Music is my addiction

Hello followers,

Sorry about my long term inactivity, I have plenty of material to blog about in my bubble of music.. just struggling to find the time to type my stories out, university is pretty full on at the moment, I do have them in hand written form though so nothing will be forgotten…

Things coming soon from me:

Good Charlotte - April 15 2011 (can’t believe I haven’t got that one done yet)

Counter Revolution Mini Festival - October 2011

Foo Fighters - November 2011

Big Day Out Festival - February 2012

Soundwave Festival - March 2012

I will delete this when I get up to date, hopefully soon =)

In the meantime keep Rocking On and loving the music XD

Steph =)

THE PHOENIX

written by Stephanie

copyright January 5 2011

A fire spirit burns deep inside
Through life’s challenges I will glide
Changing direction with the breeze
Opportunity I will seize

Scarlet wings, potential power
Beautiful as the first flower
Precious tail feathers, painted gold
I wasn’t born to fit the mould

Not always strong as I’m portrayed
Visions of the future have frayed
Sorrow fills my melodic song
Everything I’ve become feels wrong

Cried so many tears, they fail to heal
Pain so intense, I can’t conceal
I fear I’ve given up the fight
Bursting into flame I ignite

Out of the ashes I will rise
Reborn, I’m yesterdays disguise
Always soaring through clouded skies
Memories lurk behind these eyes

Guided by the knowledge of my past
The lessons learned will forever last
I’ll clean my wounds, and heal these scars
Spread my wings, and reach for the stars

Just something I wrote back in January when I was probably in the midst of the lowest point in my life after everything I’ve been through particularly over the past 18 months, when I had an epiphany I am a phoenix in a symbolic sense, I’ve been through a lot, in truth probably no more than the average person, I guess I fall harder and take things more personally than the majority, then I realised life has a way of crashing down around me to a point where I give up on myself and can’t stand who I’ve become I turn to ash in a sense, yet out of the ashes I always end up rising a stronger and more beautiful version of myself… like a phoenix

This poem then became important, it inspired me to start believing and begin rebuilding my life again along with a few songs in particular Good Charlotte’s “Right Where I Belong” I’m not religious but it made me see in a different light that for some reason even though I felt I was in the wrong place and off track, there was a reason I was in that place… to be honest I was comparing myself to everyone else way too much there I was unemployed and having never had a full time job whilst my friends all seemed to have everything together either successful jobs or in a really good place in their personal lives and I was all on my own in a pit that seemed bottomless..

8 months on everything makes sense, I had to go through all that to be where I am today, I had to lose what I’d built to realise my dreams are still important to me and to appreciate the people who stuck by me through it all even though I tried to push them away, I thank them for not giving up on me…I still have a long way to go but university handed me a ladder, I never thought I’d go to uni, but I’m there and it’s a perfect fit, it feels like I belong which is a feeling I’m not used to =) my cloak of invisibility doesn’t exist there people see me maybe not the things I hide away and cover up but they smile, laugh and talk to me.. which beats the days when I used to sit in the hallways with my head in a book, sketchbook on hand with Good Charlotte’s “The Click” playing on my ipod on repeat.. I’ll always have my creativity and imagination but it’s even better to not feel alone

xoxo ~ Steph

When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes by YELLOWCARD

Release Date: 22^nd March 2011

Label: Hopeless Records

Genre: Pop Punk, Alternative Rock

4 stars

After a two year hiatus Yellowcard have reunited and reformed slightly to bring us a brand new album “When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes” Lyrically it explores the common themes of falling in love and breaking up, friendship, goodbyes, growing up and taking chances. Whilst instrumentally it’s still the same signature Yellowcard sound we’ve grown to love.

Highlights include “Life Of Leaving Home” a song of growing up taking chances and finding your own identity. “Sing For Me” a song of goodbyes written from the perspective of lead vocalist Ryan Key’s terminally ill aunt. “Be The Young” a song of growing up, friendship and remaining young at heart whilst still reaching for something more with lyrics that seem to sum up their reformation:

“Where I was broken, I am healed

I learned to fight, I learned to feel

And I can’t believe my eyes

You are still here next to me

All I need, You’re all I see

In this life we hoped to find”

My personal favourite song from the album is “See Me Smiling” a song of moving on after the loss of a loved one knowing wherever they may be they’re watching over us.

Overall an album we can all relate to in some way, and keeps you wanting to listen to it over again. I purchased it a week ago and have already lost count of how many times I’ve listened to it.

Ups and Downsizing by The Swellers
Release Date: 29th September 2009
Label: Fueled by Ramen
Genre: Alternative

Rating: 4 Stars

An album and band I discovered only recently and from the first run through, I was hooked and I’m guilty of having the album play on repeat for hours at a time.

Ups and Downsizing is the follow up to “My Everest (2007)” and produces the sounds of alternative rock. Easy to listen too and even works as background music in the way it’s enjoyable to listen too but doesn’t distract you from the task your focusing on. Its raw instrumental, vocals and relatable lyrics gel together perfectly producing a unique sound and good song after good song.

Highlights include “Fire Away” a metaphorical masterpiece using a sinking ship and being lost at sea to communicate that feeling of having lost yourself and not knowing who you are anymore, with the lyrics:

“Abandon ship,
think for yourself,
you’ve got that sinking feeling.
and nothing else”

“Feet First” is a song of staying strong and persevering when things are falling apart telling us not to stop and just to carry on.
“Watch It Go” is that feeling of nostalgia you get when we think back to how life used to be, particularly in terms of old friends we just grew apart from.

Awesome album from a band the world is only just starting to hear about, who prove they know how to connect with everyday life experiences and human emotions, I’ll definitely keep an ear out for new music from them in the future.

