Greatest Band on Earth. Seriously.
Jun. 9th, 2009 08:21 pmN.b. Click any and all the photos for a bigger, proper resolution version. If you want to steal any (not the one of me please!) and repost knock yourself out, just give me some credit. Please and thank you.
Two Manics gigs in one week. The first one was in Brighton at the Dome on Tuesday the 2nd, for that I was on the front row in front of Nicky - right on the barrier. As a result I took over 110 photos.
It was an absolutely cracking gig with James working really hard in the second half to get the crowd on side after a muted (but appreciative) reaction to the performance of the whole of Journal for Plague Lovers. His effort had a massive and transformative effect and the second half of the gig was the best I have EVER seen them. The chemistry between James and Nicky was gorgeous, if it's possible I fell more in love with them.
Despite Nicky clearly being in pain (a result of his slipped disc) he was grinning like a madman by the end of the gig and seemed to be really enjoying the performance.
The second gig was at the HMV Forum in London. That one was completely unplanned - after the Brighton gig I decided once for this tour simply wasn't enough and twittered repeatedly about whether or not I should go to the London Forum gig - the overall consensus was HELL YES. So I reviewed my finances and got real - I didn't have the cash for another gig and a train. It was at this point there was a 'in shining armour' sort of moment and![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
idiotintraffic offered to contact her friend and get me guest listed. At 3pm yesterday it was all confirmed - Lizzie + 1. *GLEE*
I texted my Brighton Twitter Manics fan friend (who I only met for the first time on Tuesday after the Brighton gig!) to ask if he had any friends who wanted to get in on the guest list action and 2 hours later, at the train station, I metbipboppingdays and then we were off.
Enjoyed some quality falafel and houmous from a stall in Camden Market and then headed to the venue where our little group of 4 shared some vodka and coke before ducking into the Forum. I spottedneurotripsy and headed over to say hi (possibly confusing/surprising her slightly in the process!) and was also introduced to floorybitch
This gig was much more instant in terms of crowd response, predictably given where it fell in the tour and how many die-hard type fans were there. After 2 songs I was drenched in sweat, crushed against the few people in front of me (getting to knowbipboppingdays much more intimately than either of us had probably anticipated *giggle*) and about as happy as I get. Glorious.
It got better though, incredibly, after James' solo acoustic bit (From Despair to Where and Facing Page: Top Left, freaking amazing!) Nicky returned to the stage in a skirt; getting one of the biggest cheers of the night and prompting his slightly bashful but completely awesome "yes, yes, I got it from H&M this afternoon" (James: "oh you've got your legs out then have you?!")
Remainder of the gig was absolutely top notch. Great performances, hysterical crowd, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL Nicky.
Despite having VIP wristband and therefore being able to go to the after-show party, we had to high-tail it to Victoria station to catch the last train back to Brighton. On the tube from Kentish Townbipboppingdays and I found ourselves talking to three guys who'd been to the gig and were lamenting the poor clarity of their photos. I showed them the above photo and they exclaimed "wow, you were really close!" to which there was only one response ("yup!"). They started asking about our wristbands and simply couldn't understand why we were on the tube rather than at the aftershow - a reasonable question and one which flatmate K simply cannot get past ("seriously, you could have called in sick to work, WHY DIDN"T YOU GO?!) and we explained we were heading to catch the last train. A bit more banter later and they asked to take a photo of the two of us brandishing our wristbands as "we've been trying to get a picture of the band all night, this is the closest we've gotten". Hopped off the tube at the next stop giggling away to myself. Good times.
Managed to get up for work this morning after a slimline 4 and a half hours sleep. Started to feel the Manics come-down. It was then that I was struck by inspiration, or, more accurately, an unstoppable outpouring of fangirl sillyness.
I went to H&M
( You bet your ass I did!!! )
Life; it's not too shabby when the Manics are in it.
Two Manics gigs in one week. The first one was in Brighton at the Dome on Tuesday the 2nd, for that I was on the front row in front of Nicky - right on the barrier. As a result I took over 110 photos.
It was an absolutely cracking gig with James working really hard in the second half to get the crowd on side after a muted (but appreciative) reaction to the performance of the whole of Journal for Plague Lovers. His effort had a massive and transformative effect and the second half of the gig was the best I have EVER seen them. The chemistry between James and Nicky was gorgeous, if it's possible I fell more in love with them.
Despite Nicky clearly being in pain (a result of his slipped disc) he was grinning like a madman by the end of the gig and seemed to be really enjoying the performance.
The second gig was at the HMV Forum in London. That one was completely unplanned - after the Brighton gig I decided once for this tour simply wasn't enough and twittered repeatedly about whether or not I should go to the London Forum gig - the overall consensus was HELL YES. So I reviewed my finances and got real - I didn't have the cash for another gig and a train. It was at this point there was a 'in shining armour' sort of moment and
idiotintraffic offered to contact her friend and get me guest listed. At 3pm yesterday it was all confirmed - Lizzie + 1. *GLEE*I texted my Brighton Twitter Manics fan friend (who I only met for the first time on Tuesday after the Brighton gig!) to ask if he had any friends who wanted to get in on the guest list action and 2 hours later, at the train station, I met
bipboppingdays and then we were off.Enjoyed some quality falafel and houmous from a stall in Camden Market and then headed to the venue where our little group of 4 shared some vodka and coke before ducking into the Forum. I spotted
neurotripsy and headed over to say hi (possibly confusing/surprising her slightly in the process!) and was also introduced to floorybitch This gig was much more instant in terms of crowd response, predictably given where it fell in the tour and how many die-hard type fans were there. After 2 songs I was drenched in sweat, crushed against the few people in front of me (getting to know
bipboppingdays much more intimately than either of us had probably anticipated *giggle*) and about as happy as I get. Glorious.It got better though, incredibly, after James' solo acoustic bit (From Despair to Where and Facing Page: Top Left, freaking amazing!) Nicky returned to the stage in a skirt; getting one of the biggest cheers of the night and prompting his slightly bashful but completely awesome "yes, yes, I got it from H&M this afternoon" (James: "oh you've got your legs out then have you?!")
Remainder of the gig was absolutely top notch. Great performances, hysterical crowd, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL Nicky.
Despite having VIP wristband and therefore being able to go to the after-show party, we had to high-tail it to Victoria station to catch the last train back to Brighton. On the tube from Kentish Town
bipboppingdays and I found ourselves talking to three guys who'd been to the gig and were lamenting the poor clarity of their photos. I showed them the above photo and they exclaimed "wow, you were really close!" to which there was only one response ("yup!"). They started asking about our wristbands and simply couldn't understand why we were on the tube rather than at the aftershow - a reasonable question and one which flatmate K simply cannot get past ("seriously, you could have called in sick to work, WHY DIDN"T YOU GO?!) and we explained we were heading to catch the last train. A bit more banter later and they asked to take a photo of the two of us brandishing our wristbands as "we've been trying to get a picture of the band all night, this is the closest we've gotten". Hopped off the tube at the next stop giggling away to myself. Good times.Managed to get up for work this morning after a slimline 4 and a half hours sleep. Started to feel the Manics come-down. It was then that I was struck by inspiration, or, more accurately, an unstoppable outpouring of fangirl sillyness.
I went to H&M
( You bet your ass I did!!! )
Life; it's not too shabby when the Manics are in it.
