Another great gig by the Boss on 14th June last! Me, the kids and a reprobate from Caxton went. We sat at the back and the Boss and the boys were small but that did not matter. We were there again. The concert was great, the surprises many and the beer expensive!
All of that did not matter as this was another Springsteen gig and another time when the Boss made me laugh, made me cry but ultimately made me happy.
When going to the gig we all put £1 in the kitty to see if we could name the first song.
I had 'Land of Hope and Dreams', My daughters had 'Murder Inc' and 'Badlands', my son had 'Prove it all Night' and the reprobate from Caxton had 'No Surrender'. We all lost!
Who would have thought that he would have played a song that he gave to a Welshman many years ago? Only those who are far too anal about Bruce and that ain't me!
The drive home was long...all seven hours of it!
But it was worth it, boy was it worth it!
From www.brucespringsteen.net
From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come) { lyrics } Tour Premiere
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out { lyrics }
Radio Nowhere { lyrics }
No Surrender { lyrics }
Lonesome Day { lyrics }
The Promised Land { lyrics }
Blinded By The Light { lyrics }
Magic { lyrics }
Atlantic City { lyrics }
The River { lyrics }
Gypsy Biker { lyrics }
Darlington County { lyrics }
Because The Night { lyrics }
She's The One { lyrics }
Livin' In The Future { lyrics }
Mary's Place { lyrics }
Working On The Highway { lyrics }
Devil's Arcade { lyrics }
The Rising { lyrics }
Last To Die { lyrics }
Long Walk Home { lyrics }
Badlands { lyrics }
Jungleland { lyrics }
Thunder Road { lyrics }
Born To Run { lyrics }
Rosalita { lyrics }
American Land { lyrics }
Monday, 30 June 2008
Death to the Congestion Charge
Readers will know that I have expressed a view about the unfairness of the Cambridge Congestion Charge and the way that it is linked to a governement grant.
I would like to think that I had a small part in the council's U turn about this. From arguing with the councils representatives at the local shopping centre to highlighting the stupidity of the charge on here, I did my bit. Never underestimate the power of the little guy!
And know, some of the locals did lot more.
Read more here and here!
I would like to think that I had a small part in the council's U turn about this. From arguing with the councils representatives at the local shopping centre to highlighting the stupidity of the charge on here, I did my bit. Never underestimate the power of the little guy!
And know, some of the locals did lot more.
Read more here and here!
In your best Victor Meldrew voice please...
...I simply do not believe it!
GCSE exams give you credit for being rude!
How?
If the candidate who is taking an English exam writes a 'fuck off', he/she gets 7.5%. More if they were to capitalise the first word and if they added an exclamation mark
Honest!!!
Read about it here!
GCSE exams give you credit for being rude!
How?
If the candidate who is taking an English exam writes a 'fuck off', he/she gets 7.5%. More if they were to capitalise the first word and if they added an exclamation mark
Honest!!!
Read about it here!
Thursday, 12 June 2008
Slough - the new Warsaw
The Sun proudly announced that its Polish edition was most successful in Slough, Berkshire of all places
Slough, the home of Werner Hogg, Eton College & the Mars Bar.
What chance Eton has put Polish on it's curriculum? Or that the Queen has taken on a traunch of our brothers from Poland to do her plumbing?
Slough, the home of Werner Hogg, Eton College & the Mars Bar.
What chance Eton has put Polish on it's curriculum? Or that the Queen has taken on a traunch of our brothers from Poland to do her plumbing?
Saturday, 7 June 2008
Twas only 5p
I confess, I am a Sun reader.....Picked up a copy today from a local newsagent.
When handing over my 55p for the tome, noticed that there was twenty further copies on the counter....in Polish!
I thought that there was a net outflow of our fellow European neighbours over the last six months or so as they found the cost of living here too expensive so surely there is less of a market for such a publication. Seems like The Sun is trying to entice them back.
Actually, what really upset me that the price was 50p!
When handing over my 55p for the tome, noticed that there was twenty further copies on the counter....in Polish!
I thought that there was a net outflow of our fellow European neighbours over the last six months or so as they found the cost of living here too expensive so surely there is less of a market for such a publication. Seems like The Sun is trying to entice them back.
