Old

Last night I realised just how old I have gotten.

I won tickets to the Barcardi Express gig at the Tivoli. Yes, I won gig tickets again, I'm jammie, I know. The line up sounded pretty good: La Roux, Art vs Science, The Cassette Kids, and Miami Horror.

What we didn't consider, is the sort of crowd that these bands would pull - annoying little 18 to 20 year olds. Guys with ugly bloody haircuts, and girls in super tight and super short prom dresses and heels. IT'S A GIG AT THE TIVOLI KIDS!

Unfortunately just as Miami Horror finished so did our champagne buzz, and with no chance of getting anywhere near the bar, things didn't look good. So rather than let the evening end in violence as I knocked some sense into the two bimbos in front of us that were pretending to be drunk, Nathan and I exited stage left.

The funniest part was on the way out, where a girl was demanding to speak to the manager because she didn't have her ticket and wasn't allowed in, and where a little gay boy leaned over saying "oooh, babe, you're coming out" and did the zip up on my dress!


"Sometimes, when all that's lost remains, drink from the fountain of youth and never age again"
Sometimes, Miami Horror

Music festivals are what you make them

Get Loaded was the worst music festival I have ever been to.

The sound was awful, the only way to know who was playing when was to buy the schedule for £5, the timetable didn't allow enough time for the acts (Peaches was on for 30 minutes), the line at the toilets resembled a scene from Mad Max, and the drink queues didn't abate at all throughout the day. The only thing you could do was to get drunk, sit in the dirt outside a tent, hope to hear a snippet of music, and wait for it all to be over.

In saying that, Amber and Angela and I still had a fun time.

While Angela danced Amber and I sat back and laughed at all the festival characters - the 45 year old men high on drugs, the mutton dressed as lamb in a dirty white sundress and broken arm who fell over beside us, the tramp who pushed in line at the bar claiming sorry sorry sorry sorry and who can expect a whole lotta bad karma coming her way soon, the Scotsman who declined my offer of a bite of my cheese and tomato roll but then tried to steal a kiss anyway, the carnies who spun our carriage on the Waltzer ride (perhaps because they heard us refer to them as carnies), and the girl who picked up the ugg boot that Amber found in the portaloo and threw it into the crowd upon my joking request. There was also some celebrity-lookalike spotting - Thom Yorke, Robert Pattinson, Fatty Vautin, and Benicio del Toro.

Our day ended at Revolution, with enough vodka shots and cocktails to make my mother cringe. Sorry mum.

A collection of thoughts

A Maclaren pram does not a good mother make.

Some people look weird when eating ice-cream.

You should never run in an office. Ever. It is undignified.

Just because you can wear micro mini hotpants, doesn't mean you should.

If a book is that exciting that you must read it while walking down the street, then there is something wrong with you.

Don't wear Ugg(ly) boots with a flimsy summer dress, you are just contradicting yourself.

I really hate Regina Spektor's music.

I'm Love(box)ing it

My claim that Lovebox is the best music festival ever was upheld with the event over the weekend!

However, a two day festival really does take it out of you, and I am a shell of a woman today. So rather than my standard descriptive narrative of my adventures you get subheadings and semi-coherent ramblings.

The Crew
On Saturday we had quite a crew – me, Angela, Amber, Stewart and Laura. We also met up with my old manager and his friend, and tried to catch up with Beavis, but it is rather difficult to co-ordinate such a large group. On Sunday it was just Angela and I, though we made friends with the crazy old festival dancing men (two old guys dressed in suits, wigs and Elvis sunglasses that Amber and I saw last year, and that Matt and Mark saw at Notting Hill Carnival, they must go to every festival) and anyone who happened to be standing around us at the time.

The Music
What we saw of Temper Trap was good, Florence from Florence & the Machine has got a fantastic voice, Friendly Fires played a great set at dusk, Ladyhawke was good once she had warmed up a little, and N*E*R*D were good but would have been better if the sound was turned up. There were two highlights for me, both from the Sunday lineup. The Correspondents were an absolute surprise, which we stumbled across as we came out of the vintage fashion fair because I was looking for a cardigan to keep me warm (but instead bought a super cute little dress). They were playing their style of 1930’s hip hop from a colourful bandstand in front of a massive two-story wooden tree house, under a tree hanging with oversized apples and pears. Fronted by a skinny man in black tights, white business shirt, black vest, teal satin tie, glasses and a comb over despite having plenty of hair, the Correspondents had the entire crowd dancing and cheering. The other highlight was Groove Armada, of course. They are the ultimate showmen and really now how to get the crowd worked up, starting off with Funk You Too, songs belted out by their new female vocalist Saint Saviour, moving into a mash up of Song for Mutya and Madder, followed by a magical performance of Down by the River. Unfortunately, as I had the most slamming headache and had to work the next day, we left early at this point, but heard Super Stylin on the way out.

