And I'm back...

Who needs to hear anyway?

My already packed gig schedule over the next couple of weeks has got even more crammed and now looks like this:

30th May - Whitesnake
7th June - Guns n' Roses
9th June - Bon Jovi
13th June - Tool
14th June - Live
17th June - Shihad
18th June - Def Leppard

It's almost like I'’ve travelled back in time to the 80'’s and it'’s going to be awesome, what a couple of weeks!!

One Way Ticket To...

http://xtramsn.co.nz/lifestyles/0,,12600-5815155,00.html

Wolfmother non review

Well I never did get time to write up that Wolfmother review but suffice to say that it was a cool gig and great to have a mosh to. For an idea of what of was like click here and scroll down to the “Live Music Recordings” section then click on the appropriate player option – enjoy.

I'm a Wolfchild Baby

Off to the next big thing tomorrow night – Wolfmother, out at Camden.  I’m really looking forward to it – been listening to the CD (which was just released over here on Monday) and the EP to prime myself.  It should be good, I’m hanging out for a good ol’ rock concert as I haven’t been to one for a while - since The Darkness in Feb in fact.  I’ll try and get a review written up, so watch this space or this space

Don't you just hate it when...

You book your accommodation for Oktoberfest in Germany, and life is good – mmmmm beer.  Then you find out that The Cult are playing, and life is great......and then you find out that they are playing the Friday night of the weekend that you are away for the Beerfest, and it just totally sucks!!

My Gigs

So in keeping with the themes started by Not PC and Jangles I’ve decided to not just list my top 10 concerts ever, but to list my all time concert list.  I’m sure I’ve probably missed a couple but I think it’s a pretty comprehensive list.  I’ve added some notes as well and tried to be as accurate as I can from memory with dates and opening acts etc but feel free to add any comments with corrections etc.

• Jethro Tull - opening act Bullfrog Rata – TSB Stadium, New Plymouth February 1994 – my first ever concert, I remember being deaf for about three days afterwards, great gig as well.


• Pearl Jam - opening act Dead Flowers – Mt Smart Supertop, Auckland March 1995.  Not long after the release of Vitalogy, I seem to remember them playing almost all three albums; I really got into the Jammers after this gig.  Extra special as PJ were joined onstage by Neil and Tim Finn for two songs.


• The Rolling Stones - opening act The Exponents – Western Springs, Auckland April 1995.  What can I say?  Legends.


• Garbage - opening act Ash – Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington – 12 October 1996.  We had to evacuate the venue after someone set off the fire alarm, no one knew what was going on, we had to line up again and it was a mad rush back in to get a good spot.


• Soundgarden – opening act You AM I – Wellington Town Hall, Wellington – January 1997.  This was a rough gig but awesome.  Made even better by the fact that we met bassist Ben Shepherd after the gig and had a drink with him and got his autograph – well spotted Levi.


• Shihad – opening act Soap – The State of It, Napier – May 1997. My first of many subsequent viewings of Shihad/Pacifier.


• Foo Fighters – Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington - February 1998.  Remember spying Jon Toogood in the crowd – good gig.  My bro almost killed us on the drive home to Hawke’s Bay after falling asleep at the wheel!


• Ozzy Osbourne – opening act Subtract – Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland - 12 February 1998.  The No More Tears line up! What more can I say? Got to the gig and had missed the support act and the start of Ozzy, got to the second row though and had Zakk shredding right in front of me – this one is definitely in my top 5 gigs.


• Pearl Jam – Mt Smart Stadium (or it may have been Ericson Stadium by this time) Auckland – April 1998. We watched from afar in the stands.


• Van Halen – opening act Gutttermouth – Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington - April 1998.  Mk 3 VH – great show, left my ticket in my jeans and it got destroyed in the wash!!! Not happy.


• Neil Finn – opening act Stereobus – Wellington Town Hall, Wellington - c August 1998.  Kiwi legend.


• The Feelers - opening acts Nickel and another band I can’t remember – Municipal Theatre, Hastings - September 1998. They filmed the video for Venus at this gig.


• The Feelers with Shihad, Dead Flowers, Breathe (I think), Dark Tower – somewhere in Palmerston North.  Great line-up of Kiwi bands.


• Live - opening act Sugar Ray – Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington - February 1999.  See next Live gig.


• The Offspring – Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington – June 1999. I remember them beating up dummies of the Backstreet Boys and spraying the audience with the fire hose.


• Big Day Out 2000 – Jan 2000. Lost my friends and spent most if the day by myself, great gig though – Chili Peppers, Shihad, NIN, Foo Fighters etc


• Fuel – Betchadupa, Slim, Augustino - The Powerstation, Auckland – Aug 2000. Awesome gig! G and I got to meet the band afterwards backstage and got photos with them – nice guys, they really should have got a lot bigger than they have.


• Shihad – opening acts Fur Patrol and Weta – some bar in Taupo that I can’t remember the name of. c November 2000 – I won free tickets off The Rock.  Saw about 2 songs of Fur Patrol, then got to second row for Weta (close enough to get spat on by them numerous times). Then front row pressed up against the barrier for Shihad – if they’ve played better than this then I’d like to see it.


