2014 Round Up: Favourite EP's

Anavae

Parallel Dimensions

Favourite: Hang Man

Mesmerising re-workings of already beautiful songs is top of this list. There's no repetitiveness just pure creative imagination. Becca's vocals sound so delicate and assertive all at the same time and the quiet layers of synths and keys whirl with her stunning voice, a perfect complementary combination. A new side, new life is brought to these songs I wouldn't mind hearing a parallel version of everything if Becca and Jamie are in charge.

Versa

Neon

Favourite: Wanderlust

A short three songs long and i've spent the rest of the year just dying for more music from this cosmic duo. Sierra hits the nail on the head lyrically, her vocals are so lush and Blake is basically the king of synths. 

Echosmith

Acoustic Dreams

Favourite: Terminal

I am a sucker for anything acoustic. I can't help it. Plus a previously unheard track 'Terminal'  makes an appearance and its quite possibly the best song they've ever written.

Sinclair

Sweet Talk

Favourite: The World Is Ours

Sinclair has got to be my favourite find of the year so please, please go and check her out.

Four Year Strong

Go Down In History

Favourite: Living Proof Of A Stubborn Youth

Long time favourites of mine returned with a fiery pop-punk EP that made me wanna get up and take over the world... or something. New album soon please. This stuff is addicting. 

2014 Round Up: Favourite Songs

Lorde

Yellow Flicker Beat

Paramore

Tell Me It's Okay

Echosmith

Terminal

Fall Out Boy

American Beauty/American Psycho

Tonight Alive

The Edge

Charli XCX 

Boom Clap

Anavae

Hang Man (Parallel Version)

Bastille featuring Grades

Torn Apart

Bring Me The Horizon

Drown

Four Year Strong

Go Down In History

YOUTUBE PLAYLIST

2013 Round Up: 10 Favourite Gigs

Fall Out Boy 

Reading Festival

Their return really has been one of my favourite things about this year. With 2 albums, a UK tour to look forward to next year and simply the fact they are around again makes me grin ear to ear. Their Reading Festival performance turned me into a sobbing wreck... to think i'd been joking about them coming back and playing Reading for well over a year. The only downside was missing City And Colour.

The Wonder Years

Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach 17/11

This one was a toss up between the first time I saw them this year at Slam Dunk and their actual headline show last month. I've gone with the headline show simply because I mention Slam Dunk later but also the line-up was incredible. They've always been one of my favourite bands but after seeing them twice this year they are also now a favourite live band and I intend to be at every show possible. 

Paramore

London, Wembley Arena 28.09

Another favourite band toured the UK this year and of course I just had to go to three shows. I was in shock for the first one, Cardiff, the second - Birmingham - was my birthday and the third was pure perfection. Everything about these shows was 100 times better than all the other times i've seen them. They're happier, they're better and it was stunning start to finish.

Four Year Strong
Cardiff, Slam Dunk 28/05
For the spotters out there it's probably worth mentioning that this picture isn't actually Four Year Strong but Pierce The Veil I just happened to only take the one photo that night because the rest of it was crazy. Years after the first time seeing them myself and my brother secured ourselves barrier positions to watch them again after being blown away by The Wonder Years previously.

Anavae
Plymouth, The White Rabbit 16/15
It was a last minute attempt at convincing my dad to take me to see Anavae and an even more last minute thing that they'd be staying at my house afterwards. I spent the day working out how to fit the five of them into my tiny attic room, then watched them play a brilliant set and hung out with them the next day. It'll probably remain one of my most favourite memories ever.

Jimmy Eat World 

London, Brixton Academy 19/11

After discovering the venue had a sloped floor and thus making it my favourite I also got to see one of my long time favourite bands play the most incredible set list ever on my friends' birthday. 

30 Seconds To Mars

Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena 14/11

With You Me At Six as their support - who I hadn't seen since The Final Night Of Sin - I was eager to be at one of these UK shows. Due to Natives postponing their headline tour until next year I managed to get to Cardiff for what turned out to be not only a night full of musical brilliance but an all out stunt show too. Madness.

