Finally I'll admit it....Liverpool CAN win the league!

It was 8.30pm on May 25th 2005. Hope was gone, happiness seemed far away, the fear of going out in a Liverpool shirt the next day or showing my face to Chelsea and United fans had kicked in. Yep, Liverpool were on course for a record defeat in the Turkish Capital City Istanbul. My sister proceeded to do a victory dance as she found the score. We all knew it was a forgone conclusion, as I said I wanted to watch them lose the final "like a man" trying to hold back the tears of frustration, disappointment, unmet hope. AC Milan were going to win their 7th Champions League and fair play to them, they'd destroyed Liverpool. As the Liverpool fans walked out for the second half, where we all knew they'd carry on receiving a beating, on the TV set, you could only hear one set of fans and they were singing You'll Never Walk Alone, fans that had spent thousands on seeing this final, hoping for the fifth European Cup, already, at half time, facing going home seeing a record final defeat. 

But that is what it means to be a Liverpool fan. Unlike any other fan in England, the Liverpool fans will stick behind their team. The travelling kop will always try to pick that team up. And this is where it all changed. Somehow deep down, if you listen to the men that played that match, the inspiration of hearing those fans sing that song and realisation of how many people were willing them to do something in the match back at home and across the globe inspired them to at least put it all into the second half. That's when it all changed...

Nine minutes into the second half, the ball flew into the box and the greatest Liverpool player in the premier league era,Steven Gerrard, got his head to the ball, sending it past Dida. Was there hope? Probably now, but at least there was a consolation, making it easier to go to school the next day and put up with the jibes of Liverpool's defeat. But then, just as that was going through my head Smicer scored a cracker. We were back in it...We COULD win the European cup! Okay we were still outsiders but then....PENALTY. Alonso had to score for Liverpool to do it, but it was saved. But on a night where everything had gone wrong until a few minutes earlier the rebound appeared at Alonso's feet and the game was suddenly 3-3. Liverpool had come back. The rest they say is history. History that many a Liverpool fan has on DVD. History that many a Liverpool fan can use to this day when it comes to their chances this season. 

For Liverpool have been written off by many yet again. Maybe initially with good reason, the Liverpool under Roy Hodgson, Kenny Dalglish and the first months of Brendan Rodgers showed little fight, little spirit. They would go a goal down and look dejected, accepting defeat. That was not the Liverpool I fell in love with, the Liverpool I adored. It was far from it. Liverpool did their talking on the pitch, but not now as off the pitch politics such as Hicks and Gillet, Fernando Torres' sudden departure and the debacles of Luis Suarez were the main talking points. Only one man remains from those teams Liverpool fans fell in love with in 2001 and 2005. Steven Gerrard and besides from Jamie Carragher, Gerrard was the only player over those years who looked as frustrated, as disappointed with the team as I (and I'm sure many other fans) felt. But again it's changed, the old Liverpool teams spirits seems to have finally been unearthed by current manager Brendan Rodgers and his men.

On Saturday Liverpool beat Arsenal 5-1 at Anfield, but really, the result that shows how Liverpool have moved onwards from the past few years and back to a team comparable with that of the team at Istanbul that famous afternoon was the 3-2 win at Craven Cottage. That was MY Liverpool, they were back. Not because of the performance over the 90 minutes, defensively we were not at all at the races, but there was fight, and not just any fight. The fight was undying. At no point in the match did the team drop their heads and settle for a loss or a draw. And it happened. Sturridge got into the box, where he was bought down. Liverpool had a penalty to bring the win back home. Standing up, knowing what the penalty meant to the clubs chances of a top four push I could barely watch as Gerrard stood up to take it. Not willing to put my hopes up I convinced myself the great man would miss the penalty. However the net rippled! The ball was in. Liverpool had done it. Relief, excitement, joy. Feelings that sometimes only football can give you. But one that hadn't been there for a long while also came back with that goal. The feeling of belief. 

