Kingsland Road "We Are The Young" album review!

Today's the day that most klanders have been waiting for - Kingsland's debut album 'We Are The Young' has been released!! I thought I'd share my totally unbiased* opinion on the album tracks..... (*anyone that knows me will already know what my favourite song is and I will almost definitely try and make it to be yours too haha)

1. We Are The Young

The album opens with the anthemic We Are The Young, which carries the message to let us live our own lives, make our own mistakes and not to let anyone tell you that you can't do something. The lyrics really hit home and I've got to comment on Matt's vocals in particular as they are flawless!

2. Misbehave

If you went to any of the lads' summer shows then this song will be familiar to you. If you really listen to the lyrics then you'll never quite sing along to it in the same way again but it's such a good song and great for dancing to on tour!

3. Dirty Dancer

This was the boys' first single and for that reason alone it will always be a special song!

4. Freedom

This is so close to being my favourite song on the album! Again it's one of those anthemic songs that's great to sing along to. From the tweets I've seen on my timeline this is definitely the new fan favourite! 

5. Girl With No Name

MY. FAVOURITE. SONG. This song has a special place in my heart as it was the song we heard them record during our studio pledge and it's been stuck in my head ever since. One of the reasons why I love it so much is because of one line near the end of the song which goes "Through the window she could see that the picture he painted was not what she'd seen ohhhh, in the spotlight holding back the tears" (still unsure of the exact lyric in the middle, have a listen). LEGIT MY FAVE LINE OFF THE WHOLE ALBUM (props to Con and Josh for doing an amazing job of it) I'm obsessed with it and keep telling everyone which is really annoying sorry but it's just epic!!

6. Never Too Late

I love this song, the lyrics are relevant not only to the boys but to anyone that listens to the song - never give up 'you started out with nothing, you held on to that something, and it's a long way from the top but your success will break your fall'. 

7. Shoreline

Actual jam! You can't listen to this without smiling and cracking a dance move or ten, it reminds me of the summer and never fails to make me happy!

8. He's Got It Coming

Great song which now has an added Connor rap which is absolutely brilliant! 

9. Heaven Knows

This song always makes me emosh but I'm so glad to finally have a studio version of it! 

10. Walk Away

I automatically think of the boys doing this water spit thing when I hear this song haha! Thomps is my favourite vocalist on this song, the 'girl the games that you play, it's time for a change, change, chaaaaaange' bit is my favourite!

11. Dirty Dancer remix 

This just makes you want to get up and dance like mad!

PLEASE SUPPORT THE BOYS BY BUYING THIS ALBUM! It's only £6.99 on iTunes! https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/we-are-the-young/id966545764 

It is also available to download on Amazon, where you can also purchase a physical copy, not forgetting the fact that it will be available to buy from HMV from tomorrow!!! 

They deserve to have success, nothing would make me happier to see them do well. Their album is incredible, so please get behind them!

Album Signing Party

On Sunday we went to London for Kingsland's album launch signing party! It was finally time for us to grab a copy of the album a week before anyone else.

It was amazing to be a part of this day with the boys and I got to spend it with so many of my friends in the fanbase. 

#SquadGoals ;-) 

Firstly they did a little signing, where they squiggled their autograph on everyone's cd's and t-shirts. This was quite quick but we got to speak to the boys briefly. I remember telling Con that we'd already read the insert whilst queuing, their thank you page is so cute!

favourite boys always :)

Next we queued up for group pictures. This took far longer than the signing but we amused ourselves by taking selfies and singing along to the album which was playing in the background. The album is so good that I kept singing really loudly along with it even though I am tone deaf so again I apologise to the people I was with haha! I also made everyone shut up when "my line" came on haha, serious appreciation for the "through the window..." line in Girl With No Name which needs to be sung as loud as physically possible of course ;-)

I took pictures for a few people and then I had my turn with the boys which was awkwardly funny, having hugs whilst Thomps shouts at mum to capture the moment lol! At the end we also got individual pictures with the boys which was cute!

