The Orchestra - 23/3/08 Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham

Aieee I got to see E.L.O!!! Ok so maybe technically they are called The Orchestra, and there was no Jeff Lynne there were three members from the original band, aswell as two (or perhaps three, I'm not sure if the drummer has only been part of The Orchestra) from E.L.O II, so they all knew what they were doing!

Anyway, I am a HUGE ELO fan and have been excited about this since I bought the tickets. The ticket buying itself was a bit of a fluke as I had no idea that ELO part 2 ever existed never mind The Orchestra now, so thank you Portsmouth Guildhall for randomly sending me the advert! So being soo excited, and knowing that there was no Jeff Lynne, I was a bit concerned that they wouldn't be very good, but I needn't have worried they put on a fantastic show!

They were on for a total of 2 hours and 15 minutes, though did have a half hour break after the first hour, and crammed so much into this time, I really don't know where to start! They opened with Twilight which worked really well, after that most of the order (and perhaps what some of the songs are) I couldn't tell you! But I can tell you that they sang Horace Wimp much to the horror of the person sat next to me who wondered what on earth was wrong with me as the intro was being played. They also sang Hold On Tight which has always been one of my favourites (I'm a sucker for a good message!) and it sounded brilliant - there were goosebumps! In addition to throwing in favourites such as All Over the World, Telephone Line, Rockaria, Ma Ma Belle, Wild West Hero, and Do Ya, they threw in a couple instrumentals which were amazing. In particular, Mik Kaminski is flipping fantastic! They also threw in a couple of songs theyve recorded as The Orchestra which I didn't know, but sounded good, aswell as a few things from each of their solo projects.

They did an amazing version of Twist & Shout, which they have recorded before, but I hadn't heard it, and a fab cover of Getting Better, which thanks to YouTube I am completely addicted to! Definitely look them both up if you can!

Other highlights, have to include Mr Blue Sky! Which was the point at the concert that EVERYONE stood up and stayed standing for the remainder of the show. It's always cool to watch everyone getting involved, and the crowd were so animated, especially when the song led into Turn To Stone. They then went off, and came back on to do Don't Bring Me Down as an encore. Everyone sang along, and the band let the audience sing the chorus (several times!) and the atmosphere was just great! At the end Kelly Groucett said 'That was Bostin, that was!' - probably something only said in Brum!

All in all, it was a completely terrific show, and I am SO glad I was able to get such good seats (Row G, woohoo!). Although undoubtedly they would have sounded much better in their prime (and I so wish I was born earlier so I could have seen them!) they sounded really great. Their voices weren't quite perfect, but instrumentally they were flawless - and because of that it doesn't matter that they use different keys so they can make notes, or cut out particularly high bits - though speaking of high, Kelly singing the intro to Rockaria was brilliant (if in fact it was him doing it and I haven't been taken in by some audio trick!).

Other songs I recall are.. Midnight Blue, Standing in the Rain (which since hearing it live is becoming a new favourite!), Confusion, Evil Woman, Last Train to London..

Fantastically brilliant night, and I still can't believe my luck that I managed to realise their existence, and attend a show!

Second Life Gig - Metal Edo 21/3/08

The idea of virtual concerts might seem a little weird but they are actually rather cool. Second Life is a virtual community where you get to run around a world built by you, and other members. You can do almost anything that you can do in real life, and although it's not quite the same as real life activities (snowboarding inworld is bound to be different from snowboarding in the real world) people do engage in a great many of activities. One of these is gigs, and concerts. Singers, musicians, and even just people who like to talk can gather an audience and allow them to listen over an audio stream. Similar to listening to a radio concert, there is a difference in that interactivity can be involved. Requests are sometimes granted, responses given if audience members ask questions, or even encores can be acknowledged and played!

So after that small intro for those of the uninitiated I can tell you that I attended the best inworld gig ever the other day, and it was put on by the fabulous Metal Edo. Known as Edd Coates in real life, this was the second gig he has done to help promote his future coming album Transit. He performed for over an hour and a half, and managed to fit in a fantastic 14 songs, 13 of his own, and one cover, which was David Gray's Slow Motion (which was fantastic).
Edd sounded brilliant, his performance was so full of energy and it was obvious that he was enjoying it as much (if not more) than the audience. The audience also seemed to love Edd, and he received nothing but positive comments (and nice big tips!).

I've had the chance to hear other performances by Edd, but without doubt this was my favourite of his! The whole gig seemed to flow together nicely, and there was a great energy about. Plus he did sing my favourite song of his, Underground - Thanks Edd! But really it all sounded great, from the beginning notes of Troglodyte to the encore (yes he even got to do an encore!) of Take Me Home.

All in all, a great show! Very glad I got to be there, and can't wait for the next one! You should definitely check out his sites, and keep an eye out for the next one. Will be good to see you there :)

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Clicky Links wont seem to work for me so here are the links I tried to put in the blog!

www.eddcoates.com
www.myspace.com/eddcoates
www.secondlife.com

Dexter

Three episodes in and I am totally hooked by the American show Dexter. So hooked in fact its taking a lot of resistance to not get hold of, and watch them all together ahead of the weekly ITV viewings (I am waiting though as its good to have something decent on the TV in the week!). I know some people have been criticising the show for being a rip off of films like psycho - but I really think that this is the first time I have ever seen (or even read) something that is completely from a sociopaths perspective who has the urge to kill, yet controls this urge by killing only those that 'deserve it'. Of course there are the issues of why he gets to decide who deserves to die etc etc but from what I've seen so far he doesn't do a bad job in his decisions and has probably saved people because of it! Though I'm sure there's probably a mistake coming up soon but I will definitely be interested in how he handles it. Despite Dexter himself totally admitting that he has no emotions, no desire to be socially involved I think that this isn't entirely true. The fact that he only kills the people he does is some sign of humanity in him? Or how I believe on some level he has some sort of feelings for his sister if not his girlfriend.
Regardless of all this, the program is excellent, and as I have recently found out that its based on books and I can't wait for my library to sort them out for me :D