Day 1+2

Hey Everyone! 

So sorry I haven't posted about my experience with Warped Tour! I was only home a few days and then I flew off to Greece for two weeks, so haven't had chance! But here it is! Finally! 

I'm putting Day 1 and 2 together in one post, because my day one was just travelling.

Day 1...

I  left for Manchester airport really early, after only a few hours of restless, excited sleep, and was checked through in no time. I had a quick breakfast in Costa Coffee with my mum and dad, then off through security and off on my own I went! 

The first flight was to Chicago, and it was long... But I had a sweet old lady sitting next to me who was off to visit her daughter so we had a bit of a chat on the way. Then, I had a shortish flight to Tampa, and had a sleep on the plane. Got a taxi to my hotel and then crashed out pretty soon after I got there. 

Tampa Bay

Day 2 (the exciting stuff begins!)

Left the hotel at 9:30am in plenty of time to get over to the park where I was meeting the crew at 10am. Got given my pass and then chilled out in Kevin's (and my) tour bus for an hour while a storm passed. Then I had a venture off to see some bands and find my way around the first venue. I went to catering for lunch, and as I was standing there I saw 2 members of one of my favorite bands walk past (Max Green and Ryan Seaman from Falling In Reverse). Was pretty epic! Then later on I went and caught Of Mice And Men from side stage with a friend I'd made that day Tyler, and after they had finished, Austin was so sweet and had a quick chat to us and took a picture with us! >> 

Falling In Reverse, Tampa show

Then I got to see loads of bands that day, I caught Falling In Reverse, Motionless In White, Mayday Parade, We The Kings and loads more!
After some sun and some bands, I went to grab some dinner from catering, and chilled outside our bus with some people i'd met that day. Loads of rockstars kept walking past, and Ryan from Motionless in White kept nodding over and smiling.

Then I went and grabbed a shower ready for the staff BBQ that night. When I got back to my bus after my shower, I was introduced to a guy (who quickly became my tour buddy) Dakota, who I ended up working with in Miami in the morning!

Before I met the crew in Tampa

 After introductions, I went to the BBQ with Lisa the Tour Photographer and Bus Mom. We had a dance and I was introduced to even more people. Then, probably the best bit of my time over there, Lisa got chatting to Falling In Reverse, and then Ryan (drummer) introduced himself to me. When I told him i'd seen them in Belgium, he was really impressed and smiled at Ronnie (my absolute hero) who was standing next to me, and Ronnie turned to me, shook my hand and said it was nice to meet me. Yes, I nearly had a little cry. I was shaking SO bad. I had dreamt about that moment for YEARS. He was so different to what I expected, he was SO SHY! Yeah, you heard it people, Ronnie Radke, is SHY.

Just after 12am, I headed back to the bus as I was so tired.

That was my day 1 and 2, I hope you enjoyed it. All I done pretty much was hang about and watch bands and chill with rockstars, but I met my hero. And it was SOOOOOO worth the 18 hour traveling for. 

I'll be posting my day 3 which was in Miami very soon! Which was so fun to (and I actually done some work then!) 

Love <3 

First Love

Hey Everyone! 

Right, this blog post is going completely off Warped tour, (i'm sorry!) but unless you want me to write about the contents of my suitcase and what questions I have to fill out for my visa waiver form, there's not an awful lot to talk about this week. 

Instead, i'm going to let you in, and see a personal side to me, and tell you about my first ever true love. 

People always say you never forget or stop loving your first love, right? That's right in my case also. 

However... My first love wasn't a guy. It wasn't a girl ither.

It was a band. 

Specifically, this band... 

Most of you reading this will know EXACTLY who these 5 men are, some may not. For those of you who don't know. This is My Chemical Romance. Dressed exactly how they were dressed and looked the first time I laid eyes on them. (Funny looking right...?!)

