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

Live: Travis at Rockefeller, Oslo

Photos by stormy at http://www.travisonline.com

So, here we go again, me and Travis. Just as I walked out from Rockefeller last night I realized that I now have seen Travis 7 times in 6 different venues. It must be only in Norway and in UK that you can have done that. As I am sure all of you have realized by now, the story of Helene and Travis go back quite far. I am not sure if they know that I exist and to be quite honest, I kind of like that. Well, I always tend to be out of the heap of people that jump around and instead jump around at the side like a freak among people standing still, so maybe... hehe.. During Turn last night I did a quite psycho "bend-back-and-the-throw-my-arms-forward" and I am quite mr Dunlup cought that one..

Anyways,.. I got to Rockefeller around 8.30 and my friend was passing outside and said they just passed her. For me and her it was just so great to be back at Rockefeller together and to see a band that we also have such good memories of seeing together. The highlight was when it started raining during "Why does it always rain on me". That was an amazing moment for anyone I think. But Rockefeller is Rockefeller. It's a quite small venue and quite intimate, so the concerts there are NEVER bad. I just love the place. So great memories and such a great atmosphere.

To our slight surprise, the place was not full. We knew that the concert wasn't sold out and we spent some time there thinking "why, people must be crazy to don't see this". We took our places at the right side, the Andy-side. This time it was quite randomly, but as a guitarist I love to see what he does and also there is a chance that great things might happen during "All I wanna do is rock", like stage diving, climbing and whatever he feels like.

The concert started up with lots of new songs from the new album and they were just amazing live... And as I listen to them now, they of course sound even better having seen them live. I haven't seen the boys so filled with energy for years... Everything was just flowing and there were extrem amounts of jumping, running, hugging during songs and smiling up there. I ended up at about the 5th row so really really close and me and my friend kept laughing about Dougie. He just stands there beaming at the audience and it kind of feels like he sees you everytime... hehe.

During "Love will come through" it really started to get crazy. Fran ordered everyone to be a metronome with swinging their hands back and forth, before he song and we kept it going. I think he was a bit surpised, because in the middle of the song he said something like it must be hurting our arms and said we could just move from side to side instead. So we did, but of course raised our hands again a little later. We can take that pain for such a great band.

Around this time Fran told a very cute story about his son Clay. Last time in Norway he had brought back a bottle of Norwegian bottled water. Clay was somehow totally crazy for this water and called it Norway water. So when his father had asked him earlier that day what he wanted from Norway, the answer was "NORWAY WATER". It turned out that the backstage had a whole fridge of Imsdal Norwegian Water, so you can imagine Clays reaction to a whole fridge of Norway water. Apparently he almost lost his marbles.. hehe

"Sing" and "Side" was great as always and "Side" even had an extra long and rocky solo amazing. Then came "Falling Down" and Fran jumped into the audience and song the whole song from there. That basically meant that he was gone in the middle of the crowd duing the whole song as there is no way he can be taller than Norwegians. But a beautiful stunt and gave the whole song a lot of extra feeling. (see photo above, thanks to "stormy" on the Travis homepage, he was clooser than me.:)

Then there was time for the legendary U16 girls, and I jumped around like a crazy person and you could see who had been Travis fans for a long time and not.

At the end of the set it was time for "All I wanna do is rock" and it was amazing as always. Andy did the climb this time and I can not understand how he don't break bones or fall down. Great showmanship... hehehe. "Before you where young" was amazing.. It was something really passionate about it that really got to me.. And Turn (one of my favorites, and maybe the lyrics that has ment to much to me) I was basically going totally crazy.

After that it was time for a little break. I was getting tiered and I can only imagine how the boys felt. Exspecially Dougie in a very very cool-looking, but must be very hot coat.
Fran and Andy emerged back on stage and did the dumbfoundingly good cover of Kate Perrys, "I kissed a girl" where they even shared a mic just to make fun of the lyrics. That guitarriff makes the song so so much better. I have to sit down and learn that. I have done great success with Hit me baby for a few years now ;)

The concert ended in familiar fashion. All the boys linded up with the arms around each other at the front of the stage and did "Flowers in the window" and it's always quite cute. I realized that Neil had really big problems hiting the tambourine at the right places.. hmm.. ;)

The whole thing ended, not surprisingly with "Why does it always rain on me?". And we even did the jump to the whole last courus thing with Fran ordering everyone to stand up... Very good, as I can't belive how people can sit on a concert like that.

