Crowded House

The Crowded House concert was fucking good. I mean fucking good.

I wrapped up my studies around 4.30, and headed off to town to meet the olds and brother/his girlfriend. Organised a quick dinner of take away indian, and then I got to watch as they drunk wine. Yay for me.

Nah wasn’t that bad. Had a glass… then made myself stop. Anyone who knows me knows that that first drink decides it all.

Anyway, we headed off to the concert, arriving around 7.10 or something. Doors opened at 6.30, with support band Pluto on at 7.30. There was a queue. I know, that’s not surprising. But I mean, a queue which seemed to stretch along the length of the quay entirely. Just wasn’t really expecting that, been to a few concerts at the venue and never had that before.

But it was fine, moved along quickly.

We found our seats, which were fucking awesome. Yup. awesome. They’re difficult to explain. They were near the back of the venue, at the front of one of the sides upstairs. Which means, we had only one row of people in front of us and a basically clear view of the band the entire time. The venue’s small enough for it to feel like you’re right up close anyways.

Here I took this photo…

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…which portrays exactly the opposite of what I was trying to say. Camera phones. Don’t they rule? :p

Anyway, we sat down just as Pluto began to play. Yeah, they’re alright. Didn’t really know who they are. Until they said “And here’s one you might know.” Hey… so they did have stuff on the radio. Not overly bad either. But the rest of it was a little repetitive. Live music though, always good.

There was a quick intermission- quick grab a bottle of water before the next band come on - followed by Supergroove.

They live up to their name.

Seriously - they were on form. Never been a real fan, but I’m tempted to go out and buy a CD now. They put on an amazing performance, working the crowd up with an incredibly energetic version of ‘Can’t Get Enough.’ Even my parents were having a good time, though I couldn’t help but laugh when Mum leant over to say “This is my first Rap concert!”.

Still, entertaining as they were, Surpergroove, for me, were just holding back what we’d really come for.

9 o’clock they left the stage. Another intermission. Finally, the lights dimmed again about twenty minutes later. The atmosphere became charged again, filled with clapping, stomping, and cheering. Finally, when the band came out, the entire crowd went crazy, a true welcome back for the band.

They opened with an amazing version of ‘Private Universe’ - minus the island drummers. Heaven :D

Here, proper photo, stolen from Flickr.

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They played a mix of old and new songs, which was to be expected. That didn’t stop one person done the front yelling out “play some old shit!”

They got there with the old shit, resulting in many singalongs, and many extended singalongs, such as for Fall at Your Feet, where Neil sat down at a keyboard and played the second half of the song all over again for everyone to sing a long to.

Good song.

Near the end of the concert, I think in one of the two (yeah, two) encores, a guy and a girl jumped up on stage and hugged Neil. Security was there in a flash… and took the girl away. Even Neil was perplexed. How did he think the girl was the bigger threat? He never came back for the guy… Neil played along for a while but eventually asked for a spotlight - and the guy jumped back off the stage. Weird.

But yeah. The concert kept going. Crowd kept screaming for more, they came back twice to play more. The encores contained the “old shit” the crowd had been waiting for, ending on a massive version of ‘Better Be Home Soon.’

Amazing concert. Totally Amazing.

So yeah, home soon I was. Around 12.30.

Good thing I didn’t have an exam in the morning or anything.

Ah, shit.

November 1, 2007 | Filed Under Music | 3 Comments 

Feats of Engineering

There have been many amazing feats of engineering in the world, throughout all the ages.

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The Pyramids of Egypt - with the Great Pyramid built in 2560 BC as a tomb for Khufu. It was the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years. Caused awe and wonder for millenia. Probably wasn’t so popular with the people who built it, what with the whips, and the lugging of massive stones and all that.

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The Great Wall of China - The world’s longest human-made structure, at over 6,400 km, built between the 5th Century BC and the 16th Century to protect Northern China from Mongolian hordes. People used to claim that it could be seen from the moon, but Google Earth quickly put that belief to rest.

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The Empire State Building - 102 stories, Art Deco design, what’s not to like? It was the tallest building in the world for 40 years, after it’s completion in 1931.

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Le Viaduc de Millau - It’s the tallest “vehicular” bridge in the world, 343 metres at its tallest point, taller than the Eiffel Tower and 38m shorter than the Empire State Building. It just looks awesome.

But they have all been topped.

What amazing feat could top all of these wonders?

The raised-couch-on-deck of course.

The flat is in the perfect location to get a good dosage of sun most of the day, especially through the afternoon. Sunday, the sun was out in force. So we moved the couch onto the deck. I sat there studying. Jordan, however, had other plans.

October 30, 2007 | Filed Under General | 12 Comments 

Time-management.

If all had gone to plan, tonight I would be attending the Crowded House reunion concert. And tomorrow morning I would be sitting my exam for French Literature.

Called my parents last night to figure out what was happening with the concert (Parents are taking me a part of a Christmas present. Fucking early, I know. But it’s Crowded House.)

“What? No, we’re coming down on Wednesday, Ben. The concert’s on Wednesday.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yep.”

“Well when the fuck is my exam then?”

Turns out, the exam’s on Thursday. I somehow moved everything one day forward.

I thought it was curious when the boss informed me that she gave me the day off for my exam, and the four days prior so that I could study. When I looked at the roster, I thought she must have been confused - she’d given me three days for study, the day of the exam, and thursday - the day after.

Nope, I was wrong.

Oh well, looks like I have an extra day for studying, when will go down quite well. Sucks for various plans on Wednesday night though, varying from a Halloween Party to going Bowling…

October 30, 2007 | Filed Under Academia, Music | 3 Comments 

Scotch scotch scotch

Nick’s in Aus. I can’t wait for him to come back.

Not so much because I miss him. (Sorry dude, but it’s been like 3 days since I saw you…)

He’s bringing me scotch.

Duty free.

Glenfiddich, or something else if there’s a good deal on. Can’t wait. Haven’t had scotch in ages, since my bottle of Johnnie ran out and I was too poor to buy another one…

October 28, 2007 | Filed Under Alcoholic | 3 Comments 

Home again.

Three childhood friends.

One car.

Three nights.

Three cities.

Countless New Zealand landmarks.

Unknown quantities of alcohol.

Hours of video footage.

1532 Kilometres.

I just got home about 2 hours ago… I’m utterly exhausted.

More detailed posts coming. I’m thinking three or four - to break things up into each day, and really be able to get into some detail.

Also, in a week or two, the video montage should be available. I’ll probably put it up here for my embarrasment and your viewing pleasure :0

October 21, 2007 | Filed Under Travel | 9 Comments 

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