Remembering my 2011
So here it is, January 1st 2012, Happy New Year!
I've personally had one of the most interesting years of my life which has seen me complete college with 3 A-Levels, get a place at university, get my first serious boyfriend and finally see my beloved Killers! This post is intended for me to reflect on my year, so here are my highlights! (Widely gig related) Go on, have a nosey!
JANUARY
The romance between me and Cathy truly did blossom early this year. We knew eachother a little while before but thanks to our 2nd college year timetables being exactly the same, the high concentration of free time spent together meant that our friendship rocketed. Until this year we didn't know how very similar we were and I feel so very lucky to have made, what I know, will be my best friend for life. Until meeting Cathy I always felt a little detached, friendship-wise, as all my friends are generally male. Cathy has been my missing piece and I have definitely gained confidence and an affirmation of my personality since having the privelege of meeting her. She knows how much I love her and I can't wait to be Jagger dancing and singing to Wham! with her again very soon.
FEBRUARY
This was a gig that I booked about 10 months in advance as a birthday present for my tall, tall friend, Sam. (The best gifts are the ones you can also enjoy!) By the time February finally came around then, I was rather excited. Russell Howard is my favourite comedian and I've always wanted to see him live so I can tick that one off my list. Not that I wouldn't love someone to take me to see him again
hint hint..
Pegasus Bridge, a fairly unknown band from Manchester, fast became one of my favourite bands this year, although sadly they broke up at the end of 2011. This gig was brilliant however, at Roadhouse, Manchester. I was lucky enough to see them a total of 5 times I think it was, but this was by far my favourite gig of theirs. Myself and Helen got to meet 3/4's of the band; Tom, Ed & Alex.
Quietly, one of my favourite bands, I never thought I'd actually see Maroon 5 live. Surprisingly "rock", it was a fantastic gig and Adam Levine is gorgeous close-up! 2nd row at Manchester Apollo, it was so much better than I could have imagined.
MARCH
(I know, I know! Indulge me for just a second!)
May I first say there's a lot of judgement for seeing Westlife, being the epitome of the "boyband" genre, but they are without a doubt, my ultimate guilty pleasure! I've loved them ever since my dad took me to see them for my 9th birthday as a surprise and they were my first ever concert. So I was extremely pleased to be granted a free ticket (courtesy of my big sister, Kirsty) to see them again this year, 5th row at Sheffield Arena. It was a brilliant live experience as Nicky, Shane and Kian all made some sort of contact with me throughout the show-- honest! It was a great night, full of huge ballads that me and Kirsty had no shame in singing our hearts out to!
APRIL
Truly one of the most bizarre live music experiences of my life! Matt Berry live at The Cockpit, Leeds. Myself, Jonny, Cathy & Henry made the spontaneous trip to see the I.T. Crowd star. He was absolutely off his face! It was great!
It was in April of 2011 that a dream came true and I finally got hold of my own Killers tickets. On that wonderful morning I experienced a whole host of emotions. When I recieved my confirmation I went simply, nuts. And so began the countdown to what I expected would be my end!
MAY
May was, in general, a very busy month. It was the month I turned 18, which consequently meant I became of legal drinking age in the UK, cosmic! It was also the month of my A-level art exams, Panic! At The Disco, my birthday party and Dot to Dot Festival.
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| (Cathy's picture) |
The day after my birthday, I finally got to see P!aTD, another of my favourite bands. It was at Manchester Academy 3, and sooooold out. I've never been in a sweatier gig! Myself and Cathy got separated from Helen and Robyn, we ended up in the middle about 4 rows from the front. During the show, Robyn left, feeling sick (it was her first ever gig) which was a shame as she missed them covering John Mayer! It was so surreal as none of the crowd were really the John Mayer type, except me!! I loved it. They also covered Panic, by The Smiths, one of my favourites! Fantastic gig.
Cathy and myself had become ever so slightly obsessed with 80's music prior to this event and we jointly decided that an 80's party would be the perfect excuse for us to become Wham!. As the birthday girl, I would obviously take the role of George Michael, whilst Cathy was happy to take a back seat as Andrew Ridgely. The night was a good'un despite some no-shows from a few close friends and I think a good time was had by all. The hangover that followed lasted for 3 days and it was awful! The end of my party was spent passed out in the toilet due to too much tequila and jaeger and my lovely dad came to collect me and my entourage of Cathy, Ann and Emily. A high point was draping out of the window like a dog, in and out of consciousness, for the journey home! Classy. But hey, I won't forget my 18th in a hurry!
