Music Is My Life

It's been a very musical week for me.

I love going to gigs. You can't beat going to see someone whose music you like, seeing them perform live in front of you and depending on the type of music, perhaps even in an intimate setting.

Well, I had one of those weeks when a few artists popped up in a big one week clump and if I wanted to see them at all, it'd had to be this week or nothing.

The first gig of the week was a tad unexpected, in that I only bought the ticket on the day. Tori Amos was playing at Hammersmith and despite being on her mailing list (yes, I do sign up for these things as sometimes you get more than just junk mail out of them) back when her tickets went on sale ages ago, I got no prior warning. Boo! Crap mailing list!


So I accidentally found out a few days after her tickets went on sale, logged on and tried to get something decent and I guess that I wasn't too surprised to discover only standing room in the back was available. So I passed.
I then forgot all about her gigs until I got an e-mail on Tuesday from a ticket seller's mailing list telling me what was coming up at the Hammersmith Apollo. (I also have the Shepherd's Bush Empire on a similar mailing as both venues are so easy for me to get to.)

I didn't really think too much of it but clicked on Tori Amos just out of curiosity to see if it had now sold out and lo and behold, a single seat only a dozen rows from the front came up! I snapped it up still annoyed at the extra service charge type costs that they add onto the ticket price despite the fact that I would be picking it up from the box office and went along to see a mighty fine concert.

Then the very next day it was off to the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank to see Suzanne Vega live. I'm also on her mailing list, but this one is decent in that she offered pre-sale tickets which I snapped up quickly and ended up with rather excellent front row seats!

I took the +1 along to this concert (having lent her Suzanne Vega's latest CD) and she was a bit worried that at the end of a long working day, the soft, melodic tones of SV's music might send her to sleep, front row or not. Luckily that wasn't the case and she really enjoyed it. SV engages the audience really well and gave us some nice patter in between songs, even almost accidentally leading into the wrong song at one point, only to be corrected by her cheeky bass player. The only minor hassle we had was finding somewhere to eat beforehand that wasn't packed. In the end we had to settle for the South Bank's cafe and some rather pricey sandwiches.

Then to wrap up the musical week, it was yet another artist's mailing list to the rescue. Live Earth sounded like quite a good gig at the time that it was being promoted but has since been a bit of a TV viewing figures failure. We entered the SMS text ballot to get tickets but both failed to be selected which was a bit depressing when you have your heart set on something and it doesn't pan out. (Though I'm still holding out to win big on the lottery one of these days!)

As it was, early in the morning, just after I had got into work, I logged into one of my webmail accounts to find that an e-mail had literally just that minute arrived. It was from the Corinne Bailey-Rae mailing list and since she was performing at Live Earth, 10 pairs of seating and standing tickets were up for grabs on a first-come-first-served basis! Needless to say I jumped at the chance, quickly logged in and got us a pair of seated tickets straight away. Result!


Despite the poor reception around the world and the controversy over the legitimacy of getting rock stars to be role models for an environmentally friendly way of living, the concert was brilliant. Our seats were bloody good too, just to the right of the stage. I felt sorry for all those who were standing in the blazing sunshine for 10 hours. Our seats were comfy and we had a great time. We even spotted a Bill Gates-look-a-like on the tube on the way to the concert; or perhaps it was the man himself? Who knows?

And all-in-all a great week of music.