Take Me Down...Spin Me Round...

So, what have I been upto recently?  Well, I've been under threat of redundancy for 5 months so that was a rather unfortunate time where I didn't do much as had to save money in case I was without a job, and then that disappeared so I went to Las Vegas again!!

Guns N' Roses had announced they were going to do a residency, Appetite For Democracy, at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas.  Since I went there for NYE, there was NO WAY I wasn't going to go back there.  Las Vegas is an incredible place and I had the money so, why not?

One thing that had changed since I last went, I had gotten myself a lovely boyfriend so he came along too.  

We spent 5 days basking in the extreme November sunshine (Vegas doesn't 'do' November Rain like England does), visiting the themed hotels, gambling, drinking (an 8.45am cocktail is just the way you want to start the day in Vegas!) and shopping (1am shopping on Black Friday was his idea, strangely).

This place really is 24/7, if something is shut, then so what? There will be so much other stuff open to do in the meantime.  

Highlights included; seeing Captain Jack Sparrow running down the street, the New York New York rollercoaster ride, winning (small scale) at roulette and the amazing food that is on offer in the States.

Now, the Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Democracy experience, that is another story..!

What this means to me is more than I know you believe

I'm really pissed at myself for not being smarter.  I went all the way to Las Vegas to see Guns N Roses in December because a) c'mon, it's Vegas, but also b) I didn't know when I was going to have the chance to see them again.  So, when I heard they were playing in the UK in May/June, I bought a ticket to 4 shows...despite only being able to make it to 2 shows because of prior commitments - why I didn't check my dates before booking them, I don't know - I guess it was all the 'excitement' (Note: I don't ever get excited)  How did it not twig with me that UK shows were part of a larger European tour and I could have easily gone to more dates!?


So, why on earth did I not plan better and get tickets for Holland, France and/or Germany??  Holland would have been amazing and it's quite a bit closer than the US, closer and cheaper.  There is a slim chance that I can go to one of the Spanish dates...is anyone else going to a Spanish date?  


I'm a doughnut.

Oh Won't You Please Take Me Home

I'm so glad to be here...I'm really glad to be here...!


I rocked up at the O2 and made my way through the crowds at 9pm on Friday June 1st 2012...there was no point being early and actually I was a little later than I hoped but got a relatively good spot and watched Thin Lizzy from afar.  


The wait for GNR was I think just over an hour, I didn't expect anything less.  This was my 8th Guns N Roses show so I knew that I was in for a good time as soon as I heard that ChiDem opener from DJ.  There were a few boos but I kept myself entertained by talking to people on twitter from my @Axls_Rose account (what a brilliant play on words eh?) since I was on my own...something I'd later regret as my phone battery ran out.  Next time, if I haven't finished Duff's book by then, I shall take it with me.


The audience were getting really excited when the rigging men climbed the rigging as we knew it wasn't long to go before the band took to the stage.  Then what seemed out of nowhere, the house lights went down and the GNR video sequence began.  Guitarist DJ Ashba took to the stage and climbed up on to speakers in front of drummer Frank's drum kit and bashed out the opening riff of Chinese Democracy, it really is a fantastic song to start a concert with.  The audience went wild jumping around when hearing those distinctive opening bars.  Axl calmly walked out on to stage and dove straight in with.. "It don't really matter".

The setlist was a complete mix up of old and new songs.  I noticed that I was the only person around me yelling (I can't sing in tune, in fact I can barely talk in tune) the lyrics to songs off Chinese Democracy - which included the title track, Sorry, Street Of Dreams, Better, Shackler's Revenge, This I Love and Madagascar.  This tour has given me a new found love of Madagascar, it's such a wicked song to hear live, despite the backing track.


Audience members must have thrown objects on stage as Tommy told us off and then Axl backed him up "Stinson has laid down the law" he joked.  But then it must have happened again as Axl mentioned it a few songs later.  Luckily that's when it stopped and the band carried on with their set, I expect some drunken buffoons were just throwing stuff around, like you do when drunk, I know a girl next to me got hit in the head with an empty plastic cup.