Belief that there is actually a chance this could be Liverpool's year. Why though. Surely Chelsea and City have bought (that being the chosen word) the better and stronger squads. Surely they have the better players. This is where I both agree and disagree with people who claim this. Liverpool right now have the best strike force in England and one of the best 5 in Europe. Suarez and Sturridge are comparable to strike forces like Bale, Ronaldo and Benzema, Messi, Sanchez and Pedro, Cavani and Ibra, Aguero and Negredo. They also have one of the best players to have graced the planet in my lifetime. Not just by playing but sheer presence, leadership and support. Steven Gerrard. Any team with Steven Gerrard is a better team. The spirit and passion that man can just simply inject into a team is phenomenal. He is quite simply an astonishing man when it comes to his influence even when his game is having an off day. And then there is his passing ability. The pass to Sturridge last night was just simply a world class assist. And for the first time in a long long time, you feel that Gerrard has the right team around him, the first time since at least the 2008/09 season. 

Liverpool also have another thing many teams lack. The freedom and fearlessness of youth. Players like Sterling and Flannagan right now don't fear losing, but crave winning. It comes with the age. And more players like this are being injected into the team and they're good. They're not run of the mill. Flannagan and Sterling are future England internationals, I'd go as far to say, unless something goes wrong, they're future England starters. Flannagan has looked as good as the recent England number one right back, Glen Johnson who will now struggle to get his place back. Sterling is as good as any other fast English winger right now and could easily be a wildcard for Brazil. There's also Coutinho who is a technically outstanding player and is only of the age of 21. Some people may argue that he can be played out of some games due to a lack of strength, but then there are times when he makes something remarkable happen.

But what do Liverpool need to win the league? Well they need that fight, but that fight comes with spirit. Spirit we are seeing more and more of. The teams united. There are no divides. At teams like City and Chelsea this feels less of the case. The Mata saga for instance at Chelsea. Players who feel like they should be in the first team not wanting to accept the bench as their fate. Both clubs have more big personalities. Yes Liverpool have the leader Gerrard and then Suarez. But Liverpool have worked to accustomise the personality of Luis Suarez (and to an extent Daniel Sturridge) into the whole team. There is no unrest. The players know their roles and they know they're all very important to the cause. From a player who currently more of a bench player like Aspas and Alberto to the rotation players such as Toure to the starters like Henderson, Suarez and Sturridge. They know their place, the spirit. For the first time in years I can say This Is Liverpool and boy, does it feel good to have them back! 

External factors also exclaim why Liverpool can win the league. Chelsea, City and Arsenal all have European ties, big European ties. It's a distraction from the tightest race for the league in years. Liverpool don't have that this season. So if there is a chance to knock over the big spending teams City and Chelsea maybe that time is now. One thing is sure. Chelsea and City fans will be left embarrassed if Liverpool come from here to win the league with a team including players like Jon Flannagan of the youth academy and Raheem Sterling.

Whether or not they win a trophy this season and whether or whether not they're in the Champions League next season, one thing I know is that the fans, they will sing the names of the players, the songs of the team. As a Liverpool fan, one thing you know you will do is that you will stick behind the team. And right now it's far easier as they're on the up!

So here you go, after writing Liverpool off all season, so not to get my hopes up amongst these reasons. I now will happily admit. This Liverpool team CAN win the Barclays Premier League, even if it's an outside shot, a low percentage of probability. This team can win it! This season could be that year. But even if this season isn't, this Liverpool team, they're to stay. 

If you keep an eye on this blog, the next Liverpool post will be about Brendan Rodgers. How #RodgersOut turned to #RodgersIn. Featuring a mention of David Moyes and Manchester United!

Ooops!

Hey there!

Oops, I haven't tweeted for months! Apologies.

BUT I'm back! I know it's been a while, but like I was writing posts I never finished, or became ones I didn't want to send due to what they were about and stuff. But it's been a while and I don't think I can desert this blog as I actually enjoy writing. Despite the fact I have a dissertation I should be doing right now as to be honest, it's a constant worry in life at the moment.

So I haven't posted since New Years, so maybe I should make this post about me and what has actually happened since then and stuff. Although that simply says let's talk about New Years and the fact I'm 21 (which I just accidentally wrote as 32...that was a little scary haha).

Well New Years was in Plymouth and it was awesome. Everyone got drunk, we probably made resolutions and we probably all broke them within an hour, they were probably all "I shall stop drinking"...FAIL! But so far what has this year been...

