the new album, I hope.

Tied Up To Tight was next, and we absolutely loved that. Jumping up and down like mad, all the "na na na na na"s and the massive TIED UP TO TIGHT! shouts...what a brilliant atmosphere.

Then came You and Me, a brilliant new track for their next album. Great stuff, I can't wait for it to be released.

Feltham Is Singing Out followed, and it sounds so much better live, I loved it.

Unnecessary Trouble next, and although I'm not too keen on this track, it sounds great live, so I can't complain.

Then came a cover of a song called E=mc^2, and that sounded awesome! A brilliant cover with lots of energy.

Better Do Better next, and of course everyone knew the words, people's arms outstretched throughout. Cool.

Cash Machine next with some amusing background images and messages, brought so much energy into it live; the thumping guitar riffs and vocals were awesome.

Hard To Beat was the last prior to the encore, and zomg can only partially describe it: people were jumping up and down and clapping like mad before, but this was something else. Almost falling over (both of us) several times, everyone was leaping for the sky. So good, so so good.

Move On Now with not a piano, but a guitar, came up next as Richard walked onto the stage alone. Sounded very different from the piano version on the album but I quite liked it. Very strong vocals there, very memorable.

Stars Of CCTV followed, and the acoustic and electric guitar melodies were damn good...Hev's fave song, no doubt, it was extended to let the audience sing along for ages and see themselves on "cctv footage" playing on the screens.

Last if all, my joint favourite track (along with Tied Up Too Tight), was Living For The Weekend. For a moment, we all forgot it was Monday tomorrow (or today now :S) and we jumped, clapped and sang like maniacs. Watching the band leap around the stage was awesome too.

No doubt we were very sad to go afterwards...although we barely managed to get out; all those beer bottles and cups rolling down what now felt like a huge slope proved both tricky and messy.

Hope you like the pics: took them on my camera mobile again. I'm sure Hev has some awesome ones which I'll steal later....thanks for coming Hev!

Well, second time on Virgin Radio, this time with Geoff and Annabel, the most amusing radio show out there by far. One of their subjects to talk about was "Weird Things That Freak You Out", so I decided to spread the word regarding my well-documented tissue phobia. Strangely enough, it seems Geoff also hates tissues rubbing together...it makes us both feel nauseous, and I claimed that he and I may be one in the same person when he confessed his fear of the feeling of lolly sticks...also pretty damn horrible.

I didn't want to seem that freakish, so I drew the attention towards an old-friend-come-enemy, who has a fear of pillows. Oh dear...everyone there thought that was quite amusing, and as always, so did I.

Well, I've had a pretty damn good weekend. Not bad for an 18th, eh? After the fantastic Snow Patrol, my cousin and I sat down with some videogames for awhile, then went out to see Mission Impossible 3, which was actually pretty decent.

Today? Well, almost all of my family plus some extra friends came bearing gifts and tributes to my "shi-ba" birthday, and I must say I was particularly touched with hev's present to me, and she couldn't even come! Thanks hev, and thanks to everyone who came! We all ate at the Mandarin Palace, and damn they have good chinese food there. Fending off the daemons and minions known as "the other cousins", me, Rikki, Lucy and teh Hose went to the beeb to see the hilarious Dead Ringers during a recording. And yes, they were very lol-worthy too, with some rofl moments thrown in for good measure. My favourite sketch?

"Hello ungrateful gits, I'm Tony Blair your Prime Minister, and there ain't nothin' you can do about it! Now, I know I'm pretty unpopular at the moment, but I have a list of fifty well-known and repsected individuals from Parliament that want me to stay, including I.P Freely, Hugh Jass, Homer Simpson, and Saddam Hussain."

Hee hee...Jon Culshaw is funny just to watch, he doesn't really have to speak. Oh, and there was a pretty good comedian there too, who had a worrying fixation with Rikki and his significant other. At least it drew the attention away from me! And once again, James declined a photo shoot with a fire hose. Grr....

So, Snow Patrol live, good old videogaming, mucho money, a dell xps laptop, some touching photos/card, and a pretty damn amusing magnet later, and I'm happy! Doesn't feel like I'm 18 though...I still feel like a six year old. Although not like my six year old-ish cousins. They're just evil/violent/scary.

Owch. Well well well, another day, another gig. Snow Patrol this time, and man was it brilliant. I mean really brilliant; so fucking awesome that words and profanity can't describe it. Oh, and the owch was because me and my cousin were standing right at the front....next to the speaker on the right wall. Ears are still ringing!

We had two opening acts this time, The Ghears, which were ok, nothing special, although they were slaughtering there guitars at one point...and Deus, who were actually pretty good. Like looking through a psychadelic kalaidescope or something.

When Snow Patrol bounced onto the stage with Wow, they lit up the building and the atmosphere was there. Chocolate next; another classic track from Final Straw.

Next up was It's Beginning To Get To Me, from the new Eyes Open album, and that sounds even better live than in does in the album. Not one of my favourite tracks initially, they tore up the stage with this one. Fucking awesome.

Then came Hands Open, and whilst the speakers were causing my clothes to vibrate violently, Gary Lightbody lept into the crowd and took a good look at all of us screaming/shouting/extending hands etc. People were trying to grab him, but fortunately this time around he escaped without tearing his trousers.

