Hello MUSIC LOVERS! You're probably all wondering whats been going on! Well it's definitely been a long time coming & it's also been a JAM PACKED couple of months for me. Basically to break it all down from my last blog post I made a PRETTY HUGE BUNCH OF LIFE CHANGING DECISIONS. First of all I QUIT MY JOB on the 15th December, the following day I flew to Melbourne & on the 20th December I GRADUATED with a Business degree! The fun didn't end there though! As after Christmas on the 29th December my boyfriend Simon & I embarked on a near 3 MONTH European adventure. Which honestly was the BEST LIFE DECISION we've ever made. Now that I'm back, refreshed & in the country for just over a week, I'm keen to get back to Play it Forward >> & share music with you all!
The first gig I treated myself to when I started FUNemployment was literally the first day that we flew into Melbourne. Simon & I were off to the Sidney Myer Music Bowl to make gravy with the great man himself Paul Kelly alongside Gang of Youths, Meg Mac & Gretta Ray! The gig literally went for most of the early evening to well late into the night & Paul Kelly truly is a showman! Sidney Myer Music Bowl is a great natural venue as wherever you sit whether it be in the chairs at the front or chilling with the picnic blankets on the grounds you get such a great view! There were food trucks & a selection of beers, ciders & rose tinnies (Just to add that touch of class!) Unfortunately the rose tinnies sat at a rocking 13.5% which left quite a dry cask wine taste in our mouths! But all the support acts blew the roof off with their exceptional music & I was very keen to see all of them. Gretta ray is definitely a rising star, Meg Mac has just got exceptional vocals & Gang of Youths are just a bubbling amount of fun on stage. The audience was just as keen to make gravy, so there was lots of singing along & dancing across the grounds. Definitely a great gig & a great night!!
Overseas Simon & I were also able to embrace the music; across Edinburgh & Europe. Our first stop Edinburgh we went to the Hogmanay Street Party which included artists such as The Human League & Rag N Bones Man, there was also a pipe band that played just after the fireworks - what a way to bring in the New Year! Across our European leg of the journey we encountered many varieties of street buskers & they were dotted around cities everywhere! musicians were playing on the trains between stops, in the squares, if you sat outside at a cafe/restaurant they came closer to serenade you & musicians were playing in bars/clubs. To Simons delight we came across a cheap heavy metal gig in Grenada; Spain at the Platajaba Club. For only 10 euros we saw two bands "Korriban" & "Anima Corvus" which were a mix of black metal & heavy metal. It was definitely an interesting experience for my first ever heavy metal gig!
Now that reality is slowly settling in, Simon & I have been back in Australia for just over a week now. For me personally it didn't take too long to have something awesome to countdown to. For Mums birthday last year I got her tickets to go see Bruno Mars at Qudos Arena. So last Saturday marked the 5th & final stadium tour of Bruno Mars 24KMagic world tour. Bruno Mars support act was Dua Lipa & unfortunately this time I didn't do any listening research beforehand. Though surprisingly I knew two of Dua Lipa's songs which I feel as though I've heard from Triple J &/or across Europe. As the start of what was to come she was just amazing on stage. First glance I thought she was a Victoria Secrets model! She was wearing a super shiny pink tracksuit with white trainers. (daggy chic is making a comeback!) she played a solid 10 songs before thanking the crowd & then the King himself Bruno Mars danced his way onto the stage.
Bruno Mars & posse in tow slid out from under the curtain & danced into the palms of the audience. There was lights, lasers, cheering, jamming, pyrotechnics, shimmying, strong coordination of dance moves between all the dancers & Bruno. I'm sure everyone says it, but if you shut your eyes or just watch Bruno during his concerts you would think he was a reincarnation of the King of Pop himself Michael Jackson. It's the mixture of his hair, his vocals, his dance moves & his overall enthusiasm ensuring that his fans are having a great time!
Once the lights went dark & the curtain dropped, Bruno funnily enough started the concert with my favourite track/90s inspired "Finesse" which was released beginning of this year. Throughout the concert Bruno rolled between old & new tracks such as "Locked out of Heaven", "Treasure", "Chunky", "Marry You", "That's What I Like", "Calling all my Lovelies" & ending the concert with an encore of the crowd favourite "Uptown Funk" (mainly tracks from his latest album "24K Magic") Talk about crazy but in view across the stadium from where I was sitting a guy actually proposed to his girlfriend just before "Marry You" came on (talk about timing, they must be mad Bruno fans) & between the song starting/ fans screaming you could see vaguely that she said YES! Congratulations to them!
During the hour & half that Bruno performed the stadium was filled with shrieks & screams from every direction & it's hard to believe that the last time Bruno Mars was performing in Australia was 2010; selling his tickets for a shy $50 as well! Now coming back in 2018 he has sold out 5 stadiums worth which shows how over the years his performances are polished & totally out of this world! Was definitely a great night indeed!
Photo courtesy (L) - Celina Alcarraz
To follow on up on the Bruno train, this week's track is my favourite from him. You'd think that you've been blasted back to the 90s with this fun track. So wrap your eyes & ears below!
Hope that you all have had a safe & Happy New Year & that 2018 has been great to you so far! Looking forward to sharing more amazing music with you next week!
Cheers Amy
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