KL Round 2! Bristol and Swansea

Next stop on The Kingsland Road Show tour was Bristol on Sunday. I was really excited for this particular show as it meant getting to see loads of the girls that I hadn't seen for a while! 

(I love seeing their name on the venue, it makes me so proud!)

After getting ready, we headed to the O2 Academy in Bristol and queued with my Weston girls Char and Emma, who also had VIP for this particular show. We were some of the first in line to meet the boys which I think worked in our favour, as security didn't really rush people through!

The meet and greet was cute, full of lots of swaying hugs as captured by Char :) http://instagram.com/p/rVCNxKKVbF/ 

the boys seemed happy to see us, I can't guarantee this will be case by the end of the week haha but it was lovely to see them as always, and to wish them luck for the gig ahead.

After a long wait, we got inside the venue, and it was ridiculously tiny and sweltering hot - far from being my favourite venue!! To warm up the stage before the boys came on, Jake Sims, Canary Swing and Jessica Alice performed. 

(Jake Sims and Joe B Roberts - credit to @helz999)

Both Jake and Canary Swing were incredible again, so much stage energy that really gets the crowd going! I'm so glad that Canary Swing are supporting for most of the tour as they keep getting better and better! 

(Canary Swing/George - credit to @helz999)

They were also joined by a new act called Ellie Rose. As you might be aware, I'm not partial to female singers but I did enjoy her boyband song, about a supposed member she'd been with - several lyrics had the audience gasping and laughing!

Later than the previous show, Kingsland Road came on around 10, where the crowd went completely crazy for them. At this point I'd ended up near the back however it was nice being able to see how much the crowd in front appreciated the music! It's safe to say that so far Shoreline is one of the crowd favourites! The new songs also went down very well, with several of the audience already knowing the songs word perfect. 

(credit - @helz999)

This time, I did start crying at Heaven Knows - it will probably cause me a breakdown by the end of the tour haha! I find both Heaven Knows and Never Too Late to be extremely relevant and expresses the boys' journey so far. Bristol was another amazing show and they had a brilliant reception!  Char has made a fabulous highlights video from the night which you can watch here > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cleFjfUpYpY

Make sure you subscribe to her channel!

Unfortunately we had to rush off after the gig as we were travelling back to Swansea ready for their visit to The Wave radio early the next day. It was well worth the rush and early wake up call as there was only 8 of us there to greet the boys.  Once again I had a reunion with some of my favourite Welshies including Bekah, Dannii and Kirsten.

There was only three of us there when the boys arrived so we stood sheltered whilst their car was parked. They came over and greeted us with hugs, they looked so tired bless them. I'm tired just following them around on the tour dates, I can't imagine how they must feel having to travel so much as well as performing every night!

The boys went in for their interview and came out around 20 minutes later, where they stopped for a chat and some pictures. I did spend half the time taking the piss out of Thomps and his top knot, although it's starting to grow on me....probably because it's him! It was then time for their tour manager Darren to drive them onto the next station in Reading. Shoutout to Darren though, as he is a really nice tour manager and let's you have time with the boys without rushing until they need to go :)

Next stop is Birmingham, which is today. I'm currently writing this blog on the six hour journey, as I'm being kept awake by loud Irish people who think it's acceptable to shout across the carriage at 3:30am :))))) all going well, we'll fit in two radio stations as well as their gig tonight (and even more exciting than that, I get to be reunited with Em who I think of as my little sister - I'm hoping to introduce her to the boys for the first time, particularly Matt as he's her fave ;) more to come in the next blog!)

Hwyl am y tro ✌️

 

The Kingsland Road Show - Round 1!

Last night was the opening night of Kingsland Road's first headline tour! Klanders from far and wide gathered at London's The Borderline for the sold out show, which was a very proud moment for all. Having been at their first ever gig back in February 2013, I was super excited to be there - there is nothing better than watching them perform live as they give their all on every occasion!