A highlight of the evening was when Izzy Stradlin joined the band on stage.  That's right...IZZY STRADLIN!  I was at the London show in 2010 when Duff came on stage and then I got to see Izzy play with Axl as well on Friday.  I was stoked.  And then remembered that I had seen Izzy play with GNR before back in 2006...still though, I was really pleased to see him.  

There were some really irate mothers in the audience with their children as they had queued for hours to get to the front and then some people were pushing in to get to the front as the band were on.  I couldn't help but laugh, it's a rock concert, what do you expect??  Well behaved angels??

I can't stress enough how fantastic the show was, Axl was just incredible, he has a wicked sense of humour and was in good spirits, DJ was doing lots of his chest patting at people...does he know these people??, Bumblefoot was constantly on the move, I have no good photos of him, they're just a blur as he didn't stand still.  I was really pleased when it came to his solo and he played Glad To Be Here, I really love that song and it's incredibly catchy.  I once again missed Richard Fortus' James Bond Theme solo - he just performs it so well, I love it when he jumps around in circles.  Tommy, Frank and Chris were as usual more in the background but I couldn't fault their performance.

As the night came to a close, I was really disappointed that it would be my last time seeing this show again for a while.  I really hope that they come back to the UK soon, they have so many fans over here who love to see them perform, but for now it's time to hang up my Guns N Roses 'Bad Obsession' until next time.

Nothing lasts forever, even cold November Rain.  

Bad Obsession

It was 4.30pm on Saturday and I knew I should get a move on.  I had a ticket to see Guns N Roses in Nottingham...I was currently at the south coast of England.  Nottingham was 200 miles away - I only thought it was about 120 miles away so imagine my surprise when I did a route planner on Google Maps!  I got to Nottingham 4 hours after I set off at 8.40pm and then went to watch Thin Lizzy.  They were good and entertaining, I liked that one of their guitarist's looked like Richard Branson.  I was on my own (which appears to be a recurring theme when I see GNR) and stood patiently to the right of the audience.  


I gradually made my way to the front of the crowd who were surprisingly well behaved and passed the time by tweeting from my @Axls_Rose twitter account.  I did consider taking Duff's book with me to read as I know how late GNR can be sometimes (it was my 7th GNR show, I'm a GNR gig veteran now!) but unfortunately it was too big for the bag I took with me.

They took to the stage at about 22.47 and the crowd went absolutely wild.  There were a few boos before the band came on stage as the crowd was getting impatient and some middle aged guys behind me were getting rather agitated and saying that "Axl was taking the f***ing p*ss" etc.  When GNR came on stage though, that was all forgotten.  The crowd loved them, the same middle aged guys behind me were yelling to each other about how amazing Axl was and that the wait was worth it.  They were also shouting at Richard Fortus "Izzy, you're amazing!"...yes, they genuinely mistook Richard Fortus for Izzy Stradlin, that made me chuckle for a while!

GNR started their set, as they have for all 7 shows I have been to before, with Chinese Democracy.  I love that song and it's such a good show opener.  Most of the song was just an instrumental as Axl's mic stopped working - I did at this point panic a bit as thought he might have stopped the show completely and thrown a tantrum, but he was in good spirits and the mic sorted itself out (or he got a new one) by the 2nd song - Welcome To The Jungle.  


They played for a solid 2.5 hours and I loved every second of it.  They didn't play Shackler's Revenge, Patience or Whole Lotta Rosie though I was expecting them to.  Bumblefoot ditched his Pink Panther solo to perform a song of his - Glad To Be Here, which was actually fantastic, I will search YouTube to see that again.  I'm unsure if his back is any better (injury from a car accident) but he was moving around effortlessly - he was possibly doped up on painkillers.


I was a little disappointed that Richard Fortus changed his solo from a James Bond theme to whatever it was he played.  It sounded good, I just really like when he gets into the JB theme and jumps around in circles whilst playing it, though to be honest I soon forgave him when he took his shirt off - he has a FANTASTIC body.

