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'Play me! And strum me like a guitar...'
Nov. 2nd, 2009 03:49 pmBusy busy. On Friday night we headed off to Manchester to see Alesha Dixon at Manchester Apollo. We were in the stalls which was an excellent place to sit and it was a brilliant gig. Amusingly, Alesha kept leaving the stage to have random bits of costume stuck on her, and it really did show that just because a tour is relatively small does not mean that you can't impress the audience. She was really lovely and funny too. She did a Mis-teeq medley (! Possibly the best bit, and I didn't even like Mis-teeq) and afterwards said, 'I had a great time being in Mis-teeq with the girls so I hoped you liked the medley. I understand if you don't like them though, they were a bit raprapparaprap!' Ha! She did a bit of a thank you as well and it hit me how much stuff she's actually done in the past year. Album, mountain climb, winning Strictly and becoming a judge on the same show. Not that she didn't give her all, she was a proper dancing whirlwind. It was also great that she didn't neglect her first (and un-released in the UK) album too. She did three songs off it and the music to 'Lipstick' ended up morphing into 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'! Amazing. Worst song? The awful Gary Barlow-penned new single 'To Love Again'. Dreary. Best songs? The Boy Does Nothing and Play Me.
Setlist:
We were quite glad to get out of Leeds on Saturday actually. There were two protests going on. One was a fascist march and then the other was a anti-fascist march in protest. It turns out that just as we arrived back to Leeds it was coming to an end so we didn't quite miss it in the end anyway! Between this and Nick Griffin being on Question Time I have to admit that it shook me up a bit. I know that the chances of them gaining power is next to none but isn't it scary that this thing, this threat to civil liberties that we've fought years for, exists at all?
On to better things. We had most of Sunday off. I made brownies and we watched some stuff we'd taped. Then we watched Hocus Pocus as we'd not got to do anything Hallowe'en-y! Fun stuff. Bette Midler is hilarious in that film. It is a little bit Disney film by numbers but it has some really funny moments, and some slightly adult ones too - hangings, virgins, child death. The lead guy (who's also the lead in Eerie Indiana) is now a hairdresser in LA, ie, a professional gay.
Last night we went to see Alphabeat at the Cockpit (how is that not a gay venue?!). I'd never been before but I didn't expect it to be that small. It was a good thing though as we got a great view. They were really excellent as well. there are a lot of them to pack on to a tiny stage! I knew they'd be good but my god, they were just excellent in every way. Usually I don't like bands doing loads of new stuff but the new stuff sounded so good live that I really didn't mind. It was about half old stuff and half new. They were only on for an hour but they packed a load in. To be honest, if they'd have been on for any longer Andres SG might have taken someone out with his flailing arms and tambourine. James seemed to think that the crowd were miserable and were only there for 'Fascination' but i thought that the crowd in front of us were really into it in general. I didn't feel out of place dancing my feet off anyway. Best songs? 'The Spell' went down a treat as did 'Fascination' obviously. 'Touch Me Touching You' was also great due to the audience participation (there was quite a lot of that anyway!) I dunno if I could pick a worst song really. It was excellent. And isn't Stine the cutest? I'm tempted to import the album but I've imported so much lately, plus I've just spent too much on the Skunk Anansie Best Of. Boo. Setlist:
Setlist:
- Welcome To The Alesha Show (Introduction)
- Fired Up
- Let's Get Excited
- Cinderella Shoe
- Chasing Ghosts
- Breathe Slow
- Can I Begin" (Acoustic version)
- Don't Ever Let Me Go
- Mis-Teeq Medley ("All I Want", "Can't Get It Back", "One Night Stand", "B With Me", "Why?", "Scandalous")
- Hand It Over
- "Dance Break" (contains elements of Alesha's dance in the N.E.R.D song "She Wants to Move")
- Play Me
- Lipstick
- Knockdown
- To Love Again
Encore:
- The Boy Does Nothing
We were quite glad to get out of Leeds on Saturday actually. There were two protests going on. One was a fascist march and then the other was a anti-fascist march in protest. It turns out that just as we arrived back to Leeds it was coming to an end so we didn't quite miss it in the end anyway! Between this and Nick Griffin being on Question Time I have to admit that it shook me up a bit. I know that the chances of them gaining power is next to none but isn't it scary that this thing, this threat to civil liberties that we've fought years for, exists at all?
On to better things. We had most of Sunday off. I made brownies and we watched some stuff we'd taped. Then we watched Hocus Pocus as we'd not got to do anything Hallowe'en-y! Fun stuff. Bette Midler is hilarious in that film. It is a little bit Disney film by numbers but it has some really funny moments, and some slightly adult ones too - hangings, virgins, child death. The lead guy (who's also the lead in Eerie Indiana) is now a hairdresser in LA, ie, a professional gay.
Last night we went to see Alphabeat at the Cockpit (how is that not a gay venue?!). I'd never been before but I didn't expect it to be that small. It was a good thing though as we got a great view. They were really excellent as well. there are a lot of them to pack on to a tiny stage! I knew they'd be good but my god, they were just excellent in every way. Usually I don't like bands doing loads of new stuff but the new stuff sounded so good live that I really didn't mind. It was about half old stuff and half new. They were only on for an hour but they packed a load in. To be honest, if they'd have been on for any longer Andres SG might have taken someone out with his flailing arms and tambourine. James seemed to think that the crowd were miserable and were only there for 'Fascination' but i thought that the crowd in front of us were really into it in general. I didn't feel out of place dancing my feet off anyway. Best songs? 'The Spell' went down a treat as did 'Fascination' obviously. 'Touch Me Touching You' was also great due to the audience participation (there was quite a lot of that anyway!) I dunno if I could pick a worst song really. It was excellent. And isn't Stine the cutest? I'm tempted to import the album but I've imported so much lately, plus I've just spent too much on the Skunk Anansie Best Of. Boo. Setlist:
- Go-Go
- The Spell
- Heart Failure
- What Is Happening
- DJ
- Chess
- Ain't Nobody (Chaka Khan cover)
- Touch Me Touching You
- 10,000 Nights
- The Beat Is
- Boyfriend
- Hole In My Heart
- Fascination