Me and mam were lucky to have VIP tickets for the gig, along with Twinny and her sis so we got to meet the boys beforehand. It was a cute little meet and greet, as we got to wish the boys luck! They were nervous ("I'm shitting ten bricks" "that sounds painful...") but were also very excited! As we grouped together for our picture, the hard decision of where to stand was made easy by my fave Thomps who said that I should be next to him obviously...ha! He also started questioning who's phone was being used to take the picture as mine is normally used (and I have an old school Mattson picture on the cover) - mum joked with him about what would happen if I ever changed my phone case, note to self: if I ever do so I will be getting unfollowed apparently lol 

We went to get a good spot to watch the show and had a barrier to lean on which came in handy later on haha. Once everybody was in, the support acts started which were Jake Sims, Futureproof, Canary Swing and Jessica Alice.

I've seen Jake at events such as Soccer Six before but have never heard him sing - I was pleasantly surprised, I enjoyed his choice of songs but as with every time I've seen him, I kept staring at him as his face could spookily be the double of Aston Merrygold from JLS....

I've seen Futureproof several times before but was particularly impressed by their set last night, they certainly know how to get a crowd going! Canary Swing were next but before discussing them, I have to quickly mention the main support Jessica Alice. The Essex singer performed a few songs, mainly with a rapper with a 'swagtastic' snapback.... I didn't rate them at all - I generally don't like female singers, nor do I believe that they make good support acts for boybands purely because the audience is made up of 99% females.....however one of the choruses has been stuck in my head all day so she clearly did something right, IT'S MY LIFE AND I'M LIVING IT YEAHHHH...

My favourite support act by far was Canary Swing! Having seen them play acoustically a few times, it was completely different seeing them with a full kit - they were even more amazing! They were so energetic and Second Star To The Right is such an anthem!

Finally it was time for The Kingsland Road Show to begin, opening with the incredible Walk Away, which is one of my favourite songs of theirs!

They performed their EP tracks, including Shoreline which got the crowd bouncing! We were also treated to two brand new songs, Misbehave and Got It Coming, both of which were phenomenal! Here's a poor quality video I took haha http://youtu.be/HT5M5ghCeU8 

Connor showed the crowd his guitar skills during their new cover of Rude, which was amazing! They also did a new cover of Ed Sheeran's Sing, mixed with a bit of Give Me Love at the beginning which was the first cover they ever posted on YouTube!

Matt also sang My Dog (if you don't know what it is then look it up because you will laugh) and that made half the crowd go berserk as we hadn't heard it for a long time!

The boys ended with How Ya Doin' and Dirty Dancer, making the crowd go crazy - it was a proud moment to see every single person singing their debut single back to them word for word!

The gig ended far too soon for my liking - I never get bored of seeing them perform! They have an amazing stage presence and their strong relationship as a band is clear for everyone to see. Plenty of stage banter, dance moves and phenomenal vocal performances made it a show not to be missed! I'm so proud to see how far they have come, they deserve so much success! Their little speech during Heaven Knows brought tears to my eyes, they are so special and I hope that one day the world will get to see that.

Having clearly lost the plot a few weeks ago, we decided to do all six dates meaning that the next stop is Bristol which is TODAY! Tickets are still available, and there are also some available for Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow (Birmingham is sold out). If you haven't bought tickets yet, then why the hell not?! This is a show not to be missed, I promise that you will enjoy ever minute with those boys! Already got tickets? Let me know where for!

Hwyl am y tro ✌️

All aboard...

As a KLander, yesterday was a very proud day as Kingsland Road got to have their debut single Dirty Dancer played on Radio 1!!! Me and mam travelled to London on the overnight train so we could stand outside the radio and show our support!

We roasted outside waiting for them but it was lovely to get to chat to them quickly before they went inside for their interview. We also got to spend time with our friend Lauren, who we first started speaking to because of Times Red. 

Us and Lauren :)

It was so surreal to hear them on one of the biggest radio stations in the country, tears formed in my eyes as was sat outside listening to the broadcast on my phone! They were so happy when they came back out, I don't think they could quite believe it themselves! They quickly said bye before leaving for dinner, as they had their social in the afternoon.