I positioned myself to the right of the stage for a reason - DJ seems to frequent that side more than the other side, and true to form he did the same that night in Nottingham.  He was brilliant as usual and is really good at engaging with the audience and waving etc.  He's a real crowd pleaser, and is SO pretty!

Axl Rose was on top form, his voice sounded amazing and he was dancing around like he normally does, despite his majorly bruised leg (that was 50 shades of purple..!) from a hamstring injury after a fall in Russia.  He falls over a lot (see a clip on YouTube of him slipping over onto his bum after a gig in Liverpool on Sunday). 

I made it out of the arena at around 1.30am and left Nottingham for the 4 hour drive back home at 2am.  I was a bit unsure of going all that way on my own for their show, but it was fantastic and well worth it.  Bring on the 8th GNR show!!! (which will be their show in London on 1st June, I have a ticket for the 31st May in London but can't go :( )


I don't think anyone can say that I'm not a dedicated fan.

Estranged

It's been just over a year since my last blog post.  I would say that time flies as I remember writing it as if it was yesterday, though I have actually done a lot in that time.  I have thought SO many times "must write this in my blog" but alas kept forgetting.  


I aim to put this right...let's see how I manage blogging over the next year.

Snap Back To Reality, Oh There Goes Gravity

Yesterday was Friday 13th.  It was also the day that I finished my first whole week of work since the end of February.  Since I work full time I thought that was pretty good going, over 2 months of not working a full week due to holidays, bank holidays and those days where I just thought mid afternoon; "you know what, I'm gonna go home now".


So now it's back to reality, I've had my hiatus (I'm just gonna look that up to make sure it's the right word...yes, yes it is), I've been to New York (that's another story...or blog posting I suppose) and I've also moved house and changed various circumstances.  


It's time to start afresh.
(I wonder how long that way of thinking lasts.)

She's A Dancing Machine

I think it was over 6 months ago now that my Michael Jackson mad friend called me up and mentioned a Michael Jackson dance workshop going on in London in December.  Being someone who cannot do any freestyle dancing but enjoys a structured dance, and of course not to forget that I too am a huge MJ fan, I agreed to go.  We were supposed to go in December when the dancing day would have been 4 2 hour workshops and a 30min showcase set over a 12.5 hour day.  Pretty hardcore!  However we had to defer because of the December snow.  

So it got to the next workshop which was last Saturday.  The format of the day changed and was now just 3 2 hour dance classes, that was tiring enough!  Costumes were encouraged so for the Thriller workshop, I dressed in the below attire.

 I think that would have been a brilliant Thriller costumer had it not been for the brilliant white colour of the shirt and the perfect crease lines from when I took it out of the packet.  So we learned Thriller, the dance from the video.  It was brilliant and definitely my favourite workshop of the day.

Next up was History In the Mix.  Or something like that.  This is where we learned a Jackson 5 inspired dance to a medley of songs,  That was hard.  We then learned a few bits from Billie Jean, that was even harder.  We finished off that workshop with Beat It.  Having already 'performed' this before on a top of a hill during what I hope was a drunken night out, I already knew bits of it.  It was really easy to pick up and it was great to finish the workshop with something that I could actually do.  My costume for this workshop was black sparkly shoes, white socks, black leggings, a white tshirt and a gold sparkly jacket.  Unfortunately it was way too hot for the jacket (and the subsequent suit for the Smooth Criminal class) so I just pranced about in this..

The last class was Smooth Criminal, it was brilliant fun but again very difficult.  The SC music we were dancing to was a live recording so it had extra musical parts to it and because of this we created a whole piece of musical theatre.  There was a storyline and everything.  

This was a ridiculously difficult day but it was great fun and highly recommend to anyone who is a MJ fan and likes to dance.  

To finish off we spent the evening in Ping Pong which was a lovely Dim Sum restaurant.  I've never had that before, it was a day of firsts for me.

So Annie are you ok?  Are you ok Annie?