UK Tour - Part Two

Happy December everybody, and for the benefit of those of you currently skiving off: Happy Snow Day!

A couple of blogs back I wrote about the first part of my November UK tour, and with December now upon us, that does indeed mean that it is over with, finished, gone with the wind, finito. So, as you may know if you are one of my loyal readers, part one consisted of travelling up to Manchester on the 8th to see the television taping of WWE Monday Night Raw at the Manchester Evening News Arena, heading to the O2 arena to see a non-televised Raw show on the 9th, and then seeing the awesome Linkin Park the very next night, once again at the O2 arena.

The following Sunday saw part two kick off, as after a day at work, Stacey and I travelled a great long distance to Tunbridge Wells, to see the stand-up antics of Sean Lock live at the Assembly Hall. Part of his 'Lockipedia' tour, Sean was on top form, and had the audience in fits of laughter all night. In my opinion this was one of the funnier stand up shows that I've attended, and was far, far, far superior to Frankie Boyle back in June.

The three weeks that followed were the same old in the wonderful life of me. They consisted of work, study, writing, film watching, reading, Stacey, family, etc....

And then, we got to this past Monday, the 29th November. Stacey had a half day at work, and I had the whole day off, and in the early afternoon she drove us down to Brighton. We checked into our hotel, which despite the ominous look of the scaffolding outside, was actually very nice. We had a nice TV, a comfy bed and a good hearty breakfast. What more could you want? Before the gig, we went for a wander around, and had ourselves a walk on the pier. The lights were on, but nobody was seemingly home, as it was pretty much empty. There were one or two people wandering around on the pier, and the arcades were open for business, but the rides were shut, and the end of the pier was in total, eery darkness. We soon left as it was bloody freezing on the pier, and there wasn't much to do there to occupy our time, so we headed back to land in search of a place to eat.

That's when I discovered Harvester for the first time in my life. Why has nobody ever suggested going to one before? It was awesome! For little over £30 we both had a starter and access to the salad bar, I had a pint of ale and an 8 ounce sirloin steak, while she had some veggie burger and a cocktail. We both shared a massive pudding, and I had a cappuccino to wash it all down. Bargain!

After food-time we walked up to the Brighton Centre and wound up queueing half way around the building. Once we finally got inside, and into the warmth, we took our seats and were pleasantly surprised to find just how close we were to the stage, as the Brighton Centre is nowhere near as big as some of the other venues I've attended, which in no way means it is a bad venue. You're probably wondering what it was we went to see, as I haven't yet mentioned it in this blog yet. 30 Seconds to Mars is the name of the band. That's right longtime reader, for the second time this year we went to see them play live. And it was much of the same as last time, which was in no way a bad thing, as more of the same was exactly what I was wanting to see. Lead singer Jared Leto had been sick that day, but you wouldn't have been able to tell as he once again poured in 110% to his performance. He is by far the most charismatic front-man out there in terms of crowd interactivity. If a section of people weren't standing, or looking lively, Jared soon made sure they were up and having a good time. He also repeated his trick from the Wembley show earlier this year, by leaving the stage while we were distracted, and reappearing somewhere else in the arena with an acoustic guitar. This time he played from the back of the venue and treated us to acoustic versions of their songs From Yesterday and Alibi, as well as a bizarre cover of Lady GaGa's Bad Romance.

There were even giant balloons during the gig; what more do you need for a fantastic show?

Our hotel was only two doors away from the Brighton Centre, so it was only about 200 hundred steps to make until we were tucked up in bed, and could drift to sleepville with Family Guy on in the background.
The next day we did a bit of shopping in the coastal city, before deciding to leave earlier than planned due to news of snow back home. Although it was snowing in Brighton, it was setting, which was not the case back in Kent.

As we drove, the more inland we got, the more snow could be seen, and it was when we were nearing our destination that we entered into a Winter Wonderland.

Driving through a Winter Wonderland

Fortunately we got home safe, even if the car did slip once or twice. Of course today things are much worse, so I'm thankful that the gig wasn't a day later than it was.

And so ends my UK Tour. I can't believe that November has already come and gone, and my little adventure around the country is at an end. I now turn my sights to Christmas, which has got me especially excited with the opening of door number one on my advent calender. I'm also receiving daily Simpsons quotes via text from Pete Town. If you too would like to receive a daily Simpsons quote direct to your mobile phone, then follow this link to Pete's always brilliant blog, and leave your number in his comments section.

In memoriam

I'd like to end today's blogging by paying my respects to a comedy icon. Leslie Nielson passed away at the beginning of this week, and as a child, nothing even came close to making me laugh as much as the classic movie Airplane always did. Rest in Peace Leslie, as long as they're not calling you Shirley up there, I'm sure you will.