My favourite fellow Thomps girl and our main man 

I had so much fun that day with all the girls and I can't believe that I now own a copy of Kingsland's album, it's bizarre! I spent most of the train journey home listening to it, replaying Freedom and Girl With No Name countless times!

some of my faves :)

I'm sat writing this on the train to Newcastle for their second tour date (I will blog about Manchester's opening night later) and I'm really excited for it! The album also comes out tonight at midnight eep!!! 

Hwyl am y tro ✌️

For The First Time (sort of...)

Last Saturday we went to Sheffield to see The Script. We've always liked The Script's music but have only ever seen them perform a short set (during last year's Jingle Bell Ball) so I was excited to finally see them for a whole show.

We arrived at the Motorpoint Arena (I felt like I was betraying our little Motorpoint in Cardiff haha) and went to our seats on the second level. Considering they were bought late in the day when they went on sale, we had a really good spot.

Tinie Tempah was the support act (as Labrinth had pulled out a few days before the tour started) and he was amazing. We've seen him a few times before at T4 on the Beach and he always manages to get the crowd going. I do enjoy going to gigs where the main artist can have known support acts - I've stood through so many awful people over the years, so it was nice to have a support act that I loved!

Then it was time for The Script! Their opening was stunning - the VT showed them backstage preparing to come on and once they came out, they appeared with an army of fan competition winners bearing flags which glowed green like light sabres. Their opening song was Paint The Town Green, which is quite literally what they did!

I was pleasantly surprised at how many old songs they included in the setlist - For The First Time and Six Degrees of Separation being particular favourites of mine. They also performed a slightly more stripped back set on the B stage so that people at the back of the arena could see them better!

There was plenty of banter on stage as Danny and Glen downed a bottle of beer, as well as an awkward phone call to somebody's ex in which The Script and the entire arena sang Nothing down the phone to them!

There was also a moment where Danny noticed that a girl was unwell in the crowd and got security to pull her out. He would not carry on performing until she was safe and he even went down from the stage to give her a hug and to make sure she was okay, how lovely!

Their set was incredible, they literally gave everything they had on that stage. Their songs are so anthemic and it was nice just to great to finally watch them do a whole set. They're definitely someone I would go and watch again!

I'm currently sat on the train to London, no prizes for guessing who I'm going to see tomorrow...it's Kingsland's album launch party/social/signing (whatever you want to call it) and I wouldn't miss it for the world! I'm super excited to get a copy of the album tomorrow!

Hwyl am y tro ✌️

Pizza playback party and boarding the Lady A...

Last week I got to fulfil some more of my Kingsland pledges, with two trips to London for the album listening/pizza party and the canal boat.

The album listening party was brilliant as we got to hear the album in it's entirety. I was excited to hear the new songs, mainly to hear Girl With No Name as this was the song they had been recording whilst we were at the studio. Ever since that day I've had a jumbled version of one line stuck in my head and I needed to hear it again properly!

The listening party was very casual, 13 of us sat in a room with the boys eating pizza and the album playing on a loop. I managed to miss my favourite line twice as everyone was chatting so Connor put the song on again. However I missed it a third time as I was too busy telling Thomps how much I loved this certain line (and he agreed it was one of his favourites from the album) so lucky for me Thomps rewound the song to that point. I'm still unsure of the lyrics to the whole line but it starts with "through the window...." - listen out for it as it's a belter of a line!

I'm very biased towards Girl With No Name being the best on the album however Freedom is a close second! It's also so good to have studio versions of Misbehave, He's Got it Coming and Heaven Knows. It's a brilliant album that they should be proud of - I just hope that everyone gets behind them to support!

On Saturday we had our canal boat pledge, which I was a bit anxious about as I don't like boats and I was naive enough to think the canal would just be floating on the spot and not actually move anywhere....haha!

The barge actually took us on a journey from Little Venice to Camden Lock and it was really lovely! There were only four of us on board with the boys which made it a really cute trip. It was so relaxed and I've genuinely never laughed so much in my life - somebody thought it would be a good idea to film #KingslandConfessions on my phone!  

