#they invade the entire setlist

[yoda-bor]

their mission to make all the songs of the tour THEIR GAY SONGS is a success

x

[concerthopperblog]

August Burns Red: 20th Anniversary Tour

The Rapids Theatre in Niagara Falls, NY became home to metalheads everywhere on Tuesday. Hosting August Burns Red 20th Anniversary Tour, the venue prepared for an epic night. You could feel the excitement as fans piled into the historic venue built in 1921, ready for a night to remember. With friends Bleed From Within and The Devil Wears Prada, this anniversary tour was stacked with some serious hardcore talent.

Bleed From Within took the stage first. Coming all the way from Glasgow, Scotland this heavy metal band instantly riled up the crowd. The fact that this was the bands first trip to the United States made this tour extra special. The band got the circle pit instantly going with round after round of ear splitting songs and intricate riffs. Lead singer Scott Kennedy  briefly took time in-between songs to talk with the crowd and build anticipation into the next song. Fans instantly took to the bands heavily ingested sound and passion for their music. It wasn’t long before the place was erupting with crowd surfers and absolute mayhem.

The Devil Wears Prada wasted no time claiming the stage next. This metalcore band from Dayton, Ohio are no strangers to this scene. Formed in 2005 they’ve been known for their lasting impressions at shows. Playing a good mixture of older and newer songs, the band gave opportunity for everyone to participate in singing or screaming along. The bands non-stop movement throughout the show had fans wild and veteran fans could barely contain themselves. One fan in particular received special treatment from the band in the form of a copy of the setlist and guitar picks. The versatility of the bands sound makes them hard to forget and leaving you wanting more. With dark dramatic lighting, heavy rifts and powerful screams, the band set the mood for the main act up next.

Formed in 2003, August Burns Red definitely helped shaped most metalcore fans music taste. Having being nominated for two grammy’s definitely solidifies the bands insane talent. Rapids theatre settled into darkness as fans awaited the reason for this entire tour. The setup included some pretty impressive talent that mirrored the bands extremely unique and diverse sound. Risers set across the stage along with a huge platform and smoke canons made the otherwise plain stage look unrecognizable. Needless to say the overall production of lighting and sound was flawless. The connection between the crowd and the band was almost instant. Lead singer Jake Luhrs instantly drew attention from every person in the room to the front of the stage. With a setlist as long as a kids Christmas list, the bands invading talent made the whole venue shake with approval. Clean guitars and hard hitting breakdowns were popular throughout the night as fans clung and sang along to every song. The show definitely felt more like a party with the band interacting with the crowd and pushing them to their full potential. At one point, Luhrs asked the fans who had never crowd surfed to make their way up front. With a sea of fans flooding to the front of the stage, each were greeted with a fist bump and look of approval. A man in a pink tutu even made his way to the front. Throughout the night the band played a pleasing mix of earlier and newer songs in which the crowd went wild for. By the end of the night every person in the venue was dripping with sweat right alongside the band.

The 20th Anniversary Tour has just kicked off. If you haven’t snagged a ticked to a date, make sure to do so as most dates are starting to sell out! Be sure to follow ConcertHopper on our Facebook page and Instagram as well for all our latest coverage!

[kuuxkat]

Hello! I'm a MY Liver that was present at the DV yesterday. I didn't expect an Onibe to be here to be honest. I'm pretty sure I was the last to enter the DV alongside my sister (we actually got in at the end of Happy Party Train). Got a bit off the rails there but what made you come here? (and while you're at it, the rest of the Lives). I'm very curious. ps. which hall did you enter?

Oh hello,

I probably missed you as I was super late, I made it at 1555 hrs, met with the Redditors and rolled into the cinema to see HPT playing.

We missed the first part so we didn’t get the Seno Call at all.

An Onibe member does live in MY (not always and he’s low key) so you shouldn’t be that surprised.

I was in Theater 6? Basically I didn’t pay for the extra merc. RM 190 is doable, but any penny saved is money. Then again I threw that at the Cab driver to get there on time so it’s neither here nor there.

