Live: Oasis in Oslo Spektrum

photo from Dresen by Colawarkid

In 1998 i attended the scariest concert of my life. I was quite new to the whole concert thing and somehow ended up about 5 meters from stage on Oasis. I am pretty tall so I usually never get afraid to get lost in the mush pit, but this time I was cought between really tall and really crazy boys that was jumping like maniacs. We managed to get to the side of the crowd and it was better for a while. BUT it was so so so damn loud that my ears started ringing so bad that i couldn't even hear the music any more. We ended up leaving way before the Walrus.

Today it was time to attend my second Oasis concert - ten years later. I ended up right next to the sound guy and that is always good. supposedly it should be the best sound in the whole arena though it's no always so. But this time it was.

I really can't believe that you can go to an Oasis concert and buy seats where you have to sit down. The whole thrill is to jump to songs like "Cigarettes and Alcohol" and "Slide Away". I was a little to prepared about the set list. I have to stop unwrapping the Christmas presents to early or in this case read to many set lists from the current tour before I attend the concert. Lovely blend though between the old and the new though. For me the classics where the greatest because it's during this last ten years that I have loved more and more songs like "supersonic" "Morning Glory" and "Rock'n'roll star". Maybe I am just idealizing my youth ;) Noel kept joking that it had to be several school classes on school trips in the audience cause there were so many young people there. Apparently it's been a long time since they played to such a young audience. Cool though.. recruit them young.. he he

Oasis is also quite fun to watch and you think to yourself "What the *** is Liam doing now" when you watch them. He just stands around a lot, and it's very very cool but also makes you wonder. And his legendary singing pose is always stellar. I was especially happy to hear him sing really well and do all the long tones.. I have been watching some live from the earlier parts of the tour and he seam to have been really struggling. Very happy :)


During "Wonderwall" something very strange happened by the way. Liam for some reason stopped the whole song shouting "just a second... just a second" and strolled of to the side of the stage. I bet he had a chat to the sound guy about something cause something was "too loud" apparently.. Maybe it was us or the drums. Thanks to YouTube though, you can watch it here. What the ''' is he saying?



There are tons of live clips from the concert on YouTube. Just search for "Oslo Oasis 2009" :)

This one of the really great ones and gives you a lot of the atmosphere of the place. "Don't look back in anger" is such a classic.




Some heroes from the teenage years live forever. Some heros even get better when you get older and they have changed half the band to legendary musicians from other dead bands and made a kind of brit-pop super-group. (Yes, Gem and Andy has a very great past). I think they might become the new Rolling Stones and are gonna be around a lot longer and maybe we'll have a second age of brit-pop war now that Blur is back. That would be something, ha? ;)Can't wait til July! Co-coci-choo and yooohooo :)

And as I write the last words of this post I found an interview where Noel talks about doing solo stuff, so great things ahead for sure.

Great interviews: Ida Maria with Steve Lemacq

I have been listening to Steve for several years on BBC 6 and finally, again about a year to late, I have been starting to listen to Ida Maria (Great Norwegian artist). I was very very happy then when I found this very great interview. It's a very strange but quite lovely interview. She is cute, shy, unsure, but strong intelligent and stupid at the same time. I would love to have a chat with her some day. Definitively a real artist. I like her.

Part 1 Part 2

I also really like "Oh My God" a lot. I love the contranst between the verse and the refrain a lot and the whole build up of the thing. It's so simple but at the same so genius. Makes me want to jump around a lot. And it makes me be proud to be Norwegian this :) And gives me hope.

Great songs & great lyrics: Samson - Regina Spektor

This is another one of those songs that just hit me so hard and just makes me cry because it's so beautiful. The voice is so piercingly beautiful and she does some amazing melody lines in there... and it all sound so so easy and playful. And it's very simple and very emotional. It has such a nice lyric and so much emotion in it. I like the studio version the most, but it's not on YouTube unfortunately. So here is a good live one too.

