My First Festival: Solihull Summer Festival

For a couple of years, I have been wanting to go to a festival. The question is which festival would be the best to go to as my first? V Festival? Glastonbury? Thankfully, the answer came in the form of the Solihull Summer Festival.

I decided to go to this one as it is small and easy to get to from where I live. Also, the line up wasn't too bad. It had well known bands, Toploader, The Noisettes,  Andy Bennett, from Ocean Colour Scene and The Pigeon Detectives, as well as new bands: Chasing Deer, an indie band from Solihull, and 2 Weeks Notice, a group who do covers of Indie Rock bands.

So...what did I think? Well, considering it was my first festival I thought it was good. In fact, it helped me discover new music, in the form of Chasing Deer. The songs were quite good and they had a certain indie rock band feel, which is always a plus in my book! They even did a great cover of Mumford and Sons' I Will Wait. I just hope that in the future they become successful because they deserve it.

Another highlight for me was 2 Weeks Notice, who did covers of popular indie bands. Their covers included Coldplay's Yellow and The Killers' All These Things I have Done. However, the most popular cover was Oasis' Champagne Supernova, which got everyone singing. In fact, the act was so popular that the DJ hosting the festival got booed when he said that the next act had to come on stage. It also led to one guy yelling at 2 Weeks Notice to come back and sing Supersonic...and no in case you're wondering, unfortunately that guy did not get his wish.

In terms of the festival in general, I thought it was really good. It is definitely the best in terms of going to your first festival, if you are unsure what to expect. It is a nice family friendly festival as well. It is also very accessible, which for me is very important, as part of the set up is it has a wheelchair viewing platform for the main stage, providing a fantastic view. The only problem was that the viewing platform just so happened to be directly in the sun that day but I didn't mind because I would rather the weather be sunny instead of rainy for my first festival!

So...overall if you are wanting to go to a festival then I definitely recommend this one as your first. It is also extremely child friendly. The best part is it is not too expensive and any money from the event, such as ticket sales, goes to local Birmingham charity, Help Harry Help Others.

Now, to decide my next festival, as I have definitely caught the festival bug!

Em x

Taylor Swift is Back!

Taylor Swift is one of the most followed people on social media so it was inevitable that she was going to cause quite a stir when she deleted all her social media posts. Of course, the big question was, "Is Taylor about to suddenly release a new album?"

A day later, and a further couple of days, Taylor posted mysterious videos of a snake. Many thought that the number 25 was seen on the snake and, to some extent they were right for that to mean something. On the 23rd August, Taylor finally revealed that her new album, Reputation was going to be released and on the 25th August, she revealed her new song, Look What You Made Me Do.

Of course, the album title is an immediate eye-catcher. What is Taylor trying to tell us? Is she alluding to the awkward reputation she has developed for herself, thanks to her now infamous feuds with Kanye West, Kim Kardashian and Katy Perry? Also, the title of the lead single of her new album is almost letting Taylor tell these people "You've hurt me so I'm going to respond to this through my music."

Then of course, there is the album artwork. It features a black and white image of Ms Swift, including writing, in the style of a newspaper, again possibly focusing on all the attention she got from the press.

However, the biggest clue that Taylor Swift has given that her new music is going to be about all the negative things relating to her is her new video for Look What You Made Me Do. It includes multiple versions of Taylor dressed in outfits from her videos, such as You Belong with Me and Shake It off, mocking each other, including one of them crying, and her, dressed in that MTV VMAs incident dress saying "I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative, relating to the latest Taylor Swift vs Kanye West saga,  references to her ill fated romance with Tom Hiddleston and her dressed in an outfit strangely like Katy Perry.


So...what do I think of the new song? Well, of course we do have to take into consideration the fact music artists do like to change their sound sometimes. However, after the success of songs such as Shake it Off, Bad Blood and Blank Space, and thinking about how good they were, I was disappointed. Considering that she had taken almost a year off (apart from releasing I Don't Wanna Live Forever with Zayn), I feel she could have made more of an effort. Having said that, the lyrics are really clever, with my particular favourites being "another day, another drama, drama/ but not for me, not for me, all I think about is karma," and "I trust nobody, nobody trusts me." So yes the song isn't that great but I can't wait to see what lyrics her other songs are going to contain. Regarding Taylor Swift's full on comeback...Bring it on!