It started off serious then just got bizarre - who knew gnomes, raybans and kangaroos could be so funny?! Once I stop laughing at these videos I will put them together and upload onto YouTube for everyone :)

2015 so far has been all about Kingsland however tomorrow we're on our travels again - this time to Sheffield to see The Script! I can't wait to see a full set from them for the first time.

Hwyl am y tro ✌️

Studio sessions and finding the D...

Hellooooooo! So, it's the 1st of February and we're already a month into 2015! I thought now would be a good time to write about January's 'fangirling' activities - both non-gig, Pledge related afternoons with Kingsland.

You may remember many moons ago that I wrote about Kingsland's Pledge, which is basically a way of funding the making of their album by pledging for a copy as well as some exclusives. They have long reached their target and are now on 145% which means that pledges are well underway. I've spent the past two weekends in London fulfilling some pledges, a studio session and my Connson guitar lesson.

The studio session was quite a surreal experience - there were seven of us pledgers in this tiny studio room with the boys but I really enjoyed it. It was good to see how they went about recording a song, and the song that we got to hear was amazing. I've still got a big part of the song stuck in my head over a week later! Whilst I never had any doubt about their album, getting to hear that one song has just made me realise how incredible it will be.

Yesterday I had my guitar lesson. I was incredibly anxious for it and mixed with being unwell, I wasn't really looking forward to it. However, it was actually so fun and if I had the money I would pledge to do it all over again! There was a bit of an issue with the original venue which meant things got a bit messed up and I ended up sharing my lesson with Abbie. To be honest it made me feel more comfortable to have someone else there too and we got a member each so I think it worked out quite well. 

Thomps was my teacher and he was actually really good! I surprised myself by picking up some of it quite quickly and in the end he was even jamming to the chords I was playing which was hilarious! This video that mum filmed makes me howl, finding the D was very important haha https://www.youtube.com/embed/M6FiA-mOa14 

Whilst Kingsland have reached their target, you can still pledge for their album here > http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/kingslandroad < you will also find some great exclusives such as their album listening party, a dressing room m&g for tour, being serenaded on stage or even a chance to buy their old tour car Viv!

Also don't miss out on their March UK tour, when they'll be coming to Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, London, Brighton and Birmingham! Get your tickets now > http://bit.ly/1j28yws 

Hwyl am y tro ✌️

2014

I've been lucky enough to travel the country to different gigs and events this year, so I thought I'd do a little throwback post and look at ten of my favourite events from this year! (These aren't in order and technically there's more than ten oops)

Manchester/Birmingham Social

During 2014 I've been to 4 Kingsland socials, all of which have been amazing but the two that stick in mind are the Manchester bowling and Birmingham Bingo ones.

Going to the Manchester social was a last minute decision following the London bowling. The night before we went to The Wanted's gig in Cardiff and Tom's DJ set in Tiger Tiger afterwards so myself, mum and Dannii were so wrecked going there but had so much fun! Unlike the London social where you had to pick a band member's team, here we got to bowl with all members although I didn't actually bowl at all oops. I enjoyed this social because we had lots of time with the boys and Dannii was like a personal pap taking pictures haha.

The Birmingham social will always be one of my favourites as I got to take Em to her first social. I loved our little Team Thompson's Topknot as we won the quiz and played bingo which I LOVE ha! 

The Wanted Tour

Considering this was a sad occasion as it was their last tour, it shouldn't appear on the list but through the tears there were also plenty of laughs and smiles.

I went to Manchester, Cardiff and Nottingham to see them. Along the way I was reunited with some of my favourite people as well as finally meeting some of the girls I've known for years! In Manchester I also got to meet The Wanted again - they are always so precious to meet. It was the best thing being able to get Jay hugs again! The day after, myself and mum also got our Siva follows! 

As the tour dates went on, more tears were cried. Nottingham was heartbreaking to say the least. Every person in my row were absolutely beside themselves and it was so horrible to see the boys so upset too. I wouldn't have missed it for the world but it was actually emotionally draining. I will always love those boys to the moon and back. They've given me so much happiness for over 4 years and I can never thank them enough for that. I miss them every day and I do hope that one day they'll return (as a five piece) as their journey ended far too soon.

