Busted 2016

May 11, 2016May 11, 2016Leave a comment

Tonight I got to see one of my absolute favourite bands from my childhood, Busted! It was these three guys that made me fall in love with the sound of guitars and pop rock in general. This is technically the second time I’ve seen them, but the first I was super sick and could only stay for two songs before my parents had to take me home 😦 Tonight though I managed to pick up super cheap tickets (half of the price) from someone who couldn’t go, offered one to the lovely Abbie and got to watch the opening night of Busted’s reunion tour Pigs Can Fly. I originally had tickets for the O2 Arena date but it clashed with Comic Con so I had to sell them, you can imagine how excited I was to find some last minute tickets. It was also amazing to see my favourite YouTuber perform for the first time and at Wembley Arena! Emma Blackery was amazing and her new music is sounding incredible. Whetus also supported and were…interesting but bought the house down with Teenage Dirtbag. I don’t want to say too much about the visuals, because I don’t want to ruin it for fans who are going to be seeing the tour later on. I laughed, sang, danced (well my equivalent of dancing) and just felt so happy that Busted were back because you never really forget the first band you fell in love with, do you?

One of my favourites performed at Abbey Road earlier this year

My Big Mouth: The Beautiful Game’s Fight with the Ugly Face of Sexism

Jul 29, 2015Jul 29, 2015Leave a comment

Tonight I’ve broken away from my blogging to write about something I didn’t even realise I was passionate about until a few months ago. Womens Football. I was scrolling through facebook tonight and a post came up about the Chelsea Ladies team going to the finals at Wembley. I’m a Chelsea supporter so obviously I was proud and left my own comment with happiness. That happiness quickly disappeared when I started scrolling through the comments. These were some of the delightful gems I came across…

I knew there would be some ‘chelsea is shit’ posts, there always are (haters gonna hate). I didn’t think there would be such sexist comments, it made me feel a little sick. The men in the comments section range from ‘get your tits out’ mentality to why is this here, women’s football will never be as big. I don’t know if they noticed but 50 percent of the world are female. Shock horror. The fact that there was so much open sexism made me feel a little sick and I think it was the last straw for me.

I remember wanting to go and watch the women’s world cup in the pub, it wasn’t on. While it wasn’t on expensive channels, no pubs had advertised it nor had they put it on. I don’t have a TV so the pub is where I go to watch sport, a few years ago every pub was rammed for the mens world cup, but women didn’t even get a mention. There are tops in supermarkets and the whole country gets involved for the mens world cup, but not the women. Oh no, no our greatest female footballers came home to this tweet (which was quickly taken down):

It was as if what they achieved was a cute little hobby and not, you know representing the country. I, like many others, was quick to point out that they had done better than our men’s team and at least deserved the same, if not more respect. Not because they’re women, but because they made the country proud.

When I was a little girl, I watched the football with my Dad, I named my hamster after Frank Lampard (he was called Lampie for short) and always had the latest football shirt. I remember asking my Dad after looking through Chelsea Magazine why we didn’t watch the women’s football on TV, just the mens. My Dad said he didn’t know, it just wasn’t as big as men’s football as far as he knew. I didn’t understand but I asked a few more questions, before letting it go. Now I’m 20 years old and I am still asking the same question I was at least a decade ago.

I liked playing football at school when I could do PE, tag rugby was fun (apart from when they made us stand outside and freeze) and I was one of only two girls in my class to get on to the highest level of trampets. I was never in the sporty crowd but sometimes I enjoyed it. I’m not going to lie and say I religiously watch any kind of football, I don’t really. What I am saying is that I 100% believe that if women’s football got as much exposure as men’s it would we’d inspire a new generation of girls that it’s not just the boys who can take the lead in sport.

We will beat the misogynists in football because there are strong women who are there to be role models for our little girls and women like me who don’t eat, sleep,breath sport but can appreciate it. I hope that in the next 10 years when I have children of my own, maybe even girls of my own, I can simply turn on the TV and there will be a women’s match on TV. That if I end up with a daughter who takes after My Dad, Gramps, Grandad, my cousins and have that passion for football and want to play, then hell they can go and do it with no prejudice.

Piss off sexism, there’s no room for you here.

Let me know what you think girls and guys? Do you think we’ll get equality in sport?

Play every gig like it’s Wembley

Jan 16, 2014Leave a comment

King Freddie gracing the stage of Wembley, the way he held the crowd was incredible

Ever since I was a little girl I’ve always been in awe of Wembley stadium. I went with my parents to the old stadium when I was small we have pictures of me holding various trophies (what they were I don’t know) but the football wasn’t what started me off. So many of my favourite bands have played Wembley, although I haven’t been to a gig there yet I still wonder what it feels like. I think about what it would be like to stand on that stage with thousands upon thousands screaming back at you, a musicians dream.