Tonight Alive

Bristol, The Fleece 29/05

Yet another tour with a fantastic line up. Gavin Butler showing off his solo ability, Transit who i'd been dying to see live (and who didn't disappoint) and then of course Tonight Alive playing a belter of a set to an intimate crowd. What was not to like?

Bastille

Reading Festival

They've grown and grown in popularity this year which was evident from the packed out tent. The heat was high, the atmosphere was amazing and Bastille showed off their ridiculous amounts of talent.

All Time Low

Bristol, 02 Academy 12/02

This feels like forever and an age ago, in fact I almost completely forgot that i'd seen them this year! As per usual the night was fun, the set list was brilliant and the dick jokes were terrible but I couldn't help but laugh anyway. It was also the first time I ever heard 'Therapy' live which was undoubtedly the highlight. 

Take Me Back: Slam Dunk Wales

My dad's atrocious timekeeping and typical British weather (a hella lot of rain) meant my brother and I arrived at Slam Dunk really, really late.  We were wandering around the front of the university in pouring rain trying to work out where we were meant to go when Dan from Four Year Strong let us through a door. After 10 minutes and all we'd seen are band members and a back door that takes you to the buses we eventually worked out that we were backstage. Oops. So there we were - 2 hours late, soaking wet and still no closer to finding the actual entrance. Before security noticed we high tailed it out of there and crossed the bridge to the smaller room and hurrah we're in the right place. Wristbands on and ID checked we looked at the stage times and at that point my dad was very lucky he skipped out on this gig. We had missed Man Overboard. Unimpressed doesn't even cover it. With an hour to wait before The Wonder Years we went to the bar and got seriously overpriced drinks and caught the first 15 minutes of The Early November's set. 

Since we were at the main stage in the small room of the uni venue we were confused as to where the second stage was going to be, and so in fear of missing yet another band we came for, we went in search of stage number two. Following the signs we were led to a queue in part of the uni neither of us had ever been and when we were let through it turns out we were in a room not much bigger than my bedroom full of guys twice my size. And let me tell you at this point in time there wasn't even anyone playing and the heat was insane. 

For nearly seven years we had both been dying to see The Wonder Years live but there was always something preventing it but finally there they were. Well, I couldn't actually see them since there was about 200 bodies packed into a space big enough for 50. The moment they stepped out on the tiny stage playing "Passing Through a Screen Door" the crowd went wild and didn't calm down - this was going to be a show like no other, that much was already apparent. Their set was crammed with their very best anthemic songs like "Logan Circle" and "Came Out Swinging" causing the most passionate fist thrusting, lyric screaming crowd I have ever been a part of. It was madness, a desperate scramble to reach the band and shout as loud as we can the words that define our lives. 

Somewhere in the craziness I lost my brother and ended up at the front, right in the firing line of all the crowd surfers - and there must have been about 100. Halfway through the set the band stopped and Soupy said if they have to stop playing because it's getting too hot and dangerous for us out there then they won't be upset they want us to have a good time but not at our expense. A ruckus of yells were fed back to him. Stop? No way. Carrying on with "Don't Let Me Cave In" they stopped once more to check we were all okay. We all yelled back before Soupy realised it was better to tell us all to shh and yell if you're not okay. One guy decided to yell jokingly and was swiftly told to shut up by Soupy. We were the craziest crowd they've ever played to and the hottest. Dozens of water bottles were handed out and the security poured jugs of water over us and then 10 minutes later, satisfied we were all alright, they finished their set with everyone just as enthusiastic as before - just not near passing out. 

I bit through my lip, trapped muscles in my neck and had more than enough feet kick me in the head but it was more than worth it to see these pop-punk gods destroy every expectation I had of them and raise the bar unreachably high for bands in the future. 