- Dot to Dot
(Cathy's pictures)
Me, Cathy, Henry and George managed to get hold of Manchester tickets to the mini day-festival that is dot to dot. Bare in mind I was still very fragile after my party and my enthusiasm was non-existant. I agreed to go with Cathy because her precious Hurts were playing there. If I remember rightly, this was the first time I saw Hurts live, and wow, they blew me away. They were so dramatic and powerful, arghhh I loved it. We also saw Darwin Deez amongst a few other small bands, in the run up to Hurts' headlining slot. Darwin Deez were a band I hadn't heard of before, but a few of their songs were familiar. Their on-stage presence as a band though, was fantastic, i've never witnessed anything so surreal! They would have breaks between songs in which the whole band would group and perform a choreographed dance together! So strange! Needless to say, that day I became a fan! Myself and Cathy took it upon ourselves to loiter around and try and meet Hurts, with little success. We met Richard, however, the band's resident opera singer, who declared he loved us in an italian accent when we shouted the same thing to him as he left the venue. Twas bizarre!
JUNE
Futures are a fairly below the radar band whom I first saw supporting Cobra Starship in 2010. I've been to see them a few times and it was through them that I found Pegasus Bridge. On this occasion we got to meet Alex and Tom from PB again which was great as they're always so nice. Futures were fantastic too, I think it was their largest headline show at the time, sold out at Manchester Academy. It was a great atmosphere and a really good day spent in Manchester with Helen and Cathy too.
It was in June that my dad went away for a week and so my lovely Cathy, practically moved in. It was a week of lie ins, unhealthy food and also the blossoming of my friendship with, my now boyfriend, Mark. I had liked Mark for a little while by this time and he finally became single and ready for the taking! He invited me round to watch a scary film and we had a great night, we stayed up all night and he drove me home at sunrise. It was around this time that we started seeing a lot more of eachother and it all bloomed from there really.
The day FINALLY came. I can only describe it as the single greatest day/ experience of my life so far. Thinking about it today still makes me giddy and tears well in my eyes. I feel genuinely priveleged to have experienced such an amazing live event and it's a day that I'll never forget. I look forward to the next time I see them (hopefully)
hint hint.
JULY
Myself and Cathy went jetsetting (on a train) to London for a few days in celebration of her birthday and also to see her beloved boys, Hurts, again. We had chance to sight see a bit on this trip, unlike the last time we were there, aching like mad the day after The Killers! We were very touristy and spent about 2 hours in Harrods, perusing the expensive goods and the puppies. Hurts were phenomenal and I couldn't think of a more appropriate location for them than Somerset House. Of course, being mature and sensible, Cathy and I ate particularly well on this trip. Our diet consisted of Krispy Kreme, breakfast pancakes, sweets, Chinatown buffet and Lilt. Bloody Mavericks. It was a classic trip with the lady I love the most like toast.
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
It was pretty sad that the band came to end on such rubbish terms. I don't know the whole story and it's not my place to comment but it was disappointing that one of my top rated bands had to split! The farewell show was great even though we didn't really attempt to meet them after and the whole night was filmed so I'll be able to re-live it with the live dvd!
After receiving my A-Level results during the summer, the time finally came for me to get a move on to Nottingham Trent and take my place on my course; Design for Film & Television. I soon discovered that uni life isn't all it's cracked out to be and had a great realisation that I'm incredibly proud to be Northern!
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
- The Family Christmas Party
The official family introduction to my lovely boyfriend, Mark. He was a little nervous to meet a total of 16 members of my family but it all went very well indeed. My sister, Ruth, declared this to be the first occasion when she's felt threatened by how I look, as she is the family poser. This pleased me.
It's been full of ups and downs but in terms of doing things I've always wanted to, it's been the best year of my life so far. This is widely due to my life's wish being to see The Killers! Anyhow, I look forward to this next year and know that it will be full of challenges.
Happy 2012.
