Upload 2 at London!
Most of the lights in the room are dimmed already. My eyes take a moment to adjust as I wander further inside, feeling slightly awkward because I'm surrounded by people who have friends with them while I'm here alone.
My first worry is what to do with my coat and bag. I don't have any cash on me, only my card, so I can't pay to put them in the cloakroom. Then I see a couple of girls putting their bags in a corner, so I nervously approach one of them.
"Excuse me? Could I be cheeky and leave my things near yours please?"
"Of course!" she said with a smile. "Are you on your own?"
"Thank you! Yeah, I am..."
"Feel free to stick with us then!" she replied.
Ahh, there are friendly people here!
Though I shouldn't have been surprised - I'd learnt from previous experience that this is the sort of place where everyone gets on really well anyway, whether they know each other or not.
It turned out that I didn't stick with that girl and her friends - I didn't see them again until afterwards - but it was good to know that someone had been nice enough to offer a friendly hand!
I grabbed myself a drink from the bar and moved towards the crowd that was already gathering around the stage...
Peering over the clusters of heads, I am flooded with memories.
My first worry is what to do with my coat and bag. I don't have any cash on me, only my card, so I can't pay to put them in the cloakroom. Then I see a couple of girls putting their bags in a corner, so I nervously approach one of them.
"Excuse me? Could I be cheeky and leave my things near yours please?"
"Of course!" she said with a smile. "Are you on your own?"
"Thank you! Yeah, I am..."
"Feel free to stick with us then!" she replied.
Ahh, there are friendly people here!
Though I shouldn't have been surprised - I'd learnt from previous experience that this is the sort of place where everyone gets on really well anyway, whether they know each other or not.
It turned out that I didn't stick with that girl and her friends - I didn't see them again until afterwards - but it was good to know that someone had been nice enough to offer a friendly hand!
I grabbed myself a drink from the bar and moved towards the crowd that was already gathering around the stage...
Peering over the clusters of heads, I am flooded with memories.
I have been here once before, just over a year ago. It was here that I saw James Bourne on the London leg of his acoustic tour in March 2012 - the first time I'd seen him live since December 2004.
That same gig was the first time I heard the music of a guy called Danny Gruff. In fact, if it weren't for Danny supporting James at that gig, I probably wouldn't have been back in the same venue over a year later.
I listened to Danny's music a lot after that night, and it was a couple of months later that I discovered Mr Dave Giles, through Danny. I can't remember what it was exactly, but something that Danny mentioned or posted about made me look up Dave's music, and of course I loved it!
It turned out that Danny and Dave are good friends (I've nicknamed them 'The DeeGees'), so I got to see Dave performing at the Garage in Islington in November when Danny supported him at one of his EP launch gigs! I can tell you now that I fell even more in love with his music that night, as well as the amazing atmosphere that comes with smaller scale gigs. Lots of people seemed to know each other, and even if they didn't, the sense of unity was still there! It was awesome and so different to the concerts I'd been to before at places like Wembley or the Winter Gardens at Margate.
By this time, Dave was added to my regular iPod playlist, in the same way that Danny had been when I'd first discovered him, and I kept my eye out for any future tours they might be doing that I could go to.
I don't think it was long after that the first Upload tour was announced. It was scheduled for February this year.
I was in the middle of job hunting at that time (as most of you probably know), and didn't have a lot of money, so I wouldn't have been able to afford a ticket, let alone the train fare. Plus, as I've probably mentioned in previous blog posts, not having a job made me feel restricted with what I could do.
Anyway, I read great reviews about that tour, and I kept wishing I'd been there, so when Upload 2 was announced, I was determined to get a ticket with whatever money I had, and then save up for train fare. This was before I'd got the library job, and I was aware that I also had to account for McFly at Wembley the week before, which mum had bought me a ticket for at Christmas. But I didn't want to miss out again. So I got a ticket!
And that's the rough outline of how I came to be back in the O2 Academy in Islington on the 24th May 2013, just over a year after my first time being there.
On the Upload 2 tour with Dave are Eddplant and BriBry, as well as their lovely host, Luke Cutforth - though he's better known to cyberspace as LukeIsNotSexy.
As I said, I already knew Dave and his music well, so I was sorted there.
I'd heard some of Eddplant's songs before, because of him being in a certain Trock band that I love called Chameleon Circuit! But I did have to do some revision, I admit.
BriBry and Luke, however, were completely new to me! So, naturally, I did my research, and ended up loving them and their work in the same way I had with Dave.
So I was fully prepared for Upload 2.
Gosh, it was such an awesome gig.
The atmosphere was incredible, and Dave, Edd and Bribry were amazing! Each of them had awesome sets and it was hard not to sing along!
Edd had us jumping and dancing (and 'moshing', as the youngsters call it) to songs like Girl Can't Dance.
BriBry had me tearing up over Adventure Time and other such beauties.
And I think I can speak for everyone in the crowd when I say that Dave made us feel like kids again with Bangarang and I Am What I Am!
And Luke's hosting style is up there with the likes of... Well actually, no. Luke's style of hosting is too unique to compare him to anyone else. Awesome, definitely, but unique, nonetheless! His impression of BriBry was top notch!
