You know sometimes when you
just have that one weekend where everything happens at once and ends up being
totally awesome? Well last weekend was one of those.
Here is a rundown of three cool things that I got up to over the course of three days.
Chromeo @ The Roundhouse
Here is a rundown of three cool things that I got up to over the course of three days.
Chromeo @ The Roundhouse
I managed to snag tickets to see Chromeo in their only (non-festival) UK date of their tour a few months ago, so on Friday evening we made our way down to the wonderful venue that is The Roundhouse (trivia: it used to be train turntable back in the day), in the heart of fashionable Camden. The venue was beautiful and the crowd diverse, although I got the impression that the place is distinctly geared more towards theatre than gigs – long queues for the few toilets on each floor and the deathtrap that is hundreds of people attempting to simultaneously descend the plastic cup and bottle-littered stairs to get out after the gig are indicative of this.
Still, the sound
system and acoustics were great (the opening boom of the bass at the
start of Chromeo’s set was enough to make your bones vibrate) and if you have
the chance to watch a show there you should definately do so.
As for Chromeo’s set
itself – it was great. They played a mixture of tracks from their latest album White Women, as well as old favourites from
their back catalogue such as Night by
Night, Funky Footwork and Tenderoni,
and even reaching as far back as Needy
Girl and You’re So Gangsta.
Definitely a crowd-pleasing performance.
What really impressed
me was that just the two members (Dave 1 and P-Thugg) managed to rock the whole
show themselves without the use of any other session musicians or backing
performers. Sure, a portion of the music was pre-recorded, but they helped keep
things interesting by the live instruments, singing and P-Thugg gamely stepping in
for the guest vocalist sections of certain tracks. It’s testament to how
insanely catchy their music is – with every track getting the crowd grooving.
Another (also quite literal)
highlight was Dave 1’s Chrome guitar reflecting a spotlight and scanning it
across the crowd whilst sustaining a long note. It looked incredible!
You can check out a Track of the Week article I wrote about a Chromeo song HERE.
You can also listen to
a Chromeo mixtape of mine HERE.
Ghost Stories @ The
Arts Theatre
Before we arrived at the venue on a warm Saturday evening, we took a brief diversion to the tourist magnet that is M&M World (just off Leicester Square)! Plus point: it’s M&M’s! Minus point: er… it’s M&M’s…?
Featuring an almost scary
amount of aggressive branding, you can buy anything from mugs to underwear
adorned with the characters and logo. There were also paintings on the walls,
costumed mascots and a Svarowski studded leather jacket going for an
astonishing £2267!
The smell of sickly
sweet chocolate pervaded the air, which actually put me off from buying any
chocolate, but it's hard not to get caught up in the verve of shoppers going mad
in there. It’s kind of terrifying…
…Almost as terrifying
as the awesome theatre show that it Ghost Stories. Created by Jeremy
Dyson (League of Gentlemen) and Andy Nyman (actor, writer, magician and
producer of many of Derren Brown’s stage shows), it’s an 80min stage show (with
no interval), that promises to scare the bejeesus out of you.
Reminiscent of
Hitchcock’s advertising for Psycho,
if you arrive late or decide to leave the theatre at any point there is no
re-admittance, and soon after the performance ends you are reminded not to
spoil the contents of the show by telling anybody else about it. Even all the
advertising and marketing campaigns for Ghost
Stories consist only of pictures and videos of terrified audience members
and their reactions.
It’s great being able
to watch a show not knowing what to expect at all, and if you are a fan of
scary films, ghost stories or just like being thrilled, this show is highly
recommended. Like I said, I wont go into specifics of why this show is
excellent so as not to spoil anything, but I will say this: it’s well acted,
brilliantly staged with excellent use of lighting, sound, dynamic sets, and
with a great use of pacing (and humour) that ramp up the tension just before a
scare. Andy Nyman’s pedigree as a magician can be seen through some classic
moments of misdirection and fourth wall breaking – but above all it’s the
writing that makes this show so good. Dyson and Nyman’s love for telling a good
ghost story is apparent in this show, and it all ties together beautifully come
the climax.
