The sound of my lungs exploding.

Hello little blog, it's been a while.

So, what with being back in Newcastle, getting my head around a new lecture timetable, catching up with old friends etc I have been rather negligent. I know this is terrible but sometimes that is just how life is. I've either been out, busy with university-based funness or too much of a sleep-deprived mess to contribute anything worth reading. To be honest, I am incredibly hungover right now so this probably isn't making much sense. And my lungs may be dying because I may have started smoking again. Epic fail. What can I tell you about my week? Monday was Refreshers Fair. Spent fours in the union trying to get people to sign up to FilmSoc and pretending that we are really organised when we really aren't. We have good intentions but we're a fledgling society and haven't gotten into the swing of things just yet. Although we did hold several events last semester, hurrah. I have also decided to get more involved with the radio station. Went along to the meeting on Tuesday and picked up some singles to review. I may even do a show one of these days. I don't know why I find it so daunting as I have done it before but I am still proceeding with extreme caution!

Thursday night saw me and Ria hit up the O2 Academy for the NME Awards Tour. I pretty much loathe the NME but I was desperate to see The Drums and I always love The Maccabees so I waived that aside. Given they were the opening act, it was the first night of the tour and I think possibly one of their first shows in England, The Drums were amazing. Their summery indie-pop, replete with hand claps and whistling, sounded great for such a large venue and by the end they had most of the crowd dancing. I was dancing like a loon from the start but I had a) been drinking and b) been listening to the EP non-stop ever since I bought it. The lead singer was also incredibly polite and sweet, which I like.
Next up where The Big Pink, whose set was largely a failure from beginning to end. They swaggered on stage, all cockiness and a belief they were gods. They are not. The audience knew this, they should have known this. This alienated the crowd from early on and the heavy bass and impressive but overblown light show did nothing to create the missing connection. A terrible cover of The Breeder's 'Cannonball' was probably the final nail in the coffin. Half the lyrics were seemingly missing and half the audience was too young to know the song. Most looked on mildly confused as to why the song hadn't featured on the album. Sensing their failure all the lead singer could do was shout "Come on, Newcastle!" pleadingly. Predictably they finished with 'Dominos' which got a few people dancing but certainly not everyone. Perhaps it was just bad billing; after all, the headliners are The Maccabees, who excel in perfect indie pop, often complimented with just the loveliest lyrics you can imagine. The Big Pink may have been playing to the wrong crowd.
Bombay Bicycle Club got a much better reception. Plenty of people singing along and dancing. I wouldn't necessarily say they were any better than any other band though. There was a lack of cohesiveness at times, it felt messy. However, it is clear they have a large, young fanbase who were so excited to see them they couldn't have cared less. I remember how I was at that age; the excitement of seeing your favourite band or the hot new thing was more possessive than any actual respect for the music. I could sing and dance away for hours to bands that were playing awfully. But I loved them, it didn't occur to me they could be. I would never question it.
This sort of thinking may overshadow my judgement of The Maccabees. I love them. I have always loved them. I have seen them several times and always thought they were brilliant. I genuinely do think they did very well on Thursday though. They even had a three-man brass section, which was perfect, as it meant none of the big sound of second album 'Wall of Arms' was lost. Noisy and energetic at times, then heartbreakingly romantic and soft at others they were everything I would expect and want from them.

In other news, it's been a good week for food. Lots of eating out. Although this has wielded serious damge to my bank balance that I'm not convinced it's going to recover from. Went to a lovely little Vietnamese restaurant last night. I've been craving some decent Vietnamese or Thai so it was good to discover Little Saigon on Bigg Market. I think its location had been a large deterrent in the past; Bigg Market is a shit hole. But it came recommended by a friend and did not disappoint. All the food was very fresh and delicious too! I will be going back.

If you fancy looking at some pretty pictures here was last week's task from my documentary module. We had to tell a narrative of betrayal in ten images. Ta ra x