Nightwish and Football

Ooooooh yeah! Sunday night was the Nightwish concert at the Hammersmith Apollo. Unfortunately there are no pictures of my own, but they can be found here, here or here eventually. (Let’s hope the links work)

I met Jon, Chard and Rob at West Wickham station at about 1720. We journeyed to Charing Cross, meeting Dave at Clock House. We met Lewis and Helen at Charing Cross, walked to Embankment and travelled to Hammersmith for the gig. It was there that we met Nick (who I think is a really cool guy) and then travelled to The Apollo. Once there we were greeted by the longest queue that I’d ever seen. It took ten minutes to walk to the end, where we all tried on Chard’s Sith robes. Here’s a picture of Darth Dan wearing the rather comfortable robes.

After moving through the surprisingly quickly moving queue, we were finally there after three months of waiting, we were going to see Nightwish in concert! And they did not disappoint.

The support Band was Paradise Lost who weren’t too bad. The only noticeable thing was how loud it was. My whole body was vibrating with the Bass. That was a good thing. :)

After a great safety curtain and at about 2045, the concert began. Here is the set list for the evening:

Dark Chest of Wonders
Planet Hell
Ever Dream
The Kinslayer
The Phantom of The Opera
The Siren
Sleeping Sun
High Hopes (Pink Floyd cover)
Bless the Child
Wishmaster
Slaying the Dreamer
Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan
Nemo
Ghost Love Score
Wish I Had an Angel

Dark chest of Wonders was simply a brilliant opening. One of my favourites that I hoped they would play, just because of the breathtaking chorus. Planet Hell is also one of my favourites; a great song. Ever Dream was performed perfectly by the band, with plenty of crowd interaction. Superb. The Kinslayer was what most of us hoped they would play, but weren’t sure. We were glad that they did. Again, brilliant. Can you see a common theme yet?
Basically the whole concert was a lot better than expected and I expected it to be simply amazing. By far my favourite song of the evening was the beautiful; Ghost Love Score. They even released Confetti during it. By the end of the concert, I was pretty tired, but had enough energy to stand up for Wish I Had an Angel; a song which has grown on me over the past few days. It has a catchy chorus too.

I was also amazed at how accurate they played the songs. Almost all of them were perfect, just like the studio versions, but with slight tweaks. The guitar solo in Wishmaster was truly breathtaking.

An amazing night out: well worth £20.75. Fantasmic!

The only downside was getting to bed at 0110. Ah well, ‘twas definitely worth it.

And so to football. The same day as I went to bed after the concert, I travelled back to London to watch Spurs v Fulham at White Hart Lane. My Dad and I are now Season ticket holders and so there will be plenty of trips up to town. It takes nearly two hours in total to get there. Tottenham won 1-0 with Jermain Defoe scoring in the 8th minute. Another late night was had (midnight) and that was that. So, I was pretty tired on Tuesday. Shame I had four lessons really.

Today was good though what with only one lesson. Hurrah! I’ve also made the final decision that I’m NOT going to apply to Oxford or Cambridge. The main reason is pressure. I’d rather be at a University with less pressure and longer terms than at Cambridge with more work and less time. Yes it’s a world class university, but I’d be better suited to a non-Oxbridge uni, such as Warwick, Bristol or Manchester.

I’ll let you all know whee I apply to, which should be within the next couple of weeks.

Hasn’t September flown by?

Bye


Weather: cloudy 15 ish
Reading: Angels and Demons. And prospectuses
Listening to: Stargazers - Nightwish
Watching: Not sure really
Thinking of buying: Highest Hopes - The best of Nightwish
Looking Forward to: The Chemistry Lecture i suppose
Confused about: The interview process for Oxbridge. It seems so random
Annoyed with: Year 12's. First prefect duty with them was rubbish
Mood: Tired and Grumpy :(

It’s been quite a while since I last posted, so here’s what has happened. School started just over two weeks ago and the work has really piled on but, at least there is no German, who used to really set loads. I’ve only got one new teacher – Mr. Rodger who, seems OK, but there’s something about him that I just don’t like – probably the fact the he rushes everything. I prefer Jacko’s laid back methods. This term so far has basically been UCAS, UCAS, UCAS. Oh, and personal statement. I’ve pretty much finished mine, although I seem to keep adding stuff, like I now subscribe to “Physics Review” which I really should have done last year, but couldn’t be bothered. I think I’ll end up applying before the end of the half term – or I hope so anyway. The chances are that I’m not going to apply to Cambridge after all, simply because I should have handed in my personal statement to Cheddar but haven’t bothered. (Cheddar is the code name for Agent Northcott.) :D

Aaaaanyway, what else has happened other than school. Well, last Thursday I went to Quasar which, in case you didn’t know is a laser fighting type game. It was very good fun and good value for money too. We should definitely do it again, but with Chandler, ‘Chard and Lewis.

On Tuesday of this week was the visit to the chemical industry, GSK in Dartford to be precise. What a great place it was too. You none chemists don’t know what your missing; probably because cameras were banned. Stupid industrial espionage…

The trip as a whole was great and I missed four lessons in the process, which made the day even better.

That’s all my readers. Expect a very excited blog after Sunday, simply because it will be about the Nightwish Concert. It’s been about three months in the planning and I’m sure it will live up to its expectations, which are very high.

Dan


Weather: Crap.. Rain and cloudy
Reading: Still, Angels and Demons
Listening to: Nightwish's Lowlands Gig
Watching: Not sure really
Confused about: The Oxbridge application process. Damn complex...
Annoyed with: Oxbridge
Mood: Excited :D