Music & Radio

Wheatus Live: The 15th Anniversary Tour at Manchester Academy 3

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Wheatus Ticket
 Recently a friend and I went to see Wheatus at Manchester Academy 3.

The warm-up bands varied in quality. The Hipstones were terrible. Gabrielle Sterbenz as a three piece girlband had charisma and a good stage presence. Mike Doughty I just remember being rather annoying, tall and bald. After about an hour of warm-up bands, it was time for the main event.

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Warm Up Act 1 – Gabrielle Sterbenz.
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Warm Up Act 2 – Mike Doughty

Brendan B. Brown was superb. He hit all of the high notes in the songs with precision, despite a chest cold that he’d apparently caught in Ireland. Rather than a setlist Brown encouraged the audience to shout out the tracks that they wanted to hear.

The audience were not shy, shouted out and Wheatus played. The audience started out with head nodding as the band played. The alcohol flowed, more familiar tracks were played and the audience responded by properly rocking out.

Here are some Wheatus photos from the gig:

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Time For Wheatus!
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Wheatus – Taking song requests from the audience.
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Wheatus – Singing one of their classics (1).
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Wheatus – Singing one of their classics (2).

Wheatus played all of their tracks on their self titled album, including: A Little Respect, Sunshine, Truffles, Hump ‘Em N Dump ‘Em, Hey, Mr. Brown, Leroy, Punk Ass Bitch, Love Is a Mutt from Hell and Wannabe Gangstar.

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Wheatus about to sing the finale – Teenage Dirtbag (1).
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Wheatus about to sing the finale – Teenage Dirtbag (2).
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Wheatus about to sing the finale – Teenage Dirtbag (3).

The finale was of course being their iconic song Teenage Dirtbag. Teenage Dirtbag was released in 2000 and quickly a number one in most of the charts across the world. Since then it has been covered many times, but you can’t beat seeing Brown play it live. My friend and I had a great night. Wheatus are well worth seeing, hearing and enjoying live.

Blog soon,

Antony



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Good Omens will be on BBC Radio 4 from 22nd December!

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good-omens-pratchett-gaiman-book-cover We’re in for a great treat this festive period; as Good Omens the book by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman comes to Radio 4.

I read about it on Radio Times website. It reads:

The radio adaptation of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s comic apocalypse novel Good Omens will air at 11pm from the 22nd to the 27th of December, with the last episode a bumper hour-long special.

…Once you’ve marked that date on your advent calendar, feast your eyes on a string of new cast images released by the BBC today and including Merlin’s Colin Morgan, Fresh Meat star Charlotte Ritchie, Mark Heap (Green Wing), Peter Serafinowicz (Guardians of the Galaxy), Paterson Joseph (Peep Show), Sherlock’s Louise Brealey and many more…

Good Omens follows the attempts of an angel and a demon (Heap and Serafinowicz) to save the world from the antichrist, but all is not as it seems thanks to a bureaucratic mix-up. Soon, the fate of humanity is left to a gang of young children, a trainee witchfinder (Morgan) and a collection of garbled flashcards.

It was written by Gaiman and Pratchett in 1990, and became a bestseller that remains popular to this day. Now, the two writers have joined up with the team behind the 2013 smash-hit radio adaptation of Gaiman’s book and TV series Neverwhere which starred Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy, Christopher Lee and Natalie Dormer.

Gaiman… has assisted returning Neverwhere director and adaptor Dirk Maggs with the scripts, and both he and Pratchett will make cameo appearances alongside the main cast.

RadioTimes.com caught up with the drama’s star Colin Morgan who explained, despite appearances, you won’t find a better listen for the festive season…

“It’s about the antichrist, at Christmas – nothing more festive that that!” said the Merlin and The Fall actor.

“But it’s got heart and the soul. It’s the escapism, the fantasy element of it, the charm and magic that surrounds Christmas, I think. And it’s pure escapism.

He added: “I think everybody can get something from it. I think fans of Terry and Neil will be extremely pleased.”

Good Omens will begin on Radio 4 on Monday 22nd of December at 11.00pm.

(From: Radio Times, Last accessed: 28th November 2014.)

You can read my book review here: Book Review: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman.

Can’t wait to hear this fantastic and funny story aloud.

Blog soon,

Antony

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The ‘Recently, I’ve Been A Bad Blogger’ Update

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imac-contact-me-large Recently, I’ve been a bad blogger. I’ve had so many things on that I’ve felt like I’m plate spinning. My daily creative play has stopped. My blogging and book reviews have stopped. But now I hope to get back to normal – whatever that is.

While I have been exceptionally busy, I have managed to listen to some new music, watch some good TV, re-watch some old films and do a bit of reading.

Musically, I’ve been enjoying Ed Sheeran’s new album X. I’m particularly fond of the first track, One. It’s sentimental and mellow. Perfect chill out music and believe me, I’ve needed to relax. I’ve had Sam Smith’s album In The Lonely Hour on repeat, appreciating the sound of his voice.

I bought Matt Fishel’s new album Cover Boy, but have to say that it was a disappointment. It was nowhere near as good as his first album Not Thinking Straight. I did like his cover of Finally, but I’m afraid that was all I liked.



I’ve watched season 2 of Under The Dome, well all but the final episode. It’s a brilliant show based on a short story by Stephen King. In Under The Dome the people of an American town are trapped under a giant dome. The plot is intricate, ever twisting and full of intrigue.

I’ve been watching the new series of Dr Who and have very mixed feelings about it. Peter Capaldi isn’t a convincing as The Doctor. Clara’s character feels a bit conflicted, not because of Mr. Pink (Danny) but because of the writing.

The Walking Dead has started again and I’m super-excited, thrilled and ecstatic during every episode. We’re only a few episodes in and it’s already my TV highlight of the week.

I’ve watched some old films like Jurassic Park 1, 2 & 3 as I love dinosaurs. In my mind, there just aren’t enough dinosaur films out there. The Adams Family 90s film has made me laugh, especially Cousin IT and thing who never fail to make me chuckle.

I’ve watched good triumph over evil through working my way through the complete collection of Harry Potter films. Mum and I are going to Harry Potter World (London) in November, so I wanted to be adequately prepared.

I got my essential hit of zombie versus kids by reading The Hunted by Charlie Higson. You can read the review I’ve wrote for The Hunted here. I felt elated reading Shopaholic to the Stars by Sophie Kinsella, which I will review soon. I’m currently reading the ridiculously funny Good Omens by legends Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman and the love story Us by David Nicholls.



I was organised enough to write two articles for The Gay UK. One for National Coming Out Day and The Gay UK‘s digital magazine entitled My Come Out Reactions. It’s people’s responses when I’ve come out as a gay to them. The other article I’ve just finished is 14 Reasons It’s Great To Be In A Relationship.

What music, TV and films are you enjoying? What literature are you reading? Anything I’d like? Leave a comment below and let me know.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Import: John Barrowman’s Success after being dropped by Record Label

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John Barrowman: You Raise Me Up (CD Cover)
 John Barrowman recently released his Pledge Music fan-funded album You Raise Me Up. It reached #16 in the UK album charts, much better than two of his previous studio albums with record label Sony.

Another Side (2007) Barrowman released with Sony BMG only managed to reach #22 in the UK album chart. Music Music Music (2008) also with Sony barely entered the UK album chart at #35. After this the record label dropped Barrowman. A fan at a convention in the US later asked Barrowman when his next album was coming out. He explained that it wasn’t and the young fan said: ‘We’ll fund it!’

Barrowman when talking about You Raise Me Up said that he felt privileged to make the album and that: ‘I think this is the best album that I’ve ever, ever made.’

Despite dropping to #25 on the UK album charts this week, it seems that Barrowman is having more success with Pledge Music (a site that allows fans to pledge money to artists in exchange for a copy of the album, merchandise and meet and greet opportunities) than he was with the record label.

So does this mean that the Record Labels need to watch out? Comment below.

Published by: The Gay UK on Tuesday 15th July 2014.

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