You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first, I loved you first
Beneath the sheets of paper lies my truth
I have to go, I have to go
Your hair was long when we first met

Samson went back to bed
Not much hair left on his head
He ate a slice of wonder bread and went right back to bed
And history books forgot about us and the bible didn't mention us
The bible didn't mention us, not even once

You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first , I loved you first
Beneath the stars came falling on our heads
But there just soft light, there just soft light
Your hair was long when we first met

Samson came to my bed
Told me that my hair was red
He told me i was beautiful and came into my bed
Oh I cut his hair myself one night
A pair of dull scissors and the yellow light
And he told me that I'd done alright
and kissed me till the morning light, the morning light
and he kissed me till the morning light

Samson came back to bed
not much hair left on his head
Ate a slice of wonderbread and went right back to bed
Oh, we couldn't bring the columns down
Yeah we couldn't destroy a single one
And history books forgot about us
And the bible didn't mention us, not even once

You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first

BBC Sound of 2009

As I sat here watching the Norwegian answer to Brits and Grammy's, "Spellemannsprisen", I saw Ida Maria preform and wanted to read more about here, so I consulted my trusty source Wikipedia. There I found that she had been on the Sound of 2008 list from BBC, the list of music that they think will emerge in 2008. I of course had to go and check out the 2009 list and it looks like a lot of cool stuff. Have a look yourself and see... The 2008 lists seams very accurate :) Click here.

Great live: Blur - Essex Dogs

As I have told you readers before, I really really love the song "Essex Dogs" by Blur. The other day I found an amazing live version of it. I think this is Blur at it's best in many ways... Quite crazy and atmospheric and the mix of Coxon creativity Albarns amazing lyrics and voice and Alex James is amazingly cool in this. You also get a quite good version of Song 2 live... There are a lot of bad ones out there, so enjoy this one :)

I remember thinking murder in the car
Watching dogs somersault through sprinklers on tiny lawns
I remember the graffiti
We are your children coming in with spray cans of paint
I remember the sunsets and the plains of cement
And the way the night just seemed to turn the colour of orangeade

In this town, cellular phones are hot with teens
In this town, we all go to terminal pubs
It helps us sweat out those angry bits of life
From this town, the English army grind their teeth into glass
You know you'll get a kicking tonight
The smell of puke and piss
The smell of puke and piss on your stilettos

Here comes that panic attack
My heart stops... and then it starts
Give me a drink
I'll drink your round
I take you round the pole
It's cold up here (I can see the universe waiting by a minibus)
You'll catch flu
Or you'll catch the city
Either way, you'll catch flu
Or you'll catch the city

Great interviews: Oasis - Noel and Liam in Wibbling Rivalry

One of the reasons I like Oasis besides their music is the fact that they never give a boring interview and are usually quite funny. This is an amazing interview where what Liam and Noel do is basically fight about what Oasis is about, what is rock'n'roll, what its about being in a rock band and who's in charge. This is a very great one. I think it's from 1994 so it's in the middle of that whole Brit-pop crazyness. They keep talking about a ferry, and if I am not mistaken Liam and the rest of the band was thrown of a ferry between England and the Netherlands...

This interview became so legendary that it was even released on a cd and is taking place at The Forte Crest Hotel , Glasgow, around midnight on April 7, 1994.

Here is a link for the interview: part 1 part 2





And here is a transcript. Trust me, you will need it. And I hope you are not afraid og swearwords ;)

Can't wait to see them on Thuesday :)

Obama! Obama!

In the honor of the new American president and with great hopes for the world in the next 4 years to come and hopefully more, I give you: Presidental Pets ;) It's a great slide show at the homepage of The White House about presidential pets, and there is also a lot of other cool stuff at homepage. Enjoy!

Fun: Ylvis ordering a hotel by singing

This is the funniest song I have heard in a long long time :) This is the brothers Ylvis (Norwegian comedians) that are ordering in a room in London by singing, because they pretend to be afraid to make phone calls. It's like a crazy improvised musical. You find the link on the middle of the page. Amazing creativity to come up with all of this on the spot!!

Life: Auntie Helene

Just a quick message to tell you people why I am not blogging. I just became an auntie for the second time on Friday, so there is a whole lot going on :) A beautiful baby boy and baby girl :) Can't wait to meet them, some time next week :)

Great songs & great lyrics: The boy with the bubblegun - Thom McRae

This is another one of those songs that just digs into your soul and you just have to listen to. I love his voice, love the presence in the song, love the lyrics and really have to listen to Tom McRae more...!! (Oh and I thought the lyrics was " the boy with the bubblegum for about a year.. that is also very cool I think). The lyrics are so strong... I can't even comment them.. Read yourself. It's a masterpiece.