Our London trip was well worth it as a few days ago we happened to win tickets to this Kingsland Social, which meant we would get the spend the afternoon with them on a tour round London in a big red bus!

I was so excited for this as we have been to the socials since the first ever one in February 2013, so to be a part of this one was something really special.

(photo credit: @helz999)

We boarded the bus outside Regent's Park, which was decorated with balloons and flashing lights, and we decided to sit on the bottom floor. It was so much fun going on a tour round London, not that anyone paid much attention to the sights outside! The boys were hilarious tour guides, and we had quizzes on board as well as singalongs, which managed to get the attention of everyone outside as we drove through busy areas such as Trafalgar Square! Dirty Dancer was played on several occasions, with everyone singing along to the future hit! We also managed to win Josh's security pass from Radio 1 for doing the most tour dates!

Replicating the first ever social, the boys also filmed a Harlem Shake with the fans, something which I'm sure you'll see within the next few days! They spent time going around the bus, chatting to as many fans as possible despite it being ridiculously warm!

(photo credit: @helz999)

After an hour or so, the bus dropped us off outside Regent's Park once again where we got to properly see the boys and have pictures! They were lovely as always, and chatting to them made me really hyped for the tour!

Yesterday was such a precious little day! It was an honour to support them at Radio 1 and a privilege to win tickets to the social - it's a very exciting time for them and I can't wait to see what will happen in the next few weeks, with the tour and the release of Dirty Dancer! It's amazing to see how far they've come since I started following them in November 2012. They deserve the world and I'm so grateful to be able to support them on their journey!

Tickets for their Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow dates are still available on www.ticketmaster.co.uk  :)

Hwyl am y tro ✌️

Riding High and Getting Down ✌️

On Saturday I ventured into strange territory for a gig - Thorpe Park, one of the UK's biggest theme parks! As a girl that gets her kicks from boybands rather than rollercoasters, it was a strange gig venue for me and I had no intention of going on any rides, only seeing Concept perform!

However, my twinny is an adrenaline junkie and tried to kill me off before I even got to see the boys (never trust anyone that tells you that a ride is not scary because it is almost certain to be the biggest lie haha!) I screamed and swore my way through Colossus and Rush before watching the live music.

Showcase Live was responsible for putting on the show - each Saturday they have several bands and singers perform, and this week it was the turn of Beth Sherburn, Canary Swing and Concept. Beth was good but I don't really like female singers oops lol! Canary Swing were really good, although I spent most of their performance taking pity on drummer Sam who'd injured his neck on one of the rides bless him!

Then it was time for Concept - they were amazing! The Basingstoke band, made up of Scott, Ben, Karim, Matt and Nathan, have been around for a few years now however I first saw them live back in May 2013, and met them in June 2013 as twinny had been a fan for ages! 

They've improved so much, I've always enjoyed their sets but this was something else! They did a mix of acoustic songs as well as using backing track, allowing them to show off some moves that made me swoon a bit...haha! Amongst some amazing covers such as 5SOS' Don't Stop and Imagine Dragons' Radioactive, they belted out their amazing original songs Get Down and Young and Rebellious, definite favourites of mine! 

My highlights included their performance of Ed Sheeran's Sing, an example of when my favourite members shouldn't sing directly to me as I end up face palming myself in embarrassment (despite how much I enjoyed it lol!). However, my favourite moment was when they performed She Wants To Move - it's by far my favourite cover of theirs, and one of the first songs I ever heard them do which is why I enjoy it so much!

Before their second performance, I further risked my life by going on Nemesis Inferno (which I actually really enjoyed) and Saw (between thinking I was going to fall out of my seat/have my head ripped off, I wasn't okay!)

Concept's second performance was just as epic - they are full of personality on stage, you can tell how much they love performing, they're incredibly talented and deserve every success in the future! They did a little meet and greet afterwards, in which I got to meet three of the boys again, and got group selfies with my two favourite members Scott and Ben :) they are such lovely and grounded boys, it's always nice to get to see them!