Then to finish, they treated us to brilliant covers of Mr Brightside by The Killers, Baby by Justin Bieber and - of course - Keep On Movin' by 5ive (which included some killer boyband dancing, from the guys and the crowd! ;D).
After the gig, we all got chance to meet the guys. It was brilliant to be able to tell them how awesome they all are in person, and get photos with them.
But I am the most awkward person ever when I first meet people:
I just stood in front of Edd and practically yelled at him that I liked his music and that I was a Chameleon Circuit fan. (I was stood about 5 feet away from him...)
Then I chose to tell Luke about it being weird that I'm older than him, which was just silly and irrelevant now I think of it. Oh gosh.
And I joined Voldemort's awkward hug club with the way I hugged BriBry, while trying to mutter to him that his music was beautiful. Gosh, I'm cringing at the thought!
I managed to maintain some kind of calm when I spoke to Dave though, probably because I'd met him once before - thank goodness for that!
Anyway, I've made an album on my Facebook with all the photos from the gig, which you can see here:
Upload 2 At London - My Photos
While my camera doesn't produce the best quality of photos, I think I caught some good moments, such as Luke's hand gestures, and their delicate handling of some knickers that had been chucked at them. ;)
Me being me, I blinked in the photos I got with Luke and BriBry, but I thought I'd add them to the album anyway, because they (along with Edd) were lovely enough to have them done with me!
[I didn't get a photo done with Dave this time around, because there wasn't a lot of time left when I got to chat to him, and I had a photo with him in November, which you can see below!]
This is me with Mr Dave Giles. Please excuse my wide smile!:
That same gig was the first time I heard the music of a guy called Danny Gruff. In fact, if it weren't for Danny supporting James at that gig, I probably wouldn't have been back in the same venue over a year later.
I listened to Danny's music a lot after that night, and it was a couple of months later that I discovered Mr Dave Giles, through Danny. I can't remember what it was exactly, but something that Danny mentioned or posted about made me look up Dave's music, and of course I loved it!
It turned out that Danny and Dave are good friends (I've nicknamed them 'The DeeGees'), so I got to see Dave performing at the Garage in Islington in November when Danny supported him at one of his EP launch gigs! I can tell you now that I fell even more in love with his music that night, as well as the amazing atmosphere that comes with smaller scale gigs. Lots of people seemed to know each other, and even if they didn't, the sense of unity was still there! It was awesome and so different to the concerts I'd been to before at places like Wembley or the Winter Gardens at Margate.
By this time, Dave was added to my regular iPod playlist, in the same way that Danny had been when I'd first discovered him, and I kept my eye out for any future tours they might be doing that I could go to.
I don't think it was long after that the first Upload tour was announced. It was scheduled for February this year.
I was in the middle of job hunting at that time (as most of you probably know), and didn't have a lot of money, so I wouldn't have been able to afford a ticket, let alone the train fare. Plus, as I've probably mentioned in previous blog posts, not having a job made me feel restricted with what I could do.
Anyway, I read great reviews about that tour, and I kept wishing I'd been there, so when Upload 2 was announced, I was determined to get a ticket with whatever money I had, and then save up for train fare. This was before I'd got the library job, and I was aware that I also had to account for McFly at Wembley the week before, which mum had bought me a ticket for at Christmas. But I didn't want to miss out again. So I got a ticket!
And that's the rough outline of how I came to be back in the O2 Academy in Islington on the 24th May 2013, just over a year after my first time being there.
On the Upload 2 tour with Dave are Eddplant and BriBry, as well as their lovely host, Luke Cutforth - though he's better known to cyberspace as LukeIsNotSexy.
As I said, I already knew Dave and his music well, so I was sorted there.
I'd heard some of Eddplant's songs before, because of him being in a certain Trock band that I love called Chameleon Circuit! But I did have to do some revision, I admit.
BriBry and Luke, however, were completely new to me! So, naturally, I did my research, and ended up loving them and their work in the same way I had with Dave.
So I was fully prepared for Upload 2.
Gosh, it was such an awesome gig.
The atmosphere was incredible, and Dave, Edd and Bribry were amazing! Each of them had awesome sets and it was hard not to sing along!
Edd had us jumping and dancing (and 'moshing', as the youngsters call it) to songs like Girl Can't Dance.
BriBry had me tearing up over Adventure Time and other such beauties.
And I think I can speak for everyone in the crowd when I say that Dave made us feel like kids again with Bangarang and I Am What I Am!
And Luke's hosting style is up there with the likes of... Well actually, no. Luke's style of hosting is too unique to compare him to anyone else. Awesome, definitely, but unique, nonetheless! His impression of BriBry was top notch!
Then to finish, they treated us to brilliant covers of Mr Brightside by The Killers, Baby by Justin Bieber and - of course - Keep On Movin' by 5ive (which included some killer boyband dancing, from the guys and the crowd! ;D).
After the gig, we all got chance to meet the guys. It was brilliant to be able to tell them how awesome they all are in person, and get photos with them.