I guess in the first 5-6 weeks of the year for me it has been a bit of a mixed bag. Work is now the factor that drags me down, although towards the end of last year I was feeling possibly the happiest and most free since before the London 2012 Olympic games (not because the Olympics made me permanently moody though!), I dunno how I changed my outlook, it kinda just happened when Liverpool beat Spurs 5-0, which I think was totally unrelated, however I decided I wouldn't go back so since then it has been a move forwards only operation. Which has been good. I mean, I'm not going into detail but it doesn't feel like anything in the past is getting me down, just that dissy and the fact I lose my Uni Independence in only a few months!

And then I am 21. Well this is strange, I can now drink in America which makes any prospect of a trip over the Atlantic, way more attractive. In the UK however it feels like there is not much more I can do and stuff. It's just a number anyway. It's in your head where you're old, young, tired, fed up, optimistic, damaged goods, innocent etc. Maybe not so much a choice, maybe in a way it is, but it's how life's treated you I guess. So after hitting a new number, I've had to really get used to the idea I have to do a lot of work, most days, to get my dissertation done. So that is what I'm doing. Well aiming to do every day and then hopefully doing. So wish me luck as I write and ask questions about media piracy!

Right, I shall post about some real subjects later. I will also start making a thing of my sections on this blog more often. But for this post at least I must bow out. Thank you and goodnight!

Life's simplicity...and why it seems oh so impossible

Hey guys.

So it's now the Christmas break and well...the social life is dead (it only came back after a week or two yesterday after I finished my media law). Anyway today has been a pretty long day to be honest, with a detour to Cardiff on the way back to Shotingham...a place that to be fair, is totally not me! But I've been thinking how life isn't simple. Now I must explain, I don't really seem to be that much of a positive person in Nottingham, like the attitude kinda changes. It's like here I know nobody and have a lot of time to ponder. And well with the rest of today as well...I really have had a lot to ponder.

1. Moving
One thing I've hated through my life, is leaving friends behind. To be fair when we first moved to the Isle Of Man I was four. Anyone knows that at four you're not going to really understand the concept. I just knew we were moving to an Island where I was gonna go to school as Dad had got a job there. And to be honest, unlike anywhere we have been before, Redruth and Cornwall that, as a family, there are links that mean that these places are visited still. Unfortunately, that is not such the case from that point. I mean we moved to Cambridge where I had a pretty great batch of friends through year 5 and 6 and well, now I may have one or two on Facebook or follow them on Twitter or Instagram. I don't talk to them and I've only been back to Cambridge two or three times since and I've not seen any of them in any visit. The Isle of Man I've seen less of since, we went back once. Again my contact with all of my friends there seemed to die. I wish I still had contact with both groups of friends, but in reality, when you're that young and before even video messaging. You want to go out with your friends have a laugh with your friends, not compose an email or MSN with them. It's not fun at 11. To be fair it's not really fun at 18 or 20 but I guess now, like with friends from Bideford, especially +Ryan I get to like play games and voice chat. But that brings me onto my worst move. Like obviously now when I move I fear losing contact more nowadays, because of the Isle of Man and Cambridge, especially when it's hundreds of miles. So moving to Nottingham was a nightmare.

When you spend 7 years making an extensive group of friends and you're forced to just walk away from them, when you've lost all friends like that before AND when you're 18 and meant to be having some of the best times of your life, it's quite bluntly shit. Like, you know some you will lose, because when you have a fairly large load of friends, you can't just Facebook or Tweet every single one regularly. You only keep your closest. Which is rubbish when you think if you still lived there you'd still have the more peripheral friends, because those people have a positive impact. You lose a number of them and that's a big thing. It's horrible. I can name to you a list of people that due to moving I have no real contact with who I would still like to have contact with.

And now my parents are probably moving to Cardiff (leads well to the next subject :L) so once again I'll be moving. And well it means less to me this time, a lot less, because I haven't really made friends in Nottingham (another subject I'll get too) and by all accounts, I'm a southerner.