It was The Black Parade video, and I only saw the last few lines of the song. Before I saw that video, I was your typical 10 year old who loved boy bands, and girlie pink things, and bright colours. A "girlie girl". Those 5 minutes (when I searched YouTube for the video afterwards to see the whole thing), literally changed my life. And this band quickly became my first one true love. I fell in love with the men. I fell in love with them individually and as a collective. I fell in love with the guitar riffs, the blurting drums, the unique vocal twang of Gerard, and the devilish look in their eyes on that music video. I fell in love with the idea, the imagery, the songs, the lyrics, the movement, the motos. Everything. Without that band, I wouldn't be writing this blog today. They made me change my "life path". They made me determined to do what I wanted to do in life, music. They turned me pretty much over night from this cute little girlie daughter, to a moody emo kid. But to me, it was a purpose, they were a way of life. They gave me hope, they gave me something to cling onto. 

When they broke up 16 months (roughly) ago, I sat in my room feeling numb all day. (Yes the emo side of me came crawling back out for the day). And even now, thinking about it, still makes me feel sad. It's the worst break up i've ever had to endure, and that's how I know that this band was my first true love. It still hurts 16 months on. 

I was lucky enough to see them 4 times live, but when they went on the Danger Days tour, I remember saying to my mum (after the London show), "Gerard wasn't himself". And really, I should have seen it coming. But I put it down to being tired or being ill or something. I didn't want to think my hero had lost heart in everything I believed in. The truth is, he didn't. Reading interviews with him now, it is quite clear that he himself, is still in love with My Chemical Romance. It was his baby. But he always knew there was a termination date. And for him, that was only about a year after I fell in love with them, after The Black Parade. My Chem were a band that never really knew what a massive impact they had on the music world until they were done. When fans, bands, producers, etc came out and spoke about how they changed them, how they impacted them personally. 

So basically. This blog is just "another one on the pile", of some fan who still hasn't gotten over their break up. But this is my story, just like everyone has their own. 

Some people feel alone, and some people feel like they've never been in love etc. Find that one thing that has devastated you, or would devastate you if you lost it. Got it? There... You're in love with that thing. It may be a band like mine, it may be a hobbie. Who knows, but that's your purpose. A first love isn't always a person, for some, it is, but for others, you find a love in something you never expect too. I never expected to fall in love with a rock band, not when I was 10 years old! But I did... Love is that one thing you believe in the most. It's that one thing that keeps you holding onto something when you have nothing else. Love is that one thing you think about subconsciously (I once caught myself writing "My Chemical Romance" instead of My Chemical Reactions in my science book in school...)

It will get you far in life if you keep believing in it. It's got me living out my dream, it can have you living yours! 

I hope you enjoyed reading something very personal to me, i've never really wrote about it before so it's been cool to share my feelings about My Chem, and if you love or hate them i'm sure you have an opinion on them too. So let me know! 

In just under 2 weeks time now, i'll be flying to America, so i'll try do another post next week if i haven't lost my head yet! But it's so so close, if you've already been to Warped, I hope you've had an AMAZING time. All the pictures look so so good, so I am ecstatic to get over there now!

Thanks for reading :)

Love <3 

Sleeping With Sirens

Hey everyone! 

I'll keep this week short, purely because not an awful lot to tell, and you had a massive read last week about my time at Download Festival.

Firstly, I want to apologise if this doesn't sound or look like my other posts, but i'm starting to write my blogs on my new IPad (thanks mum and dad!) to get used to using this to blog while i'm away.

It's 3 weeks TODAY (Thursday) that I jet off!And even now, it still doesn't feel 100% real.

Yesterday my mum went and bought my Dollars for me, so I have lots of spendies while i'm there just in case there's merch I NEEEEEEEED to have! I think it will only feel real maybe the weekend before when i'm starting to pack.