Meeting MKTO

This was one of those things that I never thought would happen. I've loved Tony Oller for seven years since seeing him on As The Bell Rings and being an American star it seemed unlikely that he would ever come to the UK. I started supporting him and Malcolm Kelley in 2013 (known as MKTO) and it's always been a dream to meet them.

In May they announced that they were coming over here and it was so stressful as it was so last minute but eventually I met them in Manchester! It was so incredible and they were just as perfect as I imagined! I really hope that there'll be a next time and that they do a gig over here too. 

Big Reunion Boyband Tour

This was a night of pure fun and reliving my childhood! 90's music just makes me super happy, and getting to meet the boybands of my childhood allowed to me to tick another thing off of my goals list!

The main boyband in question were A1, finally getting to meet them after 15 years! I most definitely embarrassed myself in front of all the boybands as I was super excited, most specifically in front of Mark from A1, rambling on about how I'd waited 15 years to meet him oops haha. This was by far one of my favourite gigs of this year, few hours of good fun, singing along and having no worries in the world.

Showcase Live @ Thorpe Park

This is pretty much in my top three of places I've been this year. As a rollercoaster-phobe, I basically only went to see Concept/Canary Swing perform and to be reunited with my twinny Mim. However, she managed to drag me on a few rides which was actually super fun!

Concept were my highlight, purely because they had a really good set including covers and originals, most importantly their amazing cover of She Wants To Move which is one of my favourites of all time!!! I also still laugh at myself for practically dying on the barrier from certain stage love, don't judge ha!

Capital Summertime Ball / Jingle Bell Ball 

Capital always put on the most AMAZING gigs with some insane line-ups. This was my third STB and first JBB. I got to see some incredible artists perform live! STB highlights included Jessie J (with Nathan Sykes), Ed Sheeran, The Vamps, 5SOS, Miley and Pharrell. JBB ended my year on a high with Take That as the headline, One Republic, Union J, The Script and more. I can't wait to go again next year :)

Kingsland's Tour

This was Kingsland's first headline tour and we decided to do all six dates, which included visiting Newcastle and Glasgow for the first time.

As well as seeing the boys perform every night, one of the best things about the tour for me was getting to see pretty much all of my favourite people across the different venues and radio stations that they visited. It was so good getting to spend time with old friends as well as making new ones along the way. It was definitely one of the most memorable weeks for me and I can't wait to repeat it again next year on their second tour :)

Live and Loud

This was a festival based in Castle Vale and one funny afternoon/night. I had such a laugh with the KL girls and this is when I became close to a few of them. Instead of watching the acts we actually stood outside all day waiting for Kingsland but there was banter with the security and we became #KittyDivas before eventually getting to see the boys.

We went in to watch them perform and moments before they went on stage it was said on twitter that there'd be an announcement on stage for the boys. Ever the worrier, I automatically thought they were going to split or something and I remember panicking so much. Turns out, the event organiser presented them with an envelope which had details about a record deal in AMERICA! Needless to say, plenty of happy tears were shed - so proud of those idiots!

Showcase Live @ Under The Bridge

Again, this was a sad occasion as it was Jay's last gig and shouldn't really be on the list but there parts of the night that were enjoyable!

Firstly I got to meet my favourite Australian Jakie! It was so good to finally meet her after so long and she got to meet the boys and get the most precious photos!

I also spent most of the gig with Dannii, which is always fun and games! We had plenty of bants with the boys before and after the gig haha

Whilst it was sad that it was Jay's last gig, looking back at the night now (having cried too many tears on his shoulder) it was an end of an era and the start of something new for him. He has since launched his solo career and he seems to be really happy, which makes me happy too.

Meeting Take That

The main highlight of my year/life was meeting Take That, in particular my idol Gary after well over 15 years! I also got to be barrier at their intimate Radio 2 gig which was a dream come true! (I won't rattle on too much about it, but you can read about it in my previous post :) )

No matter how many times I put it into words, it still feels so surreal to me. As sad as it sounds, it's literally one of my biggest life goals crossed off and a day I'll never forget!

