Home Sweet Home

Tonight was the night! After work Andy and I hurried home so that I could eat and get ready for Laura H to arrive so we could take the train into Manchester to see The Rocky Horror Show.

I did not go all out getting dressed up but I borrowed a pink feather boa from Rachel at work, I had on bright red lipstick and even had gold glitter on my eyes. This was going all out for me and I was quite proud that I took public transportation with all of this on.
Of course others did go all out.

Christian, Nicola and Helen

I would say Christian wins the award for dressing up out of our group. I believe his only complaint was that he didn't have any suspenders and his stockings kept falling down.

The show was excellent! I would challenge anybody to go see this and not have a good time, it would have to be impossible. We were in the Circle which was the first balcony and when everybody got up to do The Time Warp the floor was bouncing up and down. I was glad that they made these old buildings to last! Our Narrator was Dave Spikey (from Phoenix Nights) and he was very funny. As you can imagine there is a lot of banter between the cast and the audience at this show and he gave very quick and witty comebacks to the things that were being yelled at him.

I will leave you with one last picture... This is the gentleman that was sitting next Laura H and I. As you can see... his (uhmmmm) crotch area was lit up all night. I doubt it was Laura and I that he was trying to attract with the light however. At one point he sprayed this really horrible smelling perfume and he somehow managed to get it all over Laura's arm so she also got to smell as cheap as him. : )

The Rocky Horror Show will be playing at this very theatre in four weeks time... and guess who will be there? That's right... me and some friends from work! YAY!

Everybody gave me their money for their tickets yesterday and the plan was to go to the bank early this morning and then book via Ticketmaster online or over the phone. Well I called Ticketmaster this morning before I went to the bank and they said they were sold out for the Friday and Saturday night show. We didn't mind going on the Monday night but Christian (who we also work with) had tickets to go with a bunch of his friends on Friday night so we thought it would be cool to all be there for the same show. When I mentioned we really wanted Friday the guy on the phone said that if I went to the box office at the theatre itself they would probably have more seats available because Ticketmaster only gets a percentage of them.

So off I went... alone... I know I have been in England for 1 year and 44 days but today was the first time I have taken the train alone. Andy was much more interested in playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare than going into Manchester with me to get tickets for a show he hates. In fact when we were at Beauty and the Beast and I grabbed the leaflet and pointed out it was on his birthday week he asked that his birthday present be me not dragging him to go see this... So cool that is his birthday done and dusted this year.

Anyway... I got there and after having to explain to two different groups of people that there was in fact a line behind me that they needed to stand in I finally made my way up to the window. I explained that I was looking for 4 tickets for Friday December 11th and to my surprise he not only had 4 tickets available but they were in the second row of the circle and looked like excellent seats! I bought them right there and then and walked out very happy.

We are going to have a blast!!

High: 49°
Low: 44°
Forecast: Cloudy
Sunrise: 7:34 AM
Sunset: 4:14 PM

Back to Manchester tonight but this time to see Ricky Gervais. The name of this tour is 'Science' which is why the set looks like a laboratory. He was so very funny! The only thing that would have made it better is if Karl Pilkington would have been there... he is from Manchester after all.

Ricky however is a comedy genius and it was great to be able to see him live.

High: 48°
Low: 38°
Forecast: Cloudy
Sunrise: 7:29 AM
Sunset: 4:19 PM

Tonight we went into Manchester to see Beauty and the Beast. The show was so cute and fun! Andy is not that into theatre but he really enjoyed it also, he hasn't even seen the Disney movie version.

The only downer on the night was that on the train from Westhoughton to Manchester I left my beautiful umbrella that is black on the outside and underneath there are constellations. I have already called Northern Rail to report my loss but I'm not expecting to get it back.

So very sad.

High: 42°
Low: 38°
Forecast: A Couple of Showers
Sunrise: 7:27 AM
Sunset: 4:21 PM

Andy and I were in Manchester at the MEN to see Green Day tonight... this is the second time we have been to see them and it was simply amazing!

It is unbelievable to think that Billie Joe, Tre and Mike have been a band for 21 years but when you see them together you can believe it. They have such chemistry together and put on such an amazing show.

I was happy to see that there were so many Brits that also love some good American punk music. I did however have a bit of an odd moment when they were singing 'American Idiot'. I did wonder what thousands of British people think of when they sing 'I don't want to be an American idiot'. hhmmmm...

I honestly believe that Oasis should be ashamed to even say they are from Manchester after this show. Here are three guys from Southern California who have been a band for only a few years longer than Oasis and they come to their home town of Manchester and show them how it should be done.

Next time Green Day are back in England you can count on Andy and I being there again!

So... where do I start?

Tracey and James came to pick us up at around 1:15pm. We made our way to Bury because we figured it would be easier to park there and take the metro into Manchester. Since Bury was north at the end of the gig it would be easier to get out as everybody would be going south and into Manchester. We found a place to eat and then made our way to Heaton Park.

The forecast was calling for rain but so far it had held out. I decided to leave my umbrella at home which was a good thing cause as we made our way in they made Tracey throw out the little one she had with her. I would have refused to thrown mine out so luckily I escaped that fight.. too bad that wouldn't have been the only fight of the night!