2. Relationships
Not exactly the most prime concern in the world. It's probably more my idiocy with them. I'm more frustrated by the way like you can't really pick and choose who you like. And what if you don't stop liking them? What if you see a chance? It's more the confusion in not knowing what the bloody hell to do with it. Like I've been single since June 2012 and since then has a girl who really interests me come along? No. It's kinda shit this one because I don't even know what to say or how to put this on paper. Living in the same city as the girl who I was last in a relationship with is something that would be interesting. Even now it's just a difficult subject. I'd like the right chance to come along generally. It isn't in Nottingham and I would say it isn't in Plymouth really. To be honest this is a subject where really I'm mindfucked. Don't even know what to do in this subject. It frustrates me. But there's nothing I can do about it.

3. Friends where there is no school/uni and no jobs.
Okay, to an extent this one could be argued to be a fairly big one. I spend most of my year at Uni, which is awesome. I live in a house with my best Uni friends on the whole. And well it's great. But like whereas people go back to where they went to school, I don't. I never went to school in Nottingham. Never set foot in a school in Nottingham. I've applied for countless jobs, but there hasn't been a proper job. ASDA seem to essentially employ family members of it's current staff I swear and besides, due to cuts loads of people who probably had better jobs beforehand now have to work in these places. There is nothing for a student to do here unless you want to knock door to door for a charity getting abuse shouted in your face (I tried, but I got to a point I was going to shout back at the next dickhead who came up with abuse, plus it was pay per sign up. People don't generally want to sign up to direct debit £10 a month to a charity at the moment! Overall it was a humiliating form of job). Therefore I don't get a social life. And yes, my parents are good and all that, but you can't spend all day every day with the same people, same interests etc. It just doesn't work. I get bored. Then I ponder. Then I feel shit. It's how I work. To be honest, it's how I feel right now.


So yeah, basically, if 2014 could like make itself simple. I'd be bloody grateful. If the end of 2013 would sort itself out to give the year a bit more of a positive edge after a pretty negative 2012 as well I'd also appreciate it yeah? So if there is a factor in making fate, please, positive? From now? 

So yeah, comment below with thoughts, I'll admit in areas I've kept vague and some people may know more than others, so if you are a close friend and want to comment I ask you to respect that.

Thanks

Route 39 Academy - Why?

Hey guys,

This is kind of a niche post I guess being it is about a new "academy" near Bideford where I went to school.

This is the new Bideford College. The building part opened in September 2010 to students. At a cost that can be rounded to £50 million the school was built to be able to hold a capacity of around 2,000, more than the actual amount of people who went to the school by a couple of hundred people. The school was built to be state of the art with great resources including lecture theaters that would put some universities to shame, a sports hall and a gym of great size, fit for sports including basketball, netball, indoor football, tennis and more to take place. Of course with a new school came up to date computers that worked efficiently, everything had just become better. A school that once had little hope, a school that at one point wasn't allowed to exclude pupils had just got the chance of a lifetime with the new school. Despite the name having a bad reputation from those darker days, the school could now potentially achieve huge success given the right elements of support for staff and pupils.

This was a building to be proud of for the people of Bideford and the surrounding areas for people to be able to say their children went there proudly to the parents of those who may have went to private school or further afield from Bideford. There wasn't a reason to stop your child going to this school now. Obviously though, the money had come just before the financial crunch we have found ourselves in and money has been cut from a lot of things. Although I am adamant that we should not cut education but spend as much as a nation as we need to to provide everybody a top quality education (not just your average Eton snobs like David Cameron and George Osbourne - one of whom doesn't know what "lol" means - which mean you have to come from ridiculously wealthy, sometimes partially dodgy families). This gives the poorer children a chance to achieve their dreams, possibly become an MP one day...make a change from what we have now yeah? But it seems when the economy collapses, the rich decide on state schools not doing great to face cuts. These are the places where increases in expenditure is needed most!

That said...when you've spent £50million on a new school, why support the idea for an "academy". Now from what I understand (I come from the stone age of schools...often called colleges) an academy is what is a school or college, just under a name you would more associate to a football club and it's young players. I don't understand why we had to move from school or college to academy. It's a pathetic name change to be honest. They don't teach to the same regulations sometimes, which is very strange if you ask me and needs looking into. Then there is the fact local/national government paid a lot into this unnecessary "academy". The fact of the matter is, if this is so much more "state of the art" than Bideford College, why the hell did the Governments locally and nationally not think of including them into the normal state school trying hard to succeed but include them on the "academy" that they will try to plug over the College only a few years later. It isn't on. 