LINE UP:

Iron Maiden, Queens Of The Stone Age, One Day As A Lion, Slayer, Primus, Slash, Rob Zombie, 30 Seconds To Mars, Stone Sour, Bullet For My Valentine, Murderdolls, Social Distortion, Millencolin, Gang Of Four, New Found Glory, Pennywise, Bring Me The Horizon, Sum 41, Anberlin, Dimmu Borgir, The Gaslight Anthem, Coheed and Cambria, Third Eye Blind, Devildriver, Sevendust, Less Than Jake, The Bronx, The Amity Affliction, Monster Magnet, Silverstein, Terror, MXPX, Protest The Hero, Melvins, 36 Crazyfists, Ill Nino, The Ataris, Fucked Up, Bayside, Feeder, The Starting Line, H20, Mad Caddies, The Maine, Trash Talk, Mayday Parade, Foxy Shazam, The Rocket Summer, Never Shout Never, The Blackout, Polar Bear Club, Asking Alexandria, All That Remains, High On Fire, Dommin, The Sword, Kylesa, Blessthefall, We The Kings, Breathe Carolina, There For Tomorrow, This Town Needs Guns, I See Stars, Rise To Remain, Veara, Nonpoint, Every Avenue, Taking Dawn

BANDS I WANTED TO SEE BUT MISSED:

MXPX, We The Kings, Veara, 30 Seconds To Mars, Social Distortion mostly through timetable clashes and Sum41 who had to cancel because Deryck was sick. I never made it to the signing tent either, but moving from band to band there just wasn’t any spare time..

Still Soundwave 2011 was one of the best days of my life… right between the Good Charlotte concerts and rolling down hills in shopping trolleys… here’s how it played out..

Considering I hadn’t fallen asleep until 1am, I was awake at 5am so excited I was unable to fall back to sleep, in the end I proceeded to get ready and as soon as I was ready and it was a half decent time I got dropped off at my friends house where we proceeded to cook up a massive breakfast. From there we drove to a train station near the showgrounds and caught the train the rest of the way.

We arrived about 11.10am it was a few minutes in but we hadn’t missed anything and it took no time at all to get in as we were all 18+ so we were able to go through where there were no queues… On entry we walked around for a few minutes where my friends pointed out the important things to me like first aid posts and water stations as this was my first music festival and we organised our re meeting landmark for when we branched off on our own later, we watched a local band on the mainstage and once their set finished we moved off…

THE STARTING LINE

We watched The Starting Line for a few minutes, however the crowd wasn’t as pumped up as I imagined they would be, it was a relaxing start to the day and a good warm up band to get us in the mood for the day ahead but the most memorable part was the condoms security were throwing into the crowd and watching the different reactions different people had to realising they had caught a condom most popular reactions being giggling, passing them to someone else or throwing them on the ground. We moved on before the set was over to see the end of Bayside.

BAYSIDE

We got to Bayside in time to catch the last few songs, and a more lively crowd… one of the drumsticks were thrown into the crowd near us and my friend grabbed it after a guy already had his foot on it and she tried to wrestle it from him, and I watched on until he managed to free himself from her grasp… it was rightfully his.

SEVENDUST

On to Sevendust which turned into my first real experience in a mosh pit, and a wild mosh it was…  the crowd was having a blast and the atmosphere was awesome, smiles all around.. I lasted in amongst the action near the front until the third last song before I moved further back in the mosh for breathing space.

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE

Next up Bullet For My Valentine, I had to give up my water bottle to get through main stage security whilst my friends passed on through with theirs, nevermind Bullet For My Valentine were worth dehydration… Girls at the front were flashing their breasts which the band and guys in the crowd seemed to enjoy and my map got ruined when water was thrown all over me and it stuck together where I’d folded it over to carry it in my pocket, I would have loved to stay longer but we moved off to grab some lunch and have a rest on the grass overlooking the main stage.

THERE FOR TOMORROW

On to There For Tomorrow who I’d never heard before but put on an enjoyable show.. I laughed at my friend though who was like “my ears, this is so loud” and I pointed out she was standing right in front of the speaker box.

From there we sat back down again, and I took the opportunity to move off on my own to see all the bands I really wanted to see..

THE ROCKET SUMMER

I caught a little of The Rocket Summer, they had the crowd going… I would have liked to have seen more but I took the opportunity to head over to the merchandise tent which had a smaller line to get a Soundwave 2011 T-shirt before I got too caught up in the music.. I got a T-shirt and returned for a few more minutes of The Rocket Summer and began the walk to the other side of the showgrounds for New Found Glory.

GANG OF FOUR

I reached the stage early and caught the end of Gang Of Four whom I’d never heard of before but they were certainly putting on a show, definately skilled in swinging around the microphone stand, once they finished I moved forward and was in the third line for New Found Glory.

NEW FOUND GLORY

One of my must see bands New Found Glory started playing and the crowd went epic the Sevendust mosh pit was nothing compared to New Found Glory. The crowd was going off, I was getting tossed around like a ragdoll, and at one stage I stumbled about five metres in which I managed to balance myself just in time. Still a lot of fun and plenty of familar songs even though I finished up in the middle of the mosh it was still enjoyable, and a highlight of the day for sure.

EVERY AVENUE

Another must see band although I only discovered them a few months before Soundwave they’re definately a fun band to see Live, catchy songs that get stuck in your head with meaningful lyrics… even though I was a few minutes late to the stage I got into it straight away jumping up and down and singing all the words I knew.

FOXY SHAZAM

Whilst waiting patiently for The Maine, I watched Foxy Shazam.. They’re unique with their acrobatics balancing their guitars to stand upright in the air and putting their feet on the top of the keyboard whilst they played, they get props for being different. The lead singer rambled a little too much between songs and kept contradicting everything he was saying so the crowd were pretty sure he was lying.. You definately don’t gain fans telling the crowd you killed a dog though, cruelty to animals will never be cool and it’s definately not something to joke about it. They didn’t deserve the water bottle that I witnessed thrown at them though.

