For the love of ROCK!

I have wanted to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers in concert for about 18 years. I already got to see The Black Crowes in concert back in July when 'Hank' and I went to England to see them. That was just possibly the most exiting evening of my life so far!

But this weekend coming I shall be seeing the Chili Peppers.... TWICE! Yes, twice! I managed to get tickets to see them in Dublin for Friday night. I was only able to get tickets by pre-ordering the new album which meant I was given a special code to order tickets 3 days before they went on general sale. And I am glad that I did, because they sold out within an hour. So I shall be seeing them with Hank on Friday, along with thousands and thousands of other people.

BUT.... I shall also be seeing them on Sunday in an intimate gig at the Ulster Hall in Belfast! And how did I manage to get tickets for that? See the photo above. By queuing for 12 hours, overnight, in the cold, in an orange body bag! Yes, I am slightly insane. But it will be so worth it to see them in such a small venue.

Thankfully it was a rain free night and not as cold as it has been. A and I were well prepared with hand warmers, sleeping bags, thermal undies, flasks of soup and wind resistant body bags. The hardest part was sitting on a small deck chair for 12 hours. By the time we got to buy the tickets in the morning, my entire body was in serious pain!

But we did it, and are now in possession of these treasured tickets which are selling for a small fortune on ebay! I can't wait until the weekend. I'm not sure I can handle this much excitement!

Iron and Wine, Dublin, March 2011

For my birthday, way back in December, K gave me tickets to see Iron and Wine in Dublin. I've been getting into Iron & Wine for quite some time now but hadn't heard their latest album and had no idea how absolutely mind blowingly fantastic they would be live! The show was held at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, and so we made a trip of it and stayed in Dublin for a couple of nights. We weren't even sure if this would be an acoustic one man show, or whether the full band would be there. But the band was awesome, loud, and totally pumping. They seriously surprised me and I had the greatest nights entertainment. The saxophonist was positively making love to that instrument (er, the saxophone, I mean!) and the percussionist was also very entertaining to watch. All in all it was an awesome night and I'm so glad to have experienced it. The trip to Dublin was also lovely. We ate an awful lot. Drank more Guinness than was good for our guts. And enjoyed each others company. One evening we stumbled into a pub with proper Irish singers. I heard them playing 'Duelling Banjo's" from outside and was reminded of my Dad playing this when I was a kid, so insisted we go inside. They were actually a really good wee band, and we were both most amused when a woman asked them to play quieter and then left in a strop!