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Top 10 Gigs
by MsTricia
Watching live music at gigs and festivals of my favourite artists is an ultimate way for me to spend my free time (when not being mummy to my 2 year old!) and spend my spare money! I have been to quite a few although there are still loads more I would love to see (and some on this list I'd want to see again!) so here's a brief run down ... of my favourite so far!
1. Eminem
I absolutely love Eminem, so when I heard he was headlining V Festival last year I knew I just had to be there!! I quickly booked my ticket for me and my friend for the Staffordshire event and was totally excited to go! We paid an extortionate amount as we were not fortunate to get them at first release so probably paid around £150 a ticket (yikes!) and I have to say he was TOTALLY WORTH IT. He did a set for almost 2 hours, doing all his classics like Real Slim Shady, Stan and more of his recent music like Love The Way You Lie with Rihanna. He was vibrant, upbeat and engaging with the audience and I had a sore throat afterwards as I have all his albums so was rapping along with him to practically every tune! He ended with Lose Yourself which was epic and I never wanted it to end. In total, travelling to Staffordshire, accomodation, food etc going to see him probably cost me about £500 when all added up but I would do it all over again as he was amazing and still is my favourite artist of all time!
---- The rest of this list is in no particular order, just my other 9 favourite gigs I have been to! ----
2. P!nk
I remember seeing Pink when I was about 18 and was such a die hard fan I even dyed my hair pink just for the event! I saw her at Brixton academy in London with my best friend at the time and paid probably £30 or so to see her. She was also amazing, and so HOT! I never realised how beautiful she was until I saw her live. She has a really amazing voice and her songs like Family Portrait and Like a pill were so moving. She also did great up tempo with her tracks like Get the party started which had the whole arena completely buzzing. It was so long ago sadly I can't remember who her supporting acts were, but I know I would love to see her again!
3. Example
I saw Example at Brixton Academy in London last december and it was like an indoor festival! He does great dance tracks and me and my friend were literally jumping and fist pumping for an hour and a half trying not to spill my cider! He is still relatively new so didn't have too many songs I actually knew but when he ended with Changed the way you kissed me, me and my friend were sweating through our clothes as he knows how to put on a truly amazing set and keep the crowd engaged and excited! We weren't bothered to arrive early as we knew he wasn't on until 9.30 and the support act was some french dude we had never heard of lol!
4. The Wanted
I saw The Wanted at V Festival last year and have to say these 4 guys amazed me! I know all their songs from listening to the radio, but hearing them live they were amazing and were the second best act at V Festival! Was a bit disappointed their set was only 30 minutes but in that time they did all their popular songs like Heart Vacancy, All Time Low and Glad You Came (my favourite!) and they definitely left the crowd wanting more!
5. Rihanna
I saw Rihanna at V Festival last year and was so excited to see her, as she was headlining along with Eminem. One thing I will say is that Rihanna does a very sexy and provocative stage show! She did all her songs from Umbrella to S&M and Unfaithful. I honestly didn't realise how many good songs she has until she was on stage for an hour! She has a lot of vibrant and saucy dance routines and is quite eccentric on stage but I was impressed at her vocals (as I'd heard before she was terrible live) and she did a great performance.
6. Gnarls Barkley
I saw this group when I was 18 at Brixton Academy in London and I absolutely LOVED the whole show! I think tickets were dirt cheap, probably £20 or so. They only ever had one album, their most famous song being Crazy. The singer Cee Lo green (of Forget You) was the lead singer in this group and they were amazing at putting on a creepy and spooky stage show with songs like The Boogie Monster and Smily Faces. They were great musicians and I appreciated the art behind the music although I am sure some listening to their albums now may find them a bit weird! This is the only concert my friend and I were able to be right at the front at the railings so I swooned when he touched my hand!