THE MAINE

Next up another must see band of mine The Maine who I’ve been a fan of since 2008. Probably my favourite mosh pit of the day, we were all crammed in like a can of sardines, all jumping in unison with nowhere to fall. John the lead singer pulled a guy and a girl up on stage to help him sing “Girls do what they want” in which one of them dropped a museli bar so John opened it and started eating it, when the song finished he allowed them to stand to the side for the rest of their set. John also got security to hold him up to the barricade and I was only a metre short of touching his hand. In my book they won quote of the day when while security were holding him up John said “Ouch, don’t touch my wiener”. Their set was over way too quickly..

After a short walk around the general vicinity of the stage since my back was stiffening from standing most of the day I rejoined the crowd.

THE BLACKOUT

The Blackout put on a good show but they made it clear they weren’t happy with their lack of crowd presence instead of being happy with the 30 to 50 or so people gathered they made fun of the Mayday Parade fans at the other side of the stage who were clearly waiting for Mayday Parade and not really into The Blackout.. The Blackout were swearing and giving the finger to the Mayday Parade fans who gave back what they recieved… by the end of the set I was standing second line from the front so that was where I stayed..

MAYDAY PARADE

Mayday Parade played I didn’t have a good view but they appeared to put on a good show their crowd were definately having a good time, I enjoyed their sound and have it on my to do list to check out some more of their music.

THIRD EYE BLIND

The night ended on a high as I found myself second row of the mosh pit for Third Eye Blind. They started off with a slight technical difficulty with the mics but as true performers they kept playing and the sound guys had it figured out by the end of the first song. They played hit song after hit song… Stephan Jenkins the lead singer was throwing T-shirts into the crowd as well as glowsticks and one of the last glowsticks that was thrown out hit me in the face and for once I had good reflexes and grabbed it just before all these hands reached toward me. I was disappointed when the set was over but all good things must come to an end, I headed toward the tree me and my friends had set up as our meeting point at the beginning of the day.

From there we got back on the train but were so exhausted we missed our stop and got off the train two stops later so we walked the two stops back and finally got home around midnight, after a long but epic day… can’t wait for next year.

1.

GOOD CHARLOTTE ~ Cardiology

2.

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE ~ Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys

3.

THE MAINE ~ Black and White

4.

LINKIN PARK ~ A Thousand Suns

5.

AVENGED SEVENFOLD ~ Nightmare

We got off the train and wandered around the oval to find our entry gate, and passed a merchandise stand on the way, so I stopped and purchased two shirts at $50 each. Found our gate and weaved through the queuing system of a portable fence maze and showed our bags, then made our way up a steep set of metal stairs.

Found our seats and we were at the front of our section the step above the walkway so not only did my family have leg room but I was able to stand up and rock out in the walk way during the concert because that’s how I roll.. WOOT.. We were the middle level of the grandstand but it didn’t feel too far away from the stage as we were looking on from a slight angle. We sat back and waited and waited some more, they did have some pretty good songs playing over the speakers..

Eventually the supporting band emerged a local band Village Kid who’d won their place supporting Bon Jovi through a radio competition and had recently won an international songwriting competition. They were pretty good for their genre but I don’t think they really meshed with a Bon Jovi concert crowd being classical orchestral intertwined with soft rock. Nobody around me was paying any attention to them, they were just talking and calling out for Bon Jovi to start. The sun was also still up so there were no lights or effects drawing our attention toward Village Kid either.

Shortly after the sun had completely sunk below the horizon line, and the crew were in their positions. Bon Jovi emerged to kick off his Australian leg of “The Circle” tour. The big screen built into the stage set enabled fans to see every smile, gesture and movement Bon Jovi and the band made as they performed hit after hit to a sold out crowd of enthusiastic fans. The night kick started with “Blood On Blood”.

Bon Jovi motioned for the fans to stand and said “Get up out of your seats, I came a long way to be here tonight! Just because the sun went down doesn’t mean we can’t turn up the heat!” he motioned with his arms and spoke with his voice but it was the look in his eyes that got everyone on their feet for my favourite Bon Jovi song “You Give Love A Bad Name”.

“It’s My Life” was another one that had the crowd standing, I stood in the walkway headbanging and nearly knocked out a woman passing by missed headbutting her by inches, she definitely would have had my hair in her face. I didn’t see her until she was right in front of me, what can I say I’m dangerous at concerts.

Bon Jovi showed off his cheeky side when he stopped “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” and impersonated Mick Jagger throwing in a cover of The Rolling Stones hit “Start Me Up”.

Lead guitarist Richie Sambora proved he could sing just as well as Bon Jovi performing “Lay Your Hands On Me” while Bon Jovi left the stage.

Around the middle Bon Jovi wandered out onto the circle section of the stage and coaxed Sambora, Tico Torres and David Bryan to join him saying “they don’t bite and if they do, that’s what we like” for an acoustic performance of “Something For The Pain” using portable percussion instruments and an accordion.

In “Bad Medicine” Bon Jovi reacted to a fan in the pit and looked into her eyes and said “You think you love me, you don’t know me. I could be hazardous to your health. People ask me why I still do this. That’s why!”

At one stage I had my leg resting on my other knee, tapping my foot to the beat of the music and one of the ushers walked past and connected with my foot as I was tapping it.. oops.

In “Have A Nice Day” another favourite of mine I stood in the walkway once more and did air guitar, and jumped around singing at the top of my lungs.

The stage went into complete darkness and people began heading toward the exits, while most of the crowd started stomping their feet, whistling, cheering and calling for an encore… Epic in a sold out crowd of 38,000.

Sure enough they returned for another three songs, closing the night with karaoke favourite “Livin On A Prayer” where the entire crowd stood together for one last time on his request and I rocked out. I was a little disappointed when it was all over but I couldn’t have asked for more, they’d played for over two hours and put on a very entertaining show..

