Throw Me Down in the Lazaretto

                As you can probably tell from the lack of posting anything for the last little while, I’ve been quite busy. I’ve only had two days off work in the last two weeks. I’ve taken today (Friday) and Sunday off. I thought about taking yesterday (Thursday) off as well but ended up working in the afternoon. Why? Because there are three concerts occurring this weekend that I would kill to see. Realistically, however, I was never going to afford to go to all three of them. I did, however, end up making it to one of them and I’m really glad I did because I definitely would have regretted this particular concert.

                I love concerts, as anyone who knows me is aware of, but it’s been awhile since I saw somebody in concert I haven’t seen before, the last being Taylor Swift last June but I don’t count her because I went to see Ed Sheeran. Twice. So let’s say Mumford & Sons in May was the last band I saw for the first time. Of course, this weekend in London, there were three people I hadn’t seen live! On Thursday the absolutely amazing guitarist Jack White (from The White Stripes, if you don’t know) was playing the Hammersmith Apollo. On Friday, Kanye West was headlining Wireless Festival, and Bruno Mars was headlining Sunday. Let it never be said I have a specific taste in music.

                I was planning on doing my Stubhub trick like I’d done with One Direction, but these concerts were very popular and ticket prices did not drop like I was hoping. Earlier this week I began to accept the fact I probably wouldn’t be seeing any of the shows, but there was this nagging feeling. It wasn’t for Kanye West, whose music I love but is a complete tool, or Bruno Mars, who I was hoping to see to make up for last year’s concert being cancelled. It was Jack White. I have loved him since The White Stripes. I love his solo stuff even more. And he’s so eccentric you never know when he might suddenly retire. As it got closer to Thursday and I watched the number of tickets available on Stubhub drop and drop, I got more and more disappointed.

                After work on Thursday, there were only two tickets left and they were expensive. And then a lot of stuff came together. First, I made it to the bank in time (like, they literally stayed open an extra two minutes to help me – thank you so much Gants Hill branch of Lloyd’s!) to put money on my account, just in case a ticket became available. And then, the venue itself, Eventim Apollo, released one ticket. It was the purchase price. Not as cheap as I wanted, but not as expensive as Stubhub. I wouldn’t have to go to Oxford Circus to get the ticket; I could pick it up directly from the venue. I had to do it.

                As soon as I had the ticket confirmation, I was so relieved. I really don’t care if I see Kanye or Bruno Mars. But Jack White… I respect him so much as a musician. I would have regretted not seeing him, especially in a venue like the Apollo (for you Calgary people, think of it like the Jubilee: beautiful building, great acoustics, big show yet intimate). I had gotten dressed before buying a ticket, just in case, so I was able to run right out the door. It was funny being at the Apollo, because when I work outside of London that is always the meeting point. I am very well-acquainted with the front steps. It was a much different scene that day, though, because there were hundreds of people lined up, waiting for the doors to open at 7:00pm. I got my ticket from the box office and joined the line.

                Yes, I went to this concert alone. My friend Alessia wanted to come, but only if tickets were £30. This morning, when tickets were not that cheap, I let her know. Maybe another time. This is hardly my first time alone at a concert. I’ve seen Ed Sheeran and Paul McCartney alone, so I’m used to this. You’re listening to the music, anyway. Inside the venue is quite nice. It probably only holds about 2000-3000 people and there’s literally couches surrounding the entire upper bar area. The seats inside are nice. Think theater, not concert venue. There’s not a bad seat in the house, which I always love. Apparently Jack White does too because at one point in the show he talked about how he just came from Glastonbury and it was nice playing a show where the audience wasn’t a thousand feet away.

                I have no idea who the opening band was. Probably someone from his record label, Third Man Records. I can’t decide if I liked them or not. They were kind of like The Sex Pistols meets folk rock. It was weird. Jack White came on right on 9:00pm with Sixteen Saltines and played for two hours. It was not the greatest concert I’ve ever been to (that honor is a toss-up between Paul McCartney and Mumford & Sons) but he is, without a doubt, the best guitarist I’ve ever seen. He combines his insane guitar sound with drums, bass, keyboard and violins to make the most interesting and unique sound. He played many songs, including some of his White Stripes and Raconteurs hits. He did, however, miss out on some of my favorite songs, like Freedom at 21 and I’m Shakin. There’s some White Stripes stuff I would have liked to hear, too, but, as I have mentioned, I am actually a bigger fan of his solo albums. His performance got more and more passionate the further into the show. The 45 minute encore was just non-stop energy, finishing with Steady as she Goes and Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground. But what I loved the most (see what I did there?) was that my favorite song of his, Love Interruption, was actually the best song in the concert, too. It’s not often that my favorite song is also the best live, so that was nice.

