i always seem to play these games with you my dear

last night, i went to go and see the kooks at the o2 academy! without being overly dramatic, it was pretty much the best night of my life! literally been waiting to see them since i was about fourteen years old and utterly (scarily) obsessed with the band.

(long term followers of my little blog may be aware that i have in fact seen the kooks before, but let's just say that did not end well and i actually cannot remember any of the concert. fun times hanging out in the medical room, oh yes)

this was such an amazing show, it hugely exceeded my expectations. they played so many obscure, lesser played songs from their first album which was so, so good! when they played matchbox, i pretty much lost all composure and started screaming like a bloody lunatic.

luke played a few songs acoustically (seaside, oh my fucking god) & was then joined by hugh to play tick of time. ohhhh my god. love all their ska-esque songs. sorry if this is all exclamations and incoherent babble, but everything about this concert was properly, properly brilliant.

also, luke is beautiful. and has so much energy on stage! i quite quickly regressed to my 14 year old, fangirly, writing-mrs-luke-pritchard-on-everything-i-own state.

the photos aren't great because i only took my little camera, and we were fairly far back - partly because i didn't want a repeat of last time and partly because there were huge amounts of people there! seriously, we queued right around the corner to get in, the show must have been completely sold out.

the encore set was incredible too, the piano led version of saboteur was really overwhelming to hear (especially as i've had a bad quality recording of the song on my ipod since 2008).

sorry about this messy overview of the concert, but i feel like if i describe it too intently the experience will somehow lose its magic for me. i'll just say this was easily one of the best gigs i've ever been to and leave it at that.

*

PS. booked a hair appointment for saturday! proper excited, and very tempted to go for a crop. we'll see!

making banana pancakes, pretend like it's the weekend

this wednesday, my father, brother & i caught the train to london to go see jack johnson at the o2. it really was one of the best concerts i've ever been to, the atmosphere was brilliant & he is just amazing live.

one of my favourite moments was when he forgot the verse to one of his songs, & did the intro to foxy lady by jimi hendrix! i actually squealed at this point, & my brother looked at me in bewilderment.

most of my photos turned out pretty badly, as the night setting on my camera couldn't handle the gig lighting. i do like this one though (:

the screen behind him was really cool, it kept collaging pictures from the crowd & from different angles on the stage. when he played songs from different albums, the background of the screen changed to suit the colours of the album cover - like when he played songs from inbetween dreams the background was yellow with shadows of trees. i thought that was a really cute idea.

he was really lovely to his band as well, they played a song written by the keyboardist, and another surprise was when they were doing a little jam after one of the songs & the guitarist (the guy on the left) burst into a rap!

there was also the cutest little bit when he dedicated songs to his wife, his mother & father and his baby daughter (9 months old, awww!), so unbelievably sweet!

"i wrote this song for my brand new daughter. she just learned to make fart noises with her mouth, now she's got two older brothers who are encouraging her to make those noises. by the way, she's only nine months old, so those noises are still pretty amazing."

but if you were thinking that's the last of the surprises, you would be mistaken my friend! at the start of the acoustic encore, he said;

"i'd like to bring a friend of mine out here, i didn't even know here was here tonight, here he is."

then out comes ben stiller! air guitaring away while jaws were dropping.

(that is supposed to be a photograph of ben stiller, but it is ludicrously blurry. sorry)

of course, i bought a tshirt.

it's quite cute, it features little drawings of all the instruments used in his show - including an accordion, a ukelele (one of which i am desperate to own) & that weird keyboard-flute-organ thing.

i love the white, turquoise & orange colours.

inside the neck of the shirt, there's a little note saying that this tshirt is made from organice cotton & printed with water-based inks courtesy of jack johnson's all at once eco-friendly organisation. it also says that all of the profits from this tour are going towards this charity. seriously, could this guy be any more lovely?

i think it goes pretty well with my sequinned jacket (and possibly my white ruffle skirt, but that was in the wash), & let's face it i need to start wearing this beauty more.

the only thing wrong with this shirt is that it's a tad, er, low cut for me. and i'm not really one for gratuitous cleavage shots, thank you very much =S

it really was such a good show, i even saw my father tapping along to it! (which would be a pretty big deal if you knew my father) i love jack johnson's music so much, the lyrics to his songs kind of represent everything i want in life, if that isn't too corny a thing to say.

i wrote an epic letter to you

it's twenty two pages front and back, but it's too good to be used,

and i tried to be a girl who likes to be used, i'm too good for that,

there's a mind under this hat.

my friend jess & i went to see laura marling yesterday which was possibly one of the best concerts i have everrrrr been to! the theatre was a really old, really beautiful place so unfortunatley i wasn't allowed to take any photos, because a man shined a torch & shouted at me.

she was supported by an australian band called boy and bear who were a lovely folk group, reminscent of mumford & sons crossed with a bit of nick drake & bob dylan. so yeah, awesome. then there was another girl called alessi's ark which was a good act, but a little twee i think.

laura marling herself was lovely, she had two "act" type of things, first a country-folk set with her more lively numbers, and then an acoustic set which was just beautiful. she was really funny & lovely as well, i love it when artists actually connect with the audience, because really they owe most of their success to us, to be frank.

i thought some of the music was really inventive & original, she played quite a few new songs (for another new album out later this year, eeep!) & her backing band - who seemed to be made up of lots of other different bands, probably given to her "troubles with the fiddle player" who i presume is her ex charlie fink of noah & the whale - seemed to be made up of all the other acts that night. there were double basses, bass guitars played as cellos, maracas & banjos everrrrywhere!

oh, i bought a tshirt as well which hopefully i will post about at the weeeeeekend.

reach out, i'll be there.

OH MY GOD, it feels like it's been FOREVER since my last post.

i do sincerely apologise, i have just had so much work to do over the past week; i had a mock spanish oral on monday (which sucked), a mock psychology exam yesterday (which went alright i think) & a mock english poetry exam today (which went better than expected)! so pleased that's over & i can get on to doing things that i actually like; like prep for my art exam & my friend's birthday party on friday/saturday (happy birthday kate!)

i was also busy on tuesday night, as i was at a motown concert - which was a-ma-zing!

there were 4 groups playing; the three degrees were first. this was an all female band who i'd actually never heard of before but were actually very good! i didn't get any pictures of them though sadly.

the next group was the drifters (yes, i know the photo is a bit sucky), who were really really good! i'd only heard under the boardwalk by them before, but i loved the set they played. also, you actually can't beat a good turn, clap, kick dance routine or two!

it completely slipped my mind to take any outfit pictures so i'm afraid you'll have to make do with my accidental shot of my foot during the interval.

the next band were the four tops, yay! there was only one original member left (the guy on the far right) but they were really quite brilliant. if you haven't heard of these guys, i suggest you check them out as they do some wonderful soul songs. also - they wore the cutest sparkly suits!

the headline act; the temptations!

aaaaaahhhh i love these guys; and their incredibly awesome purple suits! they even had purple shoes on.

(i actually hadn't realised until now, the guy's head in front of me is lit up rather nicely!)

they were just amazing, it really was a fantastic night.

i hope i will be back with a few more posts soon, but times are so unpredictable at the moment that i just can't be sure.