The Stages
Lovebox truly out do themselves when it comes to staging and theming, which just adds to the fantastic atmosphere of the festival. The Gaymers stage had the aforementioned treehouse and bandstand, a helter skelter, a ferris wheel, and inflatable apples floating throughout the crowd. The All Star Bowling Alley was a hidden gem that we discovered on Sunday, where you could drink delicious cocktails and dance to retro tunes on a checkerboard dance floor. The Jose Cuervo was our home base on Saturday, as we sipped our tequila cocktails, listened to the various South American musicians, tipped our free cowboy hats, and snacked on corn chips with salsa. There were other areas that we unfortunately didn’t get around too, simply because we were having such a good time at the other ones!

The Drinks
Lovebox was all about the tequila, as far as Angela and I were concerned. Because it’s bad to mix drinks you know. So, we sipped margarita-like cocktails on Saturday, and tequila punch on Sunday. Mmmm, tequila…

The Food
A couple of years ago, Scott and Nathan and I went to the Toowoomba Food, Wine, Flowers and Cow festival, where I ate myself stupid on all of the glorious market food available. The selection at Lovebox was even better. You could have had hog roast, tacos, chorizo rolls, Japanese noodles, quinoa salads, burgers, sausages, waffles, bakery treats, fairy floss, fresh coconut milk, jerk chicken, and more. With such a wide and delicious selection on offer, I of course ate the same thing on both Saturday and Sunday – empenadas, aka espadrilles as I liked to call them. Little half-moon pastries filled with argentinian beef or spinach and cheese, that were just too good. And on the Saturday I couldn’t go past the churro stand for some doughy, sugary goodness, though I made everyone else eat them too so I didn’t feel so bad.

The Weather
Typically English. It rained on the Saturday, actually, no, it pelted down. We didn’t bring anything for such weather, so Angela and I made for the shelter of the treehouse but managed to get some free ponchos on the way. I stylised mine with a belt, so as to stand out from the other big white plastic blobs in the crowd. Sunday it was supposed to pour down, but the weather held out and was actually rather pleasant.

The Verdict
I freakin love Lovebox, and hereby declare it the best music festival I have ever been to and the best music festival I will ever go to!

I won!

I won, I won, I won!

Despite the disappointment last time I entered a London Paper competition, I went back online and entered others.

And I won one!

They called me to let me know that I had won tickets to see the band Alphabeat.

That's pretty cool!

IN COPENHAGEN, DENMARK!

That's pretty effing awesome!

They are covering the tickets, air fares and accommodation!

So Amber and I are jetting over to Copenhagen Friday morning, returning Saturday afternoon so I can spend the rest of the weeekend with my parents.

I am predicting another Best. Weekend. Ever!

PS. Apologies for the excessive exclamation points, but I am really really excited.

Exhibit C

We have further evidence in the case of Amanda vs. her own idiotness.

I won tickets to The Last Days of Summer music festival, featuring Supergrass, Richard Ashcroft, Black Kids, Fun Lovin Criminals and more.

However, the above sentence is missing the exclamation mark that should punctuate it because I didn't check the mail and only found out that I won the tickets the day after the event.

My stupidity really hurts sometimes.

V Festival

V Festival was fun.

If you are not my mother and would like the full rundown then let me know...

Lovebox, exciting and new…

I loved Lovebox!

I’ve never been to a multi-day music festival before, so really had to pace myself. Amber and I got to Victoria Park around 3pm on Saturday and headed straight to the chair-o-plane. Once that was out of the way, we grabbed ourselves some cider and fronted up to see The Black Seeds who were awesome! I can’t believe they are from New Zealand… We mooched around a couple of other stages, befriended some Aussie girls who were attacked in a free merchandise scramble, and somehow managed to miss the Midnight Juggernauts. Instead, Amber and I wheedled our way to the front for Groove Armada, who again put on a fabulous performance. It was the showmanship that really made the set. There were fireworks and confetti and ping pong balls and super-sized balloons – all my favourite things! After Grove Armada we met up with the Barley Mow crew, who had scammed themselves backstage wristbands for the day. Ever the gracious hosts, they took turns in slipping their bands off and letting Amber and I have a look at how the VIPs do it. Laura took me to the back of the stage for Manu Chao, hiding behind the curtains and looking out over the audience. Loved it!

I sensibly packed myself up and trundled home at 11pm, wanting to get a good night’s sleep for day two. Whereas Amber went hell for leather and partied all the way through until the next morning, therefore piking on Sunday’s festivities. Piker Amber!

Sunday I met up with the Barley Mow crew and headed in with them early in the afternoon. I was totally rocking it out in my boots, skinny black jeans, leopard print top, and cardigan – “granny rock” I dubbed it. Sunday was super fun, as I played Eddie’s wingwoman, mislead rock magazine marketing peeps, rode the chair-o-plane again (without hands!), played a lot of leg guitar, and performed some utterly elegant dance routines. Goldfrapp were gorgeous, the Flaming Lips were a lot of fun, Pnau were pumping, and the Dandy Warhols sucked because every schedule had them on at a different time so we missed them. Pthbbbbb! I ignored Greg’s argument to call in sick on Monday, and instead took myself to bed at the rather reasonable hour of midnight.

It was very difficult getting up Monday morning to go to work, but totally worth it.

I love you Lovebox!