The return of the music

And hopefully a revival of my ability to blog.

It has been a long two years. And I know the pandemic isn’t completely over, but it does feel like there is light now, and especially in Ireland, the numbers are low and the restrictions have been lifted.

And the music has returned.

After two years at home, we have finally been able to go to gigs again.And we have some festivals to look forward to as well.

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6 April 2022: Ensiferum, The Academy, Dublin

It is probably no secret by now that Ensiferum is one of my all time favourite bands. This was the fifth time I’ve seen them live, and I have seen then in four different countries now, and they never disappoint.

The Academy is a great, intimate venue, that allowed me a great view of the band without being right in the crowd.

And there is just something about this band that makes me incredibly happy.

The setlist was great, Sammi’s energy is unstoppable, and it was the best way to return to live music while living in a new country.

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6 May 2022: Tool, 3 Arena, Dublin

I must be honest and admit that I’ve never really listened much to Tool, but when a friend asked if we wanted to join them for the gig, I couldn’t say no, because it has been so long since we’d seen anyone live, and it is always a good way to get to know a band.

3 Arena is massive, and the event was a seated one, which is interesting for a metal gig, but allowed me to really listen to the band.

Tool is an amazing prog metal experience without the vocals. Some of the music was reminiscent of Opeth, but I prefer deeper vocals, and this was just missing for me. I will probably not listen to much Tool in the future either for this reason.

A shoutout for support band Brass Against, who we’ve seen once before at Wacken, and is simply amazing.

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25 May 2022, My Chemical Romance, The Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin

I never thought I would get the opportunity to see My Chemical Romance live, and when the reunion tour was originally announced, we still lived in the UK and tickets sold out quicker than I could say The Foundations of Ok. And then the pandemic happened, the tour got postponed, we moved and another date was added in Dublin. I got lucky.

First outdoor event for the year, and it was glorious. It was a lovely sunny evening, not yet so hot that you melt and cool enough to hop around if the mood grabbed.

And Gerard and the boys were amazing.

Also special shoutout to support act Gayle, who has an amazing voice and energy, and will now make it into my regular playlist on Spotify.

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Our next music event is Prima Vera in Barcelona on 4 June, where we will get to see some long time favourites, including Einsturzende Neubauten, Nick Cave and Bauhaus.

I should start getting better at these again with some practise

Cruachan and guests in Dublin

This weekend, the husband and I went off to Dublin for our first gig since Feb 2020, which also happened to be our first gig since moving to Ireland.

Ah, yes, that happened. We moved to Ireland! But we will come back to that another time, maybe.

It has also been our first semi-post-pandemic big outing, so we were a little nervous about being around a lot of people again. To be honest, we’ve been avoiding gatherings for the last few months for many reasons, and even visiting restaurants have made us nervous. And yes, we are both fully vaccinated, but there are so many people out there who are quite selfish in this regard that we’ve just generally steered clear of people.

Anyway…

The gig was at The Grand Social, which is a grand venue indeed along the river Liffey and in a vibrant part of Dublin city. From arrival, we met some lovely friendly Irish metal heads and other assorted interesting folks, and it was so nice to just be for a bit, let our hair down and laugh quite a bit. Not sure if anyone’s noticed, but the Irish are quite funny in a ha-ha-ha kind of way.

And then the music started.

 

The first band up was God Alone.

I wish a picture could convey a vibe much better. Or the energy that these young lads had.

I may be slightly obsessed with telling everyone about them now.

These lads. My god. They blew my socks off. This stage was definitely not big enough for them, or their sound. They are a wonderful chaotic blend of many different sounds I love. My quick note to myself during the gig was that they sound like Opeth, Bauhaus and Einsturzende Neubauten spawned an offspring. I am not even sure if that was their intent, but the prog metal sound is strong in there.

After this, Ravenlight took to the stage with a good strong sound and fabulous female vocals.

We got a little overwhelmed by the number of people in the venue, so didn’t see too much of the Ravenlight set, and missed the Old Season set completely, but did manage to catch the headliners, Cruachan (pronounced kroo-kan apparently), who certainly did not disappoint. Strong folk metal sound and a fantastic stage presence – so glad we caught them.

We had a great night out, despite feeling a bit overwhelmed, and it was much needed.

The next gig we will be attending will be with the Hothouse Flowers and a few other bands on New Years’s Eve, and then Ensiferum and Dark Tranquility in April 2022.

The music of 2019

This has been a really good year for us, musically. We have attended a great number of gigs and seen some bands that we never thought would be possible. Here’s a nutshell view of the gigs we’ve been to this year.

