Barn On The Farm 2013 Review

Hello again! I've just about recovered from my first ever music festival which was Barn On The Farm,  and holy cow was it a good one to start with! Never have I been so warm but chilled out at the same time.

The actual set up of this little gem of a festival was great, a cosy field with a little 100m or so dirt road from the 

camping field to the barns, which wasn't too bad in the heatwave that we had. The food and drinks were decently priced and the toilets, which I think EVERYONE was dreading, were actually not too bad (they had an actual flush, toilet paper at all times AND hand sanitizer!!!).

As you could probably tell by reading my previous reviews, the acts in this festival were exactly my sort of thing (I've put a cross next to the acts we saw). I was really worried that there would be some clashes, like Nina Nesbitt, Lauren Aquilina and Leo Stannard, but luckily when an act had finished there was a gap long enough for the one of the other artist's sets on another stage, and I don't think we ended up having any clashes at all!

Everyone we saw was truly incredible, but these are the people that I've never seen live before and definitely stood out to me:

Leo Stannard - I've been hoping to see this guy since his mahogany sessions and he is such a treat live! 

Dog Is Dead - Gutted I couldn't see them in April, but the wait to see them live was definitely worth it. They have so much energy live and had everyone jumping about!

Hudson Taylor - B E A U T I F U L Irish lads with accents and singing voices to die for, definitely worth a listen.

Matt Corby - Someone on here told me to listen to him a few months ago and his voice is incredible, but live his voice is just so powerful, he definitely doesn't hold back or play it safe there! The sound of everyone singing that bit from Brother is definitely something that will stay with me forever.

What made this weekend ever better was that we got to meet a whole load of the acts, which you can see on the flickr account I just created for it, (the link for it HERE if it doesn't appear on my profile).

As a whole, absolutely incredible weekend which I look forward to going to next year, I should definitely remember to put sun cream on my shoulders, and ostriches are scary!

(And a very Happy Birthday to Nina Nesbitt who turns 19 today and played a great set featuring a few new songs from the album which is 'nearly done' and is definitely one of the nicest people I've met at BOTF)

The return of the Arctic Monkeys (and me to blogging!)

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Hi again! I've returned from the death-like state of revision and exams, but it's finally over and I'm blessed with the bliss of 10 weeks doing nothing until college!

While I've been away there has been a TON of great new music releases, such as a personal favourite of mine, Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines ft. T.I., Pharrell (which has pretty much been guiding me through exams) as well as the return of the Arctic Monkeys with their new album 'AM' and UK arena tour.

The recent release of their new single 'Do I Wanna Know' which peaked at #11 in the radio 1 official charts, has had over 3 million views since it was first released on their youtube channel on the 18th of June, obviously causing much interest.

The dates for their upcoming UK arena tour are:

October/November 2013

Tues 22nd Oct Newcastle Metro Radio Arena

Wed 23rd Oct Manchester Arena

Fri 25th Oct London Earls Court

Mon 28th Oct Liverpool Echo Arena

Tues 29th Oct Cardiff Motorpoint Arena

Thurs 31st Oct Birmingham LG Arena

Fri 1st Nov Glasgow Hydro

Sat 2nd Nov Sheffield Motorpoint Arena

Tickets for these shows go on sale Friday 5th July at 9am on Ticketmaster and Gigsandtours

Gigs I'm going to this year (so far!)

Last year I went to 15+ gigs, sometimes even two gigs consecutively! Luckily (ish), this year I'm going to far fewer gigs, well so far anyway... So my gig list for this year so far, is as follows:

• Feb 21st (my birthday!) - Lauren Aquilina at the Dry Bar/Night+Day bar: looking forward to this so much! A gig on my birthday from a great up and coming singer as well as great support acts (one who I've seen before at a Nina Nesbitt gig).
• March 5th - Bastille at Manchester Academy 2: me and the academy don't go well together, seeing as when I saw Nina they made me put my (bridge, not even DSLR) camera into the cloakroom which they made me pay for! Nevertheless I've seen videos of Bastille live and the atmosphere looks amazing!
• March 16th - Gabrielle Aplin at Sound Control: last time Gabrielle Aplin was in Manchester I missed out on tickets, but this time we got them nice and early. Sound control is such a nice venue and Gabrielle will definitely use her powerful voice to fill the room.
• April 8th - Imagine Dragons at Manchester Academy 2: once again at the academy, but hopefully the sound of this band will make me forget about the venue!
• June 1st - Muse at The Etihad Stadium: this will be my third time seeing Muse live and each time we have seen them live, they have outdone themselves so I definitely can't wait for this. However, I am dreading this gig slightly as I've got standing tickets! Oh well at least I'll get crushed at a great gig.

Alas, there is my gig diary for this year, however I am missing out on seeing Lewis Watson on his UK headline tour as he didn't put down a Manchester date, and hopefully Nina Nesbitt will be announcing a tour after the release of her new EP Stay Out or after her debut album (both of which will be reviewed on the day released!).

In addition to these gigs, I'm hoping to attend the Dot To Dot festival in Manchester this summer (I was gutted to miss it last year, as a few of my favourite acts performed) but this year I vow to attend it!

Virgin Media Music Awards 2013

It's that time of the year approaching again, awards season! This year, I'm taking a bigger interest into music awards and in particular, the virgin media music awards.

As you may know, I love up and coming new artists, as well as older, better known artists, but when I found out that 5 artists that I like were up for a 'Next Big Thing' award, I was truly shocked!

In the 'Next big thing' category are:

• Little Green Cars
• Tom Odell
• Nina Nesbitt
• Bastille
• Rascals
• Gabrielle Aplin
• Mikill Pane
• Angel Haze
• Foxes
• Haim
• Kodaline
• Aluna George

The ones bolded are my personal favourites to win, however I can't choose between them! I know that Haim as well, were marked as BBC Introducing's Big Thing of 2013 (previously won by Ellie Goulding and Florence and the machine). But out of the ones in bold, I really can't decide who I would want to win, they are all hard working and would deserve of the award!

In the 'Best group' category are:

• Little Mix
• JLS
• Muse
• Coldplay
• Blur
• The Stone Roses
• Girls Aloud
• The Maccabees
• The Vaccines
• Swedish House Mafia
• The Wanted (I have a real soft spot for them!)
• One Direction

I would really like any of the three in bold to win the award, the ones I would not be happy to win would be One Direction, Little Mix or JLS (I have a strong dislike for TV talent show offspring).

Who I'd like to win the other categories

Best album

• Jessie Ware - Devotion
• Mumford and Sons - Babel
• Jake Bugg - Jake Bugg
• Lana Del Rey - Born to die

Best Music Video

• Katy Perry - Wide Awake
• Lana Del Rey - Ride
• Calvin Harris ft. Florence Welch - Sweet Nothing

Best Solo Artist

• Calvin Harris
• Lana Del Rey
• Jake Bugg

I really do like the nominations for all the awards this year, although choosing who I'm going to vote for and who I want to win is really difficult, but only time will tell who's the public choose as the best!

You can vote for all the categories by clicking on the headings.

As usual, thanks for reading, and who would you like to win these awards? ☺