Tall Ships

Last week my friends and I went to see a band called Tall Ships (have a look at their Myspace here) at the Hippodrome in Kingston.They were brilliant. Tall Ships were the first band I saw when I came to university, so it was really nice to see them again, especially now that I've got some of their songs on my iPod.

(Photo by Charlotte)

Not only did the band sound excellent, but they were really lovely when I met them afterwards, and seemed so pleased that everyone was enjoying their music. 

Happy Birthday Nathan

My friend Nathan, who writes the blog Real Horrorshow Tunez, turned 19 on Friday. We had planned to go to a roller disco (complete with 80s outfits), but the snow put a stop to that. Instead, we went to a little club in Kingston where Amerie (of '1 Thing' fame) was performing. She came, sang three songs, and left (so there was no time for anyone to take any decent pictures). 

James and Lydia (who had refused to give up on the 80s theme): 

Laura, laughing because I reminded her about this:

Laura and I in our Topshop dresses:

The birthday boy:

Lovebox.

I got a ticket to the Lovebox music festival last minute, so with two friends and my brother, we headed down to Victoria Park. My little brother, music devotee that he is, stayed by the barrier all day because he LOVES Dizzee Rascal. So, around the time Ellie Goulding arrived, I popped over to join him, so by the time Dizzee came on I had a front-of-barrier standing point, even if it did mean dealing with all the people who thought that because they had pushed their way through the crowd as Dizzee came on meant they could just shove us out of the way, or hit me round the head with a camera. 

On the waltzer with Hattie. 

Younger brother modelling the Lyle & Scott from the Spring/Summer '10 collection. 

The Midnight Beast ("YouTube sensation!")

View from the barrier:

Ellie Goulding:

Ellie walked past us and she is SO PRETTY in real life. She wasn't wearing any make-up and her skin looked so pure and clear. 

The Noisettes:

Chase & Status (or the guy who was with Chase & Status - they just sat at their keyboards)

DIZZEE RASCAL "Wassup Vick-EE Park!"

(No zoom).

Flo x

Lounge On The Farm

I spent the last four days at my local music festival, Lounge On The Farm, with my friends, watching bands and burning up in the hottest weekend of the year (so far). The main reason I went was to see Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, a Motown group who I've been listening to for as long as I can remember (parental influence). We also saw: Example, DJ Yoda, Beardyman, Fionn Regan, Toots and the Maytals, my school's band, Slam Funk, who won a competition to play at the festival, Slow Club, Hot Club de Paris and First Aid Kit. 

Martha Reeves

Fionn Regan

Slam Funk

I didn't realise how much sitting around there is at festivals (this was my first festival), so we spent a lot of the time by our tent in the campsite. 

I have the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone - I may have over used it.

Flo x

Glastonbury

I'm one of those people who has never understood the appeal of festivals (who wants to camp for three days with no showers in the mud and rain with thousands of equally smelly and muddy people?), and I have certainly never understood the nation's obsession with Glastonbury. Until this year. 

My brother forced me to watch Dizzee Rascal performing You've Got The Dirtee Love with the magical Florence Welch. And then Florence + The Machine performing Dog Days. I figured that since I will be attending my first festival in less than two weeks, I should see what all the fuss is about. And suddenly it clicked. It's FUN. 

However, I'm not going to wither on about my epiphany of how festivals "aren't just about the music and there's something more to them etc" because I'm not going to be able to put it into words without sounding: 

a) pretentious 

b) like I have no idea what I'm talking about. 

So I'm going to simply show you why I now like festivals, wrapped up in one 7 minute video:

Flo x

Snapbooth

The o2 Academy has a photobooth, which they call at Snapbooth, where you can have your photo taken. You text number, and the screen counts down for the photo to be taken. However, the lense is quite a bit higher up the wall than the screen, and our first photo came out like this. 

We decided to try again, but this time we stared at the screen and hoped the photo would come out better than the first.

I'm not sure which I prefer.

Flo x

La Roux

Last night, two friends and I went to see La Roux at the o2 Academy. It took us a while to get there - the Victoria line was suspended just as we got to onto the train, so getting there was a bit of a mission - but we made it. 

Totally loving it.

La Roux was really good - she interacted with the audience, she sounded like she did on the album and generally performed well. HOWEVER, she was only on for 45 minutes - she was good, but her performance was rather short and she didn't do all the songs from the album. There were two support acts (Jamie Woon and Coco Sumner) but we missed them thanks to our transport issues.

I'm wearing a leather jacket, leotard and jeans from Topshop, and a bandeau from American Apparel. 

Charlotte's coat is from Aquascutum, but she got it from Ebay for £30, and then cropped it. I'm planning to borrow it as soon as possible.

Flo x

Colour Co-ordination

As my brother helpfully pointed out today, my new Topshop make-up nail polish matches my iPod. 

Accidental colour co-ordination at its best. 

Flo x

I LOVE ZOOEY DESCHANEL

Lady Gaga, I want your bad romance

On Saturday night, I went to see Lady Gaga at the o2. 

And OH EM GEE. The woman is a genius. 

I wasn't sure what to expect - Gaga is known for her crazy - but she blew me away.

The show told the story of the Lady and her friends trying to get to the Monster Ball. However, they met a few obstacles including:
a car that turned out to have a piano for an engine,

a broken down subway carriage,

AND

a huge (genuine) monster.

She was incredible. Lady Gaga danced her way through the entire show, singing live all the way. She interacted with the audience and gave her all.

And then there were the costume changes:
a purple glittery leotard,

a red, super-villain style cape,

a white latex dress (worn earlier with a giant white wimple),

a long black PVC cloak.....

.......a bra, pants and fishnets,

what appeared to be a giant fringed drum 

but the most amazing outfit had to be the Hussein Chalayan inspired living dress.

It was completely incredible and although I'd seen some pictures of it online, I wasn't prepared for the wings popping out the back. What the pictures don't show is how the dress moves independently, with no apparent mechanism moving it. 

I want one.

Flo x 

Update: All pictures taken by the talented Rosie M because my camera is having a diva moment.