I went home beaming, bought a bottle of Norway water on the way and was really happy with a heart filled with THANK YOU.

It's hard to descirbe.. I can write words as amazing, good feeling, very electric performance, but it's one of thoose events that your really had to be there, so make sure you are next time won't you. To me, it seams that they are just getting better and better.. They seam more and more sure of themselves, and as for me, I hope for more rock albums and that they keep going a lot longer.

And oh, I have from a reliable source that Neils timing was due to severe drunkeness and that he wasn't the only one.. hehe... Well, that kind of just makes it better in a way.. I mean.. All I wanna do is rock ;)

Great songs & great live: U16 girls - Travis

On Monday I am going off to see one of my favorite bands Travis again. This time I am so lucky as to see them on a really small stage (but very legendary) stage in Oslo: Rockefeller. It should be an unforgetable experience as it's very intimate and they are amazing live. To celebrate this joyful event and to bring out more Travis fans, since there are still tickets left, I give you the legendary "U16 girls" from a live show in 2001 where Travis played live in their hometown Glasgow. Must be the peak of the career so far. I love the how direct the lyrics are, though they have been joking the last years that they think it's a bit weird to sing about that underage girls now that their are so much older... hehe.. It's that kind of song that makes you jump up and down and sing along... A great rock song and I am glad they are back to a bit more rock songs at their last album and back to their roots somehow and the days when they warmed up for Oasis. Here you go.

I met a girl in l a
The million dollar kind
She was all for all or nothing
She was open all the time
But when I called her number
Her mothers on the line sayin
Youve no business
As gods my witness
With a child as young as mine
So make sure that shes old enough
Before you blow your mind
She may look like she knows enough
But look in her eye
And if so
Let her go
Youll let her down in style
I met a girl in paris
She talked like vera lynn
And her eyes were full of dew drop
The moment I walked in
She was awfully nice
The kind that likes to win
But if Id been wiser
A whole lot wiser
Then I might have thought again
Chorus
Chorus

Live: Coldplay

confetti!!!

green laser!

One of two screens and one of 5 balls. The videoscreens where perfect for us at the sides.
The balls was beautifully lit with patters, lights, videos etc.

I am sitting here wondering to myself: "What is it with Coldplay live?"....

In 2003 I saw Coldplay live at the Quart festival in Kristiansand. I had never seen them live, and quite liked their music, so I was a bit excited. I was no huge fan, but a fan. Oh MAN! They blew me away! I was totally Coldplay-hyped for a great time after.

Now 5 years have passed and still remember that the concert was great and still have their albums and like their songs but it was back to ok. They are good, but what's all the fuzz about.. That kind of feeling. By a very lucky furn of events I got to go and see them in Oslo Spectrum tonight. I wasn't even keen enough to sit in line and wait for the tickets when they were first sold, so I wasn't that crazy about it. Since then though I have listened to the new album a lot (as you can tell from this blogg) and I really liked a lot of it. So when my friend called today and asked if I wanted to come, I said: "Yes!! Please!!".

I was feeling like a cold was coming on so I put on practical clothes and thought that I might have to sit down from time to time, so I was actually quite happy when I found out that the tickets where to seats not to stand in front of the stage. I like the new record, but not THAT much, it would be ok to sit.

So we found our seats quite high up and at the side of the stage but the good thing was that the stage was open so we could see all from the side. Excitedly we waited and tried not to fall of the seats and into the great beyond. That is steap.

Anyways, finally they came on. And my oh my.... They started the whole show playing "And den schönen blauen Donau". Just that is quite amazing. And then it all started. Dear lord.. that Chris Martin, he knows how to hold an audience going... Even though I was that far away I could almost feel his presece. He sprints around stage, talks and screams and waves and might be the only man I have ever seen (except Bono maybe) who can make 8000 clapp just by looking at them and stop... "It's nice clapping but stricktly not necissery" I don't know. It's hard to describe. There is some kind of magic. You get sucked into it. I kind of get how people can become cult members. When Chris Marting tells you to sing, you sing! I think this clip from Oslo in 2005 says a lot:



During the whole Quart show, Chris actually spoke only Norwegian. It was amazing. Tonight he just kept talking about how sorry he was for not talking Norwegian, very sweet. His love of Norway at least seams genuine, though you have a sneaking suspision that he might have "other lovers" or rather "a different lover" each night. It just seams like he love the audiences and love being on stage. Even though if he said: "Ah you are the Norweigans, the great singers!".

