More Tickets.....

I managed to get tickets to two more gigs today and I'm pretty chuffed about it too.

First up, we have Noel and Gem from Oasis doing an acoustic gig in December.

And then in January we are going to see Kasabian. Unfortunately this gig clashes with The Killers but H and I are going to go and see Kasabian. They are the one band I have wanted to see for ages. What would you do?

Also, the big news this week is that the V-Festival is coming to Australia in March. Headline acts include the Pixies, Groove Armada and, erm, The Pet Shop Boys. The Chili Peppers are also rumoured to be putting in an appearance but it's early days so far as the line-up is concerned. The festival hasn't even got it's own Australian website yet.

I do seem to be spending a small fortune on gig tickets at the moment but they are all too good to miss. Living in a city like Sydney means we have more opportunities to see the touring bands (almost all of whom appear to be avoiding the English winter in favour of a hot summer Down Under) although you do still have to be quick off the mark when the tickets go on sale.

Pearl Jam

I used to be quite a Pearl Jam fan. H was a huge fan. When she found out that they were playing here I wasn’t really that fussed about seeing them. H really wanted too. However, no-one else was up for seeing them so I decided I’d go along with her. We bought tickets a few weeks ago and because we’d left it quite late (it was their third and final night in Sydney) the only seats we could get had a “side view”.





























No sooner had I bought the tickets then I really began to look forward to the gig. Afterall, they have created some wicked tunes. The Kings of Leon were supporting and from what I ‘ve heard, they too are pretty decent.

(Unfortunately) last Saturday was a ripper of a day. Beautiful clear skies, warm water, surfing, snorkelling, tasty breakfast, haircut, beer and beach cricket with friends meant that we didn’t leave Manly till quite late. Needless to say we arrived ten minutes into the Pearl Jam set and missed all of The Kings of Leon. The Acer Arena is part of the Olympic site but Sydney Public Transport only pulls out all the stops when there is an event going on at the Olympic Stadium, not when thousands of people are all headed to the building next door.

The Acer Arena is an excellent indoor venue that holds about 18k people (all seated, but generally standing). The sound is incredible and we had great seats at the front of the upper tier with no-one standing in front of us. Row A! Although side-on we had a great view of the band and the thousands of people filling the venue.





























Although we missed the first two tracks (one of which was Better Man grrrrr!) we were there to see them play some enormous tunes, like 'Even Flow', 'Alive', 'Daughter', 'Rockin’ In The Free World' and 'Jeremy' (which I was dead chuffed to see played live). It was like going back in time. Eddie Vedder belted the tunes out with all those mannerisms he had way back in the day. There were long, self-indulgent guitar and drum solo’s and band members jumping around all over the place. It was great.















The crowd (late twenties, early thirties) were well up for it and the band played for over two hours. They really seemed to be enjoying themselves which is always good to see, especially as we’d shelled out the best part of $100 for the pleasure (maybe that was why they were so into it!).

And they made this kids day.....















So in the space of 8 days H and I have seen U2 and Pearl Jam. That isn’t bad going at all.

Next up, it’s Robbie Williams!

And this week I got tickets to see this band in February.

Result!

Sun, Sand, Sea and Sculptures

So, the weekend was another winner. After a couple of days of rubbish weather last week the sun finally came out on Friday and it seemed as if the whole of Sydney was buzzing when the school bell signalled the end of the working week and people made their ways to the bars. I headed to a bar called Bungalow 8, which is on King Street Wharf in Darling Harbour. I’d made plans to meet a few people there and a great night was had by all. James had some friends over to visit and Katie had her ING leaving party. A few of us ate at a Japanese restaurant as well which was a first for me. I’m not sure if I like Sake though!

Saturday was an absolute belter. I went for a pretty decent surf in the morning before heading out for breakfast with H and Claire at the Bavarian Bier Café. There was an International Beach Volleyball tournament being held on Manly beach so we had a quick look at that on the way there.





























Saturday was a big day as I also got my haircut. It’s been 9 months since I last cut it so it was in urgent need of attention, as you can see.















