Hellogoodbye, 01.06.2011

HEY THURRRR!
So, I had my last proper exam today, and by 'proper', I mean revisable - the last 2 are German reading and listening. [It's not like I'm taking German next year or anything! ...oh wait.] But anyway, this means that I can start posting more often. Woohoo.
This is an extremely belated review of the Hellogoodbye concert I went to with my friend on 1st June, so if you're not a fan of Hellogoodbye... read every other word? That could be fun, if you like that kinda thing. Regardless of what you plan on doing, I'll carry on:

The excitement began at about 12.00, when I stopped revising for my R.E exam and looked for something to wear. I then waited for my friend to arrive at my house in eager anticipation, while working my way through the unsurprisingly limited Hellogoodbye discography [this includes demos, covers and live versions, cos I'm a fangirl] THREE HOURS LATER, my friend arrived and we left about 45 minutes after that.
The journey itself wasn't that interesting. We got the bus to Slough, then the train to London Paddington, then the Hammersmith & City tube line to King's Cross. I remember it being fun, but that's pretty much because all we did was sing 'My Life As A Dickhead' and have conversations that would most likely mean nothing to anybody apart from my friend and I.

I love taking pictures of people sleeping on trains - oh the lols.

I guess the journey got slightly more interesting when I discovered that I can't read maps and walked in the totally wrong direction... twice. We got there in the end though! At 6.55pm my friend and I arrived, flustered, yet still unfathomably excited, at Monto Water Rats. The doors were supposed to open at 7.00pm, but we found ourselves waiting for a further fifty minutes outside the miniscule "theatre". Needless to say, we were pretty bored, so we entertained ourselves by watching a couple in the queue, consisting of a really clingy, not very attractive, touchy-feely guy and his seemingly uninterested girlfriend. He gravitated toward her, but she seemed to be unable to look him in the eye. I found myself creating a mini soap opera in my head, consisting of the story of this couple alone. But enough about that.
When we entered the venue, we discovered just how spectacular it was. In reality, it was a pub with a stage. Not only was it adorably intimate though, it also had really quirky additions to it, like columns on either side of the stage and four half-broken chandeliers hanging limply from the ceilings - I fell in love with the destructed beauty that existed in this tiny, unnoticeable building. Possibly the best part of it, though, were the coloured stage lighting, which were clearly stolen from a wedding DJ or school disco. They really added to the £12.00 ticket atmosphere, and it was great.

Standard broken chandelier. SO AWESOME.

Before we knew it, the first support band were on stage: Gold Motel. I'd never heard of them, but I trusted Hellogoodbye's taste in music and so gave them a chance. A sweet blonde-haired girl, Greta Morgan, fronted the band and she had a beautiful voice. The melody behind her honey-toned vocals were summery and fun, which was ideal for the support to an ex-powerpop band.

Matt Minx, Gold Motel bassist

Greta & Dan of Gold Motel

After they finished performing, they went offstage and Greta stood at the Gold Motel merch desk. I had a nice little chinwag with her and got their album for a fiver - HALF PRICE WIN! I didn't take any videos of their performances, because I didn't expect to enjoy them as much as I did, so I'll just give a link from YouTube to their song 'Safe In LA'

Once everybody had refreshed themselves sufficiently and had returned to the standing area, the next band arrived on stage: The Dangerous Summer. After hearing the floating-on-air sound of Gold Motel, I was pretty shocked to discover that The Dangerous Summer were, well, sort of emo-ish. I wasn't disappointed, just surprised. The truth is, it seemed to me like their soundcheck didn't go right or something, because the vocals were completely overpowered by the guitar and drums, which kinda sucked. It was a tsunami to my ears - a drowning mess of noise. However, I felt that this was a mistake on the soundcheck's part, and not just blatant talentlessness, so I gave a couple of their songs a listen afterwards. I was right, they're pretty good. My friend liked them because the bassist looked like the YouTube celebrity WheezyWaiter [see?! It's not just me who's obsessed!] and she "wanted to give the drummer a cuddle." I couldn't judge her for that statement - he was cute and nobody can deny a good cuddle.

