Just had an utterly fantastic weekend. Me and FJ went up to Edinburgh to see Queens of the Stoneage and they rocked.
It’s been ages since I went to see a live gig, in fact it’s been ages since I went to see a concert that wasn’t part of a festival, certainly I went to festivals rather than anything else in Japan. Anyway, it was good seeing a band with someone else – I haven’t done that since I was at school with Pill Popper (one of the Princess’s ex-boyfriends).
We walked round Edinburgh on Saturday and attempted to find the place, however I’d managed to get The Exchange (a part of Edinburgh) and the Corn Exchange (where the gig was) conflated in my head and I totally wore myself out, by this stage FJ was running on pretty much pure adrenaline with the sheer excitement of seeing the band. I surprised myself by actually how excited I was given that they aren’t my favourite band and I was accompanying FJ largely because it was in my favourite city. Having said that though, I LOVED the gig. I don’t have any other words for it. It was too, too, too amazing for words. In anycase we got some dodgy information on how to get to the place from Tourist Information and finished shopping for souvenirs for our nearest and dearest…
…Well ok this shopping may have included a weapons shop and a tattooists. (Progress on my tattoo plans is being made! I’m so excited and FJ is up for another trip to Edinburgh when I actually have them done so I’m looking forward to that). We crashed in the room for a bit, eating tea and doing make-up etc. listening to the CDs FJ had brought, then we headed out into the Edinburgh night to catch the bus the tourist information had told us about…
Anyway, we ended up getting a taxi to the gig due to dodgy info from the tourist woman, it wasn’t too expensive and we got a train back for free so it all worked out! I got a few random compliments out on the street for my hair (it’s purple again and I styled it a la Joyce Grenfall… sort of).Then we waited in a queue down a backstreet where the lights were constantly flickering and FJ got steadily more and more bouncy and I was totally excited. We got patted down as we walked into the Corn Exchange and I was gobsmacked by quite how like the Baths Hall from back in the Green County it was…
First up were the supporting band Circle of Fire or something who I thought were ok. Me and FJ were in a really good place in the hall, pretty near the front but not right up against it. Even I got a good view for most of the night and I’m short!
Then the chandeliers were unhooked and the band came on. They rocked. I didn’t know a lot of the songs as I’m not the huge fanboy FJ is, but they totally rocked. They played Burn The Witch which is close to becoming one of my favourites but I’m at a loss to tell you what else they played as I was fairly caught up in the moment of it all. I love crowds sometimes (this may come as something of a shock) but I love them when the bass is so loud you’re feeling it and the motion is there and you’re dancing. (And someone has his hands around your waist when you suddenly realise everyone else is 6 foot odd and jumping virtually on top of you.)
I was on a high for the whole gig, FJ and I had planned on heading to The Hive afterwards but I was totally crashing so we ended up wandering the streets of Edinburgh him smoking a cigar we’d bought earlier… oh yeah… there was a cigar shop trip too…
This morning we checked out, ate a full English at a cafe and wandered again before sitting down in Chocolate Soup for lunch. There then followed the hardest games of twenty questions EVER! It has been a FANTASTIC weekend.