So after the concert benc and I went back to our hotel, slept for not enough time and then tubed and dlr-d over to Greenwich to meet red_pill for present buying for no1typo's birthday in the market there. We brought the presents with fairly minimal fuss, on budget and having gone nowhere near a high street store (not even a card & paper one!) and took them back to mum's to wrap while Phil showed a mate around the "spooky areas" of Greenwich. When he returned we gave them to mum (fully wrapped by yours truly) and she seemed to like them (see here for details and pictures).

In the evening we decided to go to the excellent Chipstead Tandoori and dithered a bit before finally bolting out of the door in a rush at just gone 7 as I had just recieved the awaited intel that the secret guest was supping Cobra there ;)

It was, of course a guest appearence by Giles. Bwhahaha. Much loveliness of times was had, curry and company were excellent and we even had Moet & Chandon Champagne, brought by Giles' father as a present :D (was lovely by the way ;))

This morning red_pill and I got up and made mum breakfast as is tradition, and then I took Phil to Purley to go to the LAC (which I'm sure he'll write about), came home and then galvanised people to go to Mogador - the Sportsman pub.

We'd been there before two days before our wedding when we just needed to get away and this time we took no1typo for a birthday lunch. We knew the food was good, but we didn't know it was quite as amazing as it was. We had an enormous roast dinner except it wasn't so much food to make you feel you could burst. The portion was just right and the beef melted in the mouth and (so I'm told) the veggies were cooked to perfection. It was all followed by a walk in the nice sunshine across the common :)

Finally we headed back to Canterbury, bringing Giles with us :D

A lovely time was had by all, even if I do say so myself. Pictures here.

So on Friday benc and I headed up from Canterbury to my mum's just inside Greater London so we could buy one day travel cards instead of day returns with travel cards to save money, jumped on a train to London and headed to Hammersmith to check in to our hotel (Premier Travel Inn at Hammersmith - looks like a converted office block) and find somewhere meet dmc, Mich and Adam Horn & his partner (can't remember her name :( but they gave us a lift back to the Hotel after the show) and eat dinner (Wetherspoons - The William Morris) before heading to the venue for 7pm when the doors opened. On the way we got stopped by at least 4 ticket touts asking if we wanted tickets - never really seen 1 tout before, so was spoiled for choice - of would be if I hadn't had a ticket :P

Got there nice and early, brought our murchandise (I got a black "I went to one of their concerts :D" tshirt while benc brought Boothby Graffoe and Vanity Project CDs & a download token for when the show eventually goes up for download and got our seats. The seated area where we were seemed really empty for ages, still not nearly full when Boothby Graffoe came on and did an excellent set including some contributions on instruments and backing vocals from some of the Ladies (Kevin first, then Jim, finally Ed). He did Baseball Playing Spider, a song about a drowning sailor ("Does anybody know how to sail a boat" perhaps?) and Bungee Girl.

By the time they all went off we were well and truly warmed up and only had to wait 20 mins or so till BNL came on and opened with "One Week", straight into "The Old Appartment". Cue all the people who had not yet made it to the still fairly empty seating area all rushing in at once and spoiling my view as they wandered around finding their seats and stuff :( I have to admit, it pissed me off quite a lot. If they couldn't be bothered to turn up on time, why bother coming at all? </rant>

I was delighted with the mix of songs on there, it was a great mix of old and new and two of my favourites from the new album made it on there - "Sound of Your Voice" and "Maybe You're Right" (my personal favourite of the whole night). "Brian Wilson" was fantastic and wound everyone up to fever pitch as they walked off. I wasn't a great fan of "Easy". It was better live than on the CD but I didn't like being taken down a notch from my uber fever pitch. "$1,000,000" followed and was amazing and wound us all up again. By this point everyone in the seating area was on their feet and stayed there till the very end. Brilliant ad-lib about oyster cards basically saying what everyone thinks of them and another one from Ed about how rubbish camera phones are :D

Much better than the concert I went to on the Holidays tour in 2004, though I think I preferred the intimacy of the Shepherds Bush Empire over the size of the Hammersmith Apollo.

Random thought: Liked the M*A*S*H referrences with some of their murchandise :D

I'm sure I've left some stuff out. If you were there, comment and correct me. This is really a brain dump of what was there. Brilliant show :D

Want to go again! When are they back? ;)

( Set List )

Other (better) reviews can be found here and here

Cross-posted to barenaked_fans

I'm off to a BNL Concert in support of new album BLAM at the London Hammersmith Apollo tonight. Very excited. Will update about it when I get back and am no longer floating near the ceiling.

Yayness!

Have this to keep you going:



(Sung in Ed's bathroom apparently)

Listening to the extended version of Barenaked Ladies are Me while heading up to no1typo's to fix the internets there I suddenly caught part of one of the songs on it "Fun and Games" and realised that the protest song isn't dead and BNL had included one on their new album.

