The Mad Hatters Writing Desk: music

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Gigs of 2015

So I wanted to do a 'Summary of 2015' post because like every year, it's been a good one with a few not-so-good things thrown in. But although a few things has made this year what it was, I figured I'd focus more on the whole-gig side of my year. Because let's face it, that's mostly what my life revolves around. Although I feel this year I slacked on gigs the most I ever have, because of a few reasons, the bands I did see were pretty insane and many were ones I'd never seen before which makes change.

My gig's of 2015 (I highlighted the bands I saw for the first time this year):

16th January - Slipknot, Korn, King 810
5th March - Halestorm, Nothing More
6th March - Steel Panther, Skindred, The Lounge Kittens
7th March - Steel Panther, Skindred, The Lounge Kittens
14th March - Yellowcard, Less Than Jake, Chunk! No Captain! Chunk
23rd May - Slam Dunk festival (Set it Off, Patent Pending, Pvris, Thy Art is Murder, Bury Tomorrow, Lower than Atlantis, Crossfaith, Taking Back Sunday, You Me At Six)
28th May - Heaven's Basement, Glamour of the Kill
12th-14th June - Download festival (Friday- At the Gates, Lacuna Coil, Modestep, Five Finger Death Punch, Judas Priest, Slipknot. Saturday- Hollywood Undead, Parkway Drive, Rise Against, Motionless in White, A Day to Remember, Faith No More, Marilyn Manson, Muse. Sunday- The Dead Daisies, 36 Crazyfists, Tremonti, We Are Harlot, The Darkness, Billy Idol, Three Days Grace, Slash, Motley Crue, and Kiss).
30th August - Leeds festival (Marmozets, Fidlar, Modestep, Pierce The Veil, Alexisonfire, Wolf Alice, Royal Blood, Seether, Bring Me the Horizon, Metallica)
14th October - Young Guns
3rd November - Motley Crue, Alice Cooper
23rd November - Marilyn Manson, Krokodil
27th November - The Prodigy, Public Enemy
9th December - The Darkness, These Raven Skies, The River 68's
19th December - Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Black Star Riders

I won't post photos from each single gig as there'd be far too many (s'why I made the collage at the top of the post), but I have wrote posts about a few of them before which include photos. You can also find some on my Instagram page. If you'd like to see a list of every single band I've seen live you can see that here.

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arena

The night I finally saw Def Leppard live

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gig

All bad things must come to and end..

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music

Three Cheers For Five Years

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gig

Throwback to 2 years yesterday

I was going to write this yesterday but unfortunately I didn't get round to it. So, two years yesterday, I saw Issues (on their first UK tour) among Crown The Empire, and it's safe to safe it's one of my most memorable gigs.

To start with, I met some new people in the queue, in which we spent all day in. We queued at 12am, and kept having to let people save our places whilst we wandered. And by wandered, I mean keep checking the back of the venue for the bands to arrive.

When they did arrive however, me and my friends were the most awkward bunch. We couldn't decide if we wanted to speak to the band members there and then, or give them space. We didn't want to be annoying, and we'd rather respect them. But we also didn't want to miss any chances, so we did in the end meet a few members upon arrival.

Sky and Scout from Issues were telling us about some presents they had gotten for their family, and then broke out in 'What Did The Fox Say'. My favourite moment meeting them pre-gig was asking Michael to sign my drawing of him (in which he 'liked' on Instagram previously). He thought it was amazing, and I think it's the best thing ever when people I admire compliment me on my work, or in general.

In the queue we started a few sing-a-longs. Including Bon Jovi, which we had an ongoing joke about (because Michael's surname is Bohn). We even got up and did the Cha Cha slide at one point. It was a fun time indeed, and although I am older now, I do miss queuing all day for gigs.

Then we got in the venue, and got right to the front. This was in the Cockpit, aka my all time favourite venue (RIP!) and it had no barrier. So it got pretty crazy to say the least due to how intimate it was.