As the concert progressed on they moved out to an "island" in the middle of the audience and did a techno version kind of thing of "God put a smile upon your face" and "Talk". Then they moved up into the seated audience and played a few songs from there. Chris saying how sorry he is for not being able to play harmonica the way he should. Sounded quite good though. He also actually showed that he is a quite good piano player. He did some wonderful classical stuff between songs.

At the end they showered the audience with confetti and by then we just keeps standing and clapping ans screaming oohohooooooooooo... ohohoooooh (As in Viva La Vida) after doing that for a few minutes Chris returned with Magne Furuholmen of A-ha explaing what a huge A-ha fan they are and Mags played piano while Chris sang. Amazing. The whole concert ended with an amazing version of Yellow. I am really glad they didn't do a lot of the old songs though and did all the more rocked one and a lot of the new ones :) I almost wanted to sing "hoooow long must she wait for iiit" when we reached the refrain of Yellow though. Those two songs must be very similar somehow.

All in all... It was amazing. The lights and show as a whole was also very very great. And the rest of the band was of course amazing to, but they are kind of just being shadowed by mister Martin. Oh, he got a big hole in his pants by the way. "You Norwegians have such nice legs, this could be fatal, you don't want to see our legs, trust me".

Sigh.

Live: A Travis surprise and a Danish surprise

I have one of the worste call phone cameras in the world, but it's better than nothing ;)

Sometimes I think I have friends in high places.. I really don't, but sometimes I am lucky :) Last night I got a message from a friend of mine on Facebook. He knew that Travis was going to come to Norway tomorrow to do some promo and was doing a surprise gig at Mono! I have been a huge Travis fan since 2001, so I was of course thrilled and "sneaked" the message to my Travis-friends. i didn't want to many to know about it, in fear that it would ruin the whole gig. After a lot of smsing and planing I was sendt of to Mono. There was no way of getting hold of the tickets so the plan was to stick me in there early. (Once your are in they can't kick you out, and I could buy tickets for the others. I arrived at Mono at 18 (they were supposed to start to sell tickets at 20). For the first hour or so I was alone with two other people. I was bunked up in a great sofa right in front of stage with a book about Italian. (Me and my mum are going in about a week. MUCH more about that later). After about one hour my first friend arrived and then a little while after, my friend the SuperTravisFAn. This girl takes the term fan to whole new limits ;)

About half an hour before the show Andy and Fran comes walking casually in and talks a bit to the sound guys and then went away again. It was very very weird. A bit like we were in someones livingroom. I still can't belive how short they are though. I always think that. But it also might be the fact that I am very tall myself ;)

After about one other hour they came back. Both in black. Fran with a very nice hat and Andy with a nice little scarf. It was so cozy, there were only about 100 people tops in the room and it was just very very nice. They were on a tiny stage in the corner only about 5 meters away in a little club. Started of by playing Sing, great as always, and we were singing along. Then it was time for Side. Wonderful. I love that song. I think it's might be my favorite Travis song. Suddenly the guy next to me starts talking about how Side is a coversong, and I said: "No, it's not." "Yes, it is!!" "No, listen. I have been a fan since 2001. I KNOW these things". But he wouldn't give up. It all ended with him getting my phone number after the gig so that he could go home, look it up and tell me that I was wrong. hehe. Very drunk, so I doubt that he'll remember it, but I will tell you if he does. I do not remember the precise order of the rest of the set list, but they did Driftwood and two songs from the new album and a cover. The cover was something about lesbians or maybe a confused gay guy. Didn't really get that, but great song ;) The two new songs also sounded really great, can't wait to hear the whole record. Fran joked about the fact that there is really no use for making more than 4 albums and now they are on their 6th. SO they decided to do a consept album. All the songs are supposedly about J.Smith and his life. (J. Smith is the most common name in the UK). So some kind of everyday man. Will be very exciting to hear the tracks with the whole band and finished.