Having listened to it I don't think they like President Bush, the war on terror or Iraq very much at all...

A copy of "Fun and Games" is uploaded here here (ogg) and here (flac). Help yourself.

( Lyrics )

ION: Ben and I have tickets to go to the London BNL concert at the end of March! squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Your Life: The Soundtrack
Created by aiko and taken 16067 times on bzoink!
Opening credits	Barenaked Laides: Hello City
Waking up	Barenaked Ladies: Pinch Me
Average day	Barenaked Ladies: It's All Been Done
First date	Barenaked Ladies: What A Good Boy
Falling in love	Barenaked Ladies: I'll Be That Girl
Love scene	Barenaked Ladies: Be My Yoko Ono
Fight scene	Barenaked Ladies: Too Little Too Late
Breaking up	Barenaked Ladies: Old Apartment
Getting back together	Barenaked Ladies: One Week
Secret love	Barenaked Ladies: Maybe Katie
Life's okay	Barenaked Ladies: Shopping
Mental breakdown	Barenaked Ladies: Testing 1, 2, 3
Driving	Barenaked Ladies: In The Car
Learning a lesson	Barenaked Ladies: Everything Old Is New Again
Deep thought	Barenaked Ladies: When You Dream
Flashback	Barenaked Ladies: Call and Answer
Partying	Barenaked Ladies: Alcohol
Happy dance	Barenaked Ladies: Another Postcard
Regreting	Barenaked Ladies: Jane
Long night alone	Barenaked Ladies: Who Needs Sleep
Death scene	Barenaked Ladies: War On Drugs
Closing credits	Barenaked Ladies: If I Had $1,000,000
Create a Survey | Search Surveys | Go to bzoink!

See a theme? ;)

Well I saw BNL[1] last night1[2] and I would just like to say, for the record...

DOOOOOOOOD!

It was really fantastic.

We saw them at the Shepherds Bush Empire playing on their Barenaked for the Holidays tour. It was my very first concert and Oh My God...it rocked.[3]

The opening act (whose name I have now forgotten...)[Edit]March 2007: His name was Boothby Graffoe apparently was very funny and Jim and Kevin came and played with him for a bit and that was so very cool. Then, after a half hour break BNL came on and opened with a couple of holiday songs (which made me a little nervouse as to the tone of the concert - their Holiday album isn't nearly as good as any of the others...) Anyway, I needn't have worried. They played a whole load of classics and very few of he Holiday ones so I was happy.

They are *amazing* in concert and so versatile. I was surprised at just how many instruments they could all play at least a little bit. I also kept thinking that Jim must have amazing calloses on his fingers from all the plucking at the base. Made the tips of my fingers ache just thinking about it[4] ;) I came out of the whole thing on an amazing high, and I don't think it was wholly the effects of the weed people all over the venue were smoking[5] ;)

My only gripe would have to be that, even with encores the thing didn't last long enough. More dammit!

I think I'll have to go see them again when they're next in the UK ;)

Thank you to all the lovely people who were there yesterday with me, especially my lovely fiance who brought my ticket and shared it all with me, and informed me that the funny smell in the venue was pot (I'd never smelled it before - I can certainly identify it now) and dmc who drove us back from Coulsdon where we caught the train and didn't get back till 3:20. His son then woke him up at 6:15. The lift was appreciated more than I can say ;)

Now I am awake after ooh - 4.5 hours of sleep, so no doubt I shall crash at some point during the day. At least when I do, I have that fantastic experience to think of :D

[1]Barenaked Ladies
[2]My birthday present from Ben
[3]My opinions could, or course, be distorted by the second hand weed I inhaled throughout the concert ;)
[4]As a violin player my experience of what plucking a bass lots can do to you is limited, but the effects must be at least a little similar... [edit] Just asked adam, and apparently double bass players do have amazing calloses on their fingers :)
[5]I want to make it clear that I didn't even try any :P I'd probably be sick if I did ;)

[edit] Thank you to all who voted on my last entry. I shall effect the MSN icon changes as soon as I get home :)

So I (ab)used this cool toy to make four little south-park stylee me's.

Yes, this has been done before (Late March this year [thanks to reggitsti's LiveJournal, which I finally found the link on ;)])

( Here they are :) )

Number 4 is the one I did in March.

Which do you lot think is most "me"? The one with most votes will become my MSN icon :) (currently number 4 ;))

In other news, going to London tonight for Barenaked Ladies concert. Never been to a concert before, bit nervous. Saw new Bridget Jones yesterday and had pizza hut. Bridget Jones good, but not as good as the original :( Too many cringworthy moments that the original just didn't have. I console myself with the thought that the second book was weaker than the first too ;) Looking forward to a good month of cinema - want to see The Phantom of the Opera (though cos it's good to just so I can criticize I don't know). Also want to see Churchill: The Hollywood Years (a pisstake of usual hollywood interpretations of our history, starring Christian Slater).

Ok. I'm done :)