Some things I've written:: September 2009

So, I'm sure that you are all very well aware by now that Speech Debelle won. What do you all think about this? I don't personally have the album but I do like what I've heard of her songs. I don't think the album will be quite as strong as its contenders but the things that she's been through which have inspired her album make me think that she really does deserve the £20 000. She is an ex drug addict with no qualifications what so ever who was thrown out of her house by her mother when she was a teenager. Make of her what you will but I think that she's wonderful and I admire her strength and the fact that she sings about real things which have happened to her with real emotion.

Of course I'm a bit disappointed that Florence did not win with her beautiful album 'Lungs' as I do strongly believe that it's the best of the bunch (see my album review for more details). I'm not just saying this because I'm a huge Florence fan but the reasons that I don't think she won were:

a) She was favourite to win- The judges clearly knew this when decision making and didn't want to go for such an obvious choice

b) She has already won a Brit award- They didn't want her to win a second award, they wanted someone who hasn't won one to have it

c) Her recent increase in popularity- She doesn't really need the exposure of winning. I know a lot of people who have recently started to like Florence, simply due to the exposure that the BBC/radio1 have given her.

Other people I'd have liked to see win

The Horrors- I've bought Primary Colours recently, it's excellent and I think I'm a little bit in love with Faris Rotter/Badwan as well!

Friendly Fires- It would have been nice to see these boys win something after all of the effort they've put in to reach the exposure that they have now and thoroughly deserve!

Bat for Lashes- Beautiful album, it's a real shame that this is the time that she has lost out on winning the Mercury Music Prize.

Jack Penate- I know her wasn't nominated but he was robbed of a nomination! 'Everything is New' is a gorgeous album, it's currently in my car. I don't see why it wasn't nominated!

Predictions of Next Years Nominees

The XX- An absolutely STUNNING album, see older post for more details

Jamie T- His new album is amazing! I've never really been a huge fan of his work but this album has changed everything for me. This is a very cleverly written and produced album (he did a lot of the production himself in his home studio) which showcases his privately educated background. He's a very smart man, an incredible poet.

That's all for now but leave me a comment with your thoughts on the Mercury's!

Katie

So here's a list of who I saw!

Thursday night-

Blood Red Shoes- awesome, their new songs are great, however I though their set was a little short
Wierd clothes swap disco thing- so basically this was a big disco and whenever the klaxon sounded you had to swap clothes with someone, it was a lot of fun, the music was great too, the DJ's were excellent!

Friday-

Disnosour Pile-up- a great new band
Delphic- same as above really
Spinnerette- I had never heard of them before but they were a good rock band
Metric- they were really good and the lead singers jacket was amazing I want it!
Patrick Wolf- one of the best acts I saw all weekend, he's sooo dramatic, it's brilliant, as were his outfits. I almost touched him!
Marina and the Diamonds- loved her for 2 years so it was lovely to see her live finally! She was wonderful and was wearing a beautiful jacket also. She did a good cover of space in the woods by late of the pier!
You me and six- fucking terrible and some of their fans were munching each others facing off, disgusting
The Maccabees- rather good although, the tent was very, very packed, I could hardly see
White Lies- Excellent as per
The Prodigy- the 15 mins which I caught of them were full of dancing :)
Arctic Monkeys- Excellent, Alex pulled the plug out of something by accident and at one point and all of the sound went but then everything just carried on like it never happened

Saturday

Noah and the Whale- caught half of their set, it was pretty good, I love thier new stuff, their album's out this week, think I'll get it
The XX- eXXcelent (God, that was lame) but yeah I wanted their set to go on forever, it was too short!
Oh and everyone got free T shirts which was awesome of them I thought!
Frank Turner- Wonderful and a very lovely man, there was a lot of love for him in that tent
Magistrates- Brilliant, the lead singer is a great front man!
Metronomy- I caught the tail end of thier set, it was really good, lots of raving going on
Passion Pit- Really good, I just wished that a bit more of the crowd were into them
Vampire Weekend- Really great, sooooo glad they played Walcott too, I love that song!
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Maybe the best I saw all weekend? I WANT TO BE KAREN O, so did the girl next to me, it was all good! I'm certainly going to try and catch them on their next tour!
Bloc Party- Very good
Radiohead- What I saw of thier set was beautiful
La Roux- The tent was jam packed, she was on fire, just wish I was a little closer towards the front. There was lots of chanting going on of: "La roux, la roux, la roux is on fire" and also my cousin decided to shout "who's you mum?" because her mum was in The Bill
Smash and grab- The best DJ's I have ever seen, I stayed there for about 3 hours and during this 3 hours I was grabbed by Tabitha and told to come onto the stage, so I jumped over the barrier, revealling my underwear to everyone (but i didn't care and neither did anyone else!) and did 'sexual aerobics' with two drag queens, excellent! I got snapped a fair few times by smash and grab photographers, I see some embarrassing pictures on the horizon!

Sunday

Dananananakroyd- utter shit
Manchester Orchestra- I'm sure I'd have had a good time if I was into hardcore music
The Virgins- Really good, I'd love to see them at their own gig, I'm sure I'd have a great time!
Amazing Baby- Very good, my new favourite band, it was nice that The Virgins came to watch them too!
Little Boots- 10 times better than I thought she'd be, I thought she may be slightly dull but she's actually really good live, I might buy the album
The Horrors- fucking brilliant, I had a great time moshing and crowd surfing to them!
Jack Penate- Excellent as per
FF- the same as above, although, the crowd were a bit rough, FF fans usually have more class and why do fatties insist on crowd surfing?!
Florence and the Machine- really excellent as per but the crowd really made this gig, we all sung happy birthday to Florence and basically everyone was just going insane, which was nice as most of the time, it's only really me!
Kings of Leon- Beautiful set, a nice mixture of new and old songs, the crowd knew pretty much every single word, lovely, they weren't just there for two songs like some of the Reading people were apparently!

So all in all, an EXCELLENT weekend, I may have to go next year if i managed to find some money from somewhere once I've bought my glasto ticket!

Here are a few pictures: Patrick Wolf-