Reunited with my brother - who had somehow managed to keep hold of his glasses in the frenzy - we bought merch (which I lost) and headed back to the main stage and saw the last 20 minutes of our little sisters favourite band Pierce The Veil who also said we were the best crowd they had ever played to. With 4 minutes left to play the choice was ours - "Bulls In The Bronx" or "King For A Day" and with equally matched yells it was a good job they were allowed to play both. 

Securing us a spot at the front for Four Year Strong we waited and waited and waited until they eventually came out nearly half an hour late. Last time I saw Four Year Strong I had just turned 14 so now being not far from 19 I was more than ready to hear songs like "Tonight We Feel Alive" and "Wasting Time" live. With more room I managed to avoid most of the crowd surfers apart from a couple of girls who were failing miserably at it and nearly broke my neck but with Four Year Strong blasting out classics such as "Bada Bing! Wit' A Pipe" and "Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die" it was more than worth it. The air conditioning was appreciated more than anyone will ever know and so was the slowing (kind of) down of the set with "One Step At A Time" as by this point exhaustion was hitting me hard. Unsure as to if they were going to be able to play their encore, as it was past the venues curfew, everyone was buzzing from having seen their incredible performance but gutted we wouldn't see "It Must Really Suck..." or "Wasting Time" when out they came and closed Slam Dunk 2013 for good with two intense tracks from Enemy of the World that we were all ecstatic to get to hear. Curfew? What curfew. 

Top Tunes: May

The Wonder Years - Dismantling Summer

"I've been acting like i'm strong, but the truth is i'm losing ground"

Four Year Strong - Wasting Time

"Draw the line, all this time you were just drawing mine. Only problem is I see no end in sight of any kind"

Transit - Long Lost Friends

"Because lately you've been looking at me like you've seen a ghost, and isn't it obvious who's been missing who the most"

Tonight Alive - What Are You So Scared Of?

"And you can't go on thinking that you're so hard done by, and don't pretend you've worked so hard just scraping by"

Gavin Butler - Sunshine

"Think to the start and come from the dark"

Youtube Playlist

Gig Moments I Never Want To Forget (Part 3)

11. The Easycore Tour (Bristol 27/11/2008)

New Found Glory, Set Your Goals, Four Year Strong and Crime In Stereo. Surely that's enough said? 

12. Being on barrier for Bayside (Birmingham 2/12/2008)

It was at this show I first heard Hit The Lights and was on the barrier for the first time ever. It was after going to a few more gigs I realised I actually would rather be in the crowd than on barrier but it was pretty awesome being directly in front of the Bayside guys. It was a seriously good show and I haven't managed to see them since which is something that needs to be changed pretty sharpish. 

13. A Day To Remember and the non-mover student (Bristol 13/03/2010)

I went to see ADTR at the university and so I was surrounded by giant students flailing around, apart from this one guy that smelt like he hadn't washed in a good year and didn't move a muscle throughout the entire gig. I'm pretty sure he didn't blink either. Actually I don't think he even knew where he was. 

14. Jack Barakat waving to us on the balcony (Bristol 26/01/2010)

All Time Low's first tour in the UK was a brilliant one. The set was almost the same as it was on "Straight To DVD" minus a couple of songs, and if they ever wanted to stop making music, a career as comedians wouldn't be hard to come by for them. I was ill at this gig and spent most of the night trying not to throw up but it didn't dampen my spirits as All Time Low really do know how to cheer someone up. Towards the end of the night Jack waved up to me and my dad - possibly All Time Low's biggest fan - and yelled hello which made my night. 2 years later and i've met them a few times and will be seeing them live for the 5th time in February.

15. My sister's hamster dying during "The Only Exception" (Birmingham 16/11/2010)

This was the second time seeing Paramore live and during "The Only Exception" I gave my phone to Meg to use as a light when a load of text messages came through saying "Skippy's dying" and then "Skippy's dead". The guy next to us looked quite alarmed when he read the messages over her shoulder too. It was one of those moments where I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
I also got the whole thing on video but it refuses to upload so watch the one above and know that somewhere in the crowd that's happening. 

Part 1 here.

Part 2 here.