I’d got quite used to having it long but I was under considerable peer pressure to “sort it out Jonny”. I’d made an appointment for 1pm at a proper hair salon. It was the first time in my life I had ever been anywhere decent. I was given complimentary beer and a head and back massage (whilst someone was washing my hair). I was a bit miffed when my “stylist” said that long hair suited me, especially as the whole point of me going there was to get my hair cut. It wasn’t what I wanted to hear, especially as I had no idea what to do with it and was expecting her to cut lots off (I was tempted to buzz it all off but once I do that I doubt I'll ever grow it again). Anyway, she was the expert and after a brief chat about textures and layering to which I just nodded in agreement, she began. 45 minutes and $111 lighter I left the salon a relieved man. She didn’t take much off but she definitely sorted it out for me and it feels so much better.

The afternoon was spent at Shelly Beach, swimming, snorkelling, playing beach cricket and watching a random wedding.















On Saturday night H and I made the mission to Homebush to see Pearl Jam at the Acer Arena (blog to follow).

Sunday was a Bondi Day. We’d made plans to head over to Will and James’s, hook up with a few people, do the Tamarama to Bondi walk and have a BBQ. It was the final day of the Sculpture By The Sea exhibition and a few of us were keen to check it out. So we headed off from Manly late morning with a few of the North Shore gang. A ferry and bus ride later and we were in Bondi. We set off from Wills mid-afternoon and made our way to Tamarama.







































































It was a scorcher. The coastal walk back to Bondi is a beauty and there were sculptures all the way along. The path was rammed with people like ourselves who had left it to the last minute to see the artwork.
















































My favourite sculptures were the melted ice cream van and the unusable toilet. There were hundreds of people milling around it when I got this shot away. Luckily it looks like it there was no-one else around.






























































After the walk we all headed back to Will's for a BBQ. There was a lot of meat.....















It turned into quite a party with the Bondi crew meeting and mingling with the North Shore gang. It was a big session, especially for a Sunday, and everyone was on top form.








































































































We crammed so much into the weekend and, like all the others here, it was bloody brilliant. We are less than two weeks away from Summer and everyone is really up for it. Lot’s of people have got friends over to visit, including us, and it’s going to be a very, very busy time.

Book Thirteen

So here it is, drum roll please.........Book Thirteen.




















As Ini Kamoze once said “Cha, Cha, Ching, Ching!”.

What a mission that was I can tell you. It took me the best part of 3 weeks to finish and it was probably the biggest test to date. I’m pretty proud of myself for getting through this one. H had tried to get me to read another one of Orwell’s books whilst we were in South America. I think it was called “Down and Out in Paris and London”. I scoffed at the idea. After all I wasn’t into books way back then. She subsequently gave it away. Now I kind of wish it was around as I wouldn’t mind giving it a crack.

H had recently bought 1984 and after she’d finished with it it I thought I'd give it a go. It’s got one of those annoying Introductions at the beginning, which is written by someone else, which would be better placed at the end of the book. I thought something wasn’t quite right when I realised I was being told the plot before I’d even started the book proper. Why to they do that?

I have to admit that I did find it this book quite hard work but once I’d got through the first third of it I really began to enjoy it. It got quite heavy again a bit later on but I battled though it and came out the other side as the main character is captured and tortured by the Thought Police. It’s a pretty depressing story but Davina McCall and that comedy guy with Tourette’s aside (and no, I am not being nasty), I’m obviously glad Orwell’s vision of life as we know it hasn’t quite materialised. I’m a bit crap when it comes to trying to analyse the story. I just like to read books as they are and enjoy the stories. I do the same with movies. Once they are over I move on without really giving them much thought. Maybe I’m being naive. Maybe it just brings back bad memories of doing book reviews at school. I did read the Introduction after I had read the story though, and although I thought I would find it intensely annoying, I actually found the in-depth analysis quite interesting.

Also, in the same way that Book Nine made me realise how the Boo Radley’s got their name, I now know where the TV programmes “Room 101” and “Big Brother” got their names from.

Books are, indeed, great.

U2

On Saturday night H and I went to Telstra Stadium to see U2. I'd always wanted to see them but have never before had the opportunity to do so so when their rescheduled Vertigo world tour tickets went on sale I was very keen to snap a couple up. Mikey is testament to this fact. He was here with me when I made the purchase. They were due to play here last April. The gigs got postponed, we arrived in May and the re-sell tickets went on sale in July. They played their UK leg of the tour in June 2005 but H and I were over here validating our visas.

