So the day started much like yesterday, with a morning at work and then a rush to the station to catch my train. I did, however, manage to make in in time to grab a snack for the journey, which was somewhat unexpected. What was even more unexpected was the discovery that one of the cafes at St Pancras sold kosher bagels. It was cool for novelty reasons more than anything – I think I’d have preferred bread that wasn’t mezonos…! Anyhoo, on a different, but no less unexpected note; my friend sent over a few of his London photos during the morning and although I didn’t have time to go through them properly, there was one of Justin where he’s mid jump (and had achieved some serious height) that really caught my attention so I tweeted it to him and the band. Justin then retweeted it (it’s not quite as awesome if it’s not my photo, but I tweeted it which would usually be enough to blacklist it so woo, I guess) so that was another surprise. Five months of nothing, then two in 24 hours. It’s like waiting for a bus. Or a man. Anyway, it did brighten up my day somewhat; I could get used to that. Except I’d best not because, yeah. So the only problem was that I then started writing up the blog post for yesterday’s show and ended up getting annoyed with him for no particular reason except that he messed up my lovely signed print. Hmph.
Club:
VIP was also unexpectedly good. Not that I had particularly low expectations, it’s been good all tour so far, but I was in a strop and a bit flustered by the heat, plus the fact I’d been running late didn’t help either, so I didn’t have overly high hopes. So I got a decent haul of photos and kept getting band members to take them, which made the routine particularly fun. I’m also doing fairly well with my Kieran bunny ears series :P. Other than that I had some nice long chats with the usual suspects. Russ was telling a few of us that he can get quite angry, which apparently can be messy but gets stuff done! Justin, we were told, is the opposite and never gets ruffled or some such. I commented that perhaps it was because he makes no sense (which incidentally doesn’t quite make sense in this context, although I’m sure it did at the time. I think I meant that he always seems calm and collected because no one knows what he’s on about?). Russ was saying they’re actually quite similar, but Justin is like his surreal side. I suggested that Justin was his evil twin, which Russ found that rather amusing, except I was being semi-serious :P. What can I say? I was in a strop with him.
I also had a debate with Kieran about films. We were talking about the hilarity of Kieran’s photo history on Facebook and I commented that I’d found Justin’s myspace page with a bunch of old photos from back when he had long hair. Kieran asked how it looked and I compared him to Professor Snape (side note: I’m not the first to have made that comparison), which then lead to a conversation about Alan Rickman and Tom Hanks, although I don’t know where the jump between those two actors came from. I talked about Dogma and realised that Justin’s faint resemblance to Ben Affleck may not be entirely unrelated to why I find him so damn attractive. Anyway, I said I didn’t like Tom Hanks, mostly because he’s not a romantic lead in my opinion and that’s what I originally know him from. Apparently I need to watch Saving Mr Banks and Captain Phillips. Kieran also pointed out they’d gone for Bon Jovi for the music (and not steel Panther for the reasons we discussed yesterday).
The conversation was interrupted by the acoustic set, which was fabulous as always. I’m digging Adam’s shaky eggs, they’re so cute :P. I also still find the fact that Kieran and Mike share a microphone highly entertaining. There’s a serious height difference going on there! So, the lighting was still a bit rubbish but I filmed There’s A Road anyway. I very nearly cried at the end again, in which case I figure Russ would have owed me a pair of shoes :P.
The Last Carnival
So as I’ve already alluded to, I was really annoyed with Justin for absolutely no reason (except for, I suppose, the residual irritation about that damned autograph). Still baseless or not, it was bad enough that I consciously avoided speaking to him before the acoustic set. In the VIP photos I’ve been switching positions each night and I still need to split up Russ and Justin, but decided to go for Kieran and Mike tonight, just to avoid him. It seems they’ve realised I’m working my way along though and Mike was joking that I should photoshop the pictures together so I’m in between all of them at the same time. I’ll need to come up with some other ideas for last two VIPs, I think. I do wish I could see pictures in advance to see if any need retaking, though.
Anyway, I was seriously considering telling Justin that I was annoyed with him but wasn’t sure why (which I suppose would have been part apology and part attempt at resolving whatever was bothering me), however, when I actually spoke to him after the group photos he was lovely and all my animosity thankfully evaporated pretty much instantly. So I’d been promising my friend that I’d send her a snapchat of Justin (she didn’t want one, I was just winding her up :P) and tonight seemed like the opportune moment. I managed to get a selfie with him (which was pretty horrendous of me, but I wasn’t about to retake it) and then had to hide the phone so I could inappropriately caption it before I sent it :P. At some point during the proceedings, Russ noticed the photo of Satchel that I’ve got set as my wallpaper and he asked me if I knew his real name (I did; it’s Russ – I didn’t make the connection until I said it aloud) and we discussed him briefly.
I then continued chattering away to Justin about all sorts. He told me about the severely limited nature of his tour wardrobe (I’d noticed…) and explained that he doesn’t want to ruin all his nice expensive clothing by wearing it on tour. Apparently he’ll be slowly introducing new items into the rotation (I’ll admit I’ve kinda been noticing him doing that too…). It certainly sounds like he has it all planned out with near military precision; it was quite an amusing conversation.
I also finally remembered to ask about Venice (he was there the other week; posted a couple of photos, including a stunning one of a bridge over a canal (which left me with an incredibly strong urge to book a weekend away) and the band tweeted about it too). We chatted about the city a little (I’ve been once, a very long time ago) and he was telling me that you really need someone who knows the place to show you where to go (in terms of bars) so you don’t end up getting stranded. Sounds like it was a short but enjoyable (working) trip. I’m not jealous at all ;). He also asked me what I thought of last night so I explained that I love the venue because of the stage height etc. so it was fab, plus added some of the background about how much of a pain it was to be there and about blowing off Tides for them.
We all headed into the main room after that and I got the ‘buy merch’ spiel from Mike again. As I recall we had an extended discussion about the brilliance of the tote bag (I told him I use mine all the time and in fact it was back in my hotel room as I spoke) and he was also trying to persuade me to buy the white t-shirt with the band name on it as I (stupidly?!) admitted it was the only piece of merch that I didn’t already have. I point blank refused however, having already purchased far more of their merch than I could ever need (especially in the form of clothing I don’t wear). I also chatted to Benji a bit and said hey to the Afterparty boys when they walked past.
I spoke to a couple of them about the new logo and I’d been told that Adam had painted the picture on the keyboard box thing, but I was furnished with the additional information that he’d done it in a relatively short space of time from a stencil the Kieran printed for him. I was suitably impressed. I also told Mike and Kieran that it was too Gryffindor (in terms of the colours – I reassured one of them (Kieran?) that the logo itself was not remotely Harry Potter-esque) but that otherwise I love it. I told Mike that I was a Slytherin but added my usual ‘not if it was real life’ disclaimer.
A couple of girls had made Kieran some marshmallows (from scratch – it never even occurred to me that it was possible!) but made him guess what they were from a few clues about the type of sweets that they were. They were talking about the celebrity chef who’s recipe they’d followed only Kieran (and I) had never heard of him, so Justin joined in and provided a relatively in depth explanation of who the guy was (not that I can remember now, of course [Edit: I’m told it was James Martin, for those who may be interested!]). The group conversation was sadly cut short by the doors opening but Justin actually instigated a hug before he headed off backstage; he’s forgiven :P. [Edit: He also called me by name at one point, although I can’t recall when or why. It might even have been after the gig rather than before. It still throws me, though. As if there was any chance they could not know my name at this point… And it probably shouldn’t make me so fluttery…]
Support:
First up were Lacey and it was brilliant to see them again. It was a very short set but I got to hear Contender again and Graz motioned to me for a drink (even though I was too far away) as a joke during the song, which made me laugh :).
The Afterparty had no intro music for the tour and last night they came on to It’s Raining Men. I was told that the plan was to go even cheesier so I’ll confess I was intrigued. I’m not sure Miley Cyrus’s Party In The USA was quite as brilliant, but it was certainly cheesy. Aside from that, I thought that Lacey were a much better opener for them as I was more prepared for the loud and actually quite enjoyed them tonight :). They’re definitely growing on me.
I didn’t even catch the name of other support band (Revolvers or something like that?) but they didn’t grab me at all so I made no effort to find out.
Anyway, I could see Justin’s amp peeking out from behind the covered up keyboard and it made me grin when I caught sight of it, as did Luke soundchecking the guitar, as usual. On a slightly different note I’d been very much looking forward to seeing The Colliers again and I saw them before the show (minus Mitch) from a distance but wasn’t willing to give up my prime spot to say hi :P. It’s a narrow stage and there are large boxes (containing speakers, I think) on each side so there’s only space for half a dozen people in between. I ended up behind one of the boxes (on Justin’s side, obviously) which wasn’t ideal, but it did give me a prop and distance, both of which came in useful whilst filming. The former also helped me to have a pseudo-nap between bands!
The show:
[Note from time of publish: It’s at this point that my notes get a bit sparse and vague. I’ve done my best to string them together but there isn’t much there to string, sadly. I’ve no doubt that the gig was as fabulous as always, but I apparently didn’t feel the need to write any of that down at the time (possibly due to post-show intoxication/sulking), so all I have is the following… (however, I’ve added a few extra photos to the post by way of compensation)]
The Last Carnival – Russ & Mike
The setlist was ever so slightly different, although I didn’t notice at first, simply because I haven’t quite got to grips with all the new music yet. The one change was the addition of a song I hadn’t heard before called Runaway Screaming. Fortunately, my videography mission this evening was to capture Setting The World Alight and Futile, neither of which I was familiar with enough to anticipate, so all I knew was that I wanted the first two songs after Dancefloor. It did mean I missed Futile as I dutifully recorded the first two and then stopped, but I can always catch that one later in the tour. I’m certainly pleased to have caught a new song by pure luck. It was a good one, too :). I also captured the Crazy guitar solo because, well… *coughs*. There was a moment towards the end when Justin was, er… stroking the neck of Russ’s guitar… with increasing rapidity… (A more appropriate description of the movement would be one beginning with ‘w***ing’ and ending with ‘off’…). My reaction to that was basically just f***… So, um, yeah… *ahem*. Anyhoo, I can’t think of an appropriate metaphor (or even an inappropriate one), but Justin was apparently done impersonating the sun tonight (in other words, I was able to look directly at him), so that was a relief. I even got a smile from him during the set. Will wonders never cease?!
Hair!
So, I shouted to Justin for his setlist at the end and he threw it to me but it ended up behind something and I couldn’t reach. Fortunately, one of my friends was able to retrieve it for me and I got him to sign it. This time I told him I was dictating and ordered him to write; to [me], lots of love, Justin. And he actually did it. I was so surprised I couldn’t help but verbally express the sentiment. Although I do now wish I’d done that for the fancy photo yesterday instead, given that actually mattered to me… Sigh.
The Last Carnival – Sheffield Setlist
Post-show:
I’d hoped to catch up with Lacey, but they had all vanished by the end of the gig, save Josh. I had a nice chat with him about the album though. They finished recording at 1am this morning, apparently. It’s all rather exciting :). I also finally got around to taking some photos with all The Afterparty boys and grabbed a random one with Harry (Bullas) while I was at it. I’d have liked one with Danno too as I was chatting to them both for a while, but I rather missed my opportunity. It would’ve been nice to have spent a bit more time catching up with all of them, but it’s probably my own fault for not making more of an effort earlier on in the evening. It sounds like there are plans afoot from a very cryptic conversation they had with Justin in front of me, but it was all very ambiguous, so they could have been talking about anything and I’d have been none the wiser! Anyhoo, I’d intended to ask if they were going out for a drink too, but never quite got around to it and then they vanished when I wasn’t looking.
I also got my usual round of selfies with the TLC boys, of course, and had an entertaining chat with Kieran. I’m not sure exactly what I said to him to prompt it (probably something about the stage height in Birmingham again – I suspect it was at least partly my fault anyway), but he accused me of looking at things I possibly shouldn’t have been, in the general vicinity of a guitar… Which I really wasn’t! I’m a good girl, I am… :P. He was also gossiping about last tour’s after party, so that was fun…!
I hung around until the end as usual and somehow found myself on guard duty, watching their stuff inside while they loaded out to the street/van. Nice to know I’m trusted :P. They then loitered in the street for ages during which time I had a long chat with Russ (about make-up, randomly) and another chat with a Justin. I complimented him on his latest jewellery addition; a strip of worn leather on a short chain around his neck and he told me it was actually a bookmark (taken from something really old, I believe, but I can’t recall what) only he’s just got himself a kindle so it’s not much use. We then discussed books for a while so he was subjected to the story about my deaded kindle as well. I really am quite frustrated that I can’t continue reading From Here To Eternity!
Anyhoo, The Ratells and The Retrospectives were there and when they all (finally) headed out for a drink I tagged along. Only unlike the nice cushy pub we went to last time, this time we ended up in a car park. I got the impression there had been a live music event there earlier in the evening, but it was just the tail end of whatever it was by the time we arrived. Still, I got a drink out of it; Kieran ended up getting trapped a rather pricy round for six people at a cash bar when he didn’t actually have enough cash on him – and was then vilified for it, poor thing! From what I could gather, he’d initially intended to buy for himself and Justin, plus Luke as a thank you for all the hard work. Only then Mike joined them and Tony had offered me a drink too, so we joined him at the bar too before he’d finished his order. In any case, I still ended up with my wine (courtesy of Tony), which then went straight to my head. I don’t think I’ve ever been so intoxicated by a single drink before, it was weird. And probably not a good thing.
I did have a nice chat with Tony about theatre though, plus he told me that they’d thought I’d like Beautiful, which we then discussed. I have to confess I have something of a love/hate relationship with the fact that they talk about me, but I suppose it’s neither here nor there how I feel about it, they’ll do it anyway and I’d rather hear about it than not. Although I obviously won’t hear about anything negative that they say, so it really doesn’t make a difference… Anyway, I also hung out a bit with Russ and Kieran plus spoke to Justin a little as well, informing him there were more photos on the way courtesy of my friend. As I recall I also told anyone who got too close about my drunkenness; another example of my sophistication whilst under the influence… Sigh. Fortunately, I suppose, given that I ended up in a rather morose mood (I suspect as a combined effect of the alcohol and my usual awkwardness in such situations) they didn’t stay too late and after walking back to the van with them, I headed off to my hotel, repeatedly reminding myself of my love of Irregular Choice shoes in a surprisingly successful attempt at keeping my emotions in check.
So, the journey north continues tomorrow, but for now I’m going to go and enjoy my nice big bed!
Peace, loVe loVe and rock ‘n’ roll,
K xx
[Actual publish date: 29/8/14 – Incidentally, I felt the need to re-watch the video of the Crazy solo (for research purposes, you understand, it was a hardship that simply had to be endured…) and I couldn’t help but notice that the, er, hand movement I mentioned above (in the heavily asterisked section) slows down on the last stroke or two, making it even more reminiscent of, er, something else… *fidgets*]
So Currently Captivated 
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