Crown The Empire opened up who were brilliant, I have seen them plenty of times since. I was beyond excited for Issues, as It was my first time seeing them and they were awesome. And then this thing happened, which made the night take a turn. Tyler Carter, one of the front-men, dropped his microphone on my face. Yeah. Just like that. He shouted sorry but obviously couldn't stop playing. But throughout the rest of the set he kept talking to one of the bands' crew members.

After the set ended that exact crew member came over to me and asked me to meet him. I then met him at this door leading into a backstage area, in which he gave me a free T-shirt (so kind!) and kept checking I was okay. That was until I went inside and met Tyler, which was such a cool moment. He was so kind and was genuinely sorry and if I'm honest I was mostly starstruck so I was happy for him to keep talking forever.Then we went back outside to the merch area and took plenty of photos, I got to tell him how thankful I was and he was so good to his fans, taking as long as possible with anyone that wanted a photo or a signature.

I then met the rest of Issues and Crown The Empire, all of which are amazing guys. The crew member even kept coming back and checking I was okay. Nothing better than realising some of your favourite bands are as nice as you'd hope they'd be, or more. We ended up being the last fans at the venue and Tyler and Andy from Crown The Empire kept pretending to film us and doing impression of fans in America (because apparently they are very different to us). And as it was the last night of tour Tyler set off the fire extinguisher, resulting in us standing outside with all the band members running around and blaming each other, among other things.

It was definitely an interesting night, and i'll never forget it.

Also, after writing about the gig after it had just happened, Issues followed me on Tumblr and liked my post with the comment 'love you!'. They really are amazing guys.

I would post photos but there is so many! If you're interested you can check them out on my Instagram page (though you may have to do some scrolling).

So that is that! Hope you enjoyed a little random gig story of mine.

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festival

Leeds festival 2015

Last year was the first time I had missed Leeds festival since 2011. Although, then I wasn't bothered as I had seen the majority of bands on that years' line-up, and the year before scarred me a bit (the people, that is). But, even so, I did miss it considering it had turned into a tradition. So this year I decided to go, but not for the weekend. Even if, among the three days, there were bands that I liked to have seen, for the most part I had already seen them.

I decided to go on the Friday (my priority was Metallica and that priority was definitely in order). It took us hours to get there, as our friend was giving us a lift and so the car-park was the problem. This resulted in missing Babymetal, which was a shame! (But I have a feeling there'll be another chance that I get to see them).

We met up with some friends and got food, and started our day off with Marmozets and Fidlar. I don't have any decent photos of them, just photos of the screen which aren't really worth sharing.

Then we saw Modestep, I have lost count of the times I have seen them now, but they were really good!

After Modestep we saw Pierce The Veil (we were mostly on Main stage during the day). I haven't seen PTV since 2013 (I think) and it was so good to see them smash it on Main stage! Super proud, especially to say I first saw them in a 200 capacity venue back in 2012. (Also how nice is that backdrop?)

Then we stayed at Main stage some more to see Alexisonfire. They were good, and the singer ended up on a blown-up-boat on the crowd, (he soon fell, but the effort is what counts).

We then saw Wolf Alice, who admittedly, I had only just listened to that morning in the car (my friend showed me them). But they impressed me, and I ended up wanting to see them. They're certainly different to who else I saw that day.

Then we went back to Main stage to watch Royal Blood, who were awesome! One of my highlights of the day. The crowd was so packed for them too. And I now want a red leather jacket, they are so effortlessly cool.

After Royal Blood, we checked out Seether considering we had missed them a few times before at festivals and we didn't really want to miss another chance.

Bring Me The Horizon co-headlined and although I personally don't think they deserved that spot, (to me, I think bigger bands would have deserved it better) I think they were pretty damn good. Also, the sun was setting during the set and the sky was beautiful.

Then, it was Metallica time. Metallica are one of the few bands I was yet to see, and I was excited beyond words. They were fascinating, and their intro was amazing. I am so happy I have finally seen them, and their setlist was all I could have asked for.