Urg operation punk rock weekend part one is over, and I feel like Ive been thrown from a moving vehicle then had my insides removed, thrown into a washing machine, and then put back in the wrong order. But its been fun so far, and I couldnt think of a better way to spend the weekend!
I'm so sorry about this - its gonna be a VERY LONG ENTRY!
Thursday started well, and was relatively easy as Chris drove to Brighton for the start of the Dropkicks/Souls dates. Me and Carmel had a few beers, the three of us had a great time during the Souls, and Chris hung back for the Dropkicks due to the fact he was sober and couldnt deal with the mosh.
The show was great the Souls played a storming support set and totally nailed the songs they played. They couldnt have picked a better set really, playing all our faves, and ending with an awesome True Believers.
The Dropkicks did their best with what they had to deal with 8 band members on that tiny stage didnt really work, and it felt like they were trying really hard to put on a good show. They just seemed to big for the venue. But they managed to pull it off. They also played a really surprising set, including 2 of the biggest stage invasions I saw this weekend (it put the ones at Manchester and Brixton to shame in fact brixtons stage invasion was pathetic!)
We got back late on Thursday night ready to get up early for Friday and the trip to Manchester.
Got our train at Euston, started drinking at 11.30, and met SianyRiot at 1 in Manchester. Then we got dragged on a big all day pub crawl to some really mad places (including a bar that was a converted underground gents toilet!). I must admit a ridiculous amount of beer was consumed, mainly because me and chris were having a field day with the cost of the drinks up there (1.50 a pint in one place!). Once LadyInsane showed up, we all then bundled down to the Academy (via some more pubs, natch), and headed in for the Souls again.
What I remember of the Souls this night is kinda vague I know they played practically the same set, but the fact that wed all been drinking and having a great time meant there was lots of jumping about and shouting going on. Due to all the fun we were having, I nearly missed GUITARMAGEDDON when the band were joined by Ken, Al, Marc and Matt (who took over on drums) from the Dropkicks with their guitars, plus Chris Sweeney from Dead Pets during a fucking amazing version of Were Coming Back!
The girls left me and Chris to the Dropkicks and went off to the pub. The Dropkicks were amazing tonight, and played the best show out of the three nights.
I bumped into Pete from the Souls over by the merch while the Dropkicks were on and had a good chat, even though Id managed to lose my voice. And the good guy that he is gave me a t-shirt!
I also met the lovely Stephanie, the Dropkicks girlie singer and she was a total sweetheart, bearing in mind the amount of drunken punks she probably had to listen to telling her how awesome she was. Which she is when she comes on stage with the Dropkicks for The Dirty Glass its a total highlight of the evening!
Eventually, me and Chris managed to stagger back to our hotel by about 1am (thanks to LadyInsane thanks darlin)
and then get up at 5am to catch the megabus down to London!!!
Luckily, cos it was so early, the bus was empty so we had a row of seats each and caught up on some well needed sleep on the bus. Once we got to London, we immediately went to the Porterhouse in Covent Garden and started the first pint of the day at 11.50! then we went for breakfast priorities, right?
We started to flag about an hour later, both me and chris barely able to keep our eyes open. Then we were joined by Carmel and Tony, have more drinks and food, and then onto Brixton to meet CreamyGoodness and nathair_dubh and the last of the shows.
To be honest, Brixton Academy is a fucking barn, and never really works for punk bands. It was handy the gig hadnt sold out, so we managed to get down the front and get a good view of the band. The Souls played their best again, ignoring the shite sound, and owning the fucking room. They didnt look lost of that huge stage, and were perfectly at home in that massive place. It was great to see them there actually, and yes, they played the same set and fucking great it was too!
By the time the Dropkicks had got on stage, things had taken a downturn. The venue had started to fill up quite a bit and on queue, in came the cunts. If it wasnt for twatty punk scenesters pretending to be punk rock, it was football hooligan skinheads, all of whom were doing the yeah Im IRISH me thing, which really gets on my tits. These are the kinds of twats that go out on St Paddys Day and celebrate something that has nothing to do with them.
Where were all the cool old punks and skins? Standing at the back, thoroughly fed up!
The Dropkicks didnt live up to the previous nights standards. Yeah they were great, but they changed the set again and missed out some of their classic tracks. Plus it was hard to get really into the anthemic choruses and enjoy yourself when your being pushed into the middle-venue barrier by a bunch of retards.
I suppose if I hadnt seen the band the two nights pervious, I would have been disappointed. But I wasnt. Its been a fucking amazing three days. I got to see some great punk rock, got to see my all time favourite band again (I swear the Souls make me forget Im 35, and I feel like a kid when theyre on), and most of all, got to hang out with some of my favourite people.
And now after this incredibly long journal entry, Im going back to bed
Cheers everyone!