7. Drake
I saw Drake earlier this year at London's 02 arena with my sister and we each paid £45 to see him. It was his first solo arena tour bless him and he was pretty good! He did quite a few songs from his first album like Best Thing I Ever Had and Up All Night and a lot of his current album like The Motto and Headlines. He was actually quite funny in between songs, engaging with the audience and being very charismatic! He also proved he can sing and rap as he sung a lot of slow melodies, of course to make all the ladies swoon! His support act was Labrinth who to be quite honest I was quite disappointed with as his set didn't seem in tune and I could barely hear him it all sounded like noise! However, when it came to Drake he was top form.
8. Miguel
Miguel is originally from Mexico but is an american latin, r &b singer. I saw him last november at HMV apollo and paid about £20 for a ticket. He had about a dozen support acts (I've no idea why! They all seemed to be X factor or BGT rejects from previous years if I am quite honest!) who were quite boring and the music they played between the acts was much more entertaining. However when Miguel came on stage he brought life to the venue and was extreeeeemely seductive and explicit, in fact much more than I expected! His most popular song is All I Want Is You which is a lovely soulful track I could listen to on repeat all day, and I was happy he performed it twice, once in the middle of the concert, and again at the closing of the show which all us ladies were happy to sing a long with him to!
9. Glee
I'll be quite honest, this gig was not my idea, but my friend's and when she asked me to come with her I said yes although I do not really watch the show! We each paid £60 for tickets at the 02 Arena in London and had quite decent seats on the floor near the rear stage. They did all their popular songs from the shows and were all in character as if it was an episode! The set was about an hour and a half and they sang as a collective, and did songs as solo's also to show off their individual singing and dancing skills. I was a bit hurt at the hole in my purse for a show I didn't really want to see, but I actually quite enjoyed it and was glad I went.
10. Alicia Keys
I saw Alicia Keys about 4 years ago at the 02 arena in London and she was really good! She does a lot of slow, ballad songs at her piano so it really isn't for anyone wanting a very fast paced show with lots of dance routines although she did get up and do a few of her faster tracks but I definitely think this was more of a lovey dovey couple gig, as me and my 2 girl friends didn't know what to do when she sang such love songs like No-one!
I have seen a few other R & B artists like Keri Hilson and Destiny's Child and also some rock/Indie shows like Wednesday 13 and All Time Low who sadly didn't make the list! I like a wide range of music and I have got more tickets for upcoming gigs to Maverick Sabre and B.O.B I can't wait to go to, and so I am sure in the near future this list will change but Eminem will still be number 1!
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Top Ten TV Programmes... Ever!
by greenpomme
In no particular order:
1. Friends - Whenever I need cheering up this is sure to do it. Despite knowing all the lines and having watched each episode dozens of times over the years, I'm still not fed up. For me, nothing has come close since it ended.
2. The Inbetweeners - A wealth of one liners and sayings that my ... friends and I use are all thanks to the Inbetweeners. Funny and also a bit gross at at times, these four 'frwends' never failed to make me laugh.
3. Brothers and sisters - Full of drama and with a great cast, always left me wanting more.
4. The Big C - An unlikely subject (cancer) at the centre of a comedy series, but it surprisingly really works. Just the right mix of funny and sad. The characters in this are superb.
5. University Challenge - My guilty pleasure, but since I did my OU courses I realised I could actually answer some of the questions!
6. The Simpsons - I rarely watch this nowadays but as a child I was absolutely obsessed with the Simpsons, and it was still a relatively new programme. When I watch it now I realise there are jokes, etc that I never noticed or understood.
7. Will and Grace - I'm sad that they either don't put this on tv much anymore, or else maybe I just don't have the right channels. Either way I miss this, as a teenager I used to watch it every morning when I was supposed to be getting ready for school.
8. The Big Bang Theory - Can you tell that I like my American sitcoms? This is always on E4 and a couple months ago I just finished watching them all from the Pilot.
9. Eastenders - although I hat to admit it, I always keep up with what is happening on here. If there's something big going on then I make extra effort to make sure I watch it.
10. Revenge - so far I've only seen halfway through the first season as it's a new show on e4. I'm finding it really gripping. Full of twists, turns and revelations.
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