The Dangerous Summer [Wheezy's on the left!]

 You wanna hear this cuddly drummer's skills? Here you go! This is called 'The Permanent Rain' and is their most popular song on YouTube.

By this point, we knew what was coming next and, boy, were we excited? The suspense was killing us and we barely managed to contain it by singing along to Marvin Gaye's 'Heard It Through The Grapevine' with a couple of lanky, pretentious guys who didn't look like Hellogoodbye fans in any shape or form. I was in the middle of giving a heart-wrenching speech about how I had been "waiting for five years for this day" when Forrest Kline, Hellogoodbye's well-loved lead vocalist and songwriter, sauntered onto the stage. My jaw dropped and a whimper fell out of my mouth. Alas, they were only soundchecking, simply adding to the aforementioned suspense.

 Suddenly, he grabbed the microphone and began introducing himself, which was pretty pointless really, as the screams from the female-dominated audience made him virtually inaudible.
He said, "So, this is a new song" and the band began playing 'Finding Something To Do', to which my friend and I danced and screamed and sang very loudly and probably looked incredibly unattractive in the process [this is one of 'our songs' y'see]
This here is 'When We First Kissed':

There was a mix of songs from their latest album, 'Would It Kill You?' as well as tracks from their first album, 'Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!' and even one song from early demos and LPs, the reasonably well-known 'Dear Jamie... Sincerely Me', which you can see below:

With every song they played, I would roar, "OHMYGODILOVETHISSONG!" and begin dancing like an epileptic ape or filming with as steady a hand as I could manage in this exciting situation.

Rocking out... or something like that.

Their performances were energetic and Forrest's voice was incredibly impressive, so neither my friend nor I was disappointed. Not only were they talented musicians, but their banter between songs was the best that I had experienced at any concert I had been to. The entire band took advantage of the small venue and interacted with the audience as much as possible, talking about the rapture, telling funny stories about tranny children and even promoting You Me At Six, who had performed at Westfield Shopping Mall that day. They asked who had been to see YM@6 that day, to which one boy put up his hand. I tried to shout, "My friend was there!" but my voice had been so brutally destroyed from shrieking along to their songs that he couldn't hear my properly. When Forrest assumed that I had gone, I tried to correct him, but then he mistook my "No, my friend!" for "No, I'm a guy!" Hilarity ensued, and in the end, I became an 'older gentleman.'
This is one of the more popular Hellogoodbye songs, 'When We First Met':

Both my friend and I had an absolute ball at the concert, and were beyond pleased when Hellogoodbye returned to the stage for an encore for at least 180 solid seconds of "WE WANT MORE." And what did they perform? 'Here (In Your Arms)' of course! It was even better than I had imagined, as you could see and hear the excitement erupting throughout the crowd and spilling over the stage. The whole band were visibly enjoying the performance and made the most of the time they had left onstage, jumping and some of them even crawling around.

Overall, Hellogoodbye were an absolutely spectacular live band and I was most definitely not disappointed by the night. The venue, the support acts and the whole Hellogoodbye crew were really fun and it was a shame that I couldn't wait around at the end and meet them. I left with a Hellogoodbye poster, a Gold Motel album and a massive smile on my face. Next time Hellogoodbye are in England, I'm definitely seeing them again.


If you weren't here for the review, then I hope you enjoyed the subliminal message I placed between the lines [just kidding, but see if you can find one anyway if you really want]
Here's the picture that I'm sure you've been shaking with anticipation for a fortnight for:

See yaaaa.
x,.

THE MAY PLAYLIST.

Bonjour, mon petit choufleur!
I'll keep this bit short... you don't want to read this bit anyway really, do you?
Are we all ready? Even that kid in the corner who seems a little too fascinated with the contents of his nostrils? Okay, then. I'll begin.

1/. 'Party Hard' - Andrew W.K.
Of course I know that this song is old, but not, like, old enough to be 'vintage' or whatever. Basically, I heard it for the first time in about two years around the start of May and remembered how brilliant it is. And when I say brilliant, I mean dreadful. The beautiful thing about Andrew WK is that you don't really need to know more than one of their songs to know the tune to their whole album. It's all pretty much the same musically and rhythmically, while the singing is basically a load of hairy men shouting along. Don't let any of this put you off though! This is one of my favourite party songs, because it's got the Marmite effect. And isn't that what everybody needs at a good party?
[Oh, and I forgot to mention: "when it's time to party we will party hard"]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WccfbPQNMbg

 2/. 'Corinne' - Metronomy
See, here's the thing about me. I buy albums like 'The English Riviera' which contain some of the most beautifully tranquil music, yet still manages to incorporate electronic melodies and seaside sounds in the background, and then I decide that my favourite song is 'Corinne'. It's upbeat and really catchy, much like Metronomy's previous album, which was significantly less successful. I guess you could say I like the underdog... or that I'm a hipster. I guess that's cool too. But anyway, it really is a fantastic song that is guaranteed to make you dance wherever you are [believe me, I've tested this theory - alone in my bedroom, on the top deck of the bus, in the school library... anywhere]
[I couldn't find the album version, so have an acoustic version instead!]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_AfHabI9e4


3/. 'Boys' - The Beatles
Oh, Ringo! You and your anatomically special nose! Seriously though, I'm glad they let you sing a song on 'Please Please Me' cos it's actually good - go you! Hey, y'know sometimes when you can't sleep but don't want to disturb anybody else in the house, so you just listen to your iPod in bed, in the dark? You do? Y'know when you have those "ZOHMYGOODNESS, I HAVEN'T HEARD THIS SONG IN FOREVERZZZ! I THINK I'LL MAKE IT MY FACEBOOK STATUS AND MILK IT FOR ALL IT'S WORTH!" moments? You do? Have you ever had the two together? Because that's what happened to me last weekend with this song [except I didn't make it my Facebook status or milk it at all really. I just danced lying down, so probably looked like I was having a seizure. Damn, I'm awesome.] It ticks all the boxes for early Beatles fans: rock 'n' roll guitar, Liverpudlian harmonies and a definite head-shaking rhythm. Oh, and for the record, this is the only good Ringo song ever. You will never see my say anything nice about him ever again.
[THIS IS THE COOLEST THING I'VE SEEN IN AGES. YOU'RE SO WELCOME.]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiPx_307XQU


4/. 'Firefly' - InMe
How old school am I right now? I found their greatest hits in HMV in Westfield last month and remembered how much I love this song. Honestly, I only know three of the songs from that album, so maybe a greatest hits was a little unnecessary, but this has been one of my favourite "i must be eeeemo" songs for years. Just an advance warning though: he's got a bit of a weird voice, like a cat with a cold or something. It doesn't stop this song from being wonderful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKBsU8hZfG4


5/. 'Darling Buds Of May' - Brother
Yeah, I saw Brother at the West Wing in May and had quite a moment when they played this song. I didn't realise how much I liked this song until I was standing at the front fist-pumping like one of those really enthusiastic German techno fans, chanting, "BECAUSE HER BIRTHDAY'S IN MAAAAAAAAAY! IN MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" And yes, I'm aware that it's a little Oasis-esque, but whatever, that's irrelevant. Psch.
Also, my friend's birthday is in May, so I put this on her birthday CD [how clever am I?]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXQOfXkLY_s


6/. 'Ready To Go (Get Me Out Of My Mind)' - Panic! At The Disco
I didn't really take that huge a liking to Panic! At The Disco's new album tbh - it just didn't grab me like I hoped it would - but when I heard this song on TV, I realised that it's a pretty good follow-up release to 'The Ballad of Mona Lisa'. It's got a lot of "oh"-ing and, well, Brendon Urie in it. Do you really need anything else? Fine, well, there's a nice catchy chorus and... it's got Brendon Urie in it [seriously, how is that not tipping the scales for you?!]


7/. 'Get In Line' - I'm From Barcelona
What's the best thing in the world ever? Song with video game-esque melodies and incredibly chanty lyrics? Then prepare to be really pleased! The simplicity of this song is great, and the strangely optimistic music makes me want to smile for days on end and tell strangers that everything will be okay. [everything'll be okay btw. Did I mention that?]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j3rNVxBlsU

8/. 'Plaything' - Wild Beasts
You don't understood how long I've waited to review this song. This has definitely been my song of the month, along with the rest of the album. It's odd how beautiful a song about casual sex can be, but it seems to be Wild Beasts' forte. The song opens with Hayden operatically purring, "New squeeze, take off your chemise and I'll do as I please." It's possibly my favourite line in the whole song, as it just tells you exactly what the song is about in such a poetic way. The best thing about this line, though, is that he seems to get a little too, uh, excited and makes something of a squeal in the middle of the sentence. If you haven't heard anything else by Wild Beasts [then why are you here? lol jk, i'm educating you, innit?] then I would advise you listen to their previous album 'Two Dancers' before diving into this song. If you know Wild Beasts already, then by all means give this song a go. It's extraordinary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnInP4bEKaU

9/. 'Sittin' On My Sofa' - The Kinks
It's my Kinks song of the month! I didn't really intend to create this pattern, but I guess I really like The Kinks. What do I love about this song? It's just such a typical sixties song. It's repetitive, catchy and has one of those really sixties melodies. You'll understand when you hear it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBAzX3x0lAU

10/. 'Planetary (Go!)' - My Chemical Romance
I didn't particularly like this song when it was first released but once I'd heard it a few times I realised that it's actually really good. It's completely different to anything else that My Chemical Romance have done, since it's pretty focused on the electronics, but still has the expected catchy chorus and Gerard Way's incredibly familiar voice. I reckon this'll be one of My Chemical Romance's festival anthems [because they don't have enough already.], and I'm super excited to hear them play it at Reading.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvfNmXbVHi4


11/. 'It's Not Something' - TV Girl
There are no words to describe how much I adore this song. It reminds me a little of 'Jake Ryan' by Summer Camp in the definitely-going-on-my-summer-playlist way. It's really catchy and this guy's voice is so easy to listen to. As I'm a teenage girl, it's pretty obvious that I'd like free things, so I subscribe to loads of different free new music websites. Often they just send loads of dodgy rap music that is understandably unpopular, so it's a real treat to find stuff like this. The song's basically about a guy who uses a girl for... well, y'know, I guess you could call them one-sided friends with benefits, hence the chorus being "It's not nothing, but it's not something. Yeah, we had some fun but it's not something. No, it never was." A little harsh, but a really good song. The melody is like an old 1920s piece of music with a danceable little beat on it. Seriously, such a good song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3s46RBz7tE

 12/. 'Aberdeen' - Cage The Elephant
This song is a prime example of a billion wrongs making a right. The clashing cymbals and screechy electric guitar compliment the out of tune harmonies and shrieky "ABERDEEEEEEEEEN" in such an odd way, that it actually sounds really good. It's a legit pop-rock song, y'know? That's kinda what Cage The Elephant do now, and I'm definitely not complaining.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1Y9BNgwk4o

