Song of the Day #21 - Suede - It Starts And Ends With You

First of all; I am sorry for not doing Song of the Day for a while. Life is full of big changes now and there is no extra energy for a lot of other things, but I do really love it and I promise I will be back more frequently when everything calms down a bit more.

So.. Last Monday the new Suede album came out and it was with anticipation and a bit of prejudice I clicked the button at YouTube to listen. I wasn't a huge fan of Suede, though a big fan of britpop, it was mostly about Blur and Oasis for me. It was a bit to much yelping going on for me, even though I loved the classics. So it was with great delight and surprised I for the first time in what seamed like a very long time listened to quality music. I have seen a lot of other reviews written by journalists my age do the same; it feels like 1996 just in a 2013 version. Me personally I love the 2013 Suede more than the 1996 version. Catchy, melodic as always, a bit less yelping.. and this thing corners like it's on rails.. It swings around corners like a true beauty. Lots of good stuff are coming our way this spring. Travis and Phoenix are right around the corner.

New single from Blur: Fool's Day

It's due to lots of work, school, love and last but not least, it's been a long time since I've found something new that I really liked. Though Blur came out with a new single yesterday, and that was of course very exciting. It sounds a lot like I thought it would, to be honest. Like a strange mix of Graham Coxon's solo stuff and Gorillaz somehow. Still it's lacking the ultimate magic.. There are a lot of talent in that room, that's for sure, but it somehow sounds like they are standing next to each other rather than working together. I have a feeling that is what happens when you haven't made music for a while. I absolutely love Graham's guitar parts though and after listening to the song quite a few times I am really starting to love the lyrics. It's a good song, not brilliant, but good. I hope we'll get some more from them soon :) And sigh.. Can't wait 'til Flea and Thom are not playing together more and go back to their own bands. We need some real quality from some of the big bands soon.

You can download Blur's single here. Darn I wish I had one of those LP-singles :)

Live: Blur in Hyde Park

I have been a fan of Blur since around 1997 and I also loved the hits that came out before that. So when I heard that they were getting back together at end of 2008 and were going to play two gigs in Hyde Park in July 2009, I just knew I had to be there. God knows if they would ever play together again other than that.. And what a chance to see Blur on their home ground in London. So I bought two tickets and said to myself that I was going, even if I would go alone.. he he...

As the months went on I met a wonderful man and persuaded him to go to London with me too. That turned the experience even better. To be able to share a band I love with someone I love, just made it extra magical.

First of all.. I have been to concerts with 30 000 people, so I though I had a clue of what I was going into... But my god.. 55 000 are a lot of people!!! As I was moving forwards through all the people and trying to get closer to the scene it didn't feel like i was moving and all.. That's how waste the field was... :) We squeezed us into a little spot in the end were we would kinda be able to see both the stage and some big screens. The grass was totally yellow and kept sticking to everything. I really wanted to tell one woman that all of the back of her trousers was filled with grass, but i didn't have the nerve to.

As it drew closer to "kick-off" we move closer to the stage and I observed two new things that are different from concerts in England to those in Norway: 1. Everybody had bottles and like tossing them into the air so they hit other people. Some people even like to get hit and will get upon the shoulders of others and taunt them, so that they get bottles thrown at them.. The big problem occurs when you are near such a person.. The bottles will hit you (Thankfully these are not real bottles, as we first thought, but plastic bottles.. Still hurts when you get one into your ear though.. hehe) 2: English people like to stand closer too you than Norwegian people. That made me have a tiny bit of claustrophobia when there were people as far as I could see in any direction, but then the band started and I forgot :)

I now can't remember what the first song was anymore, though I think it might have been "there's no other way"? I at least know that the second song was "Boys and girls". I have NEVER in my life seen so much enthusiasm and heard so many people sing along.. It was just MAGIC!! I can't even describe it.. I add some videos below, so you can just see it yourself. The rest was just.... Song after song and hit after hit. I think they were in a bit of a shock themselves too. They played better than I have ever heard them before (on youtube) and the whole vibe of the performance even transcended that of the u2 concerts I have been too. And you can imagine the showmanship of Bono... Hard to live up too. I say it again. I have never ever seen so many excited people in one place :) when we came to song 2 it just too totally off and were just orgasmic before the lull and calming light and amazingly soothing tones of Universals guitar riff said good bye. I was so tired I could hardly walk or think and was glad to have a man that could lead me too the crowds home... :) The heros are back. Let's hope they stay around for a while. The music they will make now if they continue... oh wow.. I look forward to tell stories about this when I become and old little lady.

Links to videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AyvMr87tG4


I was on this side... just more to the middle and more to the front!

From the stage:
http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=pluevDwqnho



Universal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrS1heA_sTc



Another genreral discripion thing.. Well done! Best filming of Song 2 and the whole feel of the thing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVquWCFWD-A

Great Musicians: Johnny Marr and guitars

I found a very very cool clip of Johnny Marr ( The Smiths guitarist) so I had to add this as a follow up on the last post. Johnny talks about how he fell in love with guitars and plays a little bit of... "There is a light the never goes out" This is the man that all the guitarists of the Brit-pop wanted to be, so I need to listen to him more and also check out that Rickenbacker. Loves the kind of double thing he does in the beginning... Almost sounds like two guitars at once. What is that? Anyone that can help an effect novice out? :)

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.

Music: WOOOOOOOOOHOOO

Read this and scream of joy! I did and am going even if I have to go alone. I never though I would live to see the day. (Ehm.. anyone wanna come?)

Great interviews: Oasis - Noel Gallagher on Norwegian tv

As an old britpop fan, I have been looking forward to this interview for about a week now and last night it was on. First of all I really like Oasis and at the same time I really like Noel Gallagher in a way. I like the whole attitude thing. It's kind of refreshing. His brother on the other hand... Not to bright.. I think 90% of what Noel says is really true and it's good to see someone that is just very real and say what they mean. This is a very cool interview with Norwegian tv mostly about interviewing Oasis. Very good. The intro is in Norwegian, but the rest is in English

Enjoy!!

Me and English music. Really no suprise.

This was calculated from my LastFm account. It registers all music I listen to. Anyone who is suprised? I am not ;)