Plus schools funding often comes from the school having high achieving children, what's the betting we go back to the dark days where the more intelligent, higher achieving children go off to this "academy" and Bideford College see's its reputation fall as the students that would have been there achieving pretty much the same as they achieve in this "academy" and therefore a possible funding cut. The better teachers could go too if there is a better wage. This "academy" should not be there. It is only going to negatively effect the College that was there at the start. There shouldn't even be academies. It isn't good for anyone in the long run and is almost a privatisation of schools that will see another gap like the one between Etonians and the human race.

I would send this to the MP for the area, Geoffrey Cox QC, but as he presumably doesn't have the time to reply to all my issues with him and his parties politics, he has blocked me on Twitter. Maybe he's to busy being a QC rather than an MP? if someone would send this to him via that it would be cool, I doubt he'd bother to read it though. 

If I could be somebody.

Hey there,

So I was talking the other day about who I would be if I had the ultimate choice. And I thought wouldn't it be cool to share some of these ideas to this blog so everybody could read them. I had come up with a few ideas so I thought I would share my top few. The realms of possibilities are endless, with me also choosing fictional characters into my selection.

5. A Wizard (from Harry Potter)

Who wouldn't want to be a wizard? Like I mean being able to fix things with a couple of words, have moving newspapers and the answers to many different things, including to an extent death with the philosophers stone. Wizard sports also look like they'd be pretty amazing, I mean look at Quidditch. How awesome would it be to play that!? Or to be able to summon things to you. Invisibility cloaks also look cool too. Although one thing I could do without is Lord Voldemort trying to kill me all the time. I'd rather just be a wizard without the responsibility Mr Potter seems to have.

4. Stand Up Comedian.

Because who wouldn't want be able to enter a room of thousands of people and have them all laugh at their jokes? It must be fairly amazing. Being able to just have the wit to regularly come up with some of these peoples stuff on panel shows for instance must also be pretty cool.

2=. Lead Singer Of A Rock Band.

So second and third have to be equals. The feeling of writing a song, having it released, having people buy it and then buy tickets to see YOU live must be amazing. But really, it's that feeling of having thousands of people sing the song you wrote with you in a stadium or major festival. That must be the best feeling ever. Why not just a pop band then? Because those at rock concerts are most commonly a far more up and at it crowd, a louder crowd and usually a longer lasting crowd. And how many pop bands have you seen last from the early 90's until today without splitting up at some point?

2=. A star footballer...for Liverpool.

Clearly this was going to come up. I'd just love to get my name in Liverpool's history books. I mean to be mentioned as one of the best players for Liverpool ever is like being compared to one of the best ever players in the world. Kenny Dalglish and Steven Gerrard have walked onto that hallowed turf and really that says it all. World class. And the fans, they're some of the best in England. The only club with a comparable atmosphere in this country is Newcastle with teams like Celtic, Rangers and Dortmund being comparable in Europe. All you'd need to do is get the club back into Europe and win a major trophy to go down in history. There would be no humanly better honour than to put on the Liverpool jersey and represent them on the turf of Anfield where once the King Kenny played. No better honour.

1. I'd like to be....doctor who....

There is one thing that beats Liverpool or having thousands sing songs you have wrote. It just isn't a human thing. And that is being able to travel throughout space and time, to see things that in reality are not humanly possible. To visit other planets. To have a TARDIS. It would be insane. But I guess I'm gonna have to settle by watching the 50th anniversary show...which proves to be pretty awesome.

Got anything you wanna be? Just leave a comment below or tweet me @jamesmartinlfc

"I Give Up" - A blog on bullying.

Hey guys, thought I'd blog after a fairly long hiatus about bullying. This post was inspired by a poem by a girl named Izzie Dix who killed herself after writing it. From what I understand Izzie Dix was a 14 year old girl who had the hope of one day going to Oxford University. A girl who was bullied day by day at school to the brink. A girl who had people sending Facebook invites to her funeral. And another girl who had a membership on the website Ask.fm, a website mentioned on my friend +Danièlle Owen's blog. She however left the world with an emotional poem I have left below.

