&$WE ARE ALL ANIMALS{)

According to some shouts on the Last.fm page of the concert of last night, not everyone liked it. For me, when I go out to a concert I just want to have fun, hear the songs I know played live and just go out of control. Dance to those tracks like I always do at home but now with the full band playing live in front of me. So I'm not one who's going to complain about the sound not being too good. I just take things for how they are. And honestly, I thought it still sounded very good. Don't know why they complain. But then again I'm a sucker for the drummer, I always follow his beat and those drums are always heard clearly, if not, there's a real problem. I was standing completely at the front. I was early, they weren't even open yet when I got there. What I didn't like is that on the ticket it says that doors open at 19.30 and the show will start at 20.30. Normally when that is written it means that the start of the show is the main act starting to perform. But apparently in Melkweg that's not the case, 'cause I Heart Hiroshima began at 20.30, who were supporting The Rakes. So I already was waiting for more than an hour before they came on. They played a pretty long set though. I enjoyed them a lot, but as always with supporting acts you feel you can't go completely wild yet. You always feel the crowd is a little hesitant and holds back, 'cause when the main act starts it's like boom, complete chaos, people jumping everywhere, but not with the supporting act, nomatter how good they are and I Heart Hiroshima were definitely good. That's what happened this time as well, but when The Rakes came on there was one explosion of energy. I loved it. The guy next to my left was completely into it as well just like me and all of a sudden this other girl and guy appeared with smiles on their faces dancing with a passion who apparently thought like, yay, the party has really started here, lets join these people. To my surprise, as always, don't know why I'm still surprised :) some of the girls behind me were standing pretty still as were the girls to my right, though I didn't pay any further attention to them, I was enjoying myself way too much. But I was forced to turn around and look behind me because I almost jumped on one girl's feet twice so that's how I found out they weren't moving too much or at least not as much as I do. But I was real happy 'cause I had still a lot of space to dance around. And I noticed that the singer of the band Alan Donohoe (until some seconds ago I had no idea what his name was, thanks Wikipedia!) and I have a pretty similar dancing style. His feet move like mine. So as usual I had tons of fun. Definitely worth the wait. And like the two previous concerts, Metric and Franz Ferdinand, at the end I was completely soaked. So I'm not wearing the same shirt again I wore last night. Jeans are still okay though, even though those ended up a bit sticky as well :D But I just like them too much, I want to wear them at least one more day. Highlight for me apparently was the song We Are All Animals, 'cause that's the one that was burned in my head when I was walking back to the train station afterwards. Did a late night photography session but at first I didn't know why my camera didn't want to go into focus. Couldn't figure it out. In the end it got back into focus, though, but then I was already close to the station to get on the train. Those out of focus ones do look pretty interesting though, because of them not being in focus. But next time I will take proper ones. Today I'm planning to watch Coraline at the Pathé. Starts at 14.30 and I will go and see if my MA supervisor is in his office 'cause I still haven't heard anything from him. I really don't know what to do... :(

So first the out of focus ones then those that are in focus. Bad photographer... ;)







Some pictures of last night. Not taken by me.

The Rakes:



I Heart Hiroshima:

!{AND SUDDENLY I WAS THERE%^

I know I've been so bad for going, but I wanted to and I loved it. Yesterday I saw there was a ticket left on Ticketmaster but I was like, hmmm, I don't know, it's a bit expensive. But today I was like, it's just money. If I want to have more I'll go and work and make some more. Why care?! Some people buy certain objects and they enjoy them for a while, I bought myself a night with Franz Ferdinand and I'll remember it all my life. First off, I felt I was the only one who really went into it completely. At Metric I had some competition, some guys shaking their heads wildly all the time. But here, not that much. I was standing at a really nice spot where I enjoyed the supporting act Kissogram who are really good by the way. How come these guys aren't more famous? They easily could become one of the many popular bands out there. People should start hyping them. Like me this guy and girl to my right, I think they were British, they looked British though (if the Facehunter or Sartorialist had spotted them on the street they would have ended up on their websites), they were dancing like me having fun. Why is it though that people always stay a bit still during the supporting act? It seems like, nomatter how good the supporting act is, people refuse to dance and really go into it as if doing so would mean betraying the main act. Or maybe they're afraid they spill all their energy to the supporting act and won't have any left when the main act starts playing? Don't know. But I danced and the guy and girl to my right did too. Then, after waiting another half hour or more like 40 minutes almost, Franz Ferdinand came on, and as expected people started to mosh. Then you can do three things, or you stay where you're at and let the whole gig get ruined, or you move to the side and find yourself a spot more at the back where people just stand unmoving, or, like I did, you make sure you get all to the front. 'Cause in the front row you aren't bothered by all that's happening behind you. I went for option three, so after song number two I was standing comfortably at the front, right of the stage and I even had some space to really dance around. And I went for it. It was so fun. I danced all the way through. No break. No pause. I jumped at all the good parts, had my hands up in the air. I loved it. And to my surprise everytime I took a glance behind me to watch the crowd some people behind me were standing pretty still and those who did move only jumped or started another moshpit. I didn't end up on stage though as some people did at the end. But that's okay. You know, of course I kept the money on my mind, so if I would have managed to climb on stage I had one more reason to feel less guilty about the price. 'Cause then I would have said I had a great time AND I ended up on stage. What more do you want?! But I didn't, but like I said, I don't mind, the people who did climb on stage didn't do that much anyway. Before coming to Paradiso I looked for a recent setlist so I kind of knew which songs they were going to play and I think they played all the songs from that setlist which was from something like May 6 I think. Seems I might be able to start a blog dedicated to going to concerts soon as I've been to so many lately and I'm planning to see The Rakes supported by I Heart Hiroshima in the Melkweg on Monday next week. That one will be much cheaper than the gig I went to tonight. But Franz Ferdinand, they were totally worth it. Just seeing Alex Kapranos jump, you know it's bound to be fun. And hearing him sing live... Excellent. When he started the first song, it's a kind of magical moment hearing that voice you've been used to singing to you in mp3 format for years for real, live, singing in front of you. His words flow directly there in space moving towards you. So much fun. I just love going to concerts. If I had not been to Franz Ferdinand I would have probably gone to the cinema in Amsterdam to see Üç maymun (Three Monkeys) by Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan. But I'll see that one another time. Sure that would have been fun too, but I think this was a far better choice. :) I saw lots of people with cameras taking pictures and making videos so I bet there will be a lot to upload by tomorrow!

Following pictures are not taken by me