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Snow Patrol Live
by TravellerJen
Snow Patrol is a band that I like very much. Yes some of their songs are abit sad but they mean alot to me and I think they are beautifully made.
I went to see them in the Liverpool Echo Arena in March with my friends. Their supporting act was White Lies, who are quite popular now I believe. Snow Patrol played a number ... of very recognisable songs such as:
Run, Chocolate, Final Straw, Spitting Games, Hands Open, Open Your Eyes, You´re All I Have, Chasing Cars.
With each song, Gary Lightbody the lead singer involved the audience into the songs by asking for claps, arm waves and singing. There was an interval, by which at the end of it Gary came out from behind the audience and into the standing audience / crowd. Whats more is that he went into one part of the seating area and sang the song ´Run`to a girl in the audience. Her name was Claire. I was very jealous to say the least. Our seats were miles away actually, but it was still a fabulous performance.
I found Snow Patrol Live to be a very entertaining gig, as there were a number of elements that seemed to just be right. The timing and song set was good. There was a nice selection of fast and slow songs in the right places. I imagine that if it was all slow songs for a while, people would start to fall asleep or start crying or something. As the set was nice and mixed, the audience stayed alert and interested in the concert. Gary´s voice was absolutely perfect and he sounds really good live! In some concert´s I have been to, the voices are shakey and their performance is therefore not so good and actually can be quite poor, but in this case, I was pretty happy. In fact, as the concert went on I was kinda falling in lust more and more!
The lighting of the concert was great, especially because we were so far away. There were nice flashes of greens, red, whites and blues. I loved the way that Gary would introduce each song and by asking the audience to do something or ask how they were. I really felt that Snow Patrol cared how we were!
He did that thing where you ask one side of the room (or hall) to sing one part of the song and another side to sing another part. One thing I did find quite scary was when he was singing some of his songs, his eyes would roll right to the back of his head and wyou wouldnt be able to see his pupils! This was shown on the big screen aswell, so you can imagine that there were some distgusted faces about!
Overall, it was an absolutely amazing concert, even though we were miles away from the stage. The atmosphere was brilliant and the other Snow Patrol fans are ones that i wouldnt mind hanging around with!
Great Band, Great Music!
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Evening News Arena
by heynonnynonny
I went to see Paramore here last month, my first visit to the MEN arena.
Location -
I drove the 40 miles up the A34 and beyond to reach here. It was not too bad at all, using the sat nav I reached the general area and there were many many unofficial car parks as was the one I went too. I was nervous and edgy by ... this point because I had never been to this side of the city before so chose to pop into one where a man in a yellow vest was directing people to and it cost me £10, and was told it was 10 minutes walk away whereas it was twice that and me and my friend had to walk back at 11pm in the dark, naughty people.
I recommend allowing the sat nav to take you as close as possible to the arena, as there are so many car parks near to it, often 'unofficial', I saw some from about 4 or 5 pounds.
I do not know what the car park officially for it is, although it is next door to Victoria train station and the Arndale centre so any city centre car park will suffice.
I'd have got the train but the last one is far too early and plus we'd need to travel to Piccadilly first to get on the west coast mainline.
Upon arrival at the arena, there were a large flight of stairs that took you through a row of turnstiles upon which you entered the building.
Bag searches are conducted so no bottles of water etc.
The red doors are clearly labelled accordng to row and seat number, and there are actually several entrances and exits to the arena so remember which one you came in. It goes around in a big circle and at random intervals are toilets, small bars which sell over priced drinks and a selection of crisps.
We were extremely disappointed to find out that we could not locate a cafe etc and could only buy crisps or £4 hot dogs :/, there were popcorn stalls, candy floss stalls, then we saw several indian food stalls which had like 2 choices so we had a chicken tikka wrap for £4 which was lovely, I just wanted to sit down though in a cafe :(
Not to worry. We entered our entrance and found our row, it took a very long time to get into our seat. The seat was very comfortable but as usual if anyone wants to get past in your row there is no room and you have to stand up to make way for folks.
The place was massive, it was clear many thousands of people could be sat here, for this concert there was also a large standing area at the base of the arena, 2 seating tiers and some luxury boxes.
The arena was not as cold as I was expecting being indoors it was fine without a coat for the most part in December.
Getting out of the venue took ages naturally, although ushers were guiding people the best route that they can, it took about half an hour to get out. There was a huge sea oif people going in every direction possible so brace yourself!!
SUMMARY =
This is a great place to combine with Manchester shopping being in the city centre, if you are visiting get something to eat before you go in as the selection is ridiculously small for an arena and of course stupidly expensive, and research your route and car park well.
It loses a star for the food and drink selection and prices.
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Take That ... The Circus Live Tour
by wela
As a huge Take That fan, when they announced a Stadium tour I HAD to get tickets. Between myself and my friend continually on the telephone and internet, we managed to secure 2 tickets for Hampden Park in Glasgow on Satuday 20th June 2009. The Support acts were Gary Go - He was OK and did well to get the crowd going. Next up was James ... Morrison - A big star in his own right and he did an amazing set. Before each of the support acts came on they were introduced by the Ringmaster.
With great anticipation we waited for Take That to apear on stage. Alot of clowns with balloons appeared and began to walk down the the walk way connecting the main stage to a smaller "B" stage. All of a sudden all the clowns with their balloonsconverged on the centre of the "B" stage and as they let go - There were Take That looking and sounding amazing.
The whole concert was amazing from the costume changes to the set - it really was a circus, including clowns, acrobats and even animals!! My favourite parts were The Elephant- A BIG blue elephant on hydrolics and with the "cast" controlling its ears, head and a cast member as its tail, it ws just a sight to behold. The 2 acrobats on the trapeezes were also amazing and at one point I was unable to take my eyes of them as they were swinging and alling backwards holding on with just their legs then flipping themselves back to the sitting position without using their hands/arms. My favourite song, was the Take That and Party album medley, It had everything from The Golden Oldies of Take That songs - "Do What You Like", "Promises", "It Only Takes A Minute" and "Take That and Party" I was in heaven with that!! Plus the comedy element with each of the guys riding a tricycle to the "B" Stage, except fro Gary who had a little 3 wheeled bike!
Overall the best gig I have ever been too and I do not know how on earth the boys are going to be able to top this tour in the future!
If you didn't get to see it live I would definately reccommend the DVD!
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