This week, the lovely Warped Tour team announced a surprise act for a few dates (including all three that I will be there for). The one and only Sleeping With Sirens. There's been a lot of debates over these guys (specifically Kellin) the past few months, over is he a nice guy or not? I personally think (if you don't agree then you can leave me a comment telling me why!) but he's been slated over this whole "meet and greet" thing they started doing. Sorry, but HUNDREDS of bands do this, from smallish "academy" type bands to huge international stadium bands, (Black Veil Brides have always played academy's in the UK and they have done meet and greets. And people like 30seconds to Mars do meet and greets). However, it has only been Kellin in the firing line. Now, i'm not a massive fan of Sleeping With Sirens, however I am really excited to check them out live, and to see how they are with fans and other crew/workers/roadies around the place. They might be the biggest snobs ever, who knows? And until you meet them and see how they act, you'll never really know. So not only that i'm excited to be working along side them, i'm really glad that I can have the chance to form my own proper informed opinion of Kellin and the band. 

So, other than that, there isn't an awful lot more to write about this week. If you have already been to Warped tour, why not let me know who was your fav bands and why? And if i get chance i'll go check them out for myself!

Hope you all like and respect my views on the whole "Sleeping with Sirens" drama, and look forward to reading my next post next week!

Love <3

Download Festival!

Hey everyone! 

I know I haven't updated this in a few weeks, but I've been pretty busy enjoying this awesome sunshine England is currently having out of no where! 

So, this blog is going to be about my little adventure at Download Festival a couple of weekends ago, where I got to live a childhood dream and see Aerosmith live for the first time. 

Friday - My awesomely lovely dad picked my friend up on the Thursday and he stayed over in ours, so we could leave super early on the Friday morning, to get to Birmingham to pick up another friend of mine on the way. We got to Donnington park about 10:30ish, said byebye, and off the 3 of us went, loaded down with rucksacks, chairs, tents, gazebos. We looked like we were moving house, not going camping for 3 days. 

When we got there, there was no camping space! OH NOS! But they were opening a new field. On the way, clever me went and bust my shoulder up, and got blisters - Wonderful start. So I was left with half of our stuff half way to the campsite and the boys took most of it and one of them came back for the rest and me. On the way to the campsite (while i was left on my own), I met two other awesome guys who were having trouble finding a place to stay, Josh and Lewis, so I said they could bunk with us and we'd find space even if we squished our tents up so they could fit, and since then, I've made some friends for life with those guys. We had such a blast with them all weekend. 

We set up, chilled, (cracked open a can or two), and then headed down to the arena for our first full day of music. That day we saw my friends band, Page 44, The Temperance Movement, Rival Sons, Rob Zombie and the ALMIGHTY Avenged Sevenfold. Day one, was a complete success! Avenged were incredible, and despite the blistering sun and heat, Download could not be off to a better start! 

Saturday - FALL OUT BOY DAY! Oh, how I was excited for the Saturday line up! On the Saturday, all 5 of us (Myself, my friend Peter, my friend Matt, and our two new buddies, Josh and Lewis) stayed together and headed off to the arena again. We started off the day by seeing Bowling for Soup's last ever UK performance (or so they say...), then onto Killswitch Engage. We were nearly at the front, which was probably, in hindsight, a pretty bad idea, because after Killswitch, Bring Me the Horizon graced the stage, and I've seen them a few times before. Their crowds are brutal. Kicked, punched, elbowed, headbutted. Hurt a bit. But we ended up about 4 people from the barrier, and next, was one of my favorite bands, Fall Out Boy. I was not going ANYWHERE. That was my 3rd time seeing FOB in only 10 months. And once again they didn't disappoint! After FOB, I was pretty tired, and in a lot of pain from the Bring me set, so me and Matt went and chilled while Linkin Park were on. They were as awesome as I've been told, and it was just so cool to look at them and think "my cousin has played with you!" 

