Saturday 6 May 2017

The Who

One night hubby and I were chatting about our bucket list of musicians we'd like to see and he mentioned The Who. I knew they were on at the Echo Arena and so we decided to go.

Now picking seats at a concert can be tricky. The seats at the back of an arena mean you watch it mostly on a big screen. Anything past the first ten rows on the floor level (unless it's standing only) means you end up standing anyway as those nearer the stage do. What you have to do is work out what blocks offer the best view and then hope for the best. The Echo Arena is not one of those who let you choose your own seats online.

So having bought seats in the right block we turned up halfway through the support act (plumber problems - don't ask!) who weren't my cup of tea but seemed to go down well. The photo below doesn't do the view justice.


As it was the first time either of us had seen them live we weren't sure what to expect. What we got was the loudest concert we'd ever been to and we've seen Springsteen! Pete Townsend is still amazing and once he'd done his first windmill he was off. Roger Daltrey's voice isn't as powerful as it once was but that's not surprising considering his age and what he's been through. 



The concert was billed as them playing the "Tommy" album live. Roger, however, had other ideas. Yes they would play songs from Tommy but he decided to play some new songs as many of their classics as they could fit in. As Roger said they have a large back catalogue to get through.

I'm really pleased we went, especially as I probably wouldn't have normally chosen to see them. Now I'd love to see them again.

Viceroy's House

A bit late with this but a few weeks ago we saw Viceroy's House. 

I knew a little about the subject matter in a general way but not much of the detail. I found the film fascinating as it was made showing all sides of the story both good and bad.
As ever, with any topic like this, it is the way humans treat other humans that shocks. Because someone has a different faith to someone else it was cause to kill and maim. Sadly today the human race is no different.

What I also found very interesting was the way Mountbatten was treated by the British Government of the time.


It's a film I would watch again as I'm sure I could learn something new that I missed first time.

Saturday 15 April 2017

Checkatrade Trophy

One of my oldest friends, and mother of my gad daughter, is an Oxford United fan. For the past two seasons Oxford have reached the final of the Football League Trophy, which is currently known as the Checkatrade Trophy, at Wembley and my friend has kindly invited us to the game.

This year the final was against Coventry City who are languishing at the bottom of League One. Looking at the difference in teams we thought Oxford would have a decent chance of winning.


Unfortunately for Oxford they played below par whilst Coventry raised their game in front of around 43,000 of their fans. Coventry scored early and then defended well while counter attacking and were good value for their 2:1 win. Oxford didn't score until the 75th minute and only really got into the game then.

The Coventry fans used the game as a chance to protest against their owners and several times the chant of "Stand up if your owner's shit" rang out with virtually all Coventry fans on their feet. I have to admit it was tempting for me to join them but it would have looked a bit odd in the middle of the Oxford fans. I was standing up in spirit though!

All in all it was a good day out and I enjoyed catching up with my friends. I have promised not to go next season if Oxford are in the final again - assuming this trophy exists.

Sunday 26 March 2017

British Gymnastics

Last year it was announced that the British Gymnastics Championships would be held at the Echo Arena in Liverpool. Having watched Gymnastics on TV and enjoyed it we thought we would watch it live.


When I bought the tickets I went for the upper tier as we wanted to see everything that was going on. We ended up near the uneven bars and the floor with the high bar a bit further away.

Although neither Max Whitlock or Nile Wilson were competing both were there to give support to the other competitors - much to the delight of several thousand children who screamed and clapped when they were announced. However Claudia Fragapane & Ellie Downie were for the women along with James Hall for the men.



Claudia's floor routine was fabulous and it was easy to see how being on Strictly Come Dancing had given her the confidence to be more expressive. Ellie Downie's routine was also very good. The strength and power of the men is something that doesn't really come over on the TV.

N


The only downside to the afternoon was not being able to watch everything at once and that is a minor complaint. It's like being at an athletics meeting when there is so much going on that you can't take it all in. However I would go again as I very much enjoyed watching both the current and future British stars.