I was obviously very excited in the lead up to the gig. I've been to see Oasis at Knebworth back in the day but this was my first stadium gig. We took our seats a little while before Kanye West took to the stage. When the tickets went on sale all the only two seats I could get next to each other were up with the Gods in the side of the stadium. There were no standing tickets available at all. I looked down with envy at a couple of our mates (who weren't even U2 fans before the gig started) who had managed to get to the front of the standing area, but I had to remind myself just how lucky I was to be there, so I sat back determined to enjoy the spectacle.

Kanye took to the stage just after 7pm.















This guy was more interested in reading his book.















Kanye was only on for the best part of 40 minutes. I do like quite few of his tracks but the crowd weren't really up for it, except for those who were at the front (grrrrr!). The stadium was pretty empty when he started anyway.

Mikey had been texting me in the build up to the gig, reminding me not to expect too much because they were all old men now. Afterall they have been together for 30 years. But as soon as Bono started singing I knew we were going to be in for a treat.

U2 took to the stage just after 8.30 (shortly after a Mexican wave went round the whole stadium) and they played for about two and quarter hours. Their first track was the 'City of Blinding Lights'. I’d heard that this was going to be their first track, and with their huge back catalogue, I was a little surprised that they'd chosen it. However, it's a beauty and the crowd went nuts. I captured it all on camera. Unfortunately I overshot the limit allowed for You Tube videos by 2 megabytes. There's plenty of videos of the moment on You Tube though.

The concert got off to a ripper of a start with 'Vertigo' and 'Elevation' following on from the opening song. 'Beautiful Day' followed shortly afterwards.





























They played a massive selection of classics, including 'Where The Streets Have No Name', 'One', 'New Year's Day', 'Zoo Station', 'Desire', 'I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For', 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' and 'With Or Without You' (queue all the couples on the crowd for who this is “their song” to cling onto each other, all of them no doubt thinking Bono is singing it to them, pah!). The full set-list is here.





























For me Bono’s best performance of the night was when he sung 'Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own', the song he wrote about his late father. He didn't hold back on the performance and it was damn impressive to see.

This one brought the proverbial house (or in this case, the Olympic stadium) down.















Of course Bono did his bit for world politics. This bit was pretty cool. They put a text message onto the screen and them told everyone in the stadium to get their phone out and text it (the text message you got back asked you to sign up on this website). Seeing eighty thousand mobile phones in a stadium that big was very impressive.

The one song I had really hoped that they would play was 'The Fly' and thankfully they didn’t disappoint as this formed part of their fantastic Zooropa encore. It was their dirtiest, raw-est performance of the night. I love the guitar intro to it. The Edge is the only one in the band who doesn’t seem to have aged with time.















It was also refreshing to see that despite their elevated status as arguably the biggest band in the whole wide world, and the fact that they are all mutli-squillionaires, they seemed to play the gig like it was their last. They put everything into every song. There was no airs and graces. They just did their thing in a faultless fashion. The fact that most of the crowd had to wait 7 months to see them probably helped.

Last week we saw Bono being interviewed on the TV and he said that with every performance the band does he believes that the crowd, who are more used to seeing them all enjoying the fame and fortune that their career choice affords, just ask that “the band aren’t crap” when they watch them. Well they definitely weren’t. We both thought they were amazing and loved every minute of the show.

Even the guy who was reading was nodding his head.















Next up, it’s Pearl Jam.

Q&A

Q: What have the following.....

Kanye West
U2
Kings Of Leon
Pearl Jam
Robbie Williams
Muse
The Killers
Plump DJs
Mylo
Freestylers
Hybrid
The Beastie Boys
Jurassic 5
Nightmares on Wax
Timo Maas
Cassius

.....all got in common?

A: Me and H

Q: Why?

A: Because we are going to see them all in the next 2-3 months (well H isn’t going to see Robbie but I am) - and it starts with Kanye and U2 TONIGHT!

Gotta love Sydney in the Summer (even though it's still Spring).....