Post-Modern Jukebox

In February, we headed off to Oxford for an evening with the magnificent Post Modern Jukebox for an evening of classic remakes of modern songs, and they certainly did not disappoint.

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Laibach

In March, we spent an evening with long-time loves, Slovenian avant-garde group Laibach. I’ve have loved Laibach since my late teens, and spending the evening with them was a really special moment for me. The fist half of the evening, they shared their documentary Liberation Day about going to North Korea with us, and then performed a number of beloved songs from the Sound of Music and more.

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Dead Can Dance

Dead Can Dance is one of the first bands that the husband and I shared a love for, and their music has been a constant in our lives both before we met and since then. In May, we were fortunate enough to experience the magnificence of Dead Can Dance live. Lisa Gerrard’s voice transported us to many worlds, and certainly did not disappoint. Paired with Brendan Perry’s vocals, and a blend of magical sounds, this is probably one of the best gigs we’ve ever been to, and one we will remember for a long time. It was also one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences for us, as the band no longer plays gigs that regularly.

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Muse

In June, we headed off to the Olympic Park Stadium in London for an evening with Muse and friends. Muse is certainly worthy of such a big, magnificent venue and fills up the space with their sound and energy. Another great gig and night to remember.

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Nick Cave

Later in June, I spent an evening with Nick Cave for the very intimate Conversations with Nick Cave. It was an evening with just Nick Cave on stage with his piano and a microphone, answering questions from the audience, providing us with a glimpse into his mind and soul, and sharing the beauty of his music with us.

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Wacken Open Air

Going to Wacken has become a bit of an annual pilgrimage for us, returning to the Holy Metal land to watch as many bands as possible and being with the best community in the world, and this year was no exception. We saw a large number of bands as always, but for me the highlights were seeing The Sisters of Mercy, Brass Against, Facing the Gallows, Bloodywood, Hammerfall, Powerwolf and one of my new favourite bands, The Vintage Caravan.

Killswitch Engage

I joined the husband and some friends at the Killswitch Engage gig in London in October. They’re not typically my cup of tea, but it was a good night out and they certainly put on a good show.

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The Cult

Another favourite from my younger years is The Cult, and we were fortunate enough to catch their Sonic Temple tour in London in October. They were supported by The Last Internationale, which we’d never heard before but was absolutely phenomenal. Another bucket list band seen, and the support band has also made it into my regular playlist now.

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Opeth and The Vintage Caravan

October was a really busy month for us, as we also got to see Opeth, with The Vintage Caravan in support, towards the end of October. Opeth is one of my top 5 favourite bands at the moment, and seeing them live finally was a very special night for me.

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a-ha

a-ha was one of the first bands I ever loved, and the start of my musical love affair with the Nordic countries. Seeing them live at the Royal Albert Hall in November was truly special.

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Amon Amarth

Our last gig of the year was seeing Swedish greats Hypocrisy, Arch Enemy and Amon Amarth, at the end of November in London. Amon Amarth is another one of my current favourite bands, regularly featuring in my playlists, and seeing them live never disappoints. I’ve seen them a few times at Wacken, but this was the first time seeing them in a smaller setting – and it was still a spectacular event.

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Thank you to each of the bands we have seen, and every other band we listen to on a regular basis, for the music and the memories.

Music has always been a constant in my life, from when I was a very young human. My taste in music may have expanded over the years, and it changes according to my mood, but there are some constants throughout.

Every now and again on social media there will be some kind of music challenge – 10 songs that changed your life, 20 albums that influenced you, etc – and I will always participate, because it is so absolutely core to me. Even when I do not listen to music for weeks on end because, well, life gets in the way.

I bought my first walkman when I was 9 years old. It was a cheap piece of shit, but it was a start.

When I was 10, I saved my pocket money for months until I had enough to go and buy a good walkman. This one was much better.

When I was 12, I again saved my pocket money and finally bought myself a boombox – except I would never have called it a boombox. It was a deluxe double tape deck FM/AM radio. The double tape deck was the important thing, because it was the time of mix tapes.

And taping your favourite songs from the radio.

That was an art in itself. You had to time it perfectly. You had to know the first few beats of the song, and hit the button just as the DJ stopped talking, and then hit the pause button – never stop, always pause – as the song approaches the last few beats, just before the ad for got knows what ruins the ending completely.

And this is why you needed a double tape deck.So you can edit out these little annoyances. And compile the songs in an order that tells a story – mostly that you are making googly eyes at some guy :)

My walkman and I went everywhere. There was no greater freedom than me, my bicycle, long summer days and my walkman. I would cycle around the neighbourhood aimlessly, just so I could listen to music. It was glorious.

