OMG! This thing still on!?
Well, needless to say it’s been a while.
To be honest, there was never much interest in this blog thing anyway. BUT OH WELLS.
I thought I’d make a small music related post. Recently read @stuartastbury ‘s blog post and it inspired me to talk about music that none of you care about (Y)
My favourite album at the moment is Aenima by Tool. I can not stop listening to it!! Tool took me a while to get into, but now I am, I’m hooked :( This is a great album. I’ve listened to it everyday for weeks now, and it just doesn’t get old. I’m sure it will eventually, nothing stays fresh forever (except gelatin sweets, mmmm, cow ligaments), but for the time being it’s keeping me going.
Saying that though, I am listening to John Petrucci’s solo album, Suspended Animation right now. Another classic album. Albeit an instrumental album, but still a classic in my eyes. Instrumental albums require a certain taste, not many people seem to grasp the idea of no one singing in a song. Ok, so I know that technically it can’t be a song if no one is singing, but who’s the real pedant here. But then again, the guitar is one of the most expressive instruments out there. In the right hands, it can just as or more effective than a voice. And trust me, John Petrucci’s hands must have been crafted by god or something. That reminds me, here’s a picture I made at school a while ago that illustrates my point:
Of course Dream Theater are still a big band and influence to me at the moment. But I’m starting to open up a bit and broaden my musical horizons. Actually, while I’m here I think I’ll ramble a bit about the Progressive Nation show I saw last month.
In a word: epic. First off, due to the general nerdiness of the crowd and fans, it was fairly easy to get to the front of merch stand lines, and generally near the front of the crowd. Already off to a good start (despite having 3 bottles of coke, all of which had to have their lids taken off upon entering wembley arena, annoying), I could see this was going to be good. The first band in no way set the bar at any particular level worth noting. If I had a list of the worst gig openers I’d ever seen it would be near the top (even higher than that kid who opened for Steve Vai with a crappy strat and tiny amp on his own). Next band, Big Elf, were amazing. Blew the first band (who’s name I have conveniently forgotten) straight out of London and the music universe in general. They sounded like Black Sabbath with more Hammond organ, and the singer (slash twin organ player) was so charismatic. I wouldn’t mind paying a little to see them again. The next band: Opeth. Legends in their own right, they owned the place. I had seen them once before at download, and the lead man,Michael Akerfeldt, was as funny and legendary as usual. Unfortunately the 3 bottles of coke I had before had caught up with me at this point, and had to make a quick escape before I exploded (BTW, best piss, EVER). Then the big guns. D TO THE REAM THEATER! Legends. One of the best shows. They opened with A Nightmare to Remember, a song off their new album, not their best but very good all the same. For the ‘death metal parody’ bit in the middle they called on the help of Mr. Akerfeldt, creating a fantastic atmosphere. I could go on about each song, but I’d be here all day. Another notable part was the huge drum solo. Mike Portnoy + all the other band’s drummers= epic drum solo. Also, Jordan Rudess had a screen next to him with an animation that played the same notes as him, rather cool. I’ll post a YouTube video to show you all its awesomeness. C ya later people who don’t read this :) xx
