Muse - April 9 2016

As my eldest son, R, is a huge fan of Muse and they announced a new tour just before his birthday it seemed like a great idea to get him tickets as his birthday present (fortunately he agreed this was a great idea). My partner is also a Muse fan and has wanted to see them live since 2003 so he too was very excited about going. Now, I have to admit to not being a huge fan, in fact not really a fan at all. I thought their music was ok, although I absolutely love Psycho and find myself singing one particular line in my head when dealing with particular people. One of these days I’m going to end up singing it out loud though, lol. Anyway, I went along for the ride especially as it was in Manchester.

After a day wandering round my home town and introducing R to the delights of some of my old haunts we joined the crowds heading to the Manchester Arena and found our seats. By the time we’d booked the tickets back in September there weren’t a lot left so we were right up at the top in tier two which for me and R wasn’t exactly fun as we looked down from a great height, at least until the seats in front of us filled up and we felt a bit more secure that if we were to somehow fall we would be caught by the people in front (that was until it was pointed out there would be a domino effect..)

It’s been two weeks since the concert and I’ve been trying to think of a way of describing it other than AMAZING!!!!!! But I can’t. It was just amazing. And I wasn’t even a fan until about 30 seconds into the first song. Then they played Psycho second and that was it. You know it’s a good show when it’s finished and you think “oh, is that it??” and then look at your watch and discover that actually 2 hours have just flown past in an amazing, breathtaking blur! Now, I love New Order more than any other band on this planet and their show last year was amazing but, sorry guys, it was nothing on Muse. I still love you, but Muse were just even more AMAZING!!! (Am I getting across that I like it at all??)

I would love to talk you through it song by song but as I say it passed in a blur so I will just show you some of the photos we took. I must apologise for the fact they are not great quality as they were taken on my phone.

This guy, and another one, spent the whole show on the rig waaaaaaaayyyyyy up above the stage.

This gives an idea of how high up we were

Throughout the show these globes came out from above the stage and floated around above the audience and then went back onto the rigging again, they also changed colour.

At intervals throughout the show screens dropped down from the rigging that had images projected onto them. During 'The Handler' holographic hands appeared above the band with strings coming down from them so the band were puppets being controlled by these huge hands in the sky. It looked amazing (have I used this word too much yet???)

At one point during the show huge balloons were released into the audience. The idea, I think, was for the audience to knock them around and eventually burst them, releasing confetti onto those below. One ended up on the stage which the bass player popped with his bass and then of course the rest of them ended up on the stage so he chased them around bursting them to huge cheers and much applause from the audience. That was definitely the funniest part of the show.

Above are some of the images projected onto the screens.

The only thing that could have made this show any more amazing would be them flying a plane round the auditorium above the audience.

Oh........

Yep, they even flew a plane (ok, maybe it was a blimp thing, but who cares??) around above the audience. How amazing is that???????

Next time they tour I'm getting tickets for two shows because I really regret only seeing them once. And yes, I am now a huge fan of Muse.

But, just to show that I still love New Order, here's a quick photo from their show last year....

Yes, we were *that* close!!!

Weekend in Whitby

We have just had a wonderful weekend away in Whitby and now I feel very relaxed and refreshed (after a good night's sleep!!)

A while ago my best friend asked if we fancied going away to Whitby for the weekend with them as they had booked to go for her birthday so we of course said yes. Funnily enough, it turned out that the B&B we booked was only a few doors along from the one they were staying at which was quite handy. As it was Adi's birthday last weekend we decided that gave us yet another excuse to go and then my divorce came through so that meant we could make it a triple celebration!!

We stayed at Launceston Villa which was absolutely lovely and we would highly recommend it. The owners are lovely and the place was spotless, the breakfast was amazing too.

On the drive up we stopped off at the Humber Bridge foreshore for a quick walk and an Abbyo's ice-cream - this is no ordinary ice-cream van!! It is amazing ice-cream and well worth the diversion. I had the hazelnut one and have already decided to try the honeycomb one next time.

After we checked into our B&B we wandered into Whitby and grabbed a coffee then had a mooch around the streets looking at all the little shops and deciding which ones to go into the following day. We found a pub with a lovely view over the harbour to wait in for Mel and Steve and after a couple of drinks went off to find food. After an amazing meal we went onto another pub which had live music playing. I will admit the walk back to the B&B's wasn't quite as pleasant as the walk into the town - living in Lincolnshire for 13 years has ruined my ability to walk up steep hills so I was quite breathless by the time we got back!!

Saturday was spent sightseeing - we did the abbey which may have been more enjoyable had it not been chucking it down with icy rain and a strong wind, but it's a tick on the list of things I'd like to do. There's 199 steps up to the abbey. There is also a road leading up to it with a carpark at the top. Our excuse for going for the easy option was that afterwards we went to Robin Hoods Bay which is lovely, but the steep slope is, well, very steep!! We had another wander around Whitby in the afternoon, had sandwiches in a lovely little cafe with a 1940's blitz theme and bought a few bits and pieces for the children.

Saturday evening was spent relaxing with our friends again - fish and chips (of course!!) then onto another pub that had live music and real ales which we had to sample - it would have been rude not to!!

After a huge breakfast in the B&B on Sunday morning we checked out and headed to York going via the North Yorks moors rather than taking the main routes. It's beautiful up there and has been added to our list of places we want to go camping.

We both love York and really enjoyed our wander round, taking the occasional stop off for a coffee in some of the lovely independent coffee shops around the city.

While we had a fantastic weekend, I have to admit it was lovely to be back in my own bed last night and I had the best night's sleep I've had in months after all that fresh air and exercise. Now I'm home and refreshed I'm ready to crack on with my outstanding assignments for college and to enjoy the rest of the Easter holidays with the children when they come back later today.