I was going to start writing this post on Saturday when I got home from the concert but something stopped me writing it – I got as far as watching Doctor Who and opening a TextEdit Document to start writing but that’s as far as it got.
I’ve been to a few concerts in the past – mainly Christian gigs at camps like Soul Survivor, I’ve seen Status Quo play twice but both times were with my parents or family members. Back in October I went to what I considered my first proper concert which was KT Tunstall at Cambridge Junction.
That kinda makes this weekend my second concert.
Back in 2001 a band called Catatonia split up. I’m not sure if I knew of them before then but somewhere along the line I got an album called International Velvet – and I was hooked, one maths lesson my friend L had sat writing out the lyrics to Don’t Need The Sunshine (this is probably my favourite – or at least draws with Strange Glue or Goldfish and Paracetamol). Even now CD1 of their Greatest Hits is on pretty much constant repeat in my car. Back in about February I’d been looking at going to another concert and found that Cerys Matthews (lead singer of Catatonia) was going on tour with her latest album. Tickets weren’t too much and the concert was at the Stables in MK which is like less than 45 minutes away from my house – sorted – I just needed to make sure I was free and had the money.
Well at first I’d half double booked myself but then the other thing I was supposed to be at got postponed so last Tuesday I booked my ticket – I very nearly didn’t get one as they were down to single tickets.
So on Saturday after praying and fasting for church stuff I grabbed a sandwich and headed over to MK. At first I had misjudged which side of MK I needed for Wavendon. In my mind somehow I needed to go on the Newport Pagnell side but actually I was fine with the Bypass route in.
Anyway so I get there and at 7:45 when the auditorium was opened I took my seat. I didn’t mind the fact I was there on my own but when the auditorium did fill I think I was one of few who weren’t there with friends or family.
Cerys came on and started with some solo songs – she was the joined by a guy called Mason who was very multi-talented (at point he played bass guitar with his hands, the hi-hat with his left foot and the floor top with a pedal with his right foot) after a few songs they were joined by another guy who played an instrument that was similar to a lute – it was awesome. There was one song that Cerys was going to play on banjo but because it started buzzing she decided to play it on guitar instead which was a shame but I guess it made it different to other concerts.
My favourite songs of the night were Into The Blue (I’d been listening to it earlier in the day) and Galway Shawl/Strange Glue. Galway Shawl is a Irish folk song and Strange Glue was a hit for Catatonia. It was awesome how it fitted together and didn’t sound “crow-barred” together. When it got to the Strange Glue bit I was singing along – I’m not sure whether or not this annoyed the people around me but I’m pretty sure the guy next to me was singing as well lol.
I loved how much Cerys talked with the audience – almost made it like we were hanging out in someone’s living room rather than in an auditorium.
Afterwards I joined the queue for the signings, even before I’d got out of the auditorium the queue was really long. Thankfully the people around me were quite chatty and we talked about how maybe people were coming out the other door and then jumping in the queue rather than joining the end – it was quite funny.
I’d gone wearing my Threadless camera T-shirt – I thought I looked really scruffy in comparison to the other people there (I’d been people watching while waiting for the doors to open) but when Cerys asked what is was I was glad I wore it. We talked about Strange Glue and that it was awesome. We also talked about how I should replace my well played copy of Catatonia Greatest Hits with a new Cerys CD – I had purchased Don’t Look Down before the concert.
I put it on in the car and sang along to the ones I remembered from the concert. It’s been playing in the car since and been discussing the concert via Twitter with a couple of people (who might be here reading this – hello!)
If and when she’s back over this direction, if the tickets aren’t too much I’ll go see her in concert again.