SETLIST:

 Blood On Blood, We Weren’t Born To Follow, You Give Love A Bad Name, Born To Be My Baby, Lost Highway, Whole Lot Of Leavin’, When We Were Beautiful, It’s My Life, No Apologies, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead/Start Me Up, We Got It Goin’ On, Bad Medicine/ Shout, Lay Your Hands On Me (Richie Sambora vocals), What Do You Got?, I’ll Be There For You, Something For The Pain (acoustic), Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night (acoustic), Work For The Working Man, Raise Your Hands, Have A Nice Day, Who Says You Can’t Go Home, Keep The Faith

ENCORE:

Always, Wanted Dead Or Alive, Livin’ On A Prayer

We left home between 4.30pm and 5pm and had Linkin Park blaring out the car stereo all the way to the train station, where we parked, deciding for the venue it would be easier to catch the train…

We got off the train and walked around to the front of the venue and joined our queue for the door. We had to wait a good half an hour to forty five minutes before the line started to move forward and after our tiny bags were searched twice we were allowed in.

Our first stop was the merchandise stall which wasn’t far from the entrance, and I purchased two tour T-shirts at $45 each, in which the merch dudes were trying to get people to go to the merch stall at the other end which was just as busy. Then we went in search of our seats which were incredibly easy to find as it turned out we were on the very end of the row, so I called shotgun and took the very end seat.

While the summer sun went down, and the natural light faded from the dome a few video segments played promoting Musicaid.

Eventually the mystery supporting act took the stage, a local band Sleepwalker whom I hadn’t heard of before. Only for them to say this was only their tenth Live performance, which to me is quite an accomplishment in itself. I wasn’t able to really get into their set as I was surrounded by general conversation as people who as they didn’t know any of their songs just talked their way through the set. For their genre they were pretty good considering their limited experience as a band. I felt bad for them as the crowd weren’t reacting very much at the beginning when they were asking us to make some noise, the first few times nobody did, but as the set built momentum they began to earn nods and arms in the air.

Another wait ensued as the stage crew climbed up to their places in the rigging above the stage to do the lighting effects and the Linkin Park Underground members emerged from backstage to join the crowd. I finally said “I wish it would hurry up and start” and immediately the venue lights went out and the lighting effects and visual effects on the screen came to life, and me and my concert buddy giggled because my timing was spot on.

Linkin Park were awesome, the sound was as perfect as a studio album. The sweetest moment would have been when they pulled Monty one of the members of the Linkin Park Underground on stage to play guitar with them on “Faint”. In which Monty attempted to cover every inch of the stage as he played the chords. As “Faint” drew to the end Monty was met with cheers and Bennington hugged Monty, and told the crowd “Monty had done a great job it isn’t easy to play in front of so many people”. I was smiling the entire time because I know to a fan like Monty those few minutes would have meant so much, and it just shows how much Linkin Park appreciate the fans to allow him to play with them.

There was very little talking by Linkin Park between songs, the night just flowed on flawlessly from song to song.

I was having the time of my life; until we got up to the part I should have enjoyed the most. My favourite Linkin Park songs “Numb” and “Breaking The Habit” so of course I started singing a little louder only to be met by my concert buddy elbowing me and telling me to sing quieter. Apparently I was singing too loud and some of the people around us were staring at me, none of which bothers me but all my concert buddy could say was “You’re embarrassing me”.  That was when it lost it’s fun, Linkin Park were still awesome and putting on the best show they possible could, but sitting down and unable to enjoy the show as I wanted, it was just like listening to one of their Live albums except I could see them on stage in the distance. During “Breaking The Habit” Bennington jumped down into the crowd singing alongside the fans.

The stage went dark, Linkin Park left and masses of people began to leave, not realising an encore was still on the agenda, after chanting and cheering Linkin Park returned to the stage for another six songs. As the final distortion amplified through the speakers in “Bleed It Out” Bennington gave one fan the very shirt off his back it was definitely the end.

Overall Linkin Park’s live performance was flawless, everything as it should have been and everything I expected. I was just disappointed it hadn’t turned out to be the big night of the year I’d hoped it to be simply due to the mood of the person I shared it with.

The Setlist:

The Requiem, Wretches and Kings, Papercut, Given Up, New Divide, Faint, Empty Spaces, When They Come For Me, No More Sorrow, Jornada del muerto, Waiting For The End, Wisdom Justice and Love, Iridescent, Numb, The Radiance, Breaking The Habit, Shadow Of The Day, Crawling, One Step Closer.

Encore:

Fallout, The Catalyst, The Messenger, In The End, What I’ve Done, Bleed It Out

One of my favourite albums from 2010. Good Charlotte’s fifth studio album it also commemorates the decade milestone for them as a band, no album is ever the same as they pride themselves on continuing to grow and learn they don’t want to write the same kind of album over and over just because it sells. Once again they’ve matured further in their sound since “Good Morning Revival(2007)” but this time there’s really something for everyone as they went back and really mixed the sounds of all four previous albums into the one album. You’ve got the pop melodies of “Good Charlotte(2000)” the rock sound of “The Young and the Hopeless (2002)” the instrumental experimentation of “The Chronicles Of Life and Death(2004) and the dance vibes of “Good Morning Revival(2007)” in songs like “Like It’s Her Birthday” “Last Night” and “Sex On The Radio” to which Benji Madden or Joel Madden could easily include in one of their DJ sets without changing the atmosphere too much. As the title suggests all the songs are somehow connected to the heart as the main theme of the album whether it be with being in love, breaking up, family, or the fans, there’s even a love song to god in “Right Where I Belong”. I found it interesting through listening more carefully they seem to have carried the cardiology theme into the instrumental as most songs have a steady beat that could easily match the rhythm of a heart beating whether it be through the drums, bass or guitars.

Song by song review, WARNING: this could be long, I tend to get carried away when talking about Good Charlotte.