Ben and Karim

Scott and Ben :)

Such a long but amazing day, I faced my fears on some of the rides thanks to Mim but also got to see some of my favourite people again! Hopefully it won't be so long before I see them again :) if you haven't already, then check out Concept on Twitter @conceptofficial :)

Hwyl am y tro ✌️

Drag Queens, Technicolour Coats and Dirty Dancing ✌️

On Saturday, I went to Swansea Pride with mum, Gabrielle and Bekah as Kingsland Road were one of the performers. I hadn't seen the girls for a while so it was so nice to catch up and see some of our favourite boys!

The fact that the gig was less than an hour away from me was a novel concept - I'm used to travelling 4-6 hours one way to see Kingsland so to have a 'doorstep' gig was a nice change! It was weird though, as I knew some people there and I didn't like that, I don't like fangirling in front of people I know in real life! (away from bands etc haha)

We got there early and to my surprise it was a really small venue, and wasn't particularly busy! We watched several acts whilst waiting for the boys to arrive, including an 'angel' with insane hair and huge wings, as well as at least half a dozen drag queens (some of which performed some epic songs that I haven't heard in years, such as Vanessa Amorosi's Absolutely Everybody - YouTube it!!)

The boys had tweeted to say when they were roughly arriving so we waited by the fence where the cars came in. The boys waved and went into one of the porta-cabins, and after hanging around a bit longer, Thomps emerged and came to see us!

He spent around 15 minutes chatting with us, he's a little shit at times but is undeniably my favourite person in the world! We had a lot of laughs and he took photos with all of us!

Thomps nailing the flamingo pose...

Me nailing Thomps' pose (well, trying to haha!) - I hate it when he does this pose and I always ask him for smiling selfies cos his smile is my fave but I thought I'd change it up a bit...

Connor, Josh and Matt also came out to see us. Connor was particularly hilarious, singing along to one of the stage performers that was singing Any Dream Will Do from Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat! I will always think of him whenever I hear that song now :)

Connor demanded that we changed the filter....

Selfies with Matt...

Piccies with Josh!

Finally it was time for them to perform, and boy was it worth the wait! (particularly after having to stand through an 8-song Lady Gaga impersonator, in which we spent more time laughing at the sign language lady who had no idea what she was doing lol!)

Kingsland performed Walk Away, Shoreline (plus a short acoustic version of End of Time whilst sound issues were dealt with), Burn and their debut single Dirty Dancer! It was the first time I'd heard Dirty Dancer live, and it sounds epic! Check out this video, courtesy of my mam @helz999

http://youtu.be/ktH010gO3Js 

All in all, it was a strangely entertaining day, and was lovely to see some of my favourite boys and girls again!

The lyric video for Dirty Dancer is now on YouTube, check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMcnK01MrK8&sns=tw 

Dirty Dancer is also available to preorder on iTunes now! 79p and released on August 10th: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/dirty-dancer-radio-edit/id893584250?i=893584323

Hwyl am y tro ✌️

You are my sunshine ☀️

My second post of today is dedicated to a guy called Jay McGuiness. This post is 100% necessary as on Friday night, after nearly 4 years, he made my life by following me on Twitter!

I've been a Jay girl since late 2010. I've met him 8 times since then and he's been the most precious human being on every occasion! The first thing he ever said to me was "I think I'm in love with you" after giving him Avatar face paint - now if that doesn't make him the best choice of fave EVER, then I really don't know what does!

The only thing I struggled with was getting a follow on twitter. I've had several tweets over the years but never that elusive follow. I have literally tried everything - I've stayed up at ridiculous hours when I have work the next day, and it was during one of these late nighters that I came up with what eventually got me my follow!

The deal breaker in question was a poem about the times I'd met Jay and how much he meant to me. I used to write creatively when I was younger, and having read the finished poem it is evident why I stopped doing so!! However, considering it was written at 2am in despair, it was cringeworthy enough to make Jay spew all over my follow button :)) the poem can be read here >  http://tl.gd/n_1s2684k < (I apologise in advance for how tragic it is but in all honesty, every word said and spoken is true!)

