Crimbledom.

It is over for another year.

3 days of relaxing with the folks and some nice sea air.

Only new year to survive now.

Ah that sea breeze. Baltic.

Strange road names.

Christmas rainbow.

Peace x

All photographs by Caroline Harvey.

The End of the World...

Well 21.12. 2012 came and went without too much trouble. I was all set for the end to come, but well it just didn't, so life just carried on as normal. On the plus side it meant that my work Christmas party went ahead as scheduled.

The anticipation!

Peace x

Photo by Caroline Harvey

You can't overdose on music.

I love music. I can not play an instrument or sing in tune and some people may not like the songs I choose to listen to, but I like what I like. Generally I enjoy songs with good lyrics. Lyrics that you can feel, that tell a story, that evoke a memory and if you can dance along with them then all the better.

Despite this I have never been a big concert goer, in fact have been to very few in my lifetime compared to many people. However the last 3 weekends have seen me go to 2 concerts and 1 musical, and it has been great.

Charlie and Craig at their best.

The first concert was the Proclaimers at the Edinburgh Playhouse and they did not disappoint. This was my 3rd time watching them live and they never fail to produce the goods. There is no pomp and ceremony with the Reid brothers, they get on stage and they deliver tune after tune after tune. No chit chat, no banter, no costumes, no dancing just good old fashioned singing, and boy do they do it well. We had excellent seats 4 rows from the stage, which was great as it gave us a little more space when we got up to boogie along to the classics. Their support act, a foot tapping Edinburgh bluegrass band called Blueflint, were also brilliant.

The next musical extravaganza came a week later when we had a wee girlie trip to see 9 to 5 the Dolly Parton musical. It is based on the 1980 film classic of the same name and it did not disappoint. This show was again at the Playhouse but this time we were seated slightly further away from the stage! In fact we were 2 rows from the back this time. Truly in the Gods, but this did not deter from the great singing and dancing and general all round fun times of a cheesy musical. Fantabulous.

Where's the stage?

Dolly even appeared. Yeah.

And this brings up to last night and a little adventure West to the SECC in Glasgow to see the brilliant Black Keys. I often worry that when I do see bands live that they will not live up to their albums, but they were fantastic, again no pomp and ceremony just guitars, drums and vocals, oh and an amazing glitter ball.

It is worth mentioning that this was my first concert at the SECC and I am glad that I chose to buy seats in the stands rather than standing as it seems to be common place for people to throw their beer, thankfully in plastic glasses, into the crowd. Another highlight of the evening, was a half drunk punter shouting up to someone behind us, and I quote "Hey Chris if av telt ya wance  av telt ya twice, stay away fae ma pigeons". Awesome. Only in Scotland.

The support act were the Maccabees, also very good and I think I will hunt them out the next time I am CD shopping.

The Armadillo.

Filling up

The Maccabees.

The Black Keys.

Amazing glitter ball.

A very musical 3 weeks but great, must do more of it.

Peace x

All photos by Caroline Harvey.