Tag / Nights Out

by Gareth

Gig stuff

Been to a couple of pretty big gigs over the last two weeks. First off was last week when I finally got to see Foo Fighters live!

I’d originally bought a ticket to see them play in 2022, but obviously with the sad death of their drummer Taylor Hawkins, the whole of that tour was cancelled. Anyway, I bought some tickets when this new tour was announced last summer, so had been looking forward to it for quite a while!

I bought 4 tickets in total, so a few weeks beforehand, Abhi took a couple of tickets off me for him and his friend Caz, and then Ali travelled up from Bristol to come along as well!

Ali, me, Abhi and Caz.

We all took the tram in together from East Didsbury, and arrived at Old Trafford Cricket Ground whilst the first of the two support acts was playing. I’d not heard of the first group, but the second support was from Wet Leg, and I do know a few of their songs. During this, the heavens opened, and we all got a bit wet – the weather forecast for the evening had said there’d be rain, but was supposed to clear by the time the Foo Fighters were to appear, and luckily it did!

Foo Fighters at Old Trafford.

Continue reading →

by Gareth

Live comedy catch-up

Just thought I’d make a quick post to document my last two comedy shows of the year. Last Thursday I was at The Lowry’s Lyric Theatre to see John Robins perform his latest comedy show, ‘Howl’. I’d had the ticket since the beginning of January and when I bought it, the only ones still available were on the back row of the lower circle – the furthest back I’ve sat in there!

‘John Robins – Howl’ at The Lowry.

When I was at the Edinburgh Fringe back in August, he was doing two shows – ‘Howl’ and a ‘Work-in-Progress’, so I decided to go to the WIP since I knew I already had a ticket for ‘Howl’ later in the year, and guessed that it would probably contain more stuff that wouldn’t end up in the main show. The Lowry show was in two parts and ran for about an hour and a half, and I was pleased to discover that whilst I recognised a bit of the material from Edinburgh, the majority was new to me. I thought he was really good… it’s a weird kind of show because it focusses a lot on mental health and dealing with alcoholism, so although it was quite dark and heavy in places, it was also pretty powerful and really funny, and I think the balance he struck was spot on.

Continue reading →

by Gareth

Video games and Bristol visitors

Lee at Arcade Club.

Last month, I spent a fun evening at Arcade Club in Bury with Michael and Lee. We went there back in January, and they have 4 floors of arcade machines and some other classic games from the 70s up to now! Just like my first time, my gaming skills weren’t the greatest, but it was really nice to catch up with both Michael and Lee – I’d seen Lee briefly whilst in Edinburgh in August, but I don’t think I’d seen Michael since our last time doing this.

Michael and Lee.

Michael at Arcade Club.

Continue reading →

by Gareth

Sounds of the City

This week, I went to ‘Sounds In The City’ to see the Inspiral Carpets and Blossoms play at the Castlefield Bowl. I saw Snow Patrol play there last year, so was hoping for an equally decent gig this time!

Inspiral Carpets.

There was an extra support act before the Inspiral Carpets, but I didn’t make it there in time to see them! Anyway, I got myself a decent position, and when the Inspirals canme on, I hadn’t realised how many of their songs I actually knew! I haven’t listened to them loads in recent years – obviously I heard them quite a bit on TV and radio during the late 80s and early 90s, just as I was finishing school and starting uni – but the memory was still there!

Inspiral Carpets setlist:

Joe
She Comes in the Fall
This Is How It Feels
Two Worlds Collide
Find Out Why
Move
I Want You
Dragging Me Down
Saturn 5

Before Blossoms came on, there was an idiot not too far away from me that though it’d be fun to throw pints over the crowd, which he found hilarious, but others less so! At one point, someone who’d got hit by one pushed his way through the crowd and tried to deck him! Even after this, he was very arrogant about it, and carried on with it… but there was a real sense of justice when security eventually came over and took him away!

Blossoms.

Continue reading →

by Gareth

Penn & Teller

Last night I got to see two of the world’s most famous magicians live in Manchester! Back in 2021, I spotted that they had planned to do a UK tour then but it’d been pushed back to 2023 because of Covid, so I checked to see if there were any tickets available and there still were a very limited amount on sale for the new date.

Penn & Teller.

I think I first saw them doing stuff back in the 90s when they had a TV show on Channel 4, where they’d do tricks with chainsaws and the like, often including a lot of fake blood! And obviously they’re massive in America, with a Vegas residency and appearing on TV quite a bit over there. They opened with a gag about them now performing age-appropriate magic, since they’ve been working together for 50 years, so started off with an escapology routine with them in rocking chairs with on oxygen cylinder on hand to help with their breathing!

Penn & Teller.

Continue reading →

by Gareth

Music Of The Spheres

I saw Coldplay live this week and they were awesome!

I bought tickets when they went on sale last year, and it was really difficult getting any! The last 3 times I’ve seen them, I’ve been able to get a spot down on the main floor, but by the time I did manage to get through to buy some, there were only a few seats left up in the highest tiers, so I ended up buying 3 seated tickets pretty close to the stage, but way high up in the top section.