Actually, what really upset me that the price was 50p!
Sunday, 1 June 2008
Another evening, another Springsteen gig
It's 7.46 p.m. and I am standing with my daughter on the covering that hides the green that Wenger's men kick the leather on. At one end there is a stage. Huge. though expected, as I have been in this moment before eight or nine times.
Then it happens. The Boss is back, baptising the Emirates stadium with the first song. Tenth Avenue Freeze Out! Bloody hell, one of the best songs first? No other gig that I have ever been to has had the artist play one of their biggest hits at the start! The standard has been set, can he keep it up? Well, of course he can.
Of course he can, and he and the E Street do. All night long. Hit after hit after hit. The old ones and the young ones watch in awe as they are played one after the other with most of us 'in the know' taking our cues and singing all in the right places. When 'Thunder Road' is played, Bruce stands as we sing to him..
'Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me'
He stands, he smiles and he knows. The audience is in the palm of his hand as we allow him to take us on his rock and roll ride.
For some of the crowd it must be their umpteenth gig, for a few it is their first. What will the few they make of the temple that is Springsteen?
In 2003, I got four tickets for Wembley Arena. I took all three of my kids to the gig in a old car that I prayed every mile would make it. The kids moaned and groaned all the way there asking why we are going to see a man play a guitar who was ten years older than their Dad. How can 'he' be 'that' good? I did not dare to mention that The Boss's sidekick another ten years older than him and decidedly the coolest man on the planet. That would have been the end and I am sure that when we arrived at Wembley they would have scampered into the London night.
We queued in the October night, listening to the sound check and I heard the moans once more. When we eventually got in, we were some fifteen metres from the front, standing amongst the variety of ages.
Then the band came on, walking methodically, to pick up their respective instruments.
From 'The Rising' to 'Thunder Road' and 23 songs in-between, he made me cry, laugh, sing, dance and made me reflect on things in my life. The kids were enthralled and captivated but most of all captured by the man and his band. My son went out and bought most of the records and my daughters 'have borrowed' ever since.
'Better than the records' they said but they missed the point there. The records only tell us what is in his mind, the concert shows us. 'He was THE best' they said and I did not disagree. 'Did you see when...', of course I did for I was there and absorbed it all. On the way back, with T shirts in hand that they still wear, they relived the concert for the two hour plus drive home. There was one happy dad in the car with three more converts to the message of the 'legendary' E Street band.
Friday night was the same though I only shared it with my eldest. Twenty eight songs and two of my favourites that I had not heard live ever before ('Candy's Room' and 'Point Blank'). The same emotions, the same feelings and the same escape from real life for a few short hours. To say that the band was good would be insulting, they were great as they are 'night after night after night'. An apparent rag bag of characters, they work seamlessly to provide the very best live entertainment that exists in the world today. The Rolling Stones may have started earlier and be great live, U2 may have better power anthems and play to bigger crowds but both of these are pretenders to the throne. No band in the world plays tighter, with more emotion and longer than the guys I saw on Friday.
Bruce, Gary, Max, Steven, Soozie, Patti, Roy (with whom I share a birthday), Gordon, Nils & Clarence, we will almost certainly never meet but thank you for everything.
If people would like to donate a little spare cash, take a little time and check out the Danny Federici Melanoma Fund.
Complete set list courtesy of www.brucespringsteen.net
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out { lyrics }
Radio Nowhere { lyrics }
The Ties That Bind { lyrics }
Lonesome Day { lyrics }
The Promised Land { lyrics }
Magic { lyrics }
Atlantic City { lyrics }
Reason To Believe { lyrics }
Candy's Room { lyrics }
Prove It All Night { lyrics }
Because The Night { lyrics }
Working On The Highway { lyrics }
Cadillac Ranch { lyrics }
Livin' In The Future { lyrics }
Mary's Place { lyrics }
Waitin' On A Sunny Day { lyrics }
Point Blank { lyrics }
Devil's Arcade { lyrics }
The Rising { lyrics }
Last To Die { lyrics }
Long Walk Home { lyrics }
Badlands { lyrics }
Thunder Road { lyrics }
Born To Run { lyrics }
Glory Days { lyrics }
Rosalita { lyrics }
Dancing In The Dark { lyrics }
American Land { lyrics }
Then it happens. The Boss is back, baptising the Emirates stadium with the first song. Tenth Avenue Freeze Out! Bloody hell, one of the best songs first? No other gig that I have ever been to has had the artist play one of their biggest hits at the start! The standard has been set, can he keep it up? Well, of course he can.