Now, Sunday... - Last day. But probably the day I looked forward to the most. Aerosmith day. We got down to the arena quite early that day, and spent most of the day chilling by main stage. We caught Red Dragon Cartel, Winger, Buckcherry, Richie Sambora and Joe Bonamassa's set. But by the time Buckcherry had finished, there was heavy rumors flying around the crowd of who the "surprise set" was going to be from on the 3rd stage. This band was rumored to be an "arena playing band", which was incredible. In the end, mine and my friends suspicious (which arose from a dodgy tweet that was being shown on the main stage screens), was right. BLACK STONE CHERRY! Again, I've seen these guys before and they were incredible. So after Joe Bonamassa's set, myself, Matt and Lewis piled over to the 3rd stage to try and get anywhere near it to see them. After Black Stone Cherry, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed back over to main stage, to meet back up with Peter and Josh, to catch the very obscene, but fun loving Steel Panther. Me and Peter have decided we're going to get dressed up and go see them on their own tour in March next year ;) Then Alter Bridge came on, and not being a massive fan of theirs, I chilled and chatted to Lewis, while Peter went CRAZY! Then it was MY time to loose my mind... Aerosmith. I have loved Steven Tyler's voice since I was 3 years old. So this was a dream come true. I was slightly worried about seeing them, incase they weren't as good as expected. But they were more. I was mindblown, and I was SO SO SO hyped up. 

Early hours Monday morning (about 1am), my mum and dad came to pick me and my two friends up, and it was so sad having to leave Josh and Lewis as we had such an amazing time with them the whole weekend, but we are already making plans to meet up again soon.

So that was my Download experience! Sorry it's been such a long read but if you read it all, then thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed reliving it and reminiscing. I have to keep in mind a very special guy who was remembered by every single person in the Download crowd, and if you read this, I want you to take a moment and remember and maybe do a big "thumbs up for Stephen", the guy that touched the hearts of probably every single person in the UK. Stephen Sutton, you rule man! I hope you were looking down on Download and rocking along! <3

4 an half weeks til Warped now, so the blog will be back focused on Warped soon I promise! It's getting so exciting now ;) 

Love <3 

Bands (Part2)!

Hey Everyone!

So sorry that this has taken a while to be put up! I was ill for a week, so didn't get round to doing a post last week, and this week for some reason blogger hasn't let me publish this post!
Without anymore delay, here is is! Part 2 of "new bands to check out" :) 

1. That's Not My Baby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzH1Y5ACOYM (White Collar Dream)

When I first listened to these guys, I immediately thought of local bands. These guys took me straight back to everyone's roots, and possibly my favorite type of gigs, in little local pubs, clubs and venues, maybe going to see your friends band and checking out all the other bands too. These are such awesome guys, having been around 3 years or so now, they are still keeping it very real. This is their first time on Warped tour this year and they will be playing 4 dates in CA, so check them out if you're hitting up California Warped Tour and give them some support! 

2.Scare Don't Fear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhxaWC6TBeo (Vanish)

Ok, so a little confession. I've kinda fallen in love with these guys! I've spoken to maybe half of them on Twitter, and I am SO excited to swing by their tent this year and go hang out with them. They are some of the LOVELIEST people ever seriously! These lovely guys have been around for a while now, bout 6 years or so, they have recently signed to KBB Records (Ben Bruce's label), and they will definitely be taking Warped Tour by storm this year! Their music (not in sound but in thought) reminds me a little bit of what Falling In Reverse done on their Fashionably Late album, and they will definitely get those circle pits going this year! Such an awesome band to go and let off some steam too! 

3. Rob Lynch 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-5MbX_Kxek (Hawking)

This guy is one of my fav new finds. From my side of the pond, originally from London, UK. This guy has been around for a fair few years now, and this year he is playing the whole of Warped Tour. I am SO excited to get the chance to go hang out with a fellow brit, and I can imagine he would be the guy to go see if you want to have a bit of downtime in between rocking out and moshing etc, but you still wana keep the vibes up! Such a rocky/husky (at times), pure voice with a rocky acoustic feel, I know he will be getting big crowds all summer long! So make sure you check him out at your date! 

I won't list these guys as my "check out bands" because they are really fighting hard to win the "play warped tour" comp at the moment, but I stumbled across these last week, and they seem like such lovely people. So it would be awesome if you could all check them out on youtube/facebook/twitter and if you like what you hear, then going and voting for them to play their hometown show!

 https://www.youtube.com/user/gagmeimgorgeous1/videos Gag me i'm gorgeous, these are the kinda guys SUCH my thing, I love their music, and i'm gutted I won't be seeing them on Warped this year even if they do win their comp. So Good Luck, i'm rooting for you! I absolutely adore you, so I hope you win! 

who I would make such good friends with if they were a local band, and i'd end up becoming their roadie/merch girl/super fan. They are the kinda band I would go see every single show, the band I would listen to anywhere and everywhere. These are

Thanks for reading this week, and i'm really sorry it's taken ages to get this posted! But I hope you enjoyed it, and once again maybe found a new favorite band or artist to check out on Warped :) 

2 Weeks til Warped, so if you are going to any of the starter dates, have an AMAZING time, i'm so jealous, But I will be there SO SOON it's unreal :)

Love <3

Bands!

Hey Everyone! 

That time of the week again where I write my blog post!

At the moment things are really quiet in regards to my preps for Warped Tour. There's roughly 70ish days now until I go, which is still a little over 2 months which to me, feels like FOREVER right now because i'm so excited! But because it's so long away, and i'm getting a little stuck each week now to come up with some ideas about what to write about! 

What i'm going to be doing for the next few weeks is, i'm going to be going through the Warped Tour band list, and listening to anyone i've never heard before, and I will be writing a short little bit about the new people I find and hopefully this will open you up to checking out some of the new ones I find on the list (because unless you're Kevin, I bet you haven't listened to EVERY single band on the tour...) So hopefully you might find a new artist or band that you yourself might like and if you're going to Warped then you will hopefully go check out their set (if they're playing in your city!) 

So here we go then! 

This week I have checked out 3 new bands/artists. I'll post a pic, post the link to the song I checked out, and a little bio which I have done a little bit of research for! 

1. Wind in Sails.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Akt9-yPCLc (Set Adrift)

Evan Pharmakis used to be in a band called Vanna (also on Warped tour!), he is a lovely acousticy rock dude! From what I can see on interviews and stuff, when he left his old band, this was a MASSIVE shock to everyone, however this guy has an incredible voice, and he seems like he is doing just fine on his own! Check out his music if you like softer things, and his lyrics are so powerful, you may just need a box of tissues to mop up the tears... (Just gutted he isn't playing the dates i'm there! But check out the dates he is playing!)

2. The City ShakeUp 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waJfjzithaQ (Silence)

So, The City ShakeUp. These lovely guys are Australian! (Enough said already right?!) Who doesn't love Australians! But these are very punk/rockish, such good catchy tunes you can't help but pump your fists too, and nod your head too. From what I can see from my research, these guys haven't been around decades, however they have done amazingly well in the time they have been around, playing with the likes of Billy Talent! These guys self fund everything they do it seems, they self manage and self promoter, by the looks of it, these guys are doing everything right, and it shows that music means the world to them! These are playing the whole of Warped (pretty sure...) So go check them out, I know I will be! 

3. Teenage Bottlerocket 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50qJGs3iE5s (Headbanger).

These guys have been around a LONG time now (bout 13 years I think?) Which makes me feel slightly awful that I have never heard of them, however these guys are awesome! They are the kind of band that, even if you have never heard any of their music, never listened to them before, you can pop along to see them with your friends and have a good old dance too, have a laugh, and a really good time. Their music is very energetic, and I can imagine they put on a decent show! Very pop punkish, quite light hearted lyrics, but very fun and catchy. Teenage Bottlerocket are again playing the whole of Warped, so check them out in your city, and go party and have a laugh! 

So I hope you like the idea of this and maybe you'll find a new band or artist you'll fall in love with! If there is any bands you think I might not know of, who you love, leave me a comment and i'll check them out and include them in one of my next blogs! 