So the first support band came out... have no idea who they were and the only thing I can remember is that on the two large screens that were beside the stage you could see the lead singer had a giant booger hanging out of his nose which made for a great view on the big screen.

So there is no good way to say what started being thrown once the music got going. There was beer being thrown, food being thrown and yes... brace yourself. Urine being thrown! Yeah I know, how gross is that? I had a plastic poncho on but right before Oasis I had to take it off because some drunk guy grabbed the back of it and it ripped so it was no longer doing any good. I just pulled my hoodie up over my head and tied it tight around my face hoping I did not get anything really gross in the face. At one point a man was walking by with some new beers, he was holding them up over his head, got bumped and when I was looking up he poured them right on my face and in my eyes.

After the unknown band there were three other support bands that played before Oasis came out. Twisted Wheel, The Enemy and Kasabian.

I have to say that I have never listed to any of them before but I thought that The Enemy and Kasabian did a really good job! I think I will have to find some of their music to listen to a bit more of it. Needless to say I would have enjoyed it a bit more if I was not being whacked in the head by some drunken idiot behind me or being pushed around while everybody around be jumped around like idiots. And of course I was still looking out for things being thrown so that I could duck out of the way. Unfortunately there was no ducking for more than half of it. Yuck.

To be honest half way thru Kasabian I was convinced that I wanted to just get out and that no way were Oasis worth all of this crap. But we forced thru it and stayed in our place.

I almost got in a few fights because I kept elbowing the idiots behind me that kept pushing me. Andy came even closer to getting into a fight because people kept trying to push past us and he wouldn't let them by because there was no place to go. He got into a heated argument with one guy and I thought a punch would be thrown but it wasn't. We did witness two fights around us and one was right in front and we watched a guy get punched and go down. When he got up we thought he would fight back but he pretty much ran off crying. There was even one point when a guy threatened to hit a girl, that would have been interesting as I think the guy would have been beaten to a pulp by the others around him.

So finally after already being on my feet for over six hours Oasis come out. To be honest I thought they were ho hum. You have to remember that there were about 70,000 people just at this one concert and we were in Manchester. This is where Oasis are from, this is their home! But there was just no interaction with the audience. No 'It's good to be home' or anything. They came on, sang their songs and left. Outside of singing the songs there was maybe 10 words spoken.

And to be honest after everything we had to go thru I just did not feel like it was worth it. Glad to say that I have seen Oasis live as I have wanted to do that for some time but I won't be rushing to do it again. It is also confirmed that I will never ever go to another outdoor concert. In total I was on my feet standing/walking for a little more than 8.5 hours straight, I was covered in God knows what and felt miserable. It did start to lightly rain about 30 minutes into Oasis but at that point I was welcoming it as I wanted to wash off whatever was on me.

While we were leaving I made the comment that I could have been home playing Sims 3 and Andy said he could have been playing Fifa... hhhmmmm...

The people that went at work seemed to have enjoyed themselves and said it was great. I have seemed to find a running theme though... they were all drunk. Maybe that is the key, you don't mind all of the above crap if you are drunk. Still not my idea of fun.

After I dropped Andy off at work I checked my email and had one from Andy saying that a friend of his at work had told him that Green Day were going to be in Manchester in October and that tickets went on sale at 10:00am.

I got ready.

It was not quite as dramatic as when I got our tickets to go see Oasis but it was pretty close. They are going to be in Manchester over two nights, October 30th and October 31st. So I had two screens up for ticketmaster.co.uk and two screens up for ticketline.co.uk, one for each day. I ended up getting two pretty good seats for the Friday October 30th show and I can't wait!

Andy and I saw Green Day a couple years ago. We were living in Fort Worth TX but drove 10.5 hours to Nashville TN to see them. It was well worth the drive and this will also be a fantastic show!

The best concert I have ever been to. Period.

Coldplay is one of my all time favourite bands and I am so very glad that we got tickets to go see this gig! We ended up having to buy tickets on eBay but we only spent around £10 more per ticket so it was a great deal. And as you can see from the photo we had awesome seats.

I love their new album Viva la Vida so that was great that they played quite a few songs from that but it was especially wonderful because they also played some of the older hits. Songs like The Scientist, Clocks, Yellow, In My Place, etc... It was all GREAT!

During Yellow they had dozens of confetti filled yellow large balloons that were being hit all over the arena. In the above photo they dropped millions of these confetti butterflies during Lovers in Japan. I was able to grab a handful of them to take home with me. There was even one point when they left the stage and went up into the stands behind us and played two songs from up in the seats.

I am not kidding when I saw it is the best concert I have ever been to, and I have been to quite a few good concerts. I was smiling from start to finish.

Perfect night.

Went to go see a great concert tonight! We had a lot fun and would 100% go see them again, it was wonderful.