Of course he can, and he and the E Street do. All night long. Hit after hit after hit. The old ones and the young ones watch in awe as they are played one after the other with most of us 'in the know' taking our cues and singing all in the right places. When 'Thunder Road' is played, Bruce stands as we sing to him..
'Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me'
He stands, he smiles and he knows. The audience is in the palm of his hand as we allow him to take us on his rock and roll ride.
For some of the crowd it must be their umpteenth gig, for a few it is their first. What will the few they make of the temple that is Springsteen?
In 2003, I got four tickets for Wembley Arena. I took all three of my kids to the gig in a old car that I prayed every mile would make it. The kids moaned and groaned all the way there asking why we are going to see a man play a guitar who was ten years older than their Dad. How can 'he' be 'that' good? I did not dare to mention that The Boss's sidekick another ten years older than him and decidedly the coolest man on the planet. That would have been the end and I am sure that when we arrived at Wembley they would have scampered into the London night.
We queued in the October night, listening to the sound check and I heard the moans once more. When we eventually got in, we were some fifteen metres from the front, standing amongst the variety of ages.
Then the band came on, walking methodically, to pick up their respective instruments.
From 'The Rising' to 'Thunder Road' and 23 songs in-between, he made me cry, laugh, sing, dance and made me reflect on things in my life. The kids were enthralled and captivated but most of all captured by the man and his band. My son went out and bought most of the records and my daughters 'have borrowed' ever since.
'Better than the records' they said but they missed the point there. The records only tell us what is in his mind, the concert shows us. 'He was THE best' they said and I did not disagree. 'Did you see when...', of course I did for I was there and absorbed it all. On the way back, with T shirts in hand that they still wear, they relived the concert for the two hour plus drive home. There was one happy dad in the car with three more converts to the message of the 'legendary' E Street band.
Friday night was the same though I only shared it with my eldest. Twenty eight songs and two of my favourites that I had not heard live ever before ('Candy's Room' and 'Point Blank'). The same emotions, the same feelings and the same escape from real life for a few short hours. To say that the band was good would be insulting, they were great as they are 'night after night after night'. An apparent rag bag of characters, they work seamlessly to provide the very best live entertainment that exists in the world today. The Rolling Stones may have started earlier and be great live, U2 may have better power anthems and play to bigger crowds but both of these are pretenders to the throne. No band in the world plays tighter, with more emotion and longer than the guys I saw on Friday.
Bruce, Gary, Max, Steven, Soozie, Patti, Roy (with whom I share a birthday), Gordon, Nils & Clarence, we will almost certainly never meet but thank you for everything.
If people would like to donate a little spare cash, take a little time and check out the Danny Federici Melanoma Fund.
Complete set list courtesy of www.brucespringsteen.net
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out { lyrics }
Radio Nowhere { lyrics }
The Ties That Bind { lyrics }
Lonesome Day { lyrics }
The Promised Land { lyrics }
Magic { lyrics }
Atlantic City { lyrics }
Reason To Believe { lyrics }
Candy's Room { lyrics }
Prove It All Night { lyrics }
Because The Night { lyrics }
Working On The Highway { lyrics }
Cadillac Ranch { lyrics }
Livin' In The Future { lyrics }
Mary's Place { lyrics }
Waitin' On A Sunny Day { lyrics }
Point Blank { lyrics }
Devil's Arcade { lyrics }
The Rising { lyrics }
Last To Die { lyrics }
Long Walk Home { lyrics }
Badlands { lyrics }
Thunder Road { lyrics }
Born To Run { lyrics }
Glory Days { lyrics }
Rosalita { lyrics }
Dancing In The Dark { lyrics }
American Land { lyrics }
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