INTRODUCTION TO CARDIOLOGY 

In honesty usually I’m not a huge fan of introductions, and quite often skip them in order to get to the heart of an album a lot quicker, but this one is certainly very different from your average intro, they’ve taken the chorus from the title track “Cardiology” and made an arrangement that really eases you into the feel of the album and entices the senses giving a taste of what’s to be served up in the rest of the album… I definately won’t bother skipping this one when listening to the album from start to finish.

LET THE MUSIC PLAY 

One of my favourite songs from the album, it was the one I’d been waiting to hear since Benji’s famous blog post back in January… knowing so many of us in the #GCFAM inspired it when we flooded the blog with our comments of support, and stories of how Good Charlotte had helped us through the hard times. It’s the song that takes the place of Hold On and March On, from their previous albums… that song that in your darkest moments you can just listen too and draw inspiration from and reminds us that in the end everything’s going to be alright. This one in particular means so much to me, because I am one of the kids who when life gets too hard I fall into the music and let it hold me until it gets better or figure out what I’m going to do next, there’s barely a day that goes by I don’t listen to music, because I can always find a song which accompanies the moment as though my life was a movie and the song was written for the soundtrack…

Favourite Lyric: 

  “There’s no way to explain why life is filled with so much pain, but do the flowers ever grow in the places it don’t rain?”

COUNTING THE DAYS 

This one kinda reminds me of “Motivation Proclamation”from the 2000 release “Self Titled” it has that vibe where you’ve realised something’s not working and it’s either figure it out and fix it or move on… Like your life’s stuck in a repetition, like a record that’s broken it plays the same bit over and over… which holds a lot of truth for me at the moment, because every day plays out the same for me at the moment, the joys of being unemployed, eat, sleep, job hunt and a whole lot of doing nothing important in between… it also fits in with the fans because we’re forever counting the days until we get to go to a Good Charlotte show or counting down to a Good Charlotte cd release etc.

Favourite Lyric: 

 “You’re gone it echoes, I miss the noise of all our fighting”

SILVER SCREEN ROMANCE 

One of the stand out love songs on the album, about the perfect fairy tale romances that live on forever in the black and white Hollywood films of the late 1930’s early 1940’s, clearly referenced through the lyrics, the kind of love we all dream about one day experiencing… The bridge captures the era perfectly with the melodic barbershop quartet style harmonies from Benji and Joel. (I’m not sure of the actual genre, I was just thinking of when Homer formed the B sharps in The Simpsons)

 Favourite Lyric: 

 “You’re my Bette Davis, I’m you’re my Carey Grant, let’s make love all night, forget about the prohibition, the great depressions over let’s have a drink to that, we’ll stay young forever living in a silver screen romance”

 LIKE IT’S HER BIRTHDAY 

 Clearly the fun song on the record, and one of the few which really have a Good Morning Revival feel, it would be quite fitting for Benji or Joel to throw it into the middle of one of their DJ sets without changing the atmosphere. It’s one of the few I relate to the least on CARDIOLOGY only because I’m the polar opposite of a “like it’s her birthday” girl, yet it still manages to get me dancing around and singing along acting crazy when I hear it. The highlight is Billy’s guitar solo, I remember being speechless when I first heard it, and it’s still my favourite part of the song. Lyrically it really does captivate your Friday and Saturday night bar and club scenes from what I witness on the rare occasions I get dragged out amongst the scene, where I’m the mostly sober person headbanging, flicking my hair around and doing air guitar to the techno music the DJ plays that I really don’t connect to, often the most fun part is witnessing the crazy stuff all the drunk people are doing, the memories…

Favourite Lyric: 

 “She’s so wasted, acting crazy, making a scene, Like it’s her birthday, drinking champagne, going insane, falling on me, Like it’s her birthday”

LAST NIGHT 

The perfect follow up to “Like It’s Her Birthday” capturing the morning/ day after the big night out. One of my favourite songs from CARDIOLOGY simply because it has one of the catchiest choruses on the album, it really gets stuck in my head, I forever catch myself singing it around the house. I loved it the first time I heard the thirty second preview on itunes. I’ve never woken up the next morning to not remember what happened the night before, but Last Night definately reminds me of mornings after EPIC concerts from your favourite bands where you wake up and wonder momentarily if that happened or if you were dreaming, and your really happy when you realise your ears are still ringing because it’s the sign it did in fact happen.

Favourite Lyric: 

“The more we heard the music the more we got in sync, the more I kept you laughing the less I start to think, the last thing I remember you said this place is beat”

 SEX ON THE RADIO

Another fun catchy song, you can’t help but sing and dance along to whether it’s on the stereo, the radio or whilst your walking across the beach carpark packing up the car guarding the portable radio with your life because “Sex on the radio” just came on the airwaves. It captures the relationship between the listener and the artist perfectly I know for most of the #GCFAM at one time or another Good Charlotte have been sex on the radio, we fell in love with the sound before we noticed the people creating the music… and they definately have songs I’ve listened too at times and I could have sworn they were singing about me. In all honesty I could also say it also reminds me of the theme of today’s music being much more sexualised there’s definately times I’ve turned on the radio and there’s been some pop chick making sounds that really could have been “sex on the radio” not naming any names though.

Favourite Lyric: 

“I love the songs she sings, coz when I turn around it’s like she’s singing to me, and every word she means like it could be about me”

ALIVE 

Probably my favourite of favourite songs from CARDIOLOGY, I love it when Joel sings but when Benji takes over lead vocals it really does bring a different element to the sound. ”Alive” has a real rock sound to it, with a Bon Jovi-esque sound. For me this is a special song because I dedicated it to my pet hermit crabs Benji, Joel, Billy, Paul and Dean (Butternutz) named after Good Charlotte whom I got throughout the week “Cardiology” was released.. I wouldn’t have believed it but the hermit crabs really did make me feel alive again for the first time in a very long time and taught me it is possible for me to love, and now a few months later even though Paul the hermit crab has passed on, brutally murdered by his friends it reminds me of the good times we shared together.. R.I.P hermit Paul Thomas.