What made me come here to MY? Ah well, to be honest (It’s gonna be a long post again so...)

Jimo Ai

That and:

Daydream Warrior + Thrilling One Way

Before you dismiss that as a joke, I’m not kidding.

After you experienced Jimo Ai in person twice at TW + the awesomeness of Daydream and ToW, you just can’t get enough of it.

Secondly, it’s a DV in Malaysia, and I always wanted to see what the MY Livers are like. Taiwan was a mixture of disappointment together with excitement. (I’ll get to that later) So to have a chance to be at MY for a DV with a friend (fellow Onibe, I’m not revealing who he is), but to be with a friend as passionate as you are to a Live is really priceless.

To be able to enjoy it to such an extent is a pleasant surprise for me, not that I don’t think the Live can be better (more calls MY please) but that’s my personal opinion for it.

Pretty sure people thought I was crazy when I screamed JIMO AI so loudly during the DV itself.

It’s also affordable to go to MY for a DV, and I was in the midst of planning a roadtrip for SG Livers if a LV wasn’t possible in SG, we’ll be invading your theaters~~ You can consider it as a scouting mission as well (?)

But most important of all after all of my reckless impulses and rash decision making vibes died down, I went Malaysia to support the DV and to meet the redditors. Having a friend I know go to it was amazing, and it was additional incentive for me to go.

I know ODEX did lots to make it happen, and MY has never had a good rep (Recordings and etc), I wanted to see it for real and therefore I went.

I had fun, it was tiring as hell in the end, but I met with the redditors and gave out lots of name cards.

I was with the banner at the very end, I gave name cards out to everyone I saw who signed so I hope you were one of them?

I don’t know if it’s accurate or correct to use an Onibe for us, we’re part of  a team, but it’s kinda cute and I laughed at it.

Second half, why did I went to all the LV/DVs?

Well the easiest explanation is:

1) I support Aqours

If you support Aqours and you want them to succeed and to maybe have a fan meet here. Go to the LVs, go to the DVs and of course follow the rules.

2) Once you go Live you can’t go Back

Did you go to 1L LV? If you did, you should understand. Knowing a setlist at a DV and preparing for it might nice, I mean goodness knows I would break more UOs for ToW and Daydream, but it wouldn’t and couldn’t match the experience of seeing it Live as it unfolds.

The unknown factor is huge for a LV.

Yes, for SG 2L LV we can predict the set list thanks to no D1 LV, but one good example:

“Landing Action Yeah!”

When that song played at D2, and D2 only and at the very end, I was told everyone freaked out in SG.

We didn’t see it coming, even I myself at Taiwan was shocked, everyone at Taiwan in the theater was stunned then the cheers started.

It was loud, it was crazy, and it was amplified by how in D1 and D2, Landing Action was played prior to Aqours beginning their Live.

You wouldn’t understand if you weren’t there, and yes you might not be spoiled but that doesn’t mean the entire theater in a DV isn’t spoiled.

The reactions that you’ll see, feel, and hear for a LV are genuine.

I remember my experience in D1 for 2L in Taiwan. When the DuoTrio songs came out every lost it.

Especially with the Water gun section, Inferno Phoenix and their Dance, and JIMO AI------------------------!!!

Not to mention how ToW and Daydream made their appearances.

We were ready for it, but it was still :fire: :fire: LIT!Words cannot describe how it was a blur to me all the time.

As for why I went to Taiwan specifically, it’s a combination of personal factors that prevented me from going to 2L in Japan and I know Taiwan well.

I know TW Livers were supposedly crazy, and I was looking forward to crazy calls, immense hype and long queues.

Well it wasn’t as what I expected, but it’s neither here nor there.

I still had fun, just not the fun that I expected.

I wasn’t confident about HK, but I’ll definitely want to go HK if the same situation develops. Especially when the costs are quite lower compared to TW less accommodation.

I can’t not just go to one LV, 2 days or RIP.

Hope that answered your question anon. I really hoped to meet all the M’sian Livers but RIP Customs =x=“ I’ll take overnight bus next time.

[tawananna]

01.17.2017 - MEJIBRAY - Meto’s Birthday event in Fukui.