It’s a shame I can’t
talk about it more without spoiling it – just go see it! The show’s current run,
at the aptly small and dingy Arts Theatre
near Leicester Square, runs until the 17th August - so catch it whilst
you can!
For more info on the
show click HERE.
I can't say more about this show but something similar would be the stage production of 'The Woman in Black' which I wrote about HERE.
I can't say more about this show but something similar would be the stage production of 'The Woman in Black' which I wrote about HERE.
Legoland Resort Windsor
The final treat of the weekend was a surprise early birthday present from my other half – tickets to UK’s Legoland in Windsor on Sunday.
Now since getting back
into LEGO bigtime as an adult (which can be witnessed in my series that starts HERE), I have always considered a
revisit to Legoland, as I only have extremely vague memories of going there when I
was a small child. Would it still appeal to me as an AFOL? Or is it aimed
squarely for a kids day out?
The answer is a bit of
both. On one hand, it is interesting to go there again and appreciate all the
fantastic models made out of LEGO bricks that are scattered all around the
park. Miniland especially was a highlight and I took the opportunity to take
some photos incorporating minifigures we had brought with us on the day especially.
You can see some pics of me setting up shots below, but for the actual results
of some of my photography, check out my Instagram
account or wait until they are all collected in a future post.
On the other hand
however, I felt a little disappointed at how decidedly old school everything
was there. The majority of outdoor models had faded in colour over time (quite
a few also sported cobwebs!), and the current branding of LEGO (which is very
minifigure-centric) didn't feel reflected in the majority of the park’s
appearance. The only exception to this was the newly refurbished hotel building
and the new Star Wars Miniland attraction – both of which were recent constructions
(2012).
This may be due to the
fact that The Lego Group almost went bankrupt in the earlier 2000s and is only
now becoming super successful again (currently the second biggest toy
manufacturer in the world), or the fact that during their low period they sold
off the ownership of the theme park to Merlin Entertainments.
Whatever the reasons,
in my opinion, the park is in need of an update, both in the way of a general
spruce up, but also to bring it in line with the more modern branding and image
of LEGO. Whilst you are at it: clean/replace the models, replace chipped and
peeling signage and cut back some of the overgrown trees that block off what
would have been fantastic views across the whole park (the entrance is situated
on top of a hill looking down over the majority of Legoland).
One more gripe that I
had (based on personal preference) was that all nearly all the models in
Miniland and Star Wars Miniland were built to midi scale rather than mini-scale
(as I am a huge fan of LEGO minifigures), but that was a minor point really, and
was already kind of addressed in the branding issue I outlined above.
Whether or not they
will update things soon remains to be seen – the huge success of the LEGO brand in
recent years means they should have money to do so (unless it’s an issue with
Merlin holding the ownership) so who knows.
Not that the kids were really complaining
though. The park was absolutely jam-packed with families (we got the occasional
strange looks as we were one of the few people there without children in tow)
and the day was blazing hot, making getting soaked on the water rides
(often in a rather gratuitous fashion) a minor inconvenience.
All the staff were
friendly and polite and there was a great selection of shops dotted around the
park (as well as exclusive items on sale) and a great ‘buy now and collect
later’ feature that was really useful. All in all, a great day out.
For more info on
Legoland Resort Windsor, check out their official site HERE.
You can also read some
of my LEGO related articles HERE.
In Conclusion...
A great weekend with great company and great weather. That’s a whole lotta ‘great’! Of all the things mentioned above, I would recommend Ghost Stories the most, and I’m definitely going to try and catch that again sometime whilst it's still on. Soon after watching the show I tweeted Andy Nyman, congratulating him for the brilliant show and I got a nice reply. How cool is that!
So in conclusion –
a pretty darn good weekend! I wonder if I can top that triple bill anytime soon. If I do, I’m
sure you will hear about it!
12th June 2014
12th June 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment