On an early Autumn evening, as the sun set on a Sunday, Simon and I headed to Southport for British Musical Fireworks Championships. There was something magical about fireworks timed to music being combined that created an awesome experience.
The British Musical Fireworks Championships goes on over a weekend Friday – Sunday, with different Pyrotechnic Professionals competing to be judged as the Winner of the Championships by a panel of judges. The public can buy entry to a large park where fireworks displays takes place in time with the music. In the park are fast food vans, coffee vans, a performance stage (for live singers prior to the main event), toilets and even seated tickets are available.
Here are some photos from the event, click on any photo for full-size image, but without the music they really don’t do the experience justice:
The Entrance to the British Musical Fireworks Championships at Southport.
The warm-up bands varied in quality. The Hipstones were terrible. Gabrielle Sterbenz as a three piece girl band 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.
Warm Up Act 1 – Gabrielle Sterbenz.
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:
Time For Wheatus!
Wheatus – Taking song requests from the audience.
Wheatus – Singing one of their classics (1).
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.
Wheatus about to sing the finale – Teenage Dirtbag (1).
Wheatus about to sing the finale – Teenage Dirtbag (2).
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.
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.)
The Z-VIRUS mutates people’s DNA. The majority of infected people become zombies, but a minority seem immune but the virus causes them to develop powers.
At first these powers like invisibility, telepathy and telekinesis aided survival. But as the Z-VIRUS continues to mutate, the powers become more and more destructive.
Forced with no other choice, one group goes in search of a cure. But will they survive the roaming zombie hordes long enough to make an epic journey across the country to find the cure?
Join Alexis, Vis, Chan, Luke, Natalie, Grace, Chloe, Kyle, David and Goliath on this journey in Z-VIRUS Powers, the first instalment of this three part story.
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.