Welcome to the second reel glad that you could make it
We thought your fate was sealed its not what we expected
But you punch above your weight and youre stronger than you look
And the endings not the same they changed it from the book

Im the boy with the bubblegun
Im taking aim
I cannot hit to hurt or cause you pain
If words could kill Id spell out your name

Its time to kill the king its written in the scripture
See what tomorrow brings got to get a bigger picture
So forgive me forgive me for I am born to be what I must be and I must be

The boy with the bubblegun Im taking aim
I cannot hit to hurt or cause you pain
If words could kill Id spell out your name
Im the boy with the bubblegun
The boy with the bubblegun
Im the boy with the bubblegun with work to do
If songs could kill this ones for you

Music: 7 Worlds Collide - What a supergroup

7 Worlds Collide is a supergroup based around Neil Finn from Crowded House. It was apparently around about 8 years ago. I didn't hear about it then, but I got to this time around. Yes, because two of the members are from Radiohead: Ed and Phil. There are also people from Wilco involved as well as Johnny Marr from The Smiths and KT Tunsall. I give you two interviews with a VERY happy Ed O'Brien and a also quite happy Phil Selway. Also a little sneak peak from the studio. They are actually releasing an album from the whole thing and I can only imagine how wonderful it must be to be surrounded by all that talent at the same time. It must he crazy exciting. And also.. it's summer down south now :) And all they make from it goes to Oxfam :)

Great songs & funny: The teenagers - Homecoming

This is one of the most brilliant songs ever! I just randomly heard it for the first time LastFm. The Teenagers are from France, so I love how they in their song "Homecoming" are ironizeing at one level of American teenagers and at the same time also kind of English teenagers.. Most of all it's really funny because she assumes he's British but he's probably french... Kind of reminds me of "Summer nights" from Grease.. I basically think the lyrics speak for themselves. Love that poptronic sound more and more. Gotta listen to more French music..

last week i flew to san diego to see my antie
on day 1 i met her hot step daughter
shes a cheerleader, she is a virgin and she is really tan
as she stepped out of her massive car
i could only notice she was more than fuckable
i think she was coming back from the game or something
cause she was holding those silly pompoms
on day 2 i fucked her and it was wild
she is such a slut

i fucked my american cunt
i loved my english romance
i fucked my american cunt
i loved my english romance
it was dirty a dream came true
just like i like it shes got nice tits
it was perfect a dream came true
just like a song by blink182

ok listen girls
i met the hottest guy ever
basically as I was stepping out of my s.u.v.
i came face to face with my step cousin or whatever
who cares
anyway he was wearing skinny jeans had funky hair
and the cutest british accent ever
straight away I could tell he was a rocker
with his sexy attitude and the way he looked at me
mmm he is totally awesome
oh my god I think im in love

i fucked my american cunt
i loved my english romance
i fucked my american cunt
i loved my english romance
it was dirty a dream came true
just like i like it shes got nice tits
it was perfect a dream came true
just like a song by blink182

i fucked my american cunt
i loved my english romance
i fucked my american cunt
i loved my english romance
it was so nice to meet you
pleasure is mine I do like you
come to cancun for springbreak
ill think about it it could be great

Don't forget to send me a friend request
As if!

Music: Dailymotion (an alternativ to YouTube, and what a great one!)

Wow!! I just found the most amazing alternative to YouTube. It's almost completely similar. The only difference is that's everything has crystal clear sound and picture because it's all in HD or at least HQ!! Here are some examples:

Radiohead's Reckoner live:

01 - Radiohead - Reckoner
Uploaded by andybe29

Travis - Something anything:

TRAVIS - "Something Anything"
Uploaded by Cooperative-Music

Art: My first photoshop project!

Ladies and gents, I am really proud! I have just finished my first real Photoshop project! I am learning myself Photoshop by trying and failing basically. I still have tons more to learn though ;) I took the background photo in Oslo and added the text of 20 of my favorite bands according to LastFm :) Hope you like it :)


20 great bands and artists by ~Helenert on deviantART

Great music videos: Travis - Song to self - (made by fans!!)

Travis "Song To Self" alternative video!

