July Gigs Round-Up

My second instalment of monthly posts all about what gigs I have been to. See what I got up to last month, here! Those with a * are gigs I got passes to through Jukely. 

Private Life @ The Monarch

At my cousins wedding in June, I got chatting to the guitarist of the wedding band. It turned out he was from London and also plays in an indie rock band. So I found them on Facebook and brought Amy along with me to check them out. Would you believe it, they are bloody good! Great harmonies and a definite 80's vibe.

Meilyr Jones @ The Victoria*

This guy might just be the best Jukely find ever! He only had 1 song on Spotify at the time, which was a bit of a ballad – just Meilyr and his piano. We were expecting more of the same beautiful mellow music, much like his first single. Oh how we were wrong! Meilyr is definitely one to watch out for. After opening with his lovely slow piano piece, he suddenly comes alive when he’s joined by the rest of the band which includes trumpets and bongo drums!

Jools Holland @ Kew Gardens

I managed to get tickets to this gig through Jukely, but not as part of my subscription. Lucky me won these tickets! I brought along fellow blogger (and name sharer) Charlie. We came armed with Prosecco and beers, and grabbed some food from the various stalls they had on site. Unfortunately it was pretty packed by the time we got there, so we sat at the back, relaxing to the music.

The Specials @ Kew Gardens*

Two days later, Charlie and I were back at Kew Gardens for The Specials, this time in the rain. A wet, soggy picnic, how very British! We didn't let it dampen our spirits (pardon the pun!) and had a fantastic evening doing our best ska dancing (evident in Charlie's Snapchats of the evening!).

Huw Stephens Presents… @ The Social

Meilyr Jones announced he would be playing this monthlynight put on by Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens, at his gig the previous week. There was also support from Trevor Sensor, HMS Morris and Lusts. Meilyr was definitely the highlight of the evening. We even managed to grab a quick pic with him!

Telegram @ Electrowerkz*

Another random Jukely gig! This was my first time at Electrowerkz, and I really loved this quirky venue with cute outdoor bar and creepy Frankenstein décor. The crowd for this one were very psychedelic, with both sexes sporting long hair and paisley shirts. I even spotted some members from Temples and Toy! The lead singer for support band Tourism had a deliciously dark voice. Telegram closed the evening with a great bouncing energy.

Citadel Festival @ Victoria Park

Me and Amy attended this 1 day festival the day following a house party, so we were feeling a little fragile. Luckily for us, this was more chilled out compared to other festivals, headlined by acoustic maverick Ben Howard. Personal highlights were Dan Croll and Leon Bridges. You can read my full post about it here!

The Drums @ Koko*

I've been a fan of The Drums for quite a few years now, so was really looking forward to finally getting the chance to see them live. They were electric! The lead singer certainly has some moves.

Darwin Deez @ Village Underground

Darwin Deez seemed to have disappeared over the last 5 or so years, but now he’s back! This guy is always fun to go see live. Darwin and his live band add silly, funky dance moves inbetween every couple of songs, which gives his live performances a little somethingsomething. There was also support from Oscar and rocking girl group Hinds.

King Charles @ Bush Hall*

When I spotted passes to see King Charles on Jukely, I snapped them straight up! I hadn't listened much to his music, but I had heard great things about him. Bush Hall was the perfect setting for this finely dressed gentleman. His backing band for the evening was none other than Mumford and Sons!! What a ruddy great show it was!

Did you manage to catch any of these artists in July? Who do you plan to see in August?

I've written a post all about why I go to so many gigs, which you can read here!

Citadel Festival 2015

I'm going to start with a little bit of advice; don’t decide to have a house party the night before going to an all-day music festival. This is exactly what happened when Me and Amy went to Citadel Festival. Luckily, it wasn't so bad for us as Citadel isn't the type of festival for full on moshing and dancing around like a loon. This brand new one day festival is on the Sunday following 2 day festival, Lovebox. Citadel is to be treated as a calm-down after the electronic dance extravaganza the previous 2 nights. The artists signed up are mellower and perfect for easy listening in the sun.

First up was Tor Miller on the Communion Presents stage. I was quite gutted to have missed out on seeing Tor earlier this year, so was happy we had managed to drag our hungover asses to Vicky Park in time for his set. He was the perfect start to our somewhat fragile day, with his beautiful voice over sweet piano melodies.

Next up were punky babes, Honeyblood, who gave us the wake up kick we really needed before we took a wander around the rest of the festival site, picking up a cocktail ice lolly from Lickalix on the way. I was extremely glad to find some vintage stalls where I bought a new pair of sunnies, as silly me forgot mine. Dust, breeze and my big eyes do not mix well, so they were quite the life-saver!!

It was back to the Communion Presents stage where we listened to Rhodes whilst ordering some more drinks in the sun. It’s strange that I’d heard of more of the acts on the supporting stage than on the main stage. We stuck around for Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, who were a lot of fun!

After Nathaniel, it was finally time for the 2 main acts that I was there to see. First was a firm favourite of mine, Dan Croll. I was pretty excited to hear some of his new songs from his upcoming album! After Dan, we took another wander, grabbing ourselves some food (these croquets from Croquetas Vigar were delicious, especially the chicken one!). Having filled our bellies, it was back to the Communion stage for the enigmatic Leon Bridges who took us back to the 1950’s with his swinging set. We had to miss the last 2 songs to run over and catch Bombay Bicycle Club, as I’d never seen them live before so really didn't want to miss them!

BBC had everything in their set; giant colour streamers, clouds of confetti and fantastic fireworks! We only stayed for about a third of Ben Howard’s set. He sounded lovely, but it was all just a bit too mellow for us. I'm not sure Howard is really the best festival closer. I think someone a bit more lively would've fitted better. We did pretty well at sticking around for so long, seeing as we were in quite the fragile state for most of the day! So it was off home to bed, but not before getting a few snaps of the fairground as we left.

Did anyone else manage to get along to this new festival? Who did you see? Was there anyone that you didn't manage to catch but wish you had? I'd love to hear about your experiences in the comments below!

Be sure to check out my monthly gig round-up for July to see who else I caught live!

Thanks for reading :)

DealSale App Wishlist

I was contacted by Daisy at DealSale to give their mobile app a try. Unfortunately, their app is not available for my Windows phone, but luckily for me, I have a great friend in Amy as she let me download the app on her phone. I was kindly given a free spend of $20, which also included any postage costs.

I thought I’d put together a little wishlist of things that took my fancy. As these are all from an app, it’s a bit harder to give you specific links, but it’s very easy to search for some of the keywords from the item titles.

These shorts look so pretty and comfy. I've been debating over the skulls or the blue paisley. At only $4.30, I might just go for both!

It might just be because the weather has turned a little cold and wet, but I really fancy snuggling up with a hot chocolate in this jumper dress

How adorable is this kitty print dress? I really like the cat face detail around the short sleeves.

I know, I know, I already have an endless amount of striped clothing, but this one comes with added pretty flowers on the shoulders. A lovely little twist on a classic design.

This sweet lacy cape can transform any dress/top. For when a necklace just isn't enough.

Make sure you come back to see what I decided to order, and to read my full review of the DealSale app.