So generally this has led to me deciding I shall tackle the issue of bullying on my blog. Especially when it comes to bullying in schools. 

Generally when you go to school, or at least if you had went to my school you could see bullying happening every day and anybody could be bullied if the right people turned against you. The right people weren't even those with hope after school in most cases, but they were those who had little hope. In year 8, I remember being one of those people that the "right" people turned against. This seemingly happened after I had reported one of these people had assaulted one of my good friends after a PE lesson. To be honest what he did looking again at the injuries would have seen him possibly behind bars (it's not like he eventually ended up there...) for at least a Section 47 offence, the school should have excluded him, but for some strange reason they gave him another chance, before giving him what must have been another 25 last chances at least (but then what do you expect when they were more bothered about a nice new building than the wellbeing of their students half of the time?). With the months that followed I can understand what lows bullying can give you, your friends can easily be turned against you and different people will always snap in different ways. However all of this was before really before the rise of technology. Okay Bebo was there and I remember some girls being told off for having a nice little bitch-fest on Bebo at some point around this time by the school as well as an attempt to stop students using the website, however I didn't really use these websites back then myself. 

Technology, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or especially this Ask.fm means that bullying from school can basically go inside your home. Your home is where you are meant to feel safe and away from the rubbish in the outside world. It may sound sad but when I was bullied, I'd go home, I may seem low I remember my parents saying but I could get home for a weekend, watch Liverpool in that seasons FA Cup (which they won!) or Doctor Who and just forget the world. I could play my own taste of music, if I talked to anybody I could be selective regarding who I decided to talk to from home. It was a safe haven. Albeit getting up for school with all of it going on was hell. And I'd count the hours till I could get home and the days till the holiday. So imagining if I couldn't get away from it, if I went home turned on my PC and found more abuse, it must have been horrible. I did have MSN, but there was a block button, there is no block button on Ask.fm. People can also ask anomalously on it too. I can only guess the questions people who were bullied by the same thugs as me would get if they were 7 or 8 years younger and where it would push them too. It often was people with prospects they'd bully, them or the people that may seem a bit "strange", maybe geeky people, people with a low temper. I remember one person walking through the school site to get to a lesson after lunch and three of these low life's walking up to him with crisps in their mouths and spitting it at him. Honestly, this person was a person who it was "unpopular" to like and I was just fed up of trouble with them, as much as I hated them (and still blamed the school for not excluding at least one of these people when he clearly should have been, but I'm not writing a post to discuss what my head teacher did wrong in my opinion, I'd be here all day!) I just walked past and ignored it. To this day when I think back to this I feel like I was in a way one of the bullies. It immediately made me feel sick, it was one of the lowest forms of humiliation I had ever watched and I had walked past and what had I done? Fuck all. And those people that ignored and went on with it, well we were all the bullies. At the time when somebody needed a friend, or needed to be stood up for, but had already lost the confidence from years of torment from these people, many of us walked past and not one stood up for him. Not one would be seen asking if he was okay. Nobody even reported it. We just all watched it happen. Maybe it's an unpopular opinion, but if you watch somebody get humiliated like that and you do nothing, you're just helping the person get bullied. If you help them, whether it be like nowadays when they're bullied online (I kind of have a perception that a lot of this is girls, and then the physical actually physical bullying, whether it be a punch, threats or spitting crisps at a person is most commonly guys, if you disagree with this perception, please comment) or bullied in a face to face physical concept then you are essentially offering the person some hope. Believing there is no hope at all, to the extent where you decide to attempt to end your own life must be a horrible thing, yet if we didn't stand there and let it happen then maybe it wouldn't. If we didn't give a damn about our friends popularity and actually stood by them rather than disown them at least publicly as a friend then we'd be giving people at pretty low moments some hope. 