Setlist:

1. RISK:er

2. hatred × tangle red × hunger red

3. 羽花

4. Cristate

5. 嫉妬

6. 欲槽

7. DECADANCE - Counting Goats … if I can't be yours -

8. ACME

9. BLACK REBELLION

10. 嘘と愚考-それもまた人間らしいって神様は笑ってるの-

11. DIE KUSSE

12. 原罪の林檎

13. 枷と知能 -それってとても人間らしいって神様は笑ってるの-

14. シアトリカル・ブルーブラック

Encore

1. トロシナ

2. コエガキエルマデ

I’m going to be honest - I vastly preferred the setlist and the overall show on the 16th to this one on the 17th. We were numbers 17 and 18 for this show, but we had had the feeling that there was no way this show could live up to the hype that was the show on the 16th; we were right.

Most of my highlights are going to be referencing the break between the main set and the encore where the band just hung out, chatted, and gave Meto presents for quite some time. That was so much fun.

We were in the second row in front of Mia. He seemed off that night - I don't know what it was, but when the curtain dropped, and he was staring into the crowd trying to see who was around him, he looked shocked (pleasantly) that we had gotten to the second row for him. He is a rather aloof one, isn't he? My interaction that night was mainly with Tsuzuku - it made my evening to be completely honest. There were no Mia-gya directly in front of Mia - I wonder if it threw him off? The girls directly in front of us were Koichi-gya and Meto-gya, so Mia wasn’t able to really get them pumped, so I felt bad for him.

During ACME, though, omfg. I stayed to the side because I wasn’t about to play in the crowd - that song gets intense. I was beside the wall for the show anyway, so it wasn’t a huge deal, except that I was an easy target. I did minimal furi - enough that I was doing something, but during the first chorus, of course, Tsuzuku looks directly at me, and he’s about to point or do something at me, and then he notices I’m singing along. So he stares at me for two lines of the chorus, gestures at me, I gesture back at him, and I get a head nod. Well, okay. We sang -at- each other. That was wonderful, unexpected, and easily made my night. He always finds new ways to impress me, but the level of interaction he gives is amazing. (I’m also not crazy because this comes back at the in-stores.)

I know that the row got tighter after ACME because some girl lost her spot and invaded the second row, but I was still trying to enjoy it. I think that @crucifyregret was less happy, but they also had a girl beside them, not a wall, so…(sorry it was an annoying situation for you!)

Like I said, I’ll focus on this part in between the main set and the encore:

So, we shouted for the encore, then Meto played along to it, then Mia came running out with his guitar. Ah, sorry, first Meto had balloons tied to his drumset, and apparently, there was something inside the one giant balloon. He starts trying to rattle it, then brings a mic closer for us to try and hear it - it was really cute and he was really pleased with himself. He drummed on a balloon, okay?

Okay, okay, so Mia is out there, everything is cool, but no Koichi. Meto starts making the cutest confused looks as he keeps looking into the back from where he’s standing. Then he stops drumming and sort of trails toward the door, where of course, Koichi comes out with a cake. The candles are already lit, and Koichi is showing it off, walking to the center of the stage - then he tried to quiet the girls down because he didn’t want the candles getting blown out, but he also smiled, and made an “I have a solution to this!” kind of face when a candle did go out. He pulled a lighter from his pocket and re-lit it. METO’S FACE ISTG - he is such a young boy about these things, like, he doesn’t want to be hassled, just leave him alone. It was really cute actually. He trailed over, took the cake, Koichi was talking, Tsuzuku came out holding a whiskey highball and stood to Koichi’s side of the stage. It became clear that Koichi would be MC-ing this whole thing. Mia stood in front of us with his guitar, just being a casual onlooker. Meto kept swiping some of the icing off of his strawberry shortcake bday cake off and tasting it, and when he was done holding it, he passed it off to a staff member.

We figured that would be it. We were wrong. Dead wrong. Poor Meto.

This was only the beginning.

Koichi announces they’d like to give Meto his presents. Mia got two cars, so I’m like, omg, I wonder what they got Meto~

Each present was wrapped in newspaper and brought out by a staff member, handed to Koichi, Koichi made some comment about it, and then he would hand it off to Meto, who was standing where Tsuzuku normally does on the stage. We are all cracking up. The first three presents were giant stuffed animals, they were cute af, they were stackable. The first one Meto put Ruana on it. Then he realized there were two more, so he lined them up at first, and then he made a tower. Koichi named all of them, too. I’m pretty sure the brown one was “ちゃいろ” which is brown in Japanese. The other two were white and pink, and the names were ridiculous. If I remember which games/shows the names were from, I’ll update this.

Then there were two appliances, one to make mega takoyaki, and another to make mega something else - I can’t remember. Meto looked happy. Koichi told him not to forget to show his gifts off, so he starts to make a big show of them for the audience. He even tried to give it to one of the girls (I think it was the one I can’t remember), but she obviously flailed, and he laughed at her. He piled those on Tsuzuku’s platform as well.

Then he was given some sports equipment. They gave him a soccer ball, which he immediately opened and started playing with it, and then aggressively shoved it back into the box, only to have it not go back in. He fought the soccer ball. He ended up just adding it to the pile. Then, he was given a skateboard - you guys, he was so thrilled. He also started playing with that, but with all the wires, he kind of just moved back and forth on it; It was excellent. Koichi kept telling him to be careful.

Mind you, through all of this, Tsuzuku is standing to the side, chatting with a roadie, and making comments about every present. He wasn’t really using his microphone, but they were generally things like: “who picked that out?” - All little taunting, cute things. Mia was silent, haha. Meto, because he couldn’t take the stress of the spotlight or something?? He kept walking over to Tsuzuku and asking for sips of his whiskey. So, there they were, sharing a can of highball - Meto making faces the entire time. Imagine: Tsuzuku happily sipping at his whiskey, Meto going up to him, gesturing for the can, Tsuzuku pointing at the can, and then Meto nodding with such an exhausted look on his face...

Koichi also - guys, I was dying - “I don’t want to do this anymore,” “Can’t someone else talk?” “I really don’t want to.” KOICHI DID NOT STOP WHINING ABOUT HAVING TO MC THE WHOLE THING. His voice gets really cute when he’s whining too, omfg.

The last gift Meto received were weird glasses, and then a blue velvet track jacket, a white button-down shirt, and a red bowtie - he was Doraemon. He was psyched. We could tell because he immediately began to put the shirt on over his outfit. He was dressing on stage and Tsuzuku was like, “Please be careful because of your hair.” Meto’s red hair was still bleeding all over his clothes. It was cute that Tzk was concerned. Koichi was commenting on Doraemon, Tsuzuku was like, “Aren’t there supposed to be pants?” Meto shrugged, and a staff guy ran into the back - they had forgotten to wrap the pants, haha. Everyone was dying as Meto shimmied into those as well.

Then, in a case where I think Koichi really wished he could die or crawl into a hole, he had to lead everyone singing “Happy Birthday” to Meto. It was hilarious. He was keenly aware of the foreigners in the room during this. Koichi looked over at us during his cute singing. I heard Tsuzuku more toward the end - Mia really must have been happy not to have a mic again - Tzk just projects, haha.

Meto would have died if he kept the outfit on, so he ditched it at some point. The staff guys came out and cleaned everything up. Finally, Tsuzuku used his mic again and started playing around. He announced Meto was 6 years old (the age of the band this year), to which I have to wonder how he was able to drink highball then...Tzk also put on the glasses for a bit.

It was really sweet, and they were fucking talking about the sunshine thing again, and everyone was just as confused as we were. Then it finally became clear that they would be starting the encore.

I knew it was coming - I had been warned, but it didn’t mean I wasn’t dying because of it. Tsuzuku screams into the microphone: “TO-RO-SHI-NA!!!” I’m energized, so I’m screaming back - but this is the most intense song they have. It lasted for ten minutes at least - it could have been longer. Essentially, this is clapping, yelling, and running back and forth. It’s so much fun!!!

So, I’m watching as Meto gets up from the drums, and has the drum tech sit down, showing him what beat he needs to keep. Then Meto kind of walks around on stage, and then he’s gone - I don’t remember when I lost sight of him, but I did. Mia, takes the same tech, and gives him his guitar, and decides he wants to try the drums (this was halfway through the song). It was then that we realized Meto was in the back, standing by the light/etc. booth, and was watching us all. Great, haha. Mia sits down and holds the beat for exactly 0.0003 seconds. Tsuzuku turns around, Koichi is laughing at him, Tzk tries to be like, “Yeah, drums are really difficult, do you want to try again?” @crucifyregret is yelling “you can do it!” in Japanese, of course - they start up again, and Mia instantly fails. For the first time that night, we hear him speak: “I couldn’t do it.” Lmao. I was dying. Tsuzuku was trying to cheer him up, but he immediately took his guitar back, and the tech was back in place. At some point, there was Meto on the stage. He just walked through the audience (I think) and jumped right up there. He walked around onstage again. When he came over to our side it was really exciting - we had to show our Fukui pride by screaming extra loud at him. He knows @crucifyregret is from Fukui, and now he knows I stay there as well (I wrote him a letter), so that was cool.

When Meto finally got back to the drumset, we still had more Toroshina, haha. It was so exhausting, but it was certainly a lot of fun.

Ah, it was a really good live. It wasn’t the best. There were some shitty things about it, but overall, it was a Mejibray live...so, I can’t really complain, right? We also kind of assumed that maybe the second row just wasn’t our thing, and we also figured 'what were the odds of ever getting such good tickets again?' (then we got our tickets for the Osaka FC live, lol.)

Fukui Chop was one of my favorite venues, though. The end of the show was as it normally was, except that Meto spent a lot of time thanking everyone with hand gestures and facial expressions - it was very sweet.

Trying to get out of there for the cheki line was incredibly difficult, though. I also found myself annoyed, once again, because some foreigners cut the merch line. I know this because they were a bit behind us, and then when we were still wrapped up in the line, I watched as one of the spots opened (two staff members were working the line), and the one girl jumped off of the line and went and got cheki, bringing her friend with her. It’s simple etiquette. There are things to be cutthroat about, definitely, but can we please stop perpetuating awful stereotypes as foreign fans?

Again, those are just my feelings on the matter. It’s just frustrating is all.

Otherwise, it was fun. I’m happy we live in Fukui and were able to attend the shows even though they were on a Monday and a Tuesday!

I want to talk about the FC shows and my last couple of days in Japan, including the instores, but you guys will have to wait a little longer for all of that. I’m still pretty busy this semester even though I’m not teaching at the moment. Thanks for the support and all, though! I know that these reports are very skewed because it’s all my perspective, but I like being able to share some stuff with you guys - it’s difficult when you don’t have the opportunity to see them, and I don’t really see many other people writing reports about their experiences. At least I can give you a small taste of what it’s like, at least through my own lens. I hope they’re somewhat enjoyable to read, haha.

I went to the Osaka show, both Osaka events, then the Nagoya event and the Nagoya FC show. I’m not too sure yet how I’ll split up these reports, but they will get done.

[throughdigitaleyes]

Ben Howard Leads Boston into His Dream

Ben Howard closed out the 2018 season at the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion on Sunday night (10.7.18) when he took to the Boston stage on his Noonday Dream Tour.

Ben Howard mixed his emotionally penetrating songwriting and atmospheric guitar-work with shadow-filled lighting and fleeting imagery to immerse the crowd in his ghostly dreamscape. Keeping his setlist focused on his newest album, ‘Noonday Dream’, Howard peppered older tracks only when they fit into the narrative of his show. Throughout the night, his production design set the moods, complementing his song selection perfectly, luring the crowd into Howard’s world. His band, who surrounded him but never invaded his space, helped to execute the arc of each song, and the set as a whole, beautifully.

It became very clear throughout the show that Howard is very much an introvert; rarely having any contact with  anyone onstage aside from his guitar tech, and only ever addressing the crowd very briefly between a few select songs throughout the night, Howard let his music and its visual accompaniment tell his story. And what a breathtaking story it was.

While the entire performance was stunning, the highlight of the night came when Howard ventured into the overwhelming ‘Small Things’ directly after delivering a soul-piercingly haunting rendition of ‘Towing the Line’.

Opening the show was Wye Oak, who delivered a bare set made memorable thanks to Jenn Wasner’s beautiful vocals.

MORE PHOTOS from the show can be found on Flickr: Ben Howard; Wye Oak.

All photos ©Timothy Patrick Boyer, 2018.

[tristan-tantuico-blog]

Guitar System Upgrades for the Tone Enthusiasts

by Tristan Lorenzo Tantuico

Did you know that 1.12 million guitars were sold last year alone? SO many guitars yet so little tone! Each guitar is confined to it’s own tone. And here in this design study, I propose two upgrades to easily change the tone of your guitar without much effort.

I have created two upgrades for guitars that cater to the needs of the curious tone enthusiasts out there who want to experiment with sound and open up a wide possibility, an entire frontier of different sounds during a single playthrough. Within these upgrades I made sure I applied the Japanese aspect of mindful hospitality and hidden work as these upgrades would be “invisible” and would only affect the outside appearance of a guitar very slightly (for the second design, first design would be completely hidden from view).

First off is the Plug n’ Play Pickup System, a system of pickups which when installed in your guitar and sets of pickups, never need to be soldered or usnoldered ever again. But first, what is a pickup and why does it matter? To oversimplify things, a pickup is the “microphone” that picks up the vibrations of your guitar strings and converts it to electrical signals which are then amplified by the amplifier and converted back into sound vibrations. Pickups work by generating magnetic fields around them which are “disturbed” by the vibrations of the strings, making signal. Basically, without pickups, your electric guitar would never have a sound. And just as there are types of microphone (condenser, dynamic, etc.) there are types of pickups, such as single-coils, humbuckers, and P90′s, each with their own characteristics, but for simplicity’s sake I chose to focus on humbuckers since they are the most popular pickups for the kind of music I play (hard rock and heavy metal). Now for humbuckers, there are also many different characteristics that affect their sounds, there are high-output pickups and their are low-output pickups, which are good for different types of music. The purpose of my Plug n’ Play system is so that a guitarist can switch between a low-output to a high-output pickup when he wishes to and vice-versa. Or even a high-output to another high-output pickup such as a Seymour Duncan Invader SH-8 to a DiMarzio Titan DP-259, both of wich have subtle yet still present differences in sound characteristics. The Plug n’ Play system works by placing the three non-ground wires from the pickup into a jack system that has arrows for easy aligning, this jack system will replace the need for soldering because of course, pulling and plugging is easier than unsoldering then soldering. There is even a risk of burning oneself when soldering so eliminating the need would be beneficial. 

Each prong on the male jack is isolated from one another as to avoid signal mixing or wrong signal path.

This is an example of pickup wiring with the Plug n’ Play Jack. The wiring was based off of IronGear’s wiring diagrams.

The next guitar system upgrade is the Dual Capacitor Potentiometer System or the D.C.P.S., which is a tone potentiometer system that can switch between two capacitors of different types or values.  A tone potentiometer is a knob system that affects the voice of the guitar, it can make it dark or bright, accentuate certain frequencies, etcetera. What also affects the voice of the guitar is the Farad rating or capacitance of the capacitor present in the potentiometer. Standard Farad ratings for guitar tone potentiometer capacitors range from 0.022 uF (uF = microfarad) to 0.1 uF (but there are some capacitors with ratings smaller than 0.022 uF such as the ultra bright 0.0033 uF capacitor) but I used 0.022 uF and 0.047 uF as the two capacitor value ratings since those two are some standard ratings, 0.022 uF capacitors being the standard found on most guitars until today and 0.047 uF capacitors for a darker tone as found on Airis Effects store description of their capacitors. The D.C.P.S. features insulation on certain places to make sure that the signal passes through the desired circuit depending on where it is switched, with the lead wire being soldered to the backplate of the potentiometer and the front having jump wires to where the capacitors are soldered on. The potentiometer’s knob acts as the switch that changes between the two circuits so that you can easily switch between different tone capacitors in the middle of a playthrough for a wide range of tones within a setlist. Although this design would require a bigger hole for the tone knob to accomodate the switching feature, it still remains to be a useful feature to avoid having the same single tone all througout a setlist. With this system, switching between capacitors would be as easy as switching between the neck and bridge pickup, there would even be, just like when switching pickups, a middle position where both capacitors would run in parallel meaning that the farad rating of the first capacitor would add up with the farad rating of the second, therefore a final farad rating of 0.022 uF plus 0.047 uF which is 0.069 uF, offering an even darker more low-end driven tone. 