So about five or six weeks ago, I mentioned on Facebook that I had a couple of spare tickets for Thursday’s gig, and the first to respond was Ali, closely followed by Jon (who actually came with me to see them back in 2012!)

Me, Ali and Jon waiting for Coldplay!

Both Ali and Jon arrived in Stockport in the afternoon – Ali drove up from Bristol, and Jon came from Bedford via a combination of buses and trains after his National Express bus left without him (just to add some jeopardy into the day!)

We then took the tram to the Etihad Stadium, and got there just before seven o’clock, so decided to buy some food before going in, so we bought pie and chips for tea! We made it to our seats just in time for a support set from the band Chvrches. I don’t know loads of their stuff, but what I have heard I do like, so had been keen to see them play before Coldplay.


Continue reading →

by Gareth

The Lion King and Arcade Club

Last night I was in Manchester to see The Lion King at the Palace Theatre – it’s in the middle of a run that finishes at the start of March, and I’ve got stuff coming up next month so thought it’d be good to get a ticket to see it now. I’m a big fan of the soundtrack to original film – I’ve listened to it many, many times, so it’s definitely a musical I’ve always wanted see.

The Lion King at the Palace Theatre.

Anyway, I only bought the ticket last week – there were hardly any seats still available apart from a few really expensive ones, but there was a single seat available on the second row of the circle for a pretty decent price. It had a note on the booking site saying it had limited legroom, but the difference in price meant I thought I’d go for cost over comfort! And they really weren’t lying about the legroom – there wasn’t much room at all between the rows!

The show itself is absolutely amazing! I actually felt emotional at the start as it opened with Circle of Life, from the iconic music to all the performers swarming onto the stage from the sides and the stalls.

The Lion King cast.

Continue reading →

by Gareth

3rd Blossoms gig of the year!

Last night I was at my 3rd Blossoms gig of the year – which is probably a big excessive! I saw them at the Plaza back in May, and then in June they were supporting the Killers in – 3rd time… plus there was the film screening at the Savoy Cinema!

I arrived quite early, because it turned out that England’s World Cup quarter final game against France was also taking place last night and they’d decided to show it on a big screen, meaning the support act, Brooke Combe, had her set-time moved to just after 6pm! I do generally like to check out support acts at gigs, and I thought I could then also watch my first match of the World Cup with a crowd.

The screen came down at 7pm to show the match, with the plan that the band would then start their set at 9pm, but of course the game ended a draw which meant that it went into extra time! It was a pretty tense half hour, but the game eventually ended with a score of England 1-2 France, and I reckon I was probably the only person not hoping for it to go to penalties, because I wanted the gig to not be delayed anymore, knowing that there’d be a cut-off time later they’d have to stop at!

Blossoms gig at the Stockport Plaza.

Continue reading →

by Gareth

Weekend away, and more live music

At the start of the month, it was time for what has become our annual UCECU reunion, coinciding with Bonfire night. I got a lift down with Steve and Tanya – they drove down from Glasgow, stopping in Manchester on Friday night when I went out for food with them – and we arrived down at Phil & Mary’s in Worcestershire early afternoon. There weren’t as many of us this year because Helen and her two kids had car issues, so had to bail at the last minute, but it was still nice to get a few of us together.

In the evening we went to see a fireworks display at the Astwood Bank Cricket Club, which as usual had a really good turnout. It was pretty cold – it caused me to get get quite breathless on the walk there, but I pretty much recovered once we were just standing around in the field.

Fireworks at the Astwood Bank Cricket Club.

Continue reading →

by Gareth

Unwanted birthday

So it was my birthday last week, and I hit a milestone which wasn’t particularly wanted! For my 40th, I travelled to America and spent my actual birthday in New York which was pretty cool, but for my 50th I didn’t really want to do anything to celebrate! Anyway, back to that in a minute!

Mum came up to stay for a few days on Tuesday, with the main idea to clear out the planter in my back garden and put some new plants in there. We hit a slight issue quite early on due to the fact that the plant that was already in there didn’t want to come out! I was given a couple of pot plants as a birthday present about 9 or 10 years ago, and I stuck them outside in the planter because I didn’t have anywhere in the house to put them at the time, but since then, they’d exploded from their pots and grown to a ridiculous size!

So it actually took quite a few days to hack away at it, and once we’d removed most of the leaves, found that it had become a massive stump that had roots that had spread throughout all of the soil! It was really difficult to get out because it was so big and heavy, and also because of the space it was in made it really difficult to manoeuvre.

Mum tackling the overgrown plant!

Continue reading →

by Gareth

Nights out and a weekend in Wales

Bit of an update of things I’ve been up to recently… last month I got to see Martin Smith perform at Night & Day in Manchester which was really cool. I’ve seen him play there a few times now, and it’s a really intimate venue, and I was pretty much at the front for the whole show, so had a great view!

Martin Smith at Night and Day.

I was wondering if I might bump into people I know, and I managed to go the whole gig without spotting anyone, but at the end of the night I saw Craig (who I used to work with back at MUTV) and his wife Ima. I’m not sure when I last saw them – it’s been quite a while, but it was really nice to catch up with what they’ve been up to.