It's horrible to see in the news that somebody has taken their own life due to bullies and we always say "we need to do something" to the extent that we don't. And it has to change. We need a zero tolerance policy when it comes to bullies. My school gave these people chance after chance. They can't have this. The people they bullied don't suddenly get left alone if the bully returns the next day because somebody has had a chat with the them. And offering to put a bully on some register isn't a way to stop bullying, there needs to be a substantial punishment. Besides when it came to that, they didn't offer me the chance to put the main bully on the register, just my friend who at that time had just conformed to the main bully. I wouldn't put him on, but the other, should have been, mind you, he should still be in her majesties pleasure for something completely unrelated. Maybe that's another failure. 

On the whole, don't let somebody suffer from bullying, don't let them hit the low where they consider their own life. But help them, stand up for them and give them hope. Does it really matter if they're fat, if they're a stick, if they have a different taste or merely that they have the guts to stand up to the group of people where the bully(s) come from. Don't let another person like Izzie finish their own lives because of some idiots. 

RIP Izzie Dix & Hannah Smith. 

Reading 2013 - The Review

Hey there guys! I've been away recently, in a land of tents and music! Yes that's right, I've been to Reading Festival. And this year the line up was as epic as ever with Green Day, Eminem and Biffy Clyro the three headliners as well as a host of other great bands including Fall Out Boy, White Lies and Bastille.

Pre Festival Opinion

Regarding the line up, I was very excited to hear Eminem had been announced, mainly because I listened to him years ago and still loved tunes like "Not Afraid" "Lose Yourself" and "Love The Way You Lie", I also as many people will know, estatic to hear that Green Day were playing...although I did buy a ticket days before the announcement to see Green Day at Reading as they weren't rumoured to be there. So that was £60 down the pan really! Biffy Clyro I was reserved about, not because I don't like them, on the contrary I love the Biff, they're one of my favourite bands, definitely up there for my favourite British band with Muse, Arctic Monkeys and the Vaccines, but really because I was doubtful that they were big enough. Although they had 6 albums, only three were particularly heavily well known. That said, as the days before the festival came, the excitement grew. Rather than boring with you I shall now go onto actually reviewing the festival.

Friday

This was Green Day day for me, but there were other bands playing. One band that excited me on the line up were Bastille on the NME/Radio 1 Stage. They were not a disappointment either, playing songs from their debut album as the crowd went far outside the tent. An incredible crowd for such a new band. And a crowd where pretty much everyone left saying how good they were. Another artist witnessed was Frank Turner, he put on a show considering his current back injury, with his Mother getting him on stage, on a wheelchair before he launched himself off the chair into 40 minutes of rock 'n' roll. 

So then at around 7pm we found ourselves at the main stage, 2 hours before Green Day, System Of A Down were about to come on. Now here is where I shall get ripped by friends who read this, but I actually enjoyed System Of A Down, maybe because I found the lyrics for the song "Needles" particularly funny as well as the Walter White lookalike bassist man! 

System Of A Down - Needles (Lyrics Video)

System Of A Down - Needles (Live @ Reading)

I know right, a man in a chair reading a paper in the air at System Of A Down, it really was great to see actually there too. That 5 minutes must have been up there for the top 5 minutes of humor at Reading (although Saturday's trip to the alternative tent has to compete closely).

Anyway System Of A Down finished and there was then an hours wait, before Green Day graced the famous Reading Festival Main Stage, following up an epic secret set on the NME/Radio 1 Stage from a year before. As usual the pink rabbit ran around the stage to the Blitzkrieg Bop (of course after the crowd, like at the Emirates performed a rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody). A performance starting with 99 Revolutions started with some Green Day hits including "Holiday" and "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" and songs from the new albums such as "Let Yourself Go", "Stay The Night" and "Stop Before The Red Lights Flash". Then up came the Dookie banner, now usually as a fan of the band I check out all the rumours, this time I hadn't. I wasn't expecting Dookie in full, this said, they had been doing it throughout their tour...although not in London. For a fan this was insane, I guess if you weren't a fan there must have been five or six songs that you'd never heard of before and you wanted Green Day to revert back to the hits. However like Origins Of Symmetry you could also argue this was musical history, a band playing their album in full isn't particularly common and an album with the sales and success of Dookie, it can be quite incredible. Anyway after finishing the album (much enjoyed by the Green Day fans, a bit less so by casual viewers I would guess) they went back to some more hits before really storming the Encore with American Idiot, Jesus Of Suburbia, Brutal Love and of course the acoustic Good Riddance. Unfortunately the BBC only showed an hour of the Green Day set, which doesn't include Dookie in it's entirety, so I've included one somebody filmed in Belgrade, apologies if the quality is rubbish!