(btw sorry for the lack of photos most of what I took was shit, so there you go!)
I'm so sorry about this - its gonna be a VERY LONG ENTRY!
Thursday started well, and was relatively easy as Chris drove to Brighton for the start of the Dropkicks/Souls dates. Me and Carmel had a few beers, the three of us had a great time during the Souls, and Chris hung back for the Dropkicks due to the fact he was sober and couldnt deal with the mosh.
The show was great the Souls played a storming support set and totally nailed the songs they played. They couldnt have picked a better set really, playing all our faves, and ending with an awesome True Believers.
The Dropkicks did their best with what they had to deal with 8 band members on that tiny stage didnt really work, and it felt like they were trying really hard to put on a good show. They just seemed to big for the venue. But they managed to pull it off. They also played a really surprising set, including 2 of the biggest stage invasions I saw this weekend (it put the ones at Manchester and Brixton to shame in fact brixtons stage invasion was pathetic!)
We got back late on Thursday night ready to get up early for Friday and the trip to Manchester.
Got our train at Euston, started drinking at 11.30, and met SianyRiot at 1 in Manchester. Then we got dragged on a big all day pub crawl to some really mad places (including a bar that was a converted underground gents toilet!). I must admit a ridiculous amount of beer was consumed, mainly because me and chris were having a field day with the cost of the drinks up there (1.50 a pint in one place!). Once LadyInsane showed up, we all then bundled down to the Academy (via some more pubs, natch), and headed in for the Souls again.
What I remember of the Souls this night is kinda vague I know they played practically the same set, but the fact that wed all been drinking and having a great time meant there was lots of jumping about and shouting going on. Due to all the fun we were having, I nearly missed GUITARMAGEDDON when the band were joined by Ken, Al, Marc and Matt (who took over on drums) from the Dropkicks with their guitars, plus Chris Sweeney from Dead Pets during a fucking amazing version of Were Coming Back!
The girls left me and Chris to the Dropkicks and went off to the pub. The Dropkicks were amazing tonight, and played the best show out of the three nights.
I bumped into Pete from the Souls over by the merch while the Dropkicks were on and had a good chat, even though Id managed to lose my voice. And the good guy that he is gave me a t-shirt!
I also met the lovely Stephanie, the Dropkicks girlie singer and she was a total sweetheart, bearing in mind the amount of drunken punks she probably had to listen to telling her how awesome she was. Which she is when she comes on stage with the Dropkicks for The Dirty Glass its a total highlight of the evening!
Eventually, me and Chris managed to stagger back to our hotel by about 1am (thanks to LadyInsane thanks darlin)
and then get up at 5am to catch the megabus down to London!!!
Luckily, cos it was so early, the bus was empty so we had a row of seats each and caught up on some well needed sleep on the bus. Once we got to London, we immediately went to the Porterhouse in Covent Garden and started the first pint of the day at 11.50! then we went for breakfast priorities, right?
We started to flag about an hour later, both me and chris barely able to keep our eyes open. Then we were joined by Carmel and Tony, have more drinks and food, and then onto Brixton to meet CreamyGoodness and nathair_dubh and the last of the shows.
To be honest, Brixton Academy is a fucking barn, and never really works for punk bands. It was handy the gig hadnt sold out, so we managed to get down the front and get a good view of the band. The Souls played their best again, ignoring the shite sound, and owning the fucking room. They didnt look lost of that huge stage, and were perfectly at home in that massive place. It was great to see them there actually, and yes, they played the same set and fucking great it was too!
By the time the Dropkicks had got on stage, things had taken a downturn. The venue had started to fill up quite a bit and on queue, in came the cunts. If it wasnt for twatty punk scenesters pretending to be punk rock, it was football hooligan skinheads, all of whom were doing the yeah Im IRISH me thing, which really gets on my tits. These are the kinds of twats that go out on St Paddys Day and celebrate something that has nothing to do with them.
Where were all the cool old punks and skins? Standing at the back, thoroughly fed up!
The Dropkicks didnt live up to the previous nights standards. Yeah they were great, but they changed the set again and missed out some of their classic tracks. Plus it was hard to get really into the anthemic choruses and enjoy yourself when your being pushed into the middle-venue barrier by a bunch of retards.
I suppose if I hadnt seen the band the two nights pervious, I would have been disappointed. But I wasnt. Its been a fucking amazing three days. I got to see some great punk rock, got to see my all time favourite band again (I swear the Souls make me forget Im 35, and I feel like a kid when theyre on), and most of all, got to hang out with some of my favourite people.
And now after this incredibly long journal entry, Im going back to bed
Cheers everyone!
(btw sorry for the lack of photos most of what I took was shit, so there you go!)
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You have to do these things once in a while.