I love a good gig. There is very little, sex aside, that can top that nervy feeling of euphoria when you’re waiting for your favourite band to come onstage at your favourite gig venue. Same goes for howling along to your favourite lyrics or hanging on the every word of the lead singer… Gigs are just awesome. As a rule, I’ve had a terrible habit in the past of finding tickets of gigs that I really want to go to, then spending way too long deliberating about buying the tickets – only to lose them and be faced with buying them off eBay for stupid prices, or wait for their next tour. This unfortunate situation occurred last year when I was looking to buy tickets to see one of my favourite artists – Laura Marling.
Marling's "When The Bell Tolls" tour poster.
I’ve been a fan of Marling’s since the release of her debut album ‘Alas I Cannot Swim’, from the days when my mother used to tell me that the girl couldn’t sing and I got ridiculously irate, but I’d never been savvy enough to buy tickets to see her gigs – so this tour was going to be different. I was really keen to go, but my group of friends were either too disinterested or too low on cash to come with me, so it was a case of the desperate Facebook whoring-out to find someone to accompany me. In the end, some 16 year old kid that I vaguely know (don’t ask me how) faithfully declared his undying love for her, much to my surprise, and offered to come with me. In short, I missed the tickets from Ticketmaster etc, due to his dallying, but I managed to get hold of some off eBay for double the price each at £40. (We’ll ignore the fact that the gig was last October and the kid in question has yet to pay me back…)
Basically, the moral to that story is: if you want to go to the fucking gig, get tickets to the fucking gig.
So that’s exactly what I did this year. After missing out on getting tickets to the NME Awards Show with Two Door Cinema Club, Azealia Banks, Tribes and Metronomy (still pains me to have to write such a brilliant list) for a Christmas present to myself and the boyf, I went mental on the tickets trail.
NME Awards Tour 2012 - Heartbroken.
This has resulted in me now having tickets for:
- Everything Everything at Islington Mill, Salford – February 2nd. (Bought ticket for myself and le boyf for an extra Christmas present, but mainly ’cause I really wanted to see them and wanted to drag him along – but he does like them too)
- Laura Marling at Manchester Apollo – March 9th. (Christmas present off my dad and I bought a ticket for my flatmate to come with me for her Christmas present)
- The Civil Wars at Manchester Academy 2 – March 16th. (Christmas present off my dad and it looks like I’m going alone, but they’re totally worth it)
- Bombay Bicycle Club at Liverpool University – 21st April. (Christmas present for my boyfriend, cannot wait)
Catharsis 