Thank you again for reading, it means the whole world you'll never know how much I appreciate your time! 

Love <3 

Belgium - Groezrock!

Hey Everyone! 

This post is loosely linked to Warped Tour, as it's all about my weekend, and this weekend I went all the way to Belgium to see Falling In Reverse! It will be a longish post, as there is SO much to tell, so brace yourselves... 

Here we go!

So, on Friday evening me and my gorgeous mum set off to Manchester airport to fly off to Belgium for the Saturday of Groezrock festival. Literally, the ONLY reason I talked my mum into this was to see Falling in Reverse. More specifically Ronnie Radke. I fell in love with Ronnie when Escape the Fate started back in 2006, and due to various reasons he hasn't been to the UK. So I went to him. 8 years I had waited for this to happen, MONTHS of planning and booking this short weekend trip, and I couldn't believe I was finally on my way!

8:30pm flight, we arrived at Charleroi airport at 11pm (Belgian time), and started an hour coach journey to Brussels at 11:30pm! Arrived at our hotel shortly before 1am, and we had to unpack, sort ourselves out and chill from the long day me and mum had both had before we went to sleep! 

Next, we were up at 8am, to get ready quickly to catch a 9:30am train across Belgium to a tiny little village place called Geel. From there, we had a half an hour shuttle bus to the festival site! We got there at 12:30pm timeish, and Falling in Reverse weren't playing til 11:05pm... 

We grabbed food, chilled for a bit and walked around, got my all important merch! Then, I Killed The Prom Queen were playing, so we went to catch their set. Wow. I never really listened to them before but I really enjoyed them! After them, we chilled, later on we grabbed a bite more to eat, had a laugh with a few of the people at the festival we had met, and then New Found Glory were on! So off we went to mainstage!

I've seen them before last year, and they were brilliant just like they were when I saw them last. They finished at 10:00pm...
ONE HOUR LEFT! 

Quick toilet break, then straight to the second stage tent! A band called Caliban were still playing, and again they were an ACE band live! They finished... The countdown began. I started jumping up and down uncontrollably. Camera checks. Got by the stage in a good spot. 11pm. "HURRY UP RONNIE!" 

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

RONNIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Came running on stage and burst into song. I still, 4 days later, don't have many words to explain how incredible that moment was for me. Like I stated at the beginning, I had waited 8 years to see that man sing live. He was incredible. It was hard to get any really decent pictures of him because he was SO energetic and quick across the stage! The whole band was. Jacky's guitar skills live... He's MINDBLOWING as a guitarest!

They barely spoke in between songs, they just played and played and played, and it just got better and better! Such a good mix of songs from both their albums. And to end it all... Situations. A good old Escape the Fate song. The emotion I had during that song was unbelievable. The song that got me into ETF was actually Not Good Enough for the Truth in Cliche, however Situations was one of their biggest songs, so it was incredible. So damn glad I got to see Ronnie singing an ETF song, rather than Craig.

It ended WAY to quick for me, it felt like they had been on 5 minutes because the hour they played flew by so fast. But my god... It was so damn worth the 8 year wait and the flight hundreds of miles and the few hundred pound spent! 

Now, I just can't wait to see him play again at Warped Tour, and (fingers crossed), meet him too. He causes a lot of controversy in the media and in the industry, but that man has been a hero and an idol of mine for so long, nothing would change that. This weekend has meant the entire world to me, I couldn't have asked for anymore than it was. And I got to spend it with my mum, she's like my best friend. It was an incredible weekend, and again I have to thank my mum for coming with me, and my mum and dad paying for it all. I couldn't have gone with out them, and they knew how much it meant to me, and apparently my face when Ronnie came on stage said just how much it meant to me!

Thanks for reading again! I hope you have enjoyed reading me fangirl slightly (again) over Ronnie! And enjoyed reading about my feelings about Falling in Reverse! 

Love <3