Em x

Music is not Just a Hobby...It's a Therapy

Hello everyone!

Of course as someone who loves music, and writing about it, I review concerts, festivals, etc but I thought that you guys might like to read a post that is deeply personal. The thing is music to me is not just a hobby...it has been a therapy.

Getting ready to watch one of the best live bands around...Coldplay

I have always loved music. Whether it be singing along to my Dad's (sometimes questionable) choice in music to developing my own taste in music, my parents could always hear me singing. In fact...I'm surprised that I haven'e been told to stop! I also loved going to concerts, with my first concert being Steps (don't judge me...I was 7).

In 2007, what I thought was going to be simple routine spinal surgery to treat scoliosis became a nightmare...I became paralysed from the waist down.

You may be thinking...what has this got to do with music?! Well..here we go...

Like I said before, I have always loved music but it was after my spinal injury that music became even more important to me, particularly as I ended up remaining in hospital for a year. Music kept me entertained...but there was something wrong...I stopped singing.

Over time, I became better, health wise. At Christmas 2007,  I was allowed to come home and during this time, I watched Take That: Live at the O2 for New Year's Eve. In March 2008, I got out of intensive care and moved onto a ward, so I was able to go out a bit more. However I was still in hospital but I still had my trusted music beside me. Those days, I preferred to listen to Take That and Girls Aloud and other pop artists.  But I still wasn't singing.

However, over time, I came out of my shell. It was around the time that I went to see Girls Aloud, with my Mum. As always, I got the CD linked to the concert, in this case Tangled, to get to know the songs. Okay...I still wasn't singing a lot but I was getting there. I would sing the odd song and I enjoyed the music.

One of my favourite pictures from Take That's III tour.

I think I finally started being more like my old self when I was allowed back to school.  It gave me a sense of normality for a start. My favourite bit of the school day would be, apart from seeing my friends and learning new things, listening to the radio in the morning. That meant new songs to listen and sing along to. It definitely made those car journeys more fun!

Looking back on my life now, music has shown that just because I have suffered this paralysis doesn't mean I shouldn't enjoy my life. Since then, I have continued to go to concerts, with the now added bonus of (mainly) good disabled seats and of course, any moment of the day, I would have music on, whether it be via the radio or from my own selection of music. In fact, I believe that our lives would be boring without music. After all, the role of music is to help us create memories. For me, it has been a sad but also happy memory, due to helping me feel better about my injury.

You often hear people on the radio saying "Oh this song brings back so many memories for me!" You also often see people contacting their favourite celebrity on social media, saying "Your music helped me through tough times." Next time you think "Really? In what way?" just remember my story and also the fact that someone else out there may also be using music as an important therapy tool.

Em x

Breaking News! Siri can sing!

Okay...so we all know that the iPhone is brilliant (I may be a bit biased...I'm an iPhone user myself) and that it has an even more brilliant feature...sorry...assistant...called Siri. Siri can look up things on the internet for you, can tell you what song is playing and even put events into your calendar. Well...guess what...Siri has a special talent! He/She (depends on what voice you have chosen) can now sing!

Well...Siri can't exactly sing everything yet there is one song that it can get its best vocals ready for. So...which is it? Justin Bieber? Taylor Swift? One Direction? Maybe Spice Girls? (because let's be honest...who doesn't want to sing along to the Spice Girls...)

Well, here are a few clues...

• It is one of the biggest selling songs of all time.
• The band's frontman was one of the most iconic frontmen of all time.
• It has been released twice, first in 1975 and then in 1991.
• It was named Radio X's best British song ever in 2017

The answer?

Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen!

Yep...really.

So...how do we get Siri to sing? All you have to do is say "I see a little Silhouetto of a man," and then just sit back and relax whilst Siri serenades you (albeit robotically) with Bohemian Rhapsody.

Enjoy!

Em x