This year has been one of my favourites for many reasons. I've been so fortunate to be able to travel the country, seeing the bands that make me happy and meeting the most amazing people along the way. 

It gives me the biggest buzz doing this, and whilst I may be deemed as too old for all this "fangirling", I work hard full time and this is my release and what I enjoy doing in life. At the start it used to be just about the music, then getting to see the bands. Now it's getting to spend time with people that I have things in common with, making friends with people, a lot of whom I consider family.

I also learnt this year that you should NEVER give up hope on meeting your idols. I am one of many people that met their idols this year - in fact I met three of whom I've been waiting 7/15+ years to meet. Just keep trying and it will happen, trust me. 

This will be my last post for this year! If anyone is still reading my ramblings then thank you for letting me bore you with my memories haha. I keep this blog as a memory box for myself really, so I hope to continue in 2015 so that I'll always have something to look back on in years to come.

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!

Happy New Year!

Hwyl am y tro ✌️

Tonight we're gonna live for these days!

Recently Radio 2 and the red button on BBC broadcasted a special concert that Take That filmed at the BBC theatre a few weeks ago. Myself and mum were lucky enough to win tickets to this gig and it was the start of a very momentous weekend for us!

When we won the tickets, it stated that entry would be first come first served, so knowing how some fans like to camp out, we decided to queue at 8am to get a decent spot. To our bemusement there were only two ladies in front of us (that had been there since 3am!!!) meaning that we were third and fourth in the queue.

It was a strange day altogether as we started to queue outside in the cold, the security couldn't believe how early we'd arrived and told us that we could queue inside the BBC media centre cafe. After the arrival of a few more people, we started a number system which the security actually listened to! We had such a nice afternoon queuing indoors, with food, drink and toilets at hand and once our tickets were validated we were told that we would definitely be let in to the theatre in number order.

Once the doors opened, we excitedly ran to the front and all got a spot on the barrier, myself and mum placing ourself right in the centre where Gary would be standing.

After nearly 12 hours of queuing all day, the show finally started and I genuinely couldn't believe how close we were to Take That! We've been to their shows before but never been anywhere near the front (I have been fourth row at a Gary concert once and it took all my strength not to cry through the first half, so I'm not sure how I managed to keep calm during this concert!). It was such an incredible experience to be one of 400 people in this tiny room with Take That, when over 268,000 people had applied for tickets!

It's always my favourite thing to see the fans getting so involved, hearing lyrics being sung back to the band and everyone joining in with some of their famous moves always gives me goosebumps! Mark was as fun as I imagined, participating a lot with the crowd. Howard was just so striking in real life, he's so beautiful!! As for Gary, well I was just in awe. He is an incredible man, my idol and to be so close was just a dream!

Luckily for us, the next day we had tickets for their signing which meant we would finally get to meet them after all this time. Signings are known for being a bit rushed sometimes so we also took our chance and went to try and meet them at Radio 2 early on signing day.

This is where my dreams came true and I first met Gary. It is still the most surreal thing in the world being able to say that!! I wouldn't have had a picture if it wasn't for mum asking him, I was literally rendered speechless as soon as he stood in front of me and the second he walked away I looked at my picture and cried haha (happy tears of course!).

Later that afternoon we headed to HMV to meet the whole band. To our surprise, it was brilliantly organised, each member standing with an individual podium next to them ready for signing our album, whilst a member of staff took pictures for you.

It didn't feel rushed at all! Mark was very friendly and we spoke about the gig from the night before. Howard was really nice and again ever so striking in real life! This time I also managed to speak a little to Gary and made the most of the photo opportunity by getting a Barlow hug ;-)

I was so overwhelmed, it was a brilliant day where all my dreams came true. Never in a million years did I think I would get to meet them - having been a fan for over 15 years, it's been a long old wait but worth every second!

I'd like to believe that I can reassure people who haven't met their faves yet that it will happen one day - never give up hope!

Hwyl am y tro ✌️