Martin Smith at Night and Day.

Then, the weekend after that gig, I went to see a heat of the West Didsbury Comedy Festival, because Edi Johnston had travelled from Nottingham to take part in one of the heats of the ‘New Comedian of the Year’ competition.

Edi Johnston.

Continue reading →

by Gareth

Wimbledon and the West End

Just got back from a really great week filming down in London. I was staying down there for seven days working at Wimbledon for the ‘Play Your Way To Wimbledon’ tournament, producing social content each day for ESPN. Ahead of the week, I’d done a few filming days profiling three of the players, so had already had a chance to work with some of the crew – Ged who was producing all the content (and who I’ve been aware of for years through mutual friends, but never worked with before), and another cameraman called Billy who’s based in the midlands and mostly does stuff for Sky Sports.

Filming at Wimbledon.

Me, Billy and another cameraman called Tony spent the days filming lots of the tennis matches, as well as shooting extra features with former tennis pro Laura Robson, who was with us to present each day’s social video. I felt a bit sorry for the editor Alex who had to deliver the final video at the end of each day, because we were constantly supplying him with more and more footage as he was trying to compile that day’s edit! I was kind of happy that I was filming rather than editing on this project!

Tony, Ged, Laura, Liam, Saff and me in Wimbledon’s Centre Court.

Continue reading →

by Gareth

House guests and another gig

I moved into my house in 2002, and it’s been in a state of renovation and decoration ever since then! In 2014, the carpet in my bedroom was removed after having the whole room replastered, so I’ve just had bare floorboards since then, and there’s been none downstairs or on the stairs & landing for 18 years!

But now, I finally have new carpets throughout the house! It’s amazing how much it changes the feel of the place – it really does mean my house is finally starting to feel more like a home!

New carpet in dining room.

And on top of that, I also have a decent bed! For years I’ve been making do with basic single bed whilst I’ve been sorting stuff out (at one point I spent months just sleeping on a mattress on the floor!), but now I have a really nice ottoman bed with a reasonably expensive(!) memory-foam topped mattress, so it really feels like I’m now living in luxury!

New carpet and bed.

To be honest, it did take something to kickstart all this after living so long without carpets and a decent bed! Basically, Ali rang me a few weeks ago saying that she and the kids were going to be on a family holiday in north Wales, and was wondering if I’d be able to put them up for a few days if they came back via Manchester (so they also could visit some friends in Buxton). I said yes, knowing the house wasn’t ideal – especially for kids(!) – so it forced me into going out and choosing what carpet to have, and then arranging to get it fitted just a few days before they arrived! Also, I’d put off getting a new bed until I had carpet down, so it meant I could then buy a new bed from Dreams and arrange to get it delivered on the Monday, with my guests arriving on the Tuesday.

Continue reading →

by Gareth

Even more live shows!

I know I said a while back that I need to post more everyday stuff because it makes it seem like I’m just going out all the time, but this last week has been pretty busy with two gigs that had been postponed by Covid taking place, plus an impromptu trip to the Lowry last Sunday night for some comedy!

So first off, last Saturday I spotted a tweet about Bill Bailey having played at the Lowry the previous night, and there was also mention of him playing a second show on the Sunday night. So on Sunday morning, I bought a ticket for that night’s performance!

Bill Bailey at The Lowry.

I’d previously seen Bill Bailey live a few years ago at the Apollo, and it was really good, although I had seen some bits of that show on various video clips, so parts of it didn’t have quite the impact they would’ve done having seen them for the first time. But with this new show – ‘En Route To Normal’ – it was pretty much all new stuff, and it was hilarious. And the guy is such a top-class musician, and I really love the way he incorporates it so well with the comedy.

Continue reading →

by Gareth

Blossoms cinema screening

Last night, I was at the Savoy Cinema in Heaton Moor to watch two Blossoms films – ‘Ribbon Around The Bomb – a short film by Edwin Burdis’ and ‘Complete at 23 – The Making of Ribbon Around The Bomb’. I’d seen them promoting it on Twitter earlier in the week, so I decided to get a ticket for last night’s showing.

I’d seen the first film at the Plaza a couple of weeks ago (albeit with a break for the fire alarm!), but hadn’t seen the ‘making of’ film before, so was looking forward to seeing that. Also, the band themselves were in the audience watching it too, so that was pretty cool.

‘Complete at 23 – The Making of Ribbon Around The Bomb’ – watching at The Savoy Heaton Moor with the band.

I was really glad I went along to this, because I wasn’t 100% sure what to make of the main ‘Ribbon Around The Bomb’ film when I first saw it the other week, but seeing it for a second time really made me appreciate it much more – I think watching it with a cinema audience definitely helped. And I also found the making-of-the-album film, actually edited by Tom from the band, really fascinating. It was interesting watching the album take shape in the studio, and how the tracks evolve as they all try different things, under the eye of producer James Skelly (frontman of The Coral). It was pretty funny having the band sitting a few rows in front of me reacting to it all – with quite a lot of laughter and the occasional mild heckling! A really fun evening!