Andy had an amazing guitar too, twelve string and six string combination. Fran was joking about the fact that he was going to set it on fire, not by matches but by his guitarplaying ;)

During the cover song Franny taped a sheet of paper two a second mic on the stage and read it from there. Really funny. Really greatly played though. Though they must have struggled a bit, because they kept smiling and almost laughing to each other. (See photos under)

Fran also told the story about this surprise concert. It turns out he was sitting at home in Berlin (yes, he lives there now!) and thinking.. I am going to Norway tomorrow. We should play a bit while we are there. So he had phoned Mono and asked if they could do a little live set. And of course they said yes. Very good. I like stars that do it like that.

After Travis Lofiman came on. They were supposed to do the warm-ups and had to follow Travis. Poor guys ;) They were quite good though, I love their guitars and riffs, and rhythms. The melody lines of the vocals wasn't that good though and the vocals in general. Too bad. I think they could have been amazing.

Then it was time for the second surprise of the evening: Barra Head. The next band was supposed to be the main act and we stayed just to see what it was. And it was fu*** amazing!! Frist of all they were so incredibly tight. The music was really surprising and floating and had great rhythms and it was just amazing. Can't belive three persons can make such a great music. Lovely post-rock/metal feel. Just as I later found out they describe themselves. I HAVE to buy the record. An oh, that bassplayer is the best I have seen in my life. Maybe I haven't seen enough but I like to think I have seen a lot. We all were just mesmerized by his playing. And that is not often when it comes to bass players. They are Danish, so after a few songs, the singer started talking. And of course supposed that we would understand. And we kind of did... but not totally. And of course the guy beside me started screaming... "We don't understand shit" So the rest of the show the lead singer/guitarist kept talking danish and the bass player translated it to English. Even words like Thanks and it was very very funny. Great band. Hope to see them again soon. This is their page on MySpace. Magic intensity.



(Oh, and while writing this, I got a message from the superfan. She did it agin. She actually ended up at Fran's table talking to him.. hehe. Well, she deserves it, after 10 gigs. If I had been a little more observant I probably would have been able to too, but by then I was far to occupied by the Danish wonder boys and probably a smoking break).

R.E.M - The grandfathers of alternative rock (and what's wrong with Norwegian concert audiences)

End of the world from the concert. One of the highlights. I yelled Fine!! To bad it's a only the first part of the song, though.



Last night I attended my second R.E.M concert. I went to see them at Ullevåll stadion in 2006 and it was in the middle of the summer. Light summernight, big stadion, happy people and no one had seen R.E.M in Norway for a lot of years. For me, that night was a night of pure bliss. They played such a variety of all my favorite songs through the years. Even Country Feedback and Nightswimming. That was a whole other R.E.M in a way. They had also relased a whole other album just before that concert...

Last night was very strange in many ways. First of all the concert was moved from the stadion we went to the last time and suddenly (I think both we and R.E.M felt that) we found ourselves in the middle of a gigantic fotball indoors hall. It all started by The Diciplines. The bands front man is the man who used to play in R.E.M's backing band for several years: Ken Stringfellow, so that was no surprise. To be quite honest, I thought they were better then I thought but still quite boring. What was more alarming was the quality of sound in this horried bunker of a hall. After getting drinks and all ready we got up in the middle and found good spots, we thought, for Editors. They have been a favorite band of mine for the last year, so I was really looking forward to that. After about half of the first song, I realized that I could hear almost NO bass at all. So we moved... And we moved again.. And somehow we found a half ways decent place where we could see them and also hear quite well. After a quick smoking break it was time for the wait of the main attraction. At this moment I was so jazzed by Editors that I had almost had forgotten that I was going to see R.E.M. Let me rephrase that... I (!) was jazzed and my friend too. The rest of the crowd just stood there staring at the stage as a bunch of sheep. Really sad. Well, I said to myself. I am sure this will change when R.E.M goes on stage, and yes it helped a bit, but there where still about 500 people sitting down on seats high up in the walls, looking like hens laying eggs. And they hardly moved a muscle. I watched them form time to time and was just ... I can't even describe it... I just shake my head... Why the hell do you pay 500 kr.(about 50£ or 120 $) to do that??? I can't belive it.