Here is a system example with a push-pull volume potentiometer, humbucker pickups, 3-way toggle, and the D.C.P.S.

Here is a typical tone potentiometer for reference

Sources:

P. (2017, April 20). Guitar Pickups Explained. Retrieved from https://guitarkitworld.com/electric-guitar-pickups-explained/

  Gore, J. (n.d.). Change Your Caps, Change the World! (Or at Least Your Tone Pot Response). Retrieved from http://www.seymourduncan.com/tonefiend/guitar/customize-your-caps/

Wiring Diagrams. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.irongear.co.uk/irongear_pickups_027.htm

Capacitors. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/capacitors/all

Capacitors in Parallel and Parallel Capacitor Circuits. (2018, July 11). Retrieved from https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/capacitor/cap_6.html

Electric guitars U.S. unit sales 2005-2017 | Statistic. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/439911/number-of-electric-guitars-sold-in-the-us/

[thatstheticketheresthestory]

Good morning Facebonkers 

Here’s the next instalment of crumpled paper in my nostalgic, stub related blog #thatstheticket 

University of Nottingham

Q-Tips

1981

£2 

That’s the ticket for my first ever Hall Party. An eventful and bizarre evening, characterised by involuntary Teutophobic outbursts, comical (half) cross-dressing and me instigating an impromptu sing along with my old mucker Paul Young, dedicated to our beloved hometown. 

Nottingham is a campus University. In my first year, along with most other freshers, I decided to live in a Hall of Residence. In my case, Derby Hall, a low rise, featureless,1960's block. A far fly from the beautiful architecture of Brideshead Revisited, but regardless,  we had a hell of a lot of juvenile fun whilst living there. Living in a Hall of Residence was a little like living on the moon; totally detached from reality 

There were the many student wheezes. Often, after popping out to the shop to buy a pot noodle you'd return and find your whole room reconstituted on the quad. I was once forcibly removed from my bed and carried into breakfast, stark bollock naked in front of the whole college. A minor transgression might involve capturing and the forcible shaving of one’s pubes. Occasionally I might actually attend a lecture.   

Sadly there weren’t many opportunities to see big name bands at our college. That was because arcane official rules prevented non-students from attending gigs on campus. Also, unfortunately, shows were held in the sports hall, a soulless bunker of a venue with terrible acoustics. But I still got to see The Specials and The Jam in my first year. The Specials made no bones about the fact that they hated students. They halted their gig to clear the stage of a bunch of us privileged layabouts who had dared to invade their non-academic domain. 

At the end of each final term was the Hall Party, the highlight of the sophomore social Calendar.

The theme of Derby Hall party 1981 was "Myth, Magic and Legend. Somewhat tenuously I came along as Angry of Mayfair, the mythical creation of Kenny Everett. The character was an upper-middle-class City gent (from the front that is) perennially complaining about perceived risqué behaviour yet, from the back it was revealed was wearing women's underwear instead of the entire back half of the suit. Perhaps significantly my costume was painstakingly fashioned from my old school uniform 

I was very excited about the musical entertainment on offer for our Hall Party. Q Tips were headlining! A band who put on a brilliant live show. Essentially they were a soul review band. They produced original material, but they were best known for playing 60's Stax and Atlantic classics. and rescuing soul chestnuts from obscurity. They were so up my street. Often forgotten these days.

They had evolved from The Streetband who had achieved minor success with a novelty song called "Toast". The lead singer was Paul Young who went onto have massive solo success on the back of his cover of Marvin Gaye's "Wherever I Lay My Hat (is my home)" Originally from Luton, around that time he was a resident of my hometown of Edmonton. We had a mutual friend and I had briefly met him on one occasion a year or so before.

Various activities were taking place around the Hall. Fuelled by free drink, purloined with forged drinks vouchers, we went to explore what was on offer in the student hood. 

A hypnotist had set up in the library. He requested volunteers. I put my half suited arm up. Four other undergraduates and I sat in a line at the front of the stage. Eddie Burke the mind master, renowned throughout the East Midlands,  asserted that he was going to put us all in a trance and that on queue, our minds would be under his control. An induced panic would set in and each of us would be compelled to warn others of a foreboding event that we were irrationally convinced was about to happen. Yeah right. 

In my case, I would be struck with a bout of Teutophobia. I would be compelled, in fear, to loudly exclaim “The Germans are coming; the Germans are coming"  Certainly this was politically incorrect entertainment by contemporary mores., but remember this was in the era of Fawlty Towers, and the "Don’t mention the War" strain of humour was evidently hilarious. Actually, this was kind of understandable when you comprehend that WW2 was as recent to this party as this party was to now

Going under wasn't actually what I was expecting. I assumed I would be induced into a deep trance, unaware of what was occurring around me. However I was very conscious of the what was happening, but nevertheless, when prompted, I involuntarily blurted out the warning. This scenario cracked everyone up, because, somehow the mentalist also managed to get me to do all of this in character, in the voice of the Angry gent, gesticulating with my umbrella as I made the German-phobic remarks.  To be honest, I'm not sure if I was under his spell, or if I was just playing along.  Either way, it got a laugh, quite possibly at my expense.

Later Q-Tips performed in the main hall,  Untypically I had exaggerated. I had told everyone I was a close friend of the lead singer. of course, no one believed me. I pushed right to the front of the stage, desperate to catch the attention of "my good mate" Paul Young. 

They went down a storm. As Paul played the tortured soul man, belying the fact that he was only a couple of so year older than me, I noisily embarked on a mission to get his attention and to receive some form of public acknowledgement as to our deep relationship. A nod and a smile would have been sufficient. 

But I pushed for more. High on the surreptitiously acquired booze, quite possibly still in the remnants of a hypnotic trance, and dressed in just half a suit, undoubtedly it must have been quite a scary sight, I shouted out the word "Edmonton" time and time again. I continued to blurt out my North London mantra, not unlike the behaviour of Rocky Balboa in the finale of Rocky.  But instead of victoriously mumble chanting the name of an absent wife,  I was madly chanting the name of our unfashionable London town in a mock Chas & Dave cockney style football chant. Quite a few friends joined in to support me in my quest to get Paul to respond. 

Eventually, I managed to get the soul singer’s attention. Who was this blathering idiot in the Kenny Everett costume,  I'm sure he must have thought. But then he must have heard the word that I was screeching, the word that connected us. Finally, the penny dropped. He stopped singing and looked over, seemingly recognising me (or much more likely was humouring me). He pointed me out to the audience and acknowledged that we were both proud Edmontonians. Then, remarkably. in his own inimitable style, he continued singing my football terrace chant “Edmonton, Edmonton, Edmonton” as southern soul lament.  The whole room seemed to join in and then the band struck up including the fabulous horn section who all jammed along to this new addition to their setlist  

I was vindicated. It was a surreal and delightful moment. A tender, soulful (and thankfully non-xenophobic) tribute to the town where both Paul Young and I laid our hats

You wouldn't want to live there now though. It's a Shithole

#Qtips

#the80s

#paulyoung

#Edmonton #Tickets

#ConcertTickets

#TicketStubbs

#Gigs

#nottinghamuniversity

#mylifeinstubs 

#derbyhall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqFtkBXWij4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikSyhrcIzX8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJmKStqugMc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju_a2-Pve4g