Skegness

Quite a lot has happened to me lately since my last blog. From nearly throwing up in my friend’s, father’s car, arguing in an amusements over a green teddy, skinny-dipping completely naked in the sea and more recently catching the dreaded flu, I’ve had quite an eventful time.

It all started on the 9th of July, well, technically, it started on the 8th of July as I never actually managed to get to sleep that night; I was awake all night ironing my clothes ready for 5 days away with my friends Chantelle, Sophie and Christina. As well as tiredness, I couldn’t help but feel travel sick at the thought of traveling for 2 hours in a car all the way to Skegness from my hometown. Travel sickness has never affected me prior to this, but for some reason my nerves took over and got the better of me and I was eventually sick just before we reached our destination, thankfully my friend’s father pulled over for me to puke into a public bin (classy, huh?).

Once there, we had another 4 hours to spare before we could collect the keys for our caravan. Feeling better, I decided to go to a nearby café as my stomach was starting to feel rather empty, which isn’t surprising as I had just spewed it all up not 20 minutes ago. After enjoying a delicious Sunday roast, we had another 3 hours to spare before we could collect the keys, so we decided on waiting outside a pub just across the road from the camp-site. Of course, we still had all of our suitcases with us, but we had no choice but to carry them with us. I felt as though we were moving in the pub once when walked inside.

Four Kopparbergs and yet another meal later, it was time to enter our caravan. It didn’t take long for me to unpack all of my belongings, organising all of my clothes in order of when I shall be wearing them in the coming days. Being a small caravan, there were only 2 bedrooms, so I had to share a double bed with my friend Sophie while the others had their own singles in a smaller, shared room. Ultimately, we got the better choice as our wardrobe was twice the size of theirs, and we actually had space to move about in our room. Eventually I had drifted off to sleep before our first night out which I ended up missing, though I did catch up on some much needed sleep so not complaining!

Our first full day at Skegness was met with quite miserable weather. As it was raining continuously throughout the day, we didn’t do much other than look around a local market where I bought a new McFly and a Friends poster. We soon headed back to the caravan park where me, Christina and Chantelle visited the amusements for a while, whilst Sophie visited her grandma. Waiting for Christina and Chantelle on the dance-mats, to my right was a claw machine and inside were stuffed-up animal teddies. It was there and then when I fell in love with this green dog and I made it my goal to win it by the end of our holiday.

After about an hour we went back to the caravan to get ready for our first night as a whole group. As expected, I was the first one ready. Chantelle informed us of her desire to play bingo tonight. At first I rolled my eyes (bingo? seriously?!), though we did end up going in the end. I decided to smarten myself up a little for playing bingo so I put on a waistcoat. It was 8 o’clock and the first game of bingo of the night was about to commend. I hadn’t played bingo properly since I was at Primary School so I was unsure of how to play it correctly for a moment. I had no idea the numbers were in order of 10’s in lines. I wish I’d have known this from the start! I didn’t win a row or a full house in the end. Gutted. At least I got to keep my blue dapper, that was the part I was most excited about.

Two more games of Bingo later and we all got increasingly bored. We eventually headed off to another ‘club’ just down the road. Chantelle had been texting a guy who lives in Skegness so we invited him and his friend to come and drink with us in hope to liven the night up. Our plan worked and we were all very drunk after a few shots each. Unfortunately, the club began to close and we were at a loss of what to do with ourselves once outside. Still drunk, Sophie declared that we should all go to the beach nearby.

We all followed with Nicki Minaj’s “Starships” plaguing our heads: “Let’s go to the beach, each”.. this became our motto. After a quarter of an hour walk, we made it to the beach. I don’t think I’ve been to a beach at night before, I got to admit, it was a tad scary at first. Me and Sophie were both still very drunk so we decided to both skinny dip in the sea with our new friend, Nick. I began to undress myself before posing for pictures with the other two, completely naked, before heading off into the sea. I didn’t go too far into the sea as I have a fear of what is actually under their, though the water did kind of warm me up a little. Dressing myself up afterwards was a task with sand everywhere, especially in my boots. It was a very uncomfortable walk back for my feet!

I jumped into the shower as soon as we got back to the caravan. The whole time I couldn’t stop thinking to myself, “I’ve just gotten naked in front of all my friends”, we have no secrets now! Lazily, I put on a hoodie and boxing shorts as putting the rest of my clothes on was too much effort because I wanted to feel warmth with immediate affect having just ran into the sea with no clothes on. We all sat around the couch, talking, before finally dozing off to sleep.

Waking up to my friend’s alarm sound “Starships” brought all the memories of the night before straight to my head. Did I really do all that? Thankfully I didn’t look nearly as rough as I felt as I got myself ready for the long day ahead. I put on my big jacket as my weather app displayed a picture of rain clouds, I didn’t want to get wet. We left our caravan at around 9am to catch a bus into the town centre. We got off at the Skegness Interchange to give us a change to walk through the town centre before visiting the pier.

Local weather soon started to perk up a little and I soon began to feel rather silly walking about in a big, leather coat. We went to the Pleasure Beach where I bought a wristband which gave me access to all of the rides. Being the most daring of the group, I went on all which appealed to me most, though frequently I had to ride them on my own. I did manage to get them all on one little roller-coaster, however. Afterwards, we enjoyed a nice walk along the beach before catching a bus back.  That night, we didn’t really do much else other than walking around seeking fun things to do.

The next day was our last full day so we all woke up really early to start the day ahead. Chantelle and Christina left first to visit Fantasy Island whilst me and Sophie were still getting ready. A while later me and Sophie were ready and we decided to go and visit an Animal Farm just on the way to Fantasy Island. There we got to feed goats and sheep, see many colourful birds and stroke a horse. Being an animal-lover, I was thrilled when 2 lambs escaped their pens to play with the visitors. They were so adorable!

Fantasy Island was our next stop, where we met-up with Christina and Chantelle. Being a roller-coaster-lover, also, there was no-way of me missing a chance of going on them! Though seemed exciting at first, after going on them, they were quite disappointing and the “thrill” factor was at a low. Christina and Chantelle probably got too bored of watching that they left to go into Skegness without us - charming! Me and Sophie stayed a while longer to look around the market again. Nothing really caught our eyes so we finally settled on heading to the bus stop to catch a bus into Skegness.

Lucky for us, our bus was an open-top bus. Of course, we went to sit at the top, right at the back, because who wouldn’t?! The sun was glorious as we rode for 15 minutes on top of the bus feeling glamourous with our shades on. We got off once reaching the Skegness Interchange where our journey terminated. We both seemed high on life come this point, I think it was the thrill of being on an open-top bus, but we were both in a very daring mood.. so daring, in fact, that I very NEARLY got myself a tattoo as we walked through town. Thankfully, the prices put me off! (£50 for a little cross? No, thank you!). We both then headed for the beach where we stayed for a while to rest as we carved our names in the sand, before I bought myself a green monkey from a