Random Geekage

I went to see Apocalyptica in Glasgow with some mates last night. Aside from some minor setbacks, the gig was pretty damn good.

My work was annoying enough to not give me the day off work which meant that I got out at 6pm. Doors opened at 7 which was a bit of a pain. The time immediately spent after work was dedicated to eating at a rapid pace and getting ready so I could catch a bus at 7.35.

While I was being driven to the Park and Ride, I discovered I still had my multitool. Not good. Foolishly, I kept it in its pouch instead of leaving it in the car. Got to the Park and Ride to find out the bus was running 15 minutes late. Fantastic. While there, I remembered that my trenchcoat has a huge hole in the pocket which lead to the space between the leather and the lining. I had the idea to conceal the multitool there.

The lining had other ideas.

The multitool had ripped a hole in the lining and hit the tarmac. I hastily retrieved it.

Eventually the bus arrived and I made a better attempt at concealing the multitool. Carefully put it where there wasn’t a hole. This lead to a problem when walking to the gig. It kept smacking me in the legs which would not do, so I pocketed it. This lead to a complication at the doors to the venue.

For once in my life, I got searched. I’m sure if I hadn’t been carrying a bag of clothes I would have escaped. I did notice the guy didn’t search the other pockets of my bag, only the main one. He also never bothered with my belt pouches, so if I had left it where it belonged I would have been ok. I had to surrender it to gain entry. Got a ticket to keep so I could get it back.

After that hassle, I managed to meet up with my mates and we proceeded to the front of the stage. Found a spot with very little folk but the angle was a bit naff. Couldn’t see the drum kit. Not a big deal.

Surprisingly, a band that only has cellos and drums can get pretty loud. If you have never seen metalheads playing cellos and windmilling their hair I suggest you check out the videos I shot.

*setlist forthcoming*

Pretty damn good if you ask me. I highly recommend listening to Apocalyptica if you can.

Oh, I did manage to retrieve my multitool in case you were wondering.

Weblog Apocalyptica, cellos, classcial, gig, metal, music

Last night, I got a phone call asking If I wanted to go bowling. I replied positivly an had my tea. Sortly afterward, another which changed the plan to seeing a band in Glasgow. Fair enough, seeing a random band would be ok.

Franny and Stu picked me up and we sped (pretty quickly) off to Glasgow. Little did I know how interesting this night would be.

The first time we got lost was interesting. I think we went round a roubdabout about 5 or 6 times trying to pick an exit. My phone with its gps capabilities was pretty useless. Franny picked an exit and we drove, further getting lost. Eventually we saw a sign for the city center and followed that.

About 500 meters away from the venue (Carling Academy), a dog ran out into the street. Thankfully, the car infront of us slowed down in time so I don’t think it was hit though I could be wrong. Round the corner, we saw a fox (never seen one before, let alone in the middle of a city) doing its thing. Very strange.

We abandoned the car in a private car park, got our tickets and went in to the gig.

Caught the tail end of the support band, I think they were calld Hotleg. Think hair metal with Justin Hawking as the singer. Not bad but the singing was too high pitched.

The main band were a group called Extreme. With a name like that, I thought it would be death metal or some derivative which had me a bit worried, we were in prime mosh pit space. Thankfully, they were less heavy than I thought.

Two phrases that spring to mind when describing the vocalist are “bust a move” and “strike a pose”. The guy was working the entire stage, swinging the mic stand about, climbing on stacked boxes and even riding the bass amps like a horse at one point.

Not sure hoe to describe their music. Good chunky riffs (for the most part) but the singing was a bit naff in my opinion. Eventually after over an hour and a half of playing, they departed the stage for good and we left for the next interesting phase of the trip, getting home.

We got lost. Franny had no idea how to get back to the motorway so we drove about, taking random roads, almost running a red light (again). After 15 mins of random driving, we found the motorway and got on thinking it would take us back to Perth. Oh how wrong we were.

To give you an idea, we crossed the Fourth Road Bridge.

Eventually we got back to Perth, cruised about for a bit and then I crashed at my house leaving the stoners to do what they do at 1am.

Next time we do this, I’m bringing a real sat-nav.

Weblog Extreme, gig, Hotleg, lost, metal, music, random

The newest cd from Information Society just dropped through my letterbox.

Limited Edition 2-CD Digipak, complete with full-color, 30-page booklet chock full of never-before-seen photos of Information Society in the early days.
Contains the complete INSOC EP, the ultra-rare Creatures of Influence album, both re-mastered, and an entire 2nd CD full of live and rarely-heard recordings from the INSOC archives. None of this material has ever been released on CD before!

I completely forgot I had ordered it. Nice thing to get on a Monday morning. Came with a sticker which will be put on my new laptop and a badge which will go somewhere.

Anyone got a synthesiser they can lend to me?

Weblog cd, Information Society, music, synthpop

Nine Inch Nails has released yet another free album to the fans. From the site:

“the music is available in a variety of formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE. your link will include all options - all free. all downloads include a PDF with artwork and credits.”

Trent, you are doing it right. I’m not a huge fan of NIN but I do like some of the music. I will probably buy the album when it comes out on cd in July.

Weblog music, Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor

I don’t normally post music videos but I’ll make an exception. As you should know, I am a rabid Nightwish fan. They have just done a video for the song “The Islander” on the Dark Passion Play album (which you should buy). It is not the usual heavy rock/metal that they normally do but is instead an acoustic song which may be more to folk’s liking.

Enough wittering, enjoy!

Weblog music, Nightwish, video

I have ordered tickets for the next Bryan Adams gig in October. Seem to be going to a fair few gigs these days. Megadeth, BA for the first time, Nightwish this month and BA again.

The good thing about this BA gig is it is indoors and I won’t get utterly drenched again. That sucked.

Weblog Bryan Adams, gig, Megadeth, music, Nightwish

Short story, I am home along with my car. A tech showed up at about 3, fiddled about then rolled my car down a hill and it started. Yay!

Thankfully I had my laptop and an SD card of music to etertain me. I think that the problem is with the battery in the key being nearly dead. I have been meaning to replace it when the range of the door lock thing was decreacing to the point that I have to be next to my car to (un)lock it. If it doesn’t work then I have to take it to Peugot for lots of money.

Weblog car, fixed, music, yay