                After the show I was waiting for some of the people to get on the tube because I hate crowded transport when I realized I was standing near where the band would be leaving. I was unable to resist waiting with people. I met the drummer, some comedian who plays with Kasabian, and model Cara Delevigne. I never saw Jack White, because I really needed to make the last train, which left at 12:19AM. I have no clue if he ever came out and I don’t want to know. I’ve learned there’s nothing scarier than being in Hammersmith and hearing the train station broadcast ‘this is the last train to Central London’. Close call.

                So yeah, it was a great concert and I’m glad I went. I would have been kicking myself forever. Hopefully I will get the chance to see him again. As for Kanye West and Bruno Mars?  You can’t have everything. They’ll be back, I’m sure.

A DAY OFF!!!

So after a crazy six days of exhausting work in three different locations Monday was my much-needed day off. The day began with sleeping in. Yessss. I’ve had to get up at 6am for the last four days and work nine to ten hours on top of that so sleep has been necessary. After catching up on Mad Men (this week’s episode was really really good – watch it) Sarah, Sandra and I caught the bus to Surrey Quays to see X-Men: Days of Future Past.

                I have an Odeon Film Fan card so I got 25% off today, because they have Film Fan Mondays. It’s pretty sweet. Unfortunately, the movie kind of sucked. I love the X-Men film franchise. I have seen every single one of them, including those terrible Wolverine movies. X-Men: First Class was brilliant and I am a diehard Michael Fassbender fan. I have voiced my concerns over the newest film combining the new and old casts but I still held out hope that it would be good. It’s just…blah. They try so hard to bring in as many cast members as possible that there’s no focus in the story and the entire thing seems disjointed. They should have kept to the new cast. They also lose track of the canon, majorly. One of my favorite things in the film series – that isn’t in the comics – is the relationship between Magneto and Mystique. I love it. The actors old and new have this intense chemistry and it’s so great to watch. In this movie they just throw that all away. The best part was Evan Peters as Quicksilver. And he wasn’t even in it that much. Side Note: Props to the filmmakers for that little inside insinuation about Magneto being Quicksilver’s dad. I hope he has a bigger part in the third one. Michael Fassbender is a better actor than this movie deserves. He elevated the first one to a really high level but couldn’t save this one. I know you’re probably thinking this is just me being hard to please but Sarah and Sandra didn’t like it very much either. In fact, Sarah’s exact words after the movie ended were “Evan Peters was the only good thing about that movie.”

                After the film we bid adieu to Sandra and headed to Waterloo. We had both put our names in to a draw to win tickets to Graham Norton and Sarah had won. We had found out last week that the guests for our episode were insane: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Charlize Theron, Seth MacFarlane, and Coldplay. Wow. They said someone would meet you at 5:15pm and we showed up an hour early and there was already a huge line. We stood in the rain for an hour before they gave us wristbands with numbers and warned us that they didn’t guarantee entry. We had numbers 110 and 111 so we figured we would be pretty safe. They told us to come back at 6:00pm, for when they would let people in. At that time we realized exactly how many people were hoping to get into the audience. Seemingly all the employees had brought friends and family and there were 180 people with priority tickets. Then they started calling our wristbands ten at a time. It did not look good. A guy started sending everyone with numbers over 250 home. Fortunately, Sarah and I got some of the last spots. Phew.

                I’ve only ever been to one other talk show taping, The Late Show With Jimmy Fallon, and the audience here is much bigger, as is the stage. Before the host comes out a warm-up comedian comes on. His job is to get the audience laughing and clapping. Then Graham Norton came on and continued to warm us up. His first guests were Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, who are starring in The Edge of Tomorrow. Everyone went nuts for Tom Cruise, obviously. He is a funny one. On the one hand, he’s insane. On the other hand, he is actually a very mild-mannered person. In fact, I would go so far as to call him boring. He answers questions very simply and directly. He doesn’t tell any funny stories or anything. But he seems like a genuinely nice person. He knows he’s lucky and he doesn’t take it for granted. He interacted with the other guests who came out and was really excited to see Coldplay. Like, leaning forward in his seat for a better view excited. He also was the only guest who stopped and shook the hand of every single person sitting in a floor seat before thanking the entire audience for coming. I was impressed. Emily Blunt was surprisingly funny. She does a spot on impression of an African American woman (she was talking about her daughter she gave birth to not too long ago).