Green Day Play Dookie In Full (Belgrade 2013)

BBC Three's coverage of Green Day's Reading 2013 Performance

Boulevard Of Broken Dreams Live at Reading 2013

Saturday

Well this was gonna be one unique Reading Festival day. In my years going to the festivals we'd had various different types of rock bands at the festival, but we had never had a rap artist headline. This was to change with the performance of Eminem, the biggest rapper in the world and to be fair, the only one I've commonly listened too. Also on on the Saturday were Imagine Dragons and Chase and Status were both acts playing. Unfortunately we felt that our experiences at Imagine Dragons and Chase and Status were partially ruined by crowd crushes, one that notably left loads of people on the floor in the middle of the NME tent, although from what I heard of Imagine Dragons they were good live. Chase and Status on the other hand I didn't enjoy. I know many people did, but having your foot trampled on enough that it's as flat as a sheet of paper, I'm also not a fan of that style of music and was only where I was for Eminem. But watch the videos and decide for yourself.

Imagine Dragons live at Reading 2013

Chase and Status - Count On Me (Reading 2013)

So yes, then came Eminem. Starting with Survival and then moving onto huge hits, especially towards the end with songs such as Not Afraid, Love The Way You Lie, My Name Is, The Real Slim Shady and even getting Dido for Stan. The encore was incredible with the mega hit Lose Yourself. I would say more and include a video but unfortunately the BBC now ask artists whether they can show them, despite having the rights to show the festival. You can thank the Rolling Stones for that! The Mail reported he may have mimed at Reading and Leeds, however without video evidence it's impossible to tell. I'd like to therefore think he didn't and not have a good show by Eminem ruined by this.

Sunday

There were a lot of doubts about Sunday's acts, generally I heard various friends say "Biffy aren't as big for the headline act as Green Day and Eminem". I kind of agreed with this, but I was looking forward to a band I very much enjoyed seeing twice in 2010. Also playing that day were Fall Out Boy, in what seems to have been of recent a return with a new album being released as well as some new shows. The Lumineers, The Editors, Nine Inch Nails and Dog is Dead also all performed. The latter two we didn't see much of. Fall Out Boy through we did, although sitting down. They played a variation of their new stuff and some of their old classics such as "This ain't a scene" and "Thanks For The Memories". It was generally nice just to see them back, although not knowing much of their new music I generally preferred it when they played their older stuff. They certainly drew a huge crowd considering the time of their performance. Generally afterwards we explored the arena, we did see a snippet of Dog Is Dead (and +Ryan Steppel asked the ice cream van staff about the ketchup on their van) and Nine Inch Nails whilst we got a drink. 

Fall Out Boy - My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark

Then it was time for the finale of the acts. Biffy Clyro. I can tell you this. After seeing them this time I would now write MON THE BIFF rather than Mon The Biff. The performance was like a statement, a "We've made it" and they had, after various performances at Reading they were headlining the main stage on finale night of Reading Festival! And despite fears boy did they not let us down! Playing for 90 minutes they did a set including new and old songs. The crowd went mental for them as they continued. The special effects were amazing, the fireballs on the top of the arena stage and the fireworks at the end. Reading Festival was their moment, they made sure of that. One thing is for certain, of all the acts I have seen live headlining the main stage, they were not a pushover for any of them. They were up there. It's hard to pick a number one with the differing bands, songs and genres I mean Blink-182 in the first year were great, Green Day this year also were, then there are the Foo's who were simply amazing and Muse and their album Origins Of Symmetry played in full. One thing is for certain, these bands have all proved on that stage at Reading that rock is very much still alive and kicking. But Biffy Clyro made that statement bold!

Biffy Clyro Full Reading 2013 Headlining Performance

Biffy Clyro - Mountains

So overall yes, it was incredible and way worth it! 

If you saw it on TV or like myself attended and have an opinion please comment!

Thanks guys! Until next time!