Some wicked guitar play next with Spitting Games; everyone new the lyrics. Shut Your Eyes came afterwards, and two thousand people were clapping their hands in time, pretty cool stuff.

Then it was there, Chasing Cars, their Fix You. Can't really describe that build up to the main chorous, it was unbelievable. The album had onlycome out five days ago, but again everyone new the words. Emotional and sweeping stuff.

Two more oldies next, Olive Grove and Grazed Knees, the former requiring an additional trumpet player. Never heard them before, but both were pretty decent.

Headlight On Dark Roads, the darkest track on the new album, was again fantastic live, better than on album by far. Loud guitar-weilding nutcasery proved awesome stuff.

Make This Go On Forever was up next, and this was by far the best live version of a track on the new album...up to this point =) Such a huge build up and a massive pulsing sound moved the entire audience.

How To Be Dead sounded far rockier than it does on Final Straw and it's all the better for it. Brilliant stuff.

Ways and Means next, great pulsing sound again.

The came Run, and oh boy that was something special. I so wish I could have captured the sound and atmosphere of the gig just then, I couldn't believe how good that was, and neother could anyone else. Legendary stuff.

You're All I Have was the last prior to the inevitable encore, and being my favourite Snow Patrol song, I, and everyone else, loved every second of it. At this point, I caught a guitar pick the guitarist, Nathan Connelly, threw into the crowd. Lucky! He and the rest of the band were loving it, posing mid-song for random photos or even just to "express" himself. Unbelievably cool.

Encore time, and Open Your Eyes produced the loudest and probably best guitar sounds I have ever heard live. That build up...yeesh. Indescribale.

Final song was Tiny Little Fractures, another I hadn't heard before but which is downloading right now because they could not have ended it on a better song. Indie rock rules!

And now I'm home; cousin's knackered, but very happy he came. And me? Well, better get ready for next week's gig....

Thanks Snow Patrol!

Fuck me. Sorry about that, but my legs are killing me. And Jason's feet are probably broken, but whatever, we both agreed it was worth it.

Anyway...yes, the Embrace gig at Shepard's Bush. Awesome, and now that's the third I've been too, I can safely say all 3 have their own special moments, very unique.This gig was the longest by far, and more songs were played in this one that the previous two, so there is a lot to say!

From the excellent opener, No Use Crying, you could see Danny (the lead singer) was clearly enjoying himself. All You Good Good People was next, and although I've never heard that one before, almost everyone else had, and what a great song it was! Gotta get that off, erm, Rikki Inc. Looking as You Are followed (didn't know the lyrics to this one :P ), but nice track nonetheless. Another older one, My Weakness Is None Of Your Business, was up next, and again, I have so got to get these classics! Likewise, Come Back As You are was next, ditto.

Nature's Law was next, and I'm sure you've heard of that one before. Great stuff, well played. Target and Sainted, two excellent tracks which certainly showed off Rik's guitar playing skills! The End is Near and the very cool Exploding Machines caused everyone to jump up and down too; (any epileptics at this point would have died...speaking of which, the really huge guy in front of me who kept moving backwards was at this point trampled on after sweating balls, which made me laugh).

A small tribute to Chris Martin (and his new baby son) later, Gravity was played, and what a song that is. You can tell it was penned by the Coldplay front man, awesome. Glorious Day was next, and the lead singer was obviously hyped up at this point; after all, the crowd were loving it, just like KC's and Coldplay's, and people were throwing gifts to the band, including: a sock, a balloon with Number One on it, a message of some kind of a cardboard sign, some Strepsils, (he had a bit of a sore throat apparantly, but non-one seemed to notice it), and most oddly, a Kit Kat. The bottle of water he gave to the crowd was soon spilled down someone's front, hee hee.

New Adam and Eve generate so much crowd jumping that many a feet were trampled on, but this was nothing compared to what came later...

After The End Is Near and Celebrate (again, awesome), they came back for their four-piece encore, which included first number one The Good Will Out (many la la la's here, hee hee), Wonder (another golden oldie...well, ten years old lol), Save Me, (huge amount of crowd jumping here, it was uber), and the ubelievable Ashes. Now, I always remember one particular moment from each gig the most; Coldplay's had to be the climatic Fix You, Kelly's had to be Since You've Been Gone, the atmosphere was amazing there and the anticipattion for it was horribly painful, but for Embrace? Had to be Ashes. Everyone seemed to be reaching for the white lights above and they jumped like mad, leaping as high into the air as possible, and I almost died several times, I'm sure, through asphyxia, dehydration or just being stomped on. Great. And that balloon made it to the top of the theatre, nice one people!

Standing at the front burns, people, but it was worth it. Next Coldplay gig or Kelly Clarkson gig I am sooo there right at the front.

And to top it off, I got my DVD I bought there taken backstage and signed by the band!

Check out my pictures people. Now I wish I wrote this much for the other gigs, but at the moment I am so pumped full of adrenaline I can't stop typing!

Right, off to faint now. Thanks people, enjoy the pics!

Ignore the Ameican presenters, they look a bit too camp to me <_<

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdZQNSlsDbw&search=kelly%20clarkson from CD:USA