Favourite Lyric: 

“As we float out above the clouds, I swear I’ll never let you down” 

 AND

“Heaven’s heard me calling the stars have all aligned your touch is so electric, and looking in your eyes, I’ve never felt so alive” 

STANDING OVATION 

A beautiful song, inspired by the pitter patter of little feet, all the children who have come into their lives since the last album. Telling their kids no matter how far away they are from them at any moment, they’re proud of them. Sending all of us a positive message to take our time to enjoy the beautiful smaller moments in our lives with the special people we hold close to our hearts and no matter what the world throws our way to just embrace the fact we’re alive, Inspiring us to go out and get our dreams.

Favourite Lyric: 

“Out the window of a train the cities go by so fast just like the days I watch you grow, and one day you will walk away from everything you know the standing ovations for you” 

AND

 “Can’t you see the world is on their feet for you and me, and it’s alright you got me coz even when I’m gone I’ll never leave, so go on and get your dreams”

HARLOW’S SONG (CAN’T DREAM WITHOUT YOU) 

One of my favourite songs off the album, the very first time I heard it, tears fell down my face like morning dew (no pun intended)… it’s just so beautiful. You can hear the passion and love Joel has for Harlow in his voice. It’s a very personal song for them and I know Harlow will hold it close to her heart… I think the most awesome part about this song is it doesn’t matter where Joel is in the world, she can just press play and know just how much her daddy loves her, and as she gets older it’s going to make all the difference, I listen to it and it gives me the hope my father feels the same way about me, he just doesn’t know how to say or show it… thanks for putting it on the album, it really has a more mature sound to it that I love… I was surprised when I first heard it at the depth of darkness it has, but it fits it so well.. and it comes alive with the heart beat bass/drum line in the background.. I’d love to hear it in it’s original form with just the piano and vocals though.

Favourite Lyric: 

“Let your fire burn bright for the world to see, you were the better part of me, when you hold my hand I swear that I believe I’m living in my wildest dreams”. 

 INTERLUDE: THE FIFTH CHAMBER 

A beautifully composed instrumental break which really does sound like a symphony of being inside a beating heart, the instruments work together creating a constant flow of life to the piece, the same way blood moves around the heart and body giving us life.

1979 

 Another of my favourites, the song with the catchiest chorus and one of the most important songs from the album… I love how the sound is raw and more stripped down because it truly brings more emphasis to the story in the song. Good Charlotte are known for singing about their anger with their father in earlier albums, this is the follow up and just shows how much they’ve grown up in front of our eyes over the past ten years. Now looking back at their childhood and after reuniting with their father, they’ve not only forgiven but they’ve acknowledged at the end of the day like most parents their father was only doing what he thought was right, out of that came this beautiful song which tells the story of the better times in their childhood when everything was alright, in this case Benji and Joel’s very first summer in 1979. Howard Benson has no idea what he was talking about shortening the verses, because they are what brings the meaning to the song, it’s the verses that tell the Madden’s story. At the end of the day 1979 was an important year not only were Benji and Joel born who would eventually bring us what we know today as Good Charlotte, but for me it was also the year my parents would meet, and like Roger and Robin the relationship wasn’t built to last… but if they hadn’t of tried to make it work, I wouldn’t be here now. More importantly “1979” has forced me to look back to the happier times of my own childhood, and while it was complicated having my parents living separated under the same roof for around ten years, though my dad was a workaholic so he never was around much and we didn’t really communicate at the end of the day they were only trying to do what was right by us kids… For the record things got better between me and my dad when he did move out, I knew he realised what he missed of me growing up when he’d visit with something about Good Charlotte cut from the gossip section of the newspaper or informing me of an upcoming Good Charlotte TV appearance, these days he’d rather listen to me talk about Good Charlotte, than not talk to me at all, kind of ironic since I found Good Charlotte right when things got really bad between us… Thank you Good Charlotte.

Favourite Lyric: 

“Oh Oh The kids were alright, Highway to hell beat out staying alive, the clash was on the radio and mum and dad were still in love, in 1979, it was a good good year” 

AND

“Disco couldn’t survive, with The Dream, Police and rock n roll high. Nobody had heard of us and mum and dad brought their first house in 1979 it was a good good year” 

THERE SHE GOES 

A beautiful song, with the classic Good Charlotte feel to it. Said to be about Benji and Joel’s mother so it’s kind of a follow up to “Thank you mom” ten years later they still sing of her as beautiful, in the special way all mothers are. One thing time doesn’t change is the bond between mother and child. It’s a song of nostalgia and reflection, remembering where we’re from and what we’ve left behind, who we used to be and who we have become, and the wonderful person who gave us life, wiped our tears, shared in our laughter and always there to tell us we’d be alright, I’ll definitely miss my mother when things change and I can afford to leave the nest..

Favourite Lyric: 

“I feel so far away from everything I used to be, so I just hang my head and feel ashamed like there’s nothing I can do”  

RIGHT WHERE I BELONG 

One of the highlight songs from “Cardiology”. To say it simply “Right where I belong” is a love letter to God, and even though I’m not really religious (I haven’t been to church since I was a toddler… we stopped going after my grandad died). I still love the song; despite its meaning it’s not preachy in the slightest and can definitely be interpreted into just knowing we’re all right where we belong, where we are supposed to be in our lives. I can honestly say this song changed my life… Once again I’ve found myself unemployed through no fault of my own, and both this song and what Benji and Joel said in a Live video chat.. really spoke to me. I realised I’d sacrificed my dreams for a dead end job which was never going to take me anywhere and that I really am right where I belong.. I needed to lose that job to realise my heart still belongs to achieving my dreams, I started believing again and now I’m taking the steps to go to university.. “Right Where I Belong” definitely has a powerful message.