Tonight Matthew, I'm Going To Be.....

.....a Rugby League fan from St Helens and talk with a stupid accent for as long as I can (and I don't mean to offend anyone from St Helens with that comment. I am simply referring to the ridiculous impression I did at random times during the night in question).

On Saturday night H and I went to watch Australia play Great Britain at Rugby League. Unbelievable isn't it? I have never ever been interested in League, most probably because it's a game played in the north of England. I wouldn't even say I was a Rugby Union fan, although I always like to watch England play. But Rugby League is massive here and I thought it was about time I took a look and what better time than to get behind Great Britain as they took on Australia in their own back yard.

Saturday itself was another winner here. Ok, the weather was rather English but H, James and I were really excited about watching the match live. There had been quite a lot of hype about the fixture in the press.















We met in Darling Harbour for some pre-game drinks and food before heading to the match.















The match was played at Aussie Stadium and we arrived shortly before kick-off. Given the fact League is so big here, and Sydney has a few teams in the national league, it was a little surprising to see the stadium just over half full. It probably had something to do with the weather and the fact that the game was being screened live on TV. Anyway, there was a nice atmosphere in there and those fans who'd travelled 12k miles for the Tri-Nations series (and the cricket), as well as the Poms who live here, were well up for it.

I took this just before kick-off. I much prefer it to our national anthem.

Anyway, the match got off to a flyer. It kicked off a few minutes into the game when the outspoken Australian forward, Willie Mason, chinned the Great Britain prop, Stuart Fielden (check this as well). The spark was lit! The guys who play League are all massive and they seem to like nothing better than to smack head first into each other whilst running at speed. There were some massive hits out there.















After one of the biggest hits of the night which left one of the Great Britain team looking punch drunk, the Aussie crowd nearest to him became quite animated and vocal as they wound him up. Some of the Great Britain fans took exception to this and queue the first bit of crowd trouble I've seen since I've been here.















I never thought Great Britain had a chance of winning this game. Australia looked to be in excellent form having beaten New Zealand recently whilst Great Britain lost to the Kiwi's last weekend. The fact that the Kiwi's were stripped of their Tri-Nations points for fielding an ineligible player against Great Britain meant that the tourists had everything to play for on Saturday.

I luckily managed to capture this. Check out the guy giving it a different kind of fingers.

The Tri-Nations final is on November 25th and I think we will be going to the game, especially if Great Britain get through. If it's half as exciting as Saturday's game was then we'd get our money's worth. I'm almost tempted to go and watch my local team, the Manly Sea Eagles, when the NRL season kicks off.

We met up with some friends in Surry Hills after the game. There was a definite edge to the atmosphere whilst leaving the ground. The English cricket team arrived here on Sunday so some of the Poms were giving it the large one on the way out. Obviously the Aussies didn't take it too well.

Anyway, after some beer it was back to Neutral Bay for some early morning Premiership and a kebab round another mates house.















The working week got off to another good start as I secured tickets for another festival next year. Headliners include these guys, and these, as well as these. Should be great.

And I am sooooo excited about seeing the biggest band in the world at the Telstra Stadium on Saturday. Cameras are banned but I'm going to try and smuggle mine in there. I have never had the chance to see them live before but have always wanted too. When they were in the UK last year, as part of their Vertigo world tour, H and I were over here validating our visas. Thankfully their Australia dates had to be rescheduled and I was lucky enough to secure a couple of re-sale tickets. Bring it on! I cannot wait.

Nutkins

A couple of the Bondi lot recently gave me the nickname “Nutkins”. I’m not sure who first coined the phrase but it was first used around the time of the Hawkesbury trip. I think it may have been Will, but it seems to be sticking (although luckily the nickname hasn't made it's way to the North Shore gang yet). I’m sure you all know why I have that nickname. If not, then it’s something to do with having long(ish) hair and a growing forehead. But that’s where the comparison ends. All of my fingers and thumbs are currently intact (although I did chop the top of my thumb off once whilst cutting cucumber in a meat slicer in a hospital kitchen). Oh, I also like animals (except spiders) and I used to fancy Michaela Strachan (and still do if she looks like that these days).

So this is what I will look like in twenty years.