Its been a while!

Thought I should start updating this again as we are moving from London soon back to Melbourne. But this week oktoberfest!

But first I thought I would put up my top ten live songs I have seen this year. I have seen a shitload of bands this year so this was pretty tough, but here they are -

1. Flaming Lips - Do You Realise at Glastonbury. I just wanted this song to go on forever. Sounds gay, but it was so good. Pretty crap footage but you get the idea.



2. The National - Mr November at Glastonbury. Amazing. I could put the same song from the Royal Albert hall gig I went as well, but this footage is better.


3. Tom Jones - Don't Knock at Latitude. Bit of a weird pick but holy shit this was good. I cant find the actual footage, but this is the song.


4. Mountain Goats - California Song at Koko London. Ever seen 1400 people not make a noise while a dude sings with no microphone, yet you can still hear every word? Again, i cant find the original footage but here is a similar vid.


5. Arcade Fire - Wake Up at Rock En Seine, Paris. This massive storm came through drenching the stage and cutting the set short 5 songs. The bonus? an acoustic version of Wake Up in the pissing down rain and howling wind. Amazing.


6. LCD Soundsystem - New York, I Love You at Rock En Seine, Paris. Complete with Jay Z finale (unfortunately this vid cut it off).


7. Muse and The Edge at Glastonbury. Classic Glastonbury moment.


8. The Antlers - Epilogue at Scala London. Hows the voice on this guy. Stunning. Again, different show, same song in the vid.


9.Phoenix - Rome at Glastonbury. Pretty much started the weekend with this. Made for an awesome weekend.


10. Frightened Rabbit - Poke. Alfred Circus bandstand London. Sunday arvo with muffins, cider and this. Probably should be higher up the list.


Special mentions to the xx and mumford and sons from glasto, stars @ heaven, and still flyin @ bardens, all unlucky to get a spot.

Most disappointing acts - Vampire Weekend (twice), spoon!

Jay Z!

On Saturday I went with a few friends to watch Jay-Z play at wireless festival in Hyde Park. Thanks to Katie and Caz for lining me up a ticket. Much appreciated.






The A team -





Was pretty amazing and he had some the best visuals I have ever seen.

In other news I still haven't got a proper job which is frustrating. Got footy again this weekend, and the off to latitude festival with Katie the weekend after. Fun times ahead!

Glastonbury

On the weekend I went to Glastonbury music festival. Its the biggest music fest in the world with over 150,000 people attending. I saw loads of new bands and was by myself for most of the weekend so made a few new friend. For those friends back home, think of it as very similar to falls festival but a million times bigger. It took almost an hour to walk from one end of the festival to the other.

First up I saw Miike Snow. But I got to the festival late so I only heard the last song. Then I saw Tegan and Sarah. They were surprisingly good.


I went for a walk to watch Mariachi El Bronx, but I underestimated how long it would take to walk between stages so I missed them. On my way back I watch a bit of Willy Nelson on the famous pyramid stage.


Then onto Phoenix who blew everyone away. Amazing.

The phoenix lead singer jumped into the crowd right in front of where I was standing. Was pretty cool.

Then onto Vampire Weekend. A band I love, but they bored the hell out of me. Such a let down after watching the energy of Phoenix.

Mumford and sons were one of the highlights of the festival. It was seen as their return to england after touring and becoming a well known band. The crowd went nuts.

I wanted to get a good spot to watch Flaming Lips so I went and sat through Hot Chip. Boring!

I met mclovin whilst waiting for the lips.

Flaming lips were amazing, Wayne in his bubble on the crowd!

Balloons and streamers!

Highlight of the entire festival, so so so amazing.

The next morning I went for a walk to check out the whole festival site from the top of the hill.

And then saw a band called Frankie and the heartstrings. Amazing band. Check them out.

Then went to see The National. Sat through the incredibly annoying Kate Nash to get a front row spot.

The National were really good.


Then went and saw Foals. Not a huge fan but they were really good. Hard to take a photo thru all the lighting they had.

The the XX came on. I love their debut album and they were pretty good. Highlight was Florence from Florence and the Machine coming on stage to play with them.

Then went to go and watch Muse close out the main stage for the Saturday night. They were pretty average to be honest. The best bit was when The Edge from U2 came out and played 'where the streets have no name'. This was 'the moment' of the festival I guess you could say.

The video of The Edge is totally worth watching -

So many flags up for Muse. Its a bit of a UK festival thing to take a flag on a long pole to a festival.

I made some new friends and we went up to check out Arcadia. An area that is pretty much a freak show. Guys were making lightning, gas explosions were shooting off everywhere. It was crazy!

And then probably the worst thing that could have happened, did happen. We found a secret VIP bar. You had to enter thru a phone box. This meant we were not going to bed.

The bar had trampolines in the floor!

And a russian polka band.

We walked home in the morning as the sun was coming up. Crazy evening.

The next day I met up with Katie and went and watched Frightened Rabbit.

And then Temper Trap from backstage.

Overall it was a pretty amazing festival. It was really hot weather, but better than raining I guess. We caught the tour bus home with the band and it took 5 hours with no air con. Fun times.

Ribs and bowling

A couple of weeks ago we went up to all star lanes for some american style ribs and bowling.

I ate a whole rack of ribs -



And Katie came last in bowling. I came second.



Got a big couple of weeks coming up with footy, cricket at lords, glastonbury, and (maybe) a Paul McCartney gig. I figure I have to see at least one beatle before they all die.

Epsom Derby!

On the weekend Katie and I went with the footy club down to the Epsom Derby horse racing. Was a great day. I even saw the queen drive past me in her flashy rolls royce. Heres some photos.

Dressed up for the occasion -





The downhill final straight -



Hutchy's amazing outfit -



Racing horses -



We tipped the winner in the main race, moneys!



In other news I still dont have a job. Well.... I do, but the pay is crap so I am holding out for another week in the hope a better one comes along. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Updates

Sorry for the lack of updates. I have been flat out lately either playing footy or drinking too much cider. I will post some more stuff up soon.

New bike for Katie!

I have been shopping around for a bike for Katie so we can go on weekend rides and she can commute to work.

Its been tough as a) she didn't want to spend much money, b) it needed to fold in case she needs to go on the tube, c)it needs to be small so she can actually ride it. Hard to find one that fits all those categories.

I was browsing ebay and found a nice one for a 'buy it now' of 65 pounds. I offered 50 pounds (about $75 these days) and won the auction. Tonight I went all the way out to the shadows of Wembley Stadium to pick it up.

I must say, its a really cool bike and might use it bit myself!



Hopefully she now rides it!