But I am the most awkward person ever when I first meet people:
I just stood in front of Edd and practically yelled at him that I liked his music and that I was a Chameleon Circuit fan. (I was stood about 5 feet away from him...)
Then I chose to tell Luke about it being weird that I'm older than him, which was just silly and irrelevant now I think of it. Oh gosh.
And I joined Voldemort's awkward hug club with the way I hugged BriBry, while trying to mutter to him that his music was beautiful. Gosh, I'm cringing at the thought!
I managed to maintain some kind of calm when I spoke to Dave though, probably because I'd met him once before - thank goodness for that!
Anyway, I've made an album on my Facebook with all the photos from the gig, which you can see here:
Upload 2 At London - My Photos
While my camera doesn't produce the best quality of photos, I think I caught some good moments, such as Luke's hand gestures, and their delicate handling of some knickers that had been chucked at them. ;)
Me being me, I blinked in the photos I got with Luke and BriBry, but I thought I'd add them to the album anyway, because they (along with Edd) were lovely enough to have them done with me!
[I didn't get a photo done with Dave this time around, because there wasn't a lot of time left when I got to chat to him, and I had a photo with him in November, which you can see below!]
This is me with Mr Dave Giles. Please excuse my wide smile!:
Overall, it was a brilliant gig, I loved every second of it. As you can probably guess, I have a lot of praise for all four of the guys; they were amazing!
The Upload 2 tour continues this week and finishes on Sunday (the 2nd of June), and from what I've been seeing on Facebook and Twitter, it's been another fabbity one!
But it doesn't stop there!
Dave is going on tour again with BriBry in October/November, and this time, Danny Gruff is going to be going with them! It's called The Insert Your Own Punchline tour and all the dates and information can be found on the Upload Live website, which I'll link to at the bottom. I'll link to the announcement videos too!
I am mega excited about this one, and seeing as the London gig is a few days after my birthday, it's going to be a fantastic way to celebrate it, (if I manage to get a ticket, that is!).
I really would recommend that you go to one of the gigs on this upcoming tour if you can, as I've said, the atmosphere in those smaller venues is as down-to-earth as Dave, BriBry and Danny are, and you're bound to have a great time!
Right, I think it's time for me to stop my gushing now, purely because I've run out of adjectives.
So I will leave you some links for everyone I've mentioned here, because I think you should definitely check them out if you haven't already!
Many thanks for reading! :)
Dave Giles
Twitter: www.twitter.com/DaveJGiles
YouTube: www.youtube.com/DaveJGiles
Website: www.davejgiles.com
Eddplant
Twitter: www.twitter.com/EddPlant
YouTube: www.youtube.com/EddPlant
Website: www.dftba.com/Eddplant
[I mentioned Chameleon Circuit too, so for their YouTube, CLICK HERE!]
BriBry
Twitter: www.twitter.com/BriBryOnTour
YouTube: www.youtube.com/BriBry
Website: www.bribry.bigcartel.com
LukeIsNotSexy
Twitter: www.twitter.com/LukeIsNotSexy
YouTube: www.youtube.com/NotSexy
Website (For t-shirts and stuff): www.lukeisnotsexy-uk.spreadshirt.co.uk
Danny Gruff
Twitter: www.twitter.com/DannyGruff
YouTube: www.youtube.com/DannyGruff
Website: www.dannygruff.bigcartel.com
Upload Live
Website: www.uploadlive.co.uk
An Englishman, Irishman & Welshman - The Insert Your Own Punchline Tour
Dave and BriBry's Tour Announcement Video
Danny's Tour Announcement Video
I really would recommend that you go to one of the gigs on this upcoming tour if you can, as I've said, the atmosphere in those smaller venues is as down-to-earth as Dave, BriBry and Danny are, and you're bound to have a great time!
Right, I think it's time for me to stop my gushing now, purely because I've run out of adjectives.
So I will leave you some links for everyone I've mentioned here, because I think you should definitely check them out if you haven't already!
Many thanks for reading! :)
Dave Giles
Twitter: www.twitter.com/DaveJGiles
YouTube: www.youtube.com/DaveJGiles
Website: www.davejgiles.com
Eddplant
Twitter: www.twitter.com/EddPlant
YouTube: www.youtube.com/EddPlant
Website: www.dftba.com/Eddplant
[I mentioned Chameleon Circuit too, so for their YouTube, CLICK HERE!]
BriBry
Twitter: www.twitter.com/BriBryOnTour
YouTube: www.youtube.com/BriBry
Website: www.bribry.bigcartel.com
LukeIsNotSexy
Twitter: www.twitter.com/LukeIsNotSexy
YouTube: www.youtube.com/NotSexy
Website (For t-shirts and stuff): www.lukeisnotsexy-uk.spreadshirt.co.uk
Danny Gruff
Twitter: www.twitter.com/DannyGruff
YouTube: www.youtube.com/DannyGruff
Website: www.dannygruff.bigcartel.com
Upload Live
Website: www.uploadlive.co.uk
An Englishman, Irishman & Welshman - The Insert Your Own Punchline Tour
Dave and BriBry's Tour Announcement Video
Danny's Tour Announcement Video
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