Back to R.E.M themselves. First of all, I really really love the new songs, so I liked that there was a lot of them there and there was some good songs from the old time too. But the whole show lacked a bit of edge and thrill and amazement that I felt the last time. But MAN... they can play. You can see that they have played together for 26 years, and even more so hear it. They have this amazing dynamic and are so so so tight. They are the grandfathers of alternative rock. They can't really do anything wrong by now on stage.

I love Michael Stipe as a front man and I think he really makes a show live and lyrics come through when he sings. I love his little comments like "how the hell are you?" "I hate my goverment, you know that right" "You have gay marriages now right?". It's the same kind of politic thing as Bono, but in a so so more elegant way. U2 concerts can be a little overpowered by politics at times ;)

Last night though even he felt the bad sound. At one point he just laughed and said "I get so much reverb in here. My voice comes right back when I sing". So yes, the sound really sucked at time. How can we let legends like R.E.M play in such a horrible place like that, in front of a bunch of half drunk hens and statues of people. I can't belive it.... If you don't like the music, don't go to the concert. It's not a party or an event to get drunk and pick up chicks. Well .... maybe is when you are at the local community house somewhere in a forgotten wally of Norway, but this is R.E.M !!! Enough with the blasphemy.


As you can see below, the set list was a lot of new things and also a lot of great classics. I really wanted country feedback or be mine though ;)well that's what happens when you let Peter Buck choose the songs (according to Stipe he choose the songs). I love that they played Let me in and Horse to Water and

Living Well is the Best Revenge
Begin the Begin
What's the frequency Kenneth
Drive
Driver 8
Man-Sized Wreath
Ignoreland
Hollow Man
Imitation of Life
West of the Fields
Houston
Electrolite
The Great Beyond
I'm Gonna DJ
Turn You Inside Out
Exhuming McCarthy
The One I Love
Let Me In
Horse to Water
Bad Day
Orange Crush
End of the World

encore:

Supernatural
Losing My Religion
At My Most Beautiful
Pretty Persuasion
Man on the Moon

And since I didn't get to see Country Feedback again last night, this is what it looked like a week a go in england.

Bruce Springsteen

On the last Tuesday the 8th I kind of saw Bruce live. I have never been a huge Bruce fan, but after all he is a legend and his songs are part of events in my life. I remember spending a long time as a child trying to figure out what that was in his back pocket on the cover of "Born in the USA". I had never seen a baseball cap and it was just a few years ago that I realized that that is what it is. Back then I think I settled for some kind of a fancy pocket. So, when my friend and band colleague suggested that we would go to the concert and see the and hear the whole thing from outside the fences and just take part in the experience I thought: "Why not, then I can say that I have seen Bruce and 80 000 people over two nights can't be that wrong?" Norway is a small country and any artist that can gather that many people must be worth seeing. My personal opinion is that Bruce has been the object of a great hype in Norway the last years and it's very very popular to like him, I think that has a lot to do with it, but at the same time, the man is one hell of an entertainer and he has simple but catchy tunes.

So we gathered on a little hill behind the stage and watched from there for a while but there was really no view from there and horrible sound, so we decided to move on in between the trees. A lot better sound quality down there, people climbing trees and we could even see one of the big screens when ever Bruce decided to go for a walk around stage.



And when he played "Born in the USA" I also had a chill down my spine. That is such a great classic and they played it so tight and good. I also really missed to of my favourites "Streets of Philadelphia" and "The River". I really love those songs and was sad that they were not played... The things that were played was filled with energy, spirit and excitement, but to me the songs feel a bit dull. It's the same bass and drum line again and again... I guess if you love it, you love all of it, but just not really my cup of tea. It was great seeing the concert with some Americans though. Made me realize that Bruce is to them almost like De Lillos are too us, the universal rock icon. That captures the soul of a whole people. And THAT you gotta respect, when it not only applies to Americans but too people everywhere, Norwegians included. It's universal in a way, Bruce's music. I am tempted to write simple music for simple minds, but that would sound all wrong. I mean that it's just immediate and you know what you get and simple in a good kind of way. Hm... Sometimes to simple, dull and a bit boring for my liking but he definitivly has his amazing moments and deserve the status as a legend. You feel the greatness, and the love that all of those 40 000 people feel for the man and the music. Unfortunately the same 40 000 consists of maybe 80% people that haven't been to Oslo the last 15 years. That results in a bus trip home for me taking 90 minutes instead of the usual 30 ;)

Bruce doesn't actually travel light, does he? ;)