These days, my phone is my walkman, and I have Spotify – so there is no need to wait next to the radio to hear my favourite song to make a compilation, and I have the world’s music at my finger tips, for the most part. There are still a few favourite bands that are not on Spotify, but I can savour them at the right moments.

So I’ve been making a bit of a mixtape again. A mixtape with no limits. And every song I love. It is a work in progress, a labour of love.

2018 in Review – Music

2018 was a good year for me, musically. Not only did I have more opportunity to listen to music than I have in recent years, I also attended a fair number of concerts and expanded my listening scope even more.

As always, I rely on Last.fm to provide me with my listening stats, which has become a lot easier since I use Spotify to listen and there is a native integration between the two services. It means that even the music I listen to on my Xbox while gaming is scrobbled seamlessly, which makes me very happy.

The Charts

While I didn’t get to listen to music nearly as much as I would have liked, I did scrobble more songs than before and listened to a total of 5190 songs, apparently.

Absolutely not surprising me is that Ensiferum is, again, my top artist for the year. This is mostly because I absolutely love them, but also because I got to see them live again this year, which always causes a spike in listening.

I did listen to a fair bit of new music this year…

What’s not reflected are a few bands I discovered towards the end of the year, so didn’t get to listen to them enough to make an impact, but they should show up on the charts for 2019.

The concerts

We were lucky enough to head into London for a few concerts this year. We started the year off with Epica, supported by Myrkur in April, then saw Ensiferum and Ex Deo in May. Over the summer, the husband attended Wacken again, while I went off to Lollapalooza in Paris to see Rag n Bone Man, Jess Glynne, The Killers and the Gorillaz. We had a very busy November/December, and managed to squeeze in Powerwolf, Nightwish, Peter Murphy doing 40 years of Bauhaus, and Dimmu Borgir and friends.

While I always love Ensiferum and Powerwolf and seeing them live in smaller venues was fantastic (as opposed to seeing them at Wacken which has been the experience for the last few years), for me, the standout was seeing Peter Murphy as it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It brought back so many memories of my late teens, early twenties and it was great to get the old body dancing again

I really enjoyed seeing Ex Deo as well, and the introduction to Myrkur was very welcome.

Now that we have figured out this concert thing, we have already bought tickets to a number of events for the next year, including our tickets for WOA 2019 – which brings with it the opportunity to see many favourites, including Opeth (!!!) and The Sisters of Mercy.

On future planning, upcoming events and hidden art

It is hard to believe that a short two years ago, we were rushing around madly trying to sell our home and belongings, arrange our visas and planning for the biggest adventure we could imagine. It feels like we have been in the UK for a lifetime already.

We have been talking about our next steps recently, as our visas only allow us to be in the UK for five years, and we don’t want to leave it for the last minute and get caught with our pants down. And while we have a few options we are mulling over, the one thing we know for certain is that we simply do not want to return to South Africa. We rather enjoy being so close to the things we enjoy, and cannot imagine living in that constant state of fear again.

But really, for us it is about the lifestyle that we’ve always wanted. Going to Wacken now means a quick 1.5 hour flight to Hamburg, rather than the 10-18 hour flights from the Southern Hemisphere, which means we can now attend every year. We can also go to gigs and events all around the UK without having to apply for a visa and saving for a year or two. And while we are here, we are going to do this as much as possible. Which is why we have already lined up tickets for the following:

• Powerwolf and Amaranthe in November
• The Unnoficial Stargate Convention in November
• Nightwish in December
• Peter Murphy in December

And the husband is going to see Dimmu Borgir and Kreator in December as well.

We’re also planning to see Turisas and Korpiklaani in February, and I am going to try and see George Ezra in March. And then there is also the opportunity to see great minds like Professor Brian Cox share the wonders of science with vast audiences.

We took a wander through London again yesterday, and my bestie Mandy introduced us to a wonder that’s been hidden right under our noses, the Graffiti Tunnel located under Waterloo Station. It’s actually called the Leake Street Tunnel and was first turned into a street art gallery by the famous Banksy. It is now a legal space for street artists to show off their skills, and it truly is a magnificent sight. I took some photos, but they really don’t do the space justice.

On Sword Bearers

I got to see my favourite vikings, Ensiferum, live in London last night. It is the first time in 7 years I’ve seen them live, and it was simply perfect.

On Outings and New Loves

On Friday, the husband and I headed out into London for a bit of a celebration, as it was our anniversary recently and his birthday next week. He wanted to go see Epica, so we headed off to the O2 Forum in Kentish Town for a night of good metal.