• Shihad - opening acts Fur Patrol and Weta – somewhere in Palmerston North. C November 2000.  


• The Living End – opening act Betchadupa – Massey University, Palmerston North – Feb or March 2001. These guys are a hot band.  I remember Jangles getting his head jammed in a car door afterwards.


• Collective Soul – opening act Augustino - The Powerstation, Auckland 9 September -2001.  Not one of the best gigs I’ve been to for a number of reasons – I was sick and my girlfriend left our tickets in our motel room in Taupo, but we got them faxed up and they let us in.  Hopefully they play a good gig to make up for it in July this year.


• Live – Stabbing Westwood – Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington - Dec 2001. It’s ironic but I’ve never seen Live play that well live, they have another chance to impress me in June.


• Summer Jam 2002 – headline act Silverchair, other acts – Che Fu, Tadpole, The Feelers (I think) Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington - February 2002.  I was very impressed with Silverchair – Daniel Johns in particular.


• Incubus – Wellington Town Hall, Wellington - March 2002. The sound was poo, didn’t really get into this gig.


• Tool opening act The Melvins – Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington - April 2002.  This was a gruelling gig – I spent two and half hours just trying to stay upright.


• Big Day Out 2003 – Jan 2003. The Living End, PJ Harvey, Queens of the Stoneage, Jane’s Addiction, Foo Fighter and the first time I saw The Datsuns and they just blew me away.


• Bob Dylan – opening act Ani de Franco - Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington – February or March 2003.  Worth the ticket price alone just to see him perform All Along the Watchtower.


• Audioslave – Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington - April 2003.  Cool gig, good memories.


• The Datsuns – opening act The Users and The Casanovas - Wellington Town Hall, Wellington – 8 October 2003. Sound was poo but they are an awesome band.


• The White Stripes – opening act Whirlwind Heat – Wellington Town Hall, Wellington – 23 October 2003. Great gig – “I’m going to Wellington”, before Jack got fat.


• Big Day Out 2004 - January 2004. The Darkness – wasted with an early afternoon slot but they didn’t let that stop them putting on a great performance and they really got the crowd going.  The Datsuns, Muse, The Strokes, Metallica.  Metallica aye?  After all their turmoil documented on Some Kind of Monster they were still together, and they played a great gig.  Fade to Black - awesome


• David Bowie – opening act Brooke Fraser - Westpac Stadium, Wellington - Feb 14 2004. Couldn’t have picked a crappier day for a gig – rain and gales. I discovered a great song in Slip Away while wearing leggings and a rubbish bag to try and keep dry.


• A Perfect Circle – Queens Wharf Events Centre, Wellington – 16 February 2004.  The band only just made this gig because of the a-fore mentioned storms (Bowie), so they didn’t have all the stage set up with them.  Good gig though and hot band - Josh Freese, James Iha, Jordy, and of course Billy and Maynard.


• Deep Purple – Christchurch Town Hall, Christchurch - April 2004.  What a week this was – I collapsed from exhaustion. Flew down after work to Christchurch and was up again at 5am the next morning to fly back for work.  Great gig – this one’s in my top five as well.  They band was having fun and it showed through in their performance. I never really expected to see DP in concert so it was great to do so; they’ve been a huge influence.


• The Datsuns – Victoria University, Wellington – c September 2004.  Cool gig and apparently John Paul Jones was there, if only I’d known at the time.


• Velvet Revolver – opening act The D4 – Westpac, Christchurch – 22 February 2005.  The sound was poo but a good gig none the less.

• UK Hall of Fame Music Awards 2005 – November 2006. What a gig! Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, the Eurythmics, Slash jamming Hendrix with Billy Cox, and Mitch Mitchell etc etc – a veritable who’s who.  Great sound and another top five gig, I was buzzing for days afterwards.


• Motorhead – opening acts Girlschool and In Flames – Brixton Academy, Brixton - November 2006. Fucken loud is all I can say, the earplugs never came out and it felt like I never had them in.  Lemmy’s a legend; glad I got to see him because surely he can’t be around for too much longer?


• Robert Plant –The Forum, Kentish Town. 6 December 2005.  A living legend – I saw someone out of LED ZEPPELIN!!  It doesn’t get much better than this.


• Deep Purple – opening act The Answer - The Astoria, London – January 2006. I was expecting great things after the last time I saw them and four fifths of the band didn’t let me down, but fucken Ian Gillan!! Honestly who has a lyric sheet on the side of the drum riser?  I was let down by one of my heroes but when he got it together it was awesome.


• The Darkness – opening acts The Ark, Juliette and the Licks – Alexandra Palace, Wood Green – 8 February 2006. The “Boob” chariot, flying above the audience, the pyrotechnics.  Awesome musicians, great live show. I didn’t think Justin would pull off the vocals live but they were even better than on the albums.

I'm Gonna Go Deaf, But I'm Gonna See Def

So at this stage I have a couple of weeks in May/June that go something like this:

30 May: Whitesnake
9 June:   Bon Jovi
13 June: Tool
14 June: Live
18 June: Def Leppard

If I was to throw in the Download Festival as well, which is a small possibility - includes Metallica, Guns n’ Roses etc I would be constantly at concerts from the 9th to the 14th inclusive.  I’m gonna be deaf (Def) for days, but what a couple of weeks it’s gonna be!!

Wham Bam, Oh Amsterdam

So Scotty “too hottie” and I just booked ourselves an Easter trip to Amsterdam (stones you like nothing else can) click the link for details: http://www.andersontours.co.uk/destination.cfm?destinationid=13&alltours=yes

Really Alex!! How Stupid Do You Think I Am??

So I signed up to Myspace the other day and this is the first email I received.  Ha ha it made me smile.  


FROM THE DESK OF:ALEX BAKRI.
CHAMBERS & ASSOCIATES
NO F1553 OJO ALABA INTERNATIONAL MRT
LAGOS NIGERIA



Attention Asterix,

I sincerely apologize for intruding into your privacy especially by contacting you through this means for a business transaction of this magnitude, but due to
its seriousness and urgency it therefore became necesary for me to seek your assistance.

I am Barr. Alex Bakri the personal lawyer to Late Mr. Mark Bear, a foreigner, who worked with an Oil Servicing Company in the oil rich Niger Delta Area of Bayelsa State. I am contacting you concerning my late client and an investment he made. I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of this mail confidential and respect the integrity of the information you come by as a result of this mail. I contacted you independently and no one should be informed of this communication. I would like to intimate you with certain facts that I believe would be of interest to you.

This is a genuine transaction and is 100% risk free. All I'm demanding from you is your honest co-operation to enable us achieve our goal, and not a perfidious person. On the 6th of May, 2002 it was reported to us that my Client, his wife and their only daughter were involved in a Local Plane Crash at Kano State,enroute Abuja (The Capital City) all occupants in the Plane lost their lives,unfortunately on this same flight were other dignitaries like the Sports Minister and a host of others

Meanwhile, until his death, my late client had a Fixed Deposit Account of USD $15 Million deposited in a Secrity Company ( STANDARD UNIC SECURITY COMPANY) here. Recently, I received an ultimatum from the Security Company asking me to provide my late client's relative so that the money would be given to them. But unfortunately it was discovered that my late client did notdeclare any identifiable family member in all the official documents he tendered to the Security Company while opening the account.

Therefore, this development leaves me as the only person with the full picture of what the prevailing situation is in relation to the deposit my late client
made and who is entitled to be the Bona Fide Beneficiary/Next of Kin or relative because he died intestate.Therefore, if I fail to locate any of his relatives or his next of kin (and have this money transfered to them) the Security Company will at the expiration of the 6 weeks ultimatum given to me confiscate the account.

According to the ultimatum issued to me by the Security Company, if I fail to present to them my late client's relative, with a legitimate statement of claim for the money before the given time they will confiscate the account and the money declared 'UNCLAIMED BALANCE'. This will result in the money being taken over by the Security Company. This will not happen if I have my way.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives of my late client all these while, my proposal, therefore, is to present you as the next of kin/relative of my client due to the fact that you are a foreigner and can easily pass as a possible relative of my client. I know you will be wondering how possible this could be but I assure you that this is simple.

I therefore seek your consent to present you as the Next Of Kin to my client so that the money he deposited with the Security Company would be paid to you and
there after you and I will share the money 30% for you and I will be taking 60% while 10 percent shall be for any Mecillious espensis regards to this transaction. I assure you that the deposit would be released to you within a few days because I have all the relevant information that would facilitate that will be required on Documentation.

First, I will like you to provide immediately the following information:

Your full names.
Contact address.
Telephone/Fax Numbers.
International Passport or Drivers Liecence
Date of Birth

With these information I will prepare the necessary documents and affidavit that will put you in place as the next of kin. After we have successfully satisfied the requirements of the bank the money totalling USD 15 Million would be paid into your account for you to take 30% and I will be taking 60% . All I require is your honest co-operation to enable us see this through.


There is no risk at all because everything would be done legally and my position as a qualified attorney will facilitate everything . Secondly, I will give you all the necessary documents that would serve as evidence proving that you are the Next of Kin/ Relative of my late client. These documents will legally confer on you the status to act as the Beneficiary of the Estate of my late client.

What I related to you might smack of unethical practice but I want you to understand that this is a once in life time opportunity capable of turning around our situation. The truth is that this money would not be taken by the government but by some greedy Security Company Officails and I would not fold my arms and watch this happen hence my decision to contact you.



Thank you as I await your positive response.

Barr Alex Bakri

All Quiet on the Blog Front

So work sux and what's more, where I've been sitting for the last six weeks or so has been right in front of my bosses so I haven't really been able to sneak onto the net and blog, so that's why I've been a bit on the quiet side. Anyway hopefully I'll get a new, high paying, fun job and be able to blog more regularly from now on. Happy New Year.

Now I'm Lost

So the first series of Lost has just finished in the UK - I left NZ about five weeks before the series ended there in June so it's taken me over a year to see the whole of series one. Still as far as I'm concerned it's about the only thing worth watching on TV, well besides sport of course. Can't wait for the new series to start which is only a few months away apparently - Spring, whatever that means.