 Favourite Lyric: 

“I didn’t have a reason for when I stopped believing, but I needed you to know that I’m right where I belong” 

AND 

“No matter how far I drift again, you keep a light on for me, out here so I can find my way back home” 

CARDIOLOGY 

“Cardiology” the title track of the album, really sums up the theme of the album, with all the songs related to the heart. From the way it feels different kinds of love for the special people in our lives and guides us through our relationships and life decisions. To the technology of Cardiology the science of the heart. I love the difibrulator in the background it symbolises the ending of the album and reminds me of the heart monitor in the beginning and end of the song “The Chronicles of Life and Death”. For me “Cardiology” reminds me of my pop who passed away when a blood clot went to his heart the day before the Australian release date of “Cardiology” just in the way even though he’s gone on without me he’s still very much alive in my own heart. R.I.P Pop.

Favourite Lyric: 

“Is there a formula that could possibly explain, what can feel so good can bring you so much pain” 

AND 

“Take apart this heart, tell me where to start, no book that I can find has the answer medicine can’t cure the fact that I’m still yours even though you’ve gone on without me”

Awesome album with a real positive vibe compared to their older stuff, yet up there as some of their best work yet… can’t wait to hear what they create next.

Gee that is long, if you’re still reading… thank you =)

It was 10/10/10 nearly a month later, I still think it’s a pretty awesome date for a concert… Anyway after around three months of waiting the day was finally here..

My sister and I left home at around 4.45pm mainly due to how bad parking has been at the venue in the past, we listened to Paramore’s latest album “Brand New Eyes” all the way there, we arrived at the venue to find it was a lot easier to get a parking space than we’d intended with the redevelopment of the venue… we paid our $8 parking fee and headed over to the merchandise stand where I got two Paramore T-Shirts at $45 each… once I was sorted I headed back to the car and discreetly changed my T-Shirt in the backseat of the car as my Level 27 clothing T-Shirt held no relevance, from there we went and queued up at our entrance door corresponding with our tickets…

It was freezing cold with the sea breeze blowing even though I was wearing my leather jacket and we had to wait for at least an hour, I’d say it felt like a very long time anyway… Our indication we’d be going in soon came with the cheers and screams of the front of stage standing queue below us as they gained access, understandable when you think most of them would have been queued up most of the day in attempt to get as close to the stage as possible… Finally we gained access and took our seats in the front row of the back seating section, it then took a little while to warm up.

At 7.30pm the lights went out and the opening band “THE JURY AND THE SAINTS” took the stage. This was the first time I’d even heard of them, not surprising as this was their first performance outside their home country of New Zealand, which was evident in the energy they held on stage, you could feel their excitement as they came out star jumping and quickly got the front floor standing joining them, making fun of their New Zealand accents and laughing at their own jokes, you could just tell they were excited to be taking the stage… The highlights of their set were when Hayley Williams of Paramore came out wearing a mask and took over the drums so the “THE JURY AND THE SAINTS” drummer could backflip across the stage, and the crowd got into it as they did a cover of Taio Cruz’s Dynamite..

After a little more waiting…

Around 8.30pm the secnd band “Relient K” took the stage, I have the feeling since they’ve been around quite a long time I probably should have heard of them before but although I have heard the the name of the band, I’d never actually heard their music before… lyrically I’m sure they were pretty good but like most of the concert it was hard to hear the vocals over the instruments, it was like they should have been running the sound off a fader system and brought the mics to the instruments down a notch… but overall they were pretty good, they seemed to have a much longer set than the first band but the highlight would have been their cover to the old 80’s classic Toto’s Out Of Africa as it was the one song the entire crowd had heard before so everyone got into it… other than that the crowd didn’t move very much song after song.

After of which a black curtain fell as the stage began to be rearranged and we were back to waiting…

Around 9.30pm the lights went out the sound of rumbling feet errupted from the seating area, the black curtain opened revealing a white sheet with strategically placed spotlights revealing the silhouettes of Paramore, the crowd roared with cheer as the white sheet was removed completely… and the band started playing… man did Hayley ROCK.. she dropped her microphone fairly early on and laughed it off saying she does it at least once every show,

A couple of songs in a black curtain once again covered the stage and Hayley stepped into the spotlight and belted out a acoustic cover of Loretta Lynn’s Not Woman Enough to give the fans a sense of the small country town of Franklin, Tennessee where Paramore are from.. the curtain reopened revealing a couch had been pulled out from back stage and did an acoustic set which was probably one of the highlights of the show because with the softer sound of the instruments Hayley wasn’t being over powered and having to scream to be heard, everything was harmonious… which really allowed the talent of this young band to shine because the sound was studio album perfect and it was a good time to pull out the mobile phones and lighters..

The couch was taken away and Paramore swung back to the rockier songs, Full kudos to Hayley for the next part, she got the entire audience to stand for the rest of the show, which was what I’d been itching to do all along since I was in the reserved seating section, a few guys down the front refused to stand, so Hayley worked her way to the side of stage starting off a staring contest with them and kept telling them to stand, they still refused to budge, so she threatened to go over to them and make them get up, they still didn’t.. so with help from security she jumped over the guard rail, and pulled them up… the crowd cheered and the show continued.. and on the last song a waterfall of orange sparks erupted behind the band..

Sooner than I would have liked, Paramore left the stage… the crowd roared and foot stomping from the seating echoed requesting an encore, so they came out for another two songs, in which the crowd sung along word for word nearly as loud as Hayley herself the song ended and we knew it was over as soon as the drumsticks got thrown into the crowd… the band walked off stage waving to the crowd as the crowd still stood in a standing ovation..