Fans were asked to film themselves and post a video response - videos were then picked and cobbled together to make this video - it features entries from all corners of the globe, including jdanovic, annieaustin, thestranded, GeorgeandHarrison, lerish80, Spike McHeavy, GyeongRyeong, BlurInMyMind, Elin, HardcoreRiot, dkman123 thanks - and thanks to everyone else that uploaded video responses - I'm sorry we couldn't use all of them :(

Great songs & great covers: Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah

Some songs just can't even be explained and just chills you to you bones. Jeff Buckley's version of Leonard Cohen's song Hallelujah is one of those. I won't even go into his voice right now. I'll return later with a own post about his beautiful beautiful voice. The first time heard it I was at a theater school and we had an evening where we all gathered for a kind of show and tell. A girl went forward and said: "This song will change your life." and told us the story of Jeff. We all sat so quietly that we ever had done and just listened and listened. It was pure magic.

Here is the studio version, the one that came out of the speakers that night:





Today, I found an amazing live version of Jeff doing the song, so you can enjoy it here. (Embedding is possible, sorry) It give it an extra dimension to actually see him singing the song. I have never seen that before!

Radiohead + JayZ mix by Hovahead

I am not usually a rap-fan at all but Jay-Z is a great guy and there is no doubt about it. I really love the way he samples and produces and completely love his song "99 problems". I also really love Radiohead as you all know by now, so a mix between a Radiohead song and 99 problems is almost ultimate joy. I think I have heard about this guy that mixes Jay-Z and Radiohead before but was reminded about it thanks to the great Radiohead-site: At Ease.com. The artist is Hovahead and his experiments with Jay-Z and Radiohead songs can be found at his MySpace-page. My favorite so far is National Problem that is a mix between National Anthem and 99 Problems, but it might be because I haven't heard a lot of the Jay-Z tunes. I just realized though that I really like the way Jay-Z raps, and with Radiohead in the background it's quite magic. Enjoy or just try something new :) Oh and I love how Radiohead takes over the All I need mix :)

2008: Top 10 lists

Here are some top 10 lists from Helene in 2008 according to LastFm:

ARTISTS AND BANDS:

1 Radiohead 1,065
2 Travis 349
3 R.E.M. 269
4 Blur 243
5 Lali Puna 201
6 Kent 182
7 Editors 172
8 Coldplay 152
9 Elliott Smith 143
10 Graham Coxon 142

SONGS:

1 The Raconteurs – Many Shades Of Black 49
1 Radiohead – Bangers & Mash 49
3 Radiohead – Weird Fishes/Arpeggi 44
4 Radiohead – Down Is the New Up 41
5 Radiohead – Jigsaw Falling Into Place 40
5 Coldplay – Death and All His Friends 40
7 R.E.M. – Supernatural Superserious 39
8 Radiohead – Up on the Ladder 35
8 Radiohead – 15 Step 35
10 Radiohead – Last Flowers 34










BohEmiA's most played albums in the last 12 months
Artist Album Original rank Tracks Minutes Difference
1. Radiohead OK Computer 7 85 378 + 6
2. Lali Puna Faking the Books8 80 272 + 6
3. Blur 13 15 57 269 + 12
4. Graham Coxon Love Travels at Illegal Speeds
9 70 260 + 5
5. Radiohead The Bends 11 64 259 + 6
6. Imogen Heap Speak for Yourself
13 59 238 + 7
7. Graham Coxon Happiness in Magazines
10 65 228 + 3
8. Kent Hagnesta Hill 24 43 196 + 16
9. Editors The Back Room 16 53 193 + 7
10. Phoenix Alphabetical 17 52 192 + 7

Great songs: Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire

First of all.. Happy New Year everyone :) I have been doing this blog for about 7 months now and it seams to be more and more people reading it, and that makes me really happy.

I am kicking of the new year with a fusion of two great impressions.. I have heard so much of Kings of Leon the last years, (Thanks Ed )but never really fallen for them.. I have also heard this great song on radio from time to time and wondered what it was. It turns out that it's Kings of Leon with "Sex on fire". I love the guitar riff of the song and also how his voice breaks slightly and just perfect and it also helps that the video is filled with good looking members of the band.. he he. Here it is. Let's hope this songs title might be a good omen for the new year. I would like that.

Sorry.. No embedding for this one folks, so click on the link above.