Category: Events

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Love Music, Love Live Music?

I love music. And I love watching my favourite bands playing live. The weird thing is though, that I didn’t even realise that other people didn’t love music as much as I do until fairly recently. And weirder still, I didn’t realise how much the live experience means to me and has enhanced my love of music and of the musicians who create it!

Recently I was discussing this with another music-lover over coffee. What my friend had to say was interesting. She described in great detail, the memory she has of one of the very first concerts she went to – the way her idol first appeared on stage, just in shadow and the first beats of the drum that she heard. While she was telling me about it my hairs stood on end – my mirror neurons picked up the emotion in her voice, the nostalgia and the teenage-crushiness of her experience. Of course, I have experienced that feeling too, many times. Maybe that’s why it was so easy for me to identify with it. 

Amy Winehouse at The Shepherds Bush Empire 2007 (Sorry about the terrible photo)We also discussed the fact that we both have friends, with whom we have lots in common, who share our other interests, but not live music. I have had people say to me ‘It’s so expensive to go to concerts. And besides, you can just listen to the music on the iPod!’ Well to me, that sounds like someone saying I can eat a three course meal, but I can only eat it blindfolded. It will still taste good, but if I could see the food, and eat it in a beautiful place, accompanied by a good friend, served by professionals… of course my experience would be even more memorable and exciting!

Lady Gaga at The O2 Arena, 2010Not quite a Philip Treacy, but a bird hat I made to wear to Gaga

Child of the 80’s…

I remember becoming interested in pop music at a really young age – around 8. I bought my first ever LP record with my birthday money when I was 9 (‘Rio’ by Duran Duran you may not be surprised to hear)!

Duran Duran at The Shepherd’s Bush Empire, 2011

A rare live concert by Adam Ant, La Scala 2010

U2 ‘s Adam Clayton, Cardiff 2009

I still feel as excited when I am going to watch live music as I did when I was teenager. The anticipation is excrutiating, waiting for my favourite singer or band to come on stage. I feel excited just thinking about it 🙂

View of the stage at a Prince concert. The musician I have seen the most times!

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Tim Minchin and London all dressed up

I am sure that with the world news events of this week the Royal Wedding seems a very long time ago, however, I thought I would share these rather jolly pictures of London I took the night before!

Looking up The Mall, towards Trafalgar Square

Looking down The Mall, towards Buckingham Palace

Die-hard fans from the US

I have to say, the atmosphere, even the evening before the big event was amazing. There was a lively buzz in the air and I enjoyed walking around and listening to varied global accents and languages being spoken. After a picnic on a bench in St James’ Park, it was time to jump into a taxi to the main event of the evening which was watching Tim Minchin at The Royal Albert Hall.

Tim Minchin concert: View from our booth seats, before he came on

Tim’s combination of stand-up comedy interspersed with funny songs goes surprisingly well with the 55 piece orchestra accompanying him on his piano! I spent most of the time laughing my head off, but there are also some tender moments like when he sings about his young daughter. The crowd were 4,000 strong and there was an electric atmosphere in the Albert Hall that night. All in all, a fantastic live show.

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The Bird Keeper by Issy Festing – Book Launch

 I recently attended the book launch of a new novel entitled ‘The Bird Keeper’ by Issy Festing which was held at The Royal College of Medicine. I had pre-ordered the book and was raring to read it – in fact I devoured the whole thing in a few days.

It’s about a young Indian man called Satchin Rai who goes against his family’s expectations of continuing his father’s tea emporium and follows his heart to work at a bird sanctuary instead. Added to this are his burgeoning homosexual feelings, which are awakened by the arrival of charismatic Englishman Peter Madson. The novel follows Satchin as he tries to work out which paths he should follow or give up. I found it fascinating to watch Satchin’s inner struggle as he wrestled with society’s expectations and his own desires. I also loved the description of the bird sanctuary- although I have never been anywhere like it, I feel as though I have.

The author has really got into the mind of the male characters, which I would imagine is difficult being a woman, and has captured the essence of their personalities throughout the novel, even in the brevity of her descriptions. There is a lovely scene where Satchin’s masculine preferences are juxtaposed against his mother’s endless fussing and frilly doilies! Something about the book reminded me of the film ‘A Single man’ which I watched earlier this year, and also of ‘Goodbye to Berlin’ (which was made into the film ‘Cabaret’) both by Christopher Isherwood. As I read this book, I could picture every scene as if it were on film. I love Merchant Ivory films and have had the box set of ‘Merchant Ivory In India’ on my wish list for a while – so this book was perfect for me.

‘The Bird Keeper’ is available from Waterstones and Amazon.

Issy introduces her book and says some ‘thank-you’s

The Bird Keeper by Issy FestingQueuing up to get my book signed

Have a look at The Book Guild’s photos here