While Epica have filtered into my playlists here and there, I have to admit that I was not overly familiar with their music and could not really call myself a fan. I had also not heard of the two supporting acts before.

When we walked in, Oceans of Slumber were on stage already and well into their set. Unfortunately, it was not a sound that grabbed me. The lead singer had an amazing voice, but, to me, it seemed like the rest of the music did not support her voice – instead, it seemed to be a bit of a competitive situation on stage, as if three different bands were trying to play at the same time. I was surprised to discover they have been going since 2011 and have 3 albums under their belt already.

I will try and listen to their studio albums before passing final judgement some time, but it will take some convincing for them to make it into any of my playlists on a full time basis.

Next up was Myrkur. I’d never heard of them, unfortunately, but within 10 seconds of their first song, I declared my undying love, and immediately followed them on Spotify.

I would offer up my soul or a bowl of lentils for more of this, and look forward to listening to Myrkur a LOT more in future.

Epica put on a fantastic show. They are engaging and entertaining, and really know how to get the crowd involved in the show. Simone Simons has a lovely voice and a fantastic energy, and they are certainly fabulous musicians too, and will also definitely become a more regular feature of my playlists. But, for me, the show was stolen by the synth/piano player, Coen Janssen, who rolled the synth around like a scooter when not playing, and acting out the songs in the most comedic ways. He had me in stiches at time, and it was wonderful. It is great to see a metal band who, while playing fairly serious music, doesn’t take things too seriously.

All in all, a great night out, and the O2 Forum is definitely a great venue – small enough to be intimate while big enough to fit big sound without feeling crowded and claustrophobic.

One of the perks of travelling as much for work as I do is that I get to rake up hotel loyalty points, which allows us to stay in places that may not always be possible. For my birthday, we visited Cardiff and stayed in a hotel there using loyalty points, so for the husband’s birthday, I decided we would do the same. We were fortunate enough to get a great room at a hotel in Islington with a lovely view of the London skyline.

On Saturday, we went for a walk-around Greenwich, which I think is one of my favourite areas of London. The husband had not been there before, so I had to go show him around the Old Royal Naval College, which was also the set for a famous scene in Thor: The Dark World and makes for gorgeous photos too.

Spring finally decided to arrive in England yesterday, and, when the sun shines, this is truly a glorious place to be.

Our next big outing will be going to see Ensiferum and Ex Deo at the O2 Academy in Islington on 1 May, and the ability to do these things is one of the main reasons we wanted to live in the UK and so close to London. I am ridiculously exited for this concert, because Ensiferum has been one of my favourite bands for the last 8 years or so, and I have recently fallen a little bit in love with Ex Deo.

On new things and travel plans

There has been great excitement in our household this week, for several reasons. Firstly, the husband started working on Monday, in a real job at a real company with a real salary.

This is important for so many reasons. Of course, the money is going to help tremendously. It will remove the pressure from me, as we can now easily afford not only paying for university, but also to save up money to travel and attend festivals and concerts and feed our hobbies. But, almost more importantly, it means the husband will feel like a productive human being again and get out and about. As glamourous as executive house husband sounds, I know it has also been a frustrating year for him at home with not much to do other than clean house and play games. For his own sanity and sense of self-worth, I am grateful this has come along.

Unfortunately, the husband’s bicycle was stolen at the station on Monday while he was at work, which did put a bit of a down spin on the mood in the house, but we quickly ordered him a replacement bicycle (thank you Amazon) and by Friday, he was independently mobile again

I also discovered this week that I have been putting away £50 a month into a savings benefit through work since I joined the team here in the UK, and it had accumulated into quite a nice little bundle. And, instead of being a fiscally responsible human and just leaving it alone, I decided to spend a chunk of it on a new Xbox One X for the house. In reality, what this has meant is that the husband, who plays predominantly in the sitting room, has been upgraded to the Xbox One X, and our original Xbox One that was there has moved up into the bedroom to replace my Xbox 360. The new beast arrived yesterday afternoon, so we are both grateful for the snowy weather outside forcing us indoors to play with new toys.

We have been looking at concerts and festivals this year, and have so far decided on seeing Epica in April, Ensiferum and Ex Deo in May and Powerwolf in November. These I will attend with the husband.

The kid and I are also looking at attending one day of Lollapalooza Paris this year. Neither of us have been to Paris before, and so we have decided to make a bit of a trip of this. As an art student, the kid is very interested in seeing the Louvre, and I really just want to go take a picture of the Eiffel Tower and have a pastry walking along the Seine. We are, of course, very aware of the fact that this is quite a thing, being able to plan a week-end away in Paris. It is certainly not something that was part of our world two years ago, and is one of the main reasons we chose the UK over Australia, New Zealand and the US for our new home country.