So maybe I didn’t play Wembley last night for real but I certainly was in my head, the SU came alive! The boys and I finally took to the stage as an electric band…it was amazing. It helps when you have a friend in the crowd who knows the lyrics..that makes you feel like a bit of a rock star. I was nervous and panicked before hand honestly not knowing how to pull this off but we did it! The fun members of the audience (who didn’t sit miserably at a table) were moving and cheering through the whole set. Despite starting with a broken string the rest of it ran smoothly with very minor mistakes. I was just so grateful to all the people who showed up and cheered and just enjoyed our music.

I also ended up talking to people about the lyrics afterwards, it made me realise that pain can actually be worth it. Try telling me that six months ago when my heart was broken! All the living I do comes out in the slightly messy way of my lyrics and last night I felt and lived them. The past is gone, I can’t change it and I can’t live in it so I’ve got something new to look forward too. My confidence has soared I feel like we could actually get somewhere with this (please like No People Club on facebook!). The best part was being compared to three of my idols after being told people want to buy our music, they were that into it!

The bottom line is that it’s times like these when I can accept myself for who I am, if it wasn’t for the depression would I have written the way I did? I don’t know but I do know that the hurt that went onto those pages is really paying off. So keep an eye out in the future, No People Club are on the way to the top…hmm this could mean a new tattoo.

Paramore, Paramore, PARAMORE

Sep 27, 2013Oct 9, 2013Leave a comment

Ali and I at Paramore 2013, Wembley Arena!

Three years ago a self conscious redhead headed to the O2 Arena to see Paramore for the first time with her lovely boyfriend. They had just released their third album ‘Brand New Eyes’ and I was hooked. I first got into Paramore at the age of 13 (just before I met Ali actually!) and from the first time I listened to ‘Riot’ I was hooked. For some reason Hayley’s lyrics spoke to me and as cheesy as it sounds every album has helped me through various stages of my life. I wasn’t lucky enough to know about them when ‘All We Know’ was released, although I do still relate to those songs. For me ‘Riot’ was something else, here was a girl with beautiful orange hair (I’d always been a fan of gingers) who could kick ass and write great songs and as for the musicians? I couldn’t get those riffs out of my freaking head. I wanted to be in a band and partly that was because of Paramore. It wasn’t until ‘Brand New Eyes’ was released I could see them live, as a present my Mum ended up buying me and Ali tickets, I don’t remember specifics but the night was amazing and it made me love them even more. I came back from that concert with no voice what so ever, this time I thought I’d make the same mistake.

Now I was skeptical about this concert. I had read so many interviews that were Hayley based and seen videos where she was the center of attention, was this the Paramore I knew and loved? No it wasn’t I loved knowing about all five of them and I was worried that since the Farro’s left the show might feel empty. After running for multiple trains (damn busses again!) we finally arrived at Wembley (finally calm after my mum phoned ahead to check we weren’t going to miss them, we got there in plenty of time in the end) got our T-Shirts and waited for Paramore to begin. Before this was a support act called Charli XCX who in my opinion didn’t fit in with what we had paid to see. I began getting excited, all they had to do was put Hayley’s box saying ‘Paramore’ on the stage for the whole arena to start screaming and chanting. I turned into a fan girl. All my worries melted away as soon as they came on to new song ‘Grow Up’, a personal favorite of mine. Ok so the stage looked like there was a little too much room as the three of them ran about and Hayley’s new look was..different. As the show carried on you could see why people had made such a big deal. Hayley spoke with open honesty and you felt like they all cared about you. You could see how much the fans meant to them and how much fun they were having and they didn’t shy away from what had happened. I’m not ashamed to say I cried because this was music that had got me through so much and here was my idol telling us what they really meant. There was nothing lacking in ‘Paramore’ if anything you could feel how much they had grown up and together, especially in the little snippets where they played Ukulele it was damn adorable.

Three of my heroes, they’ve still got it

I will always be a ‘Parawhore’

My favorite part of the show? It’s not every night you see Wembley Arena transformed into the night sky by fans who feel like your family. ‘The Only Exception’ was incredible and even Hayley, Jeremy and Taylor were clearly shocked and grateful for the response. The song had meaning for me because I was standing with the man I loved again to the same song and more in love than ever. I couldn’t see Paramore without Ali it’s just become our thing really. We laughed, we danced, we got all sweaty and I don’t know if I can speak for Ali but I got that breath of fresh air in me that made me ready to record. As Hayley said ‘What ever you are going through, you’ll get through it. If we’re standing up here, you can get through whatever it is’ and I believed her, For All That Goes may be over but be damn sure you’ll be hearing about No People Club the new songs are amazing. I hold on to the feeling that music can transform your entire life. So here it is Paramore, I want to say thank you in advance.