I am glad I ended up feeling better because I felt like death last night. In one hour I would have such cold chills that my teeth would start to chatter and then in the next hour I was so hot that I was kicking off covers. On our way into work Andy stopped by the Co-Op and I ran in and bought the only medicine that said flu on it. Thankfully by the end of the day at least my headache was gone. By the time Tracey and James came to pick us up I was actually feeling pretty good. I still have a cough but nothing like how I felt last night.

I know.. I know.. it's Bonfire night, it's my first year in England, and I don't go to one.

Instead we had tickets to see Steve Coogan at the Manchester Apollo Theatre. To be honest when I bought the tickets I did not even think about it being November 5th. Since I'm not used to there being something to go do on this date it was just another day and I picked it. Then last week I realized what day I had picked when I was searching online for a big firework display to go to. Oh well, there is always next year to see my first big bonfire! As far as the fireworks are concerned my Mother-in-Law's pub is having a Fun Fair with Fireworks tomorrow night so I get to watch those.

Steve Coogan was very funny! He did several of his characters but of course the only one I was personally familiar with was Alan Partridge as Andy had me watching those shows years ago when they were being shown on BBC America. Aha!

Now for those of you who have never seen Alan Partridge here are a few clips that I found on You Tube for your viewing pleasure.

We had all of this delivered to us from ASDA today for £4.00! Since it cost us £3.60 round trip for Andy and I both to go into Bolton on the train and it saves us having to carry all of this back (which really would be almost impossible) this is the best thing that has ever been offered! Just order online, pick the time you want it delivered and presto... it's there. Wow! And now that all of this has been delivered we have everything we need to put our new slow cooker to work. I think I am going to make either Chilli or Potato Soup tomorrow.. not sure which yet!

The ASDA driver was about 45 minutes late but that's okay it was raining pretty bad today with really heavy winds so I'll cut him some slack. Also I am amazed at how rude people are sometimes... while the poor driver was getting our bags out of the back of the truck two drivers went by honking at him and cursing that his truck was stopped in front of our house. We do live on a pretty busy street but the people that live in England must be used to larger trucks stopping to deliver things on these narrow streets. I mean 99% of things purchased in England can be done online and then delivered to you if not for free for a very small charge. I imagine a lot of people use these services. I am not a saint and I do in fact say the odd curse word (maybe more then a couple...) but to go by and curse at the ASDA driver when he is just out doing his job.

Shame on you.

This evening Andy and I went down to the The Red Lion to listen to the covers band 'Shine'. They were really great and we both enjoyed it a lot! They covered all kinds of music but my personal favourite were the two Oasis songs... Andy quite enjoyed it when they did an Ocean Colour Scene song, which was also very good. All around great night. : )

Setting: Mother-in-Law’s Living Room, Westhoughton UK

Time: 10:00am (BST)

Characters: Christine and Andy

Props: 1 Laptop, 2 Mobile Phones

Scene: Trying to get Oasis tickets

ACT ONE

We find Christine and Andy in the living room. Christine is sitting on the love seat with her laptop and Andy is on the couch with two mobile phones, one in each hand.

Christine has already brought up two websites, www.ticketmaster.co.uk and www.ticketline.co.uk and has begun to refresh the screen minutes before the tickets go on at 10:00am. And it happens... the screen changes from ‘Ticket Not Yet On Sale’ to ‘Find Available Tickets’.

The race is on.

While Christine is refreshing screens that are already timing out due to such high activity Andy is using each mobile phone to dial...get busy signal...dial...get busy signal...and repeat.

Success appears to be in Christine’s grasp as Ticketmaster has actually found 5 tickets available for the Saturday June 6^th concert. She puts in her credit card details and hits submit... waiting... waiting... waiting... then a screen appears saying that tickets were only held for 3 minutes and the transaction was not completed in that time therefore the tickets have been released and to please try again. #&%#!!

Ticketmaster is now saying there are no available tickets for the Saturday performance.

In the meantime the other screen with Ticketline is still in the process of saying it is unable to connect and to please try again. When it finally becomes available it also says there are no tickets available for the Saturday show... a wave of defeat comes over our heroine.

Curtain down.

ACT TWO

This scene starts in the same setting as the first but we find our two actors moving in a much more frantic way. There also seems to be a slew of curse words coming from Christine’s mouth.

Ticketmaster is useless. Finally Christine gets somewhere with Ticketline, the 5 tickets found are not for the Saturday show but for the Sunday show... but still they are tickets. She puts in her credit card information and hits submit. Page Load Error! #&%#!! Instead of starting all over again she just hits refresh... and waits... and waits... and waits...

Success!

Thank you for your order, your payment has been successful.

Christine very happily tells Andy he can stop trying to get thru on the phone as tickets have been confirmed. They both sigh with relief as it is now over.

ANDY’S PREDICTION: SKIP AHEAD EIGHT MONTHS TO JUNE 7^TH 2009

Setting: Heaton Park, Manchester UK

Time: 2:00pm (BST)

Characters: Christine, Andy, James, Tracey and Tracey’s Friend

Props: Five Useless Tickets

Scene: Local Pub

We find our characters in the local pub getting plastered because the gig is cancelled because Oasis usually end up cancelling ½ their concerts due to one issue or another. Andy is the only one saying “I told you so!"