                Then came out Seth MacFarlane and Charlize Theron. I love Seth. Everyone knows this. I was so excited to see him and he did not disappoint. They were promoting A Million Days to Die in the West, which I really want to see. For someone known for his crude humor, Seth is one of the most charming people I’ve ever seen. He just oozes charisma. You can’t help but want to pay attention to him. He also can whip out his impressions without hesitation. He did everyone from Brian and Stewie Griffin to Kermit the Frog. The best one, though? He sang the ‘Thunder Buddies’ song from Ted! As for Charlize Theron…she was there. I don’t really know what to say about her.

                The musical guest was Coldplay. I don’t like them but it was enjoyable enough. Their set was beautiful. Chris Martin is actually really cool. I thought he was going to be a bit more hipster douchebagey but he was interacting with the audience before and after the song and really put all his energy into performing. He was also interviewed briefly with a band member and they were pretty funny.

                All and all not a bad day and just another reason why living in London is so cool.

The Day of Hiddles

"Oh, Hiddlesticks!" 

- Me, always

Today was one of my favorite days in London so far. Sarah woke up freakishly early but then passed out again but the damage was done – I was awake. So I took the time to find the season premiere episode of Game of Thrones, which was awesome, obviously. I forgot how much I can’t stand Jon Snow, though. How can anyone so pretty be so annoying…Anyways, getting off topic. Actually, much of this topic has to do with attractive men so maybe not so much. Getting there.

                At 12:15 we walked around the corner to eat at Babur (www.babur.info). It’s an Indian restaurant that offers a really nice Sunday buffet brunch. I ate there the last time I was in London and Sarah needed to taste some of that famous British Indian cuisine so there we were. It did not disappoint. I can’t possibly tell you what I ate but there was a lot of food. I grabbed a bit of everything to start and went back for more of what I really enjoyed. Overall it was delicious.

                After lunch we headed up to Covent Garden to see if we might be able to get spots on the red carpet for the Olivier Awards. Think of them as the British Tony Awards. We weren’t overly optimistic after Spider-Man on Tuesday but figured we should try anyway. If it was crowded we’d go home. It didn’t help that today was the London Marathon and the city was supposed to be mental. We needn’t have worried. We got number 186 and 187 and lined up for an hour before being led onto the red carpet. And we were not only right next to it, but also very close to the venue entrance and across from the international press. Specifically, Hello, so look for us.

                We waited around for another ninety minutes before things got started. We saw so many stars. We got autographs from Kristin Davis (Charlotte on Sex and the City), Bjorn from ABBA, Samantha Barks (Eponine in Les Miserables), Martin Freeman from The Hobbit and Sherlock and James McAvoy, to name a few. Some of the celebrities didn’t have time to stop as the red carpet was quite hurried but I did have brief conversations with Mark Strong and Ruth Wilson.

                Then there’s Hiddles. Oh, Tom Hiddleston, my future husband…he showed up late and had to give interviews so I did not get to speak to him. He did wave. He got pretty close. I can say he is actually even better looking in real life. The second I saw him down the carpet I absolutely freaked out. Like, people turned and looked. It was kind of funny. I was completely unaware of what I was doing. I just went to Crazy Town for a minute.

                Overall it was awesome. I love entertainment and stuff but I’ve never been on an award show red carpet before. There’s a lot you don’t see on TV, like the massive wave of people who enter at the beginning, as if just dropped off by a bus. They are non-celebrities who worked on the plays and musicals. I felt a little bad for them but also a little jealous. I just want to get dressed up and walk the red carpet once.

                We may have stood for over four hours but it was most definitely worth it, even if I didn’t meet Tom Hiddleston or Gemma Arterton (who is also breathtakingly gorgeous in person). Oh, and Hayley Atwell.  I’m making Sarah have a Hiddles marathon with me now.