We are also planning a visit to South Africa later this year for my mother’s birthday. I am looking forward to seeing my mother again, as well as a few friends we have left behind.

As I mentioned, it is a little snowy outside again, which is simply glorious and beautiful to look at. This is a picture taken from our front door this morning:

Year in Review: 2017

I am still a little flabbergasted by the fact that I am alive in a year that sounds like a SciFi date. And, of course, if one reads the news, we are actually living in a dystopian novel at the moment.

I tried to participate in NaNoWriMo this year, and got to write quite a bit of a story that, when I started sounded like an alternate future, but 10 days in started to resemble the current reality too much that I simply could not continue. I am still not ready for a world where Trump is president, the 1% is blatant about their distaste for the 99% and Putin is fast on his way to becoming world emperor.

But, some good things happened this year too, and I think I am going to focus on those things instead.

The Big Move

While we started our very own Great Trek in October 2016, we only really settled this year. We had some touch and go moments this year, as we were not sure if our offspring would be able to join us (as they were not covered by my visa), but it worked out in the end. They received an unconditional offer from Reading University to study Art and were granted a Tier 4 student visa for the duration of the course. This means our youngling can stay with us for the next 4 years, at least.

My husband’s father has had to return to South Africa though due to some family complications, but we found him a lovely place to stay and he seems much happier there – he did not do to well with the UK winter.

We have now been in the UK for more than a year, and finally feel like we live here. Some things were super easy to get used to, while other things took a while longer.

The move would have been a lot harder if we did not have friends who lived here and we are incredibly grateful for them. They are now all family.

Sights

In between settling and sorting out family things, we have managed to see a few sights this year.

We have had a few visits to London, but have also visited Bodiam Castle, Stonehenge and Brighton.

Music

This is one of the main reasons we chose Europe, and the UK, as our new home – it makes it so much easier to attend concerts. And, in my first year here, I have managed to see two of my all time favourites live: Einsturzende Neubauten and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

We also travelled to Germany for Wacken, and we got to see so many amazing bands, including Apocalyptica, Amon Amarth, Powerwolf and Saltatio Mortis.

And were in the fortunate position to take our youngling to see one of their favourites, the Gorillaz.

I’ve discovered the joys of Spotify this year, and we now have a family subscription which allows me to listen to music more frequently than I have in the last few years. Spotify also allows me to scrobble to Last.fm, which means I have some stats of my last year’s listening habits. No real surprises with my top tracks or top artists, really

Favourite new find for the year:

Because, apparently, I really love history and music involving history

Books, Movies and TV

Thank goodness for Goodreads and giving me the ability to track what I read.

So I have only completed 13 books so far this year, I am pretty happy with having read a little wider. I started re-reading the Terry Pratchetts last year already, and that theme has continued this year, including Good Omens in preparation for the upcoming television series. I started reading the Skulduggery Pleasant series last year, and managed to squeeze in a few more this year. I also read the Handmaid’s Tale finally, and then started watching the series on Channel 4. So many articles have been written about how appropriately timed this show is, much better articulated than I can even attempt.

But the biggest new find for me this year has been the Expanse series. I watched Season 1 of the series on Netflix towards the end of last year, and was hooked instantly. I rewatched the season twice in a very short span of time and then got sidetracked into other things, until Season 2 was released on Netflix towards the middle of this year. I binged season 2, and then decided to give the books a try. Despite some limited reading time, I practically inhaled the first book of the series, Leviathan Wakes, and have since purchased the second and third books in the series. I am just about finished reading the second book, and hope to have both book 2 & 3 completed before the end of the year (I have 10 days to go, so no pressure). To say that I am a little obsessed with this series at the moment is a slight understatement.

There have been a few other interesting TV series this year, most notably Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. I was looking forward to the new Star Trek series, but I just could not connect to it, no matter how much I tried. I will probably give it another try at some point in the future, but for now, it is shelved.

The husband and I rewatched Suits, That 70s Show and The Good Wife. We also really enjoyed the Marvel offerings, especially the Defenders.

I haven’t really been to movies as much as I would have liked this year, and unfortunately missed seeing Thor: Ragnarok at the cinema, but did thoroughly enjoy The Last Jedi and Guardians of the Galaxy 2. I am really so happy to live in a time when we are getting new Star Wars stories.

Phew, what a year. I am sure I have forgotten many things, and will try and be a little better at keeping track next year.