All in all it was an awesome night out with some really talented young bands who show potential for a really big future, the performances were faultless, the only thing I could criticise is the sound which in no way was any of the bands fault.. if anything it would fall back on either the technical crew or the venue because it wasn’t originally designed for concerts, it’s just that there’s limited concert venues in my hometown… but at the end of the night I’d had fun regardless and that was the important thing =) If Paramore happened to tour here again I’d be there in the ticket line before you could say Paramore..

The Setlist included: Ignorance, Feeling Sorry, That’s What You Get, For A Pessimist I’m Pretty Optimistic, Emergency, Playing God, Careful, Decode, Not Woman Enough (Loretta Lynn Cover) When It Rains (acoustic), Where The Lines Overlap (acoustic), Misguided Ghosts (acoustic), Crushcrushcrush, Pressure, Looking Up, The Only Exception,

ENCORE: Brick By Boring Brick, Misery Business

It was around 11pm when we headed back to the car, I was a little bummed my 3rd concert was over, but I had the memories to last a lifetime, and the ringing in my ears a temporary reminder of what the night had been..

Friday night the 4th December was by far one of my more definative moments of my live. A day which enables me to tell future generations, I once saw future hall of fame inductees GREEN DAY perform LIVE it was so bloody brilliant so fucking amazing it’s hard to find words to describe it…

I’m definately glad I got out of going to work to go, since originally I was rostered on for night fill with the impending Christmas rush, but of course I never would have missed Green Day for anything. 

It was 4.30pm and even though it was 37 degrees celcius outside being the beginning of summer, I was wearing black jeans (but nothing was going to stop me wearing my concert jeans with the band patches I’d hand sewn on) and my black green day band shirt…

I was really excited as my sister drove us to the show with GREEN DAY cranking on the stereo, we were singing along.. We parked the car and walked around to our entrance point corresponding with our tickets and hit the merch stand where me and my sister both got two green day t shirts $50 a shirt but they’re actual tour shirts with the different cities and dates on the back and the other just has the perth date across it and we both got a program $25 each and then we needed something to carry it all in so I paid another $20 for a cotton Green Day bag.

We took our seats towards the back of the grandstand so we were watching them front on and we were about the middle it definately wasn’t as far back as I imagined we’d be and we were also toward the middle of the row…pretty awesome seats.

First out was JET and my sister was disappointed they only played for 40 minutes… but I can’t deny I was there for Green Day. The crew moved Green Day’s gear in and then we were entertained by a pink bunny whom my sister thinks may have been Billie Joe himself but it could have been anyone, I really wasn’t close enough to say for sure.. they were playing Michael Jackson on the speakers and the bunny was acting drunk and tried to moon walk then they played the village people YMCA and he was doing the action and then the moment I was waiting for arrived.

“song of the century” began to play which led into “21st century breakdown” I pulled out my phone to photograph the stage because they had graphics on the screen behind which was a city to find a missed call and call 101 message I hit the button to see whom the call was from and it was work so I took the photo and shut my phone again knowing I’d deal with it later…

Green Day had awesome grahics on their screens and the crowd involvement was awesome for one song they got a little kid I’d say no older than 12 up on stage,  the catch he had to be sacrificed which pretty much meant he stood on stage waving his arms and when Billie Joe gave him the cue and the pyrotechnics went off like gun shots he had to lay down and play dead well until Billie Joe gave him a helping hand to get up… and then as the crowd at the front got all hot in the mosh and people started getting carried out on stretchers Billie started wetting the crowd with a super soaker and then the crew brought out another and Billie got another kid up and handed him the spare super soaker and he began wetting the audience and later on he pulled a few girls out the front to run around the stage and sing for him not that you could understand the words they were singing but yeah they also threw toilet paper into the crowd and shot out t-shirts, we were too far back though

They played heaps of songs both old and new too many to recall although there are definately a whole heap I could name that they didn’t play, even though the 2.5 hours straight they played…I’m happy to say it was mostly music we heard there wasn’t much long winded talking between songs.. except for Billie recalling his past few days in Perth how Danny Green a perth boxer won his fight which took place over east but they saw at a sports bar and he liked the fact his last name is Green and as he’s a perth man he made a remark that it really has been a Green week for Perth and then toward the end they played “Last Night On Earth” and he changed one of the words to perth and said I just made that up and went on about how beautiful our city is with the river and the beaches etc, (which of course they’d do in every city and just change the name) and thanking all their support band extra guitarists and brass saxaphones and keyboards… and they did a 5 song encore once we screamed for them to come back the very last song “Good riddance” of course

but I have videos of parts of “Boulevard of broken dreams”and “21 Guns” my sister laughed at me all night because there were lots of pyrotechnics and everytime I still jumped whether it was the first or I don’t know the 20th lol the only bad part the smell of vomit because four rows below us someone yacked so glad I wasn’t closer to that because I have a feeling it may have gotten some innocent bystanders YUCK just because it was all over the floor of that row and the seats and floor of the one in front as well as the floor of the one in front of that but that’s what happens when you drink alcohol before hand and then go to a concert on a hot summer night seeing as it smelt like it had vodka in it not that you’d want to know about vomit so I’ll shut up he he.

The Set List consisted of ~ 21st Century Breakdown, Song Of The Century, Know Your Enemy, East Jesus Nowhere, Holiday, Static Age, Give Me Novocaine, Are We The Waiting, St Jimmy, Boulevard Of Broken Dreams, 2000 Light Years Away, Hitchin’A Ride, When i Come Around, Highway To Hell (AC/DC cover), Brainstew, Jaded, Longview, Basketcase, She, 21 Guns, Minority…

The Encore ~ American Idiot, Jesus Of Suburbia… then Billie Joe stayed for an acoustic Encore ~ Last Night On Earth, Wake Me Up When September Ends and of course you know it’s over when they play Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life).. 

I was a little sad and disappointed it was all over but we laughed as we got sucked out the doors of the dome, and drove home singing along to Green Day of course, but they’re definately an act I’d see again.