My reaction? I tweeted him one last time before bed, then I went to sleep, only to be rudely awakened by mum 20 minutes later - "he's done it, he's followed you!!!!" In my half asleep state, I unlocked my phone without even looking at my notifications and just searched his name - seeing the "follows you" bar was the most amazing feeling in the world! Subsequently I burst into tears and bawled whilst saying "I can't believe it!" a million times over haha! I think my lack of screaming was down to pure relief that I'd finally been granted a follow from my sunshine!

I still check his twitter several times a day because it feels like a dream, I'm so so lucky.

The point of this post is to tell you all to never give up on something you want. I could have given up at least a hundred times over the years! To put my wait into perspective, my oldest friend Lizzy pointed out to me earlier that she's had a son (who is now 3 years old) in the time that I've waited for a follow from Jay, and I'd been trying before then too!!

Whatever the fangirl dream, have faith that one day you will get that follow or that you will meet your idol! I never thought it would happen, but now I have a follow from my favourite person in the world! I'm eternally grateful to that boy for forever being so special!

Hwyl am y tro ✌️

Capital Summertime Ball!

Helloooo, long time no blog! It's been a few chaotic weeks in work and I've also been putting my writing "skills" to good use elsewhere (more on that in the next post) so today I thought I'd "treat" you by giving you two blog posts, you lucky things ;) 

Firstly, yesterday was the day of Capital's Summertime Ball 2014!  STB (for short) is an annual gig held by Capital Radio in Wembley Stadium. Every year they bring you some of the hottest and most current acts around, for a gig lasting around 6 and a half hours.

This year was no exception, with over 20 amazing artists taking to the stage including Calvin Harris, Ellie Goulding, Iggy Azalea, Rita Ora, Cheryl Cole, Clean Bandit, Duke Dumont, Little Mix and David Guetta!

Ellie Goulding smashing her hit 'Burn'

Little Mix looking fierce!

Having attended for the past two years with seated tickets, this year we decided to venture into the golden circle which was an epic yet painful experience! We queued for over 4 hours beforehand which was quite enjoyable as I got chatting to other fans outside, and eventually we managed around 7 rows from the front. The downsides were tall people blocking my view occasionally, oh and the most horrendous pain I was in by the end of the day!! I'm so glad I've done the standing once though, however I think I'll stick to my trusted seats next year!

There were several stand out moments for me yesterday. The Vamps were incredible as always, with a fab 4-song setlist.

I got to see 5 Seconds of Summer live for the first time, having been harassed by my twinny to listen to their music (I wanted to avoid getting involved with another band but here I am, hook line and sinker!). She Looks So Perfect is so anthemic and sounded amazing in the stadium!

Ed Sheeran was a pleasure to watch once again. He is fantastic live, and I will never forget the sight of 80,000 people swinging items of clothing around their heads during Sing, under Ed's instructions!

Pharrell was so good, the only thing that would have improved his set for me would have been the inclusion of She Wants to Move!

Queen Miley was just as batshit crazy as I expected! Dwarves, giant rubber ducks, chickens, her sister dressed as a cat, spitting water over the crowd and everything else in between, in her words it was FUCKING BANGERZ haha! 

Finally, my highlight of the whole day (and resurrection of my 2010 hardcore fangirl stage) was when Nathan Sykes joined Jessie J on stage for a flawless rendition of Calling All Hearts! Jessie's whole set was phenomenal, but I was most looking forward to this song after hearing rumours that Nathan would be joining her! Despite knowing it was likely to be him, I still fangirled like crazy when Jessie said his name! His outfit was questionable to some but I thought he looked good bless him! This is the second year in a row that he's stolen the show for me, following his epic comeback last year.  It was so surreal seeing him without the rest of The Wanted but I was so proud of him!

I'm already looking forward to seeing how Capital can top this ball next year, and I will most definitely be going! It's an amazing experience and I would recommend it to anyone!

Hwyl am y tro ✌️

(Second post coming later)