13/. 'She Falls Asleep Pt. 2' - McFly
Wanna hear an embarrassing story? [stupid question - everyone loves to laugh at other people's humiliation!] Well, when I was about 9 years old, my friend and I used to be obsessed with McFly [used to be! I make myself chuckle] and we used to spend our break times singing McFly songs. If I remember rightly, they were referred to as 'McFly Karaoke Lunches' and I genuinely don't regret doing it - it was so much fun. Anyway, this was one of the personal favourites, but for a different reason. Neither I nor my friend liked this song particularly [the fact that Tom sings it makes it a little better tbh] cos it's slow and very instrumental, and two nine-year-old girls are obviously going to prefer something a little more light-hearted, so instead of singing it normally, we would sing it in Tom's voice but really fast and high-pitched. I remembered this last week and had to listen to it again. I literaloled so hard I nearly got a six-pack. I miss McFly Karaoke Lunches D:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI_Lx7v3-ag&feature=related

14/. 'I Want You' - Summer Camp
This song isn't very similar to 'Jake Ryan' at all. It's very creepy and much more synth-oriented. The basic gist of the song is that this girl is obsessed with a guy in an unhealthy, somewhat violent way. Need proof? "If I could I'd kiss your lips so hard, your entire face would bruise. Write your name in blood on every wall, it would make the evening news. I'd chain our feet together, so that you could never leave. I'd make you love me so much, you'd have to ask permission to breathe." And people think my Paul McCartney thing's weird.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW2XgdjIFOE

15/. 'The Universal' - Blur
I love discovering random little facts by myself - it makes me feel proper intelligent for about a week, but nobody ever understands why it matters so much to me. I had one of those situations with the video to this song. When I was younger, I remember being really confused and a little scared of the video, cos none of it made sense; but when I watched the video last week, I discovered that it's pretty much just 'Clockwork Orange'. You've got Damon Albarn as the wonderful Alex, doing his creepy smiles at completely irrelevant points in the video [leave the acting to McDowell, maybe?] and the woman singing with all those people like in the book! I was so pleased with myself for working it out, and then when I told my mom about it she was like "so...?" I like to think you understand my excitement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrbxWOMpwfs

16/. 'Skinny Love' - Bon Iver
This is just a point prover - this version is better than that annoying Birdy woman. Why is your voice so high-pitched?! And why do people prefer you to Bon Iver?! Psch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrMmr1oMPGA

17/. 'Happy' - Best Coast
There's not much to this song apart from the word 'happy' really. But it doesn't fail to make me happy, so I really like it. Like, even listening to it now I wanna dance around my room with my cat in true Bethany Cosentino fashion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYnmfIq-0Oc

18/. 'Come On Eileen' - Dexy's Midnight Runners
This reminds me of sitting in one of the music rooms in my school after being kicked out of the library for being too loud with a bunch of my friends during the day of the Spanish exam. I don't even do Spanish - I only came into school to give my friend her birthday present [it was a Stephen Fry book, cos I'm a great friend] So when we were all just waiting around, we put this on and just started singing. It was one of those moments I was really happy to be a part of because it was so insignificant but reminded me of how awesome that friend is, y'know? Also, this song has the hook "tooralooratooralooralaaaaaaaaah!" which is pretty cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc-P8oDuS0Q

19/. 'When We First Met' - Hellogoodbye
So many of these songs remind me of my friend whose birthday was this month, and I'm so impressed with myself for not naming her yet [y'know, I don't wanna embarrass anybody or anything] I made her a video for her birthday and this was one of the songs on it, and I also got her a ticket to see Hellogoodbye, so this is kinda one of our songs. You'll hear about the Hellogoodbye gig sometime in the next fortnight... all you need to know for now is that it was awesome. This song is so beautiful and is the up there amongst the greatest happy montage music of all time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHEx9ofx7Qk

20/. 'You've Got A Friend In Me (Spanish Vers.)' - Randy Newman
And we're closing with another song that I like because of my friend. She loves Toy Story and had this as her ringtone for a while, so when I put it on her birthday video she was super pleased. It's also really cool and reminds me of the bit in Toy Story 3 where Senor Lightyear's dancing, making that film my second favourite Disney film after Hercules [COS HE'S BUFF]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu8GQQctTi4



That's all, folks!
Bye bye bye bye bye bye bye BYE. Here's your picture!:

x,.