Bored and loud.

I’ve been looking forward to this show for months, since I heard it announced in fact. Three bands that I cannot stop listening to, and that keep releasing good albums - it was bound to be at least a little impressive.

I found Festival Hall just fine, despite only checking directions just before I left. Found my door and waved my ID and went in (leaving a chick who was in the queue in front of me waiting because they didn’t trust her ID. I didn’t see her come in.) My seat was pretty far away, but with the room not being so deep, it wasn’t an issue - I could see just fine. I was most grateful for the seat, especially after I started to feel a bit sick during Atreyu (totally unrelated, I’m sure!)

The build-up to Atreyu was electric. I was a little apprehensive, as having a singing drummer is often difficult to induce stage presence; these boys had no trouble whatsoever. The audience kicked up and went crazy - including me - and they played a great mix of their songs - not all new stuff. An amazing start to the night.

Avenged Sevenfold were on next, and as they set up the lights I was hypnotised - it was stunning. I suddenly wished I’d been photographing the show, they would have been amazing! Thankfully I wasn’t, as it let me enjoy the whole show from my seat. I haven’t seen these boys since their ‘Waking the Fallen’ tour - years ago now! However, their presence and skill of holding the attention of hundreds hasn’t changed a bit. Their show involved mostly songs from the last 2 albums as I remember, but it was so enjoyable. During the second song, I noticed that side of stage, was a pantless girl. I’m unsure why, but yes, no pants. Little black french cut undies and a red top that kept riding up. She was rocking out hard though, enjoying every minute, so go for it I guess! Finishing with ‘A Little Piece of Heaven’, they held everyone’s attention until the last second. And deserved every little bit of it.

Last up was a band I wasn’t into as much as the other two, but was still looking forward to, to complete the set if you like. Their set-up required much more effort, involving a huge white sheet hung at the front of the stage - immediately obvious that it was to show the silhouettes. How cheesy. It reminded me so much of their new album - anthemic, generic and cheese-rock. However, as it started, it was obviously going to go down well - all the seated people stood, all the standing people went crazy, and even partook in a wall of death (albeit a small and quite pathetic one - obviously they didn’t want to mess up their fringes.)

The entire show was done by 10.30pm - being an all ages show. I was grateful, being tired and sick, but it was so reminiscent of London shows with their silly curfew so you can catch the last train. At least I could still catch a tram home, a relatively empty one at that, and get an early night.

I was apprehensive about reading this before I’d looked up some history of the Beslan school siege, and I read a couple of the BBC news stories from the time before I even opened the book. However, when I did, I was hooked immediately. The initial chapters let us know that the entire book will span 3 days, which scared me that the story would be grossly disappointing with too much details. However, I was mistaken, and found it to be a great read.

The book follows the story of 6 women who were caught in the siege, who want to get their revenge. Included in the story is a lot of Chechen and Russian culture, as well as societal observations from during the siege. The way in which the women get revenge is disgustingly fascinating - I feel bad for being so interested, and although some of the details of the explosives are probably hit and miss (no pun intended), the rest is cruelly impressive.

It is not exactly a happy book, nor one for the faint-hearted. It is however, interesting, eye-opening, and occasionally predictable. Particularly the ending. However, despite being predictable, it was not overly disappointing as it could have been. It does however, end very quickly.

This book can now be added to my ‘read after seeing the movie and regretting it’ list. Same goes for Trainspotting and several others that escape me at the moment.

Reading the introduction to it, I realised I might actually struggle with the nadsat language used, but after just a chapter, it wasn’t an issue. The context is plenty, and it definitely adds to the story - especially towards the end where it’s use is slightly decreased. Often I have trouble with complex language in books because I don’t take my time reading it - reading aloud would be okay, but reading to myself not. Thankfully this was fine, fantastic even, it’s a fascinating use of words.

The story itself, if my memory serves me right, differs from the book slightly. Probably because I can’t remember the movie so much (it’s been a few years), I found the book to have a lot more substance and story. It could just be that I’ve forgotten details, but it’s no surprise that I’d prefer a book over the movie. It’s also started to renew my interest in how the mind works, and the nature/nurture and conditioning debates. I didn’t enjoy studying psychology at school, but I still find the subject interesting and this definitely made me think a lot more about it.

I’d highly recommend this book to anyone that asked. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s definitely worth a read at some point. Then watch the movie, because it’s pretty damn good as I remember. Must watch that again.

Having never heard of this book, the title and cover caught my eye when my friend was reading it, so I borrowed it after she was done. The beginning got me hooked and I started reading intently, but soon found it was going nowhere. A slight twist on a murder mystery, I thought it’d be fast-paced and dramatic, but what little drama it had, was not particularly thrilling.

The story turned into more of a societal observation of many areas of rich coastline in Europe - how people move there but retreat into their own houses within their gated communities. With the twist of one man changing it, of course.

Overall I wasn’t overly impressed, and the ending was most certainly an anti-climax. Although there was no build up, so I’m not sure I can really call it that! The ideas and observations of the society were interesting enough, but could have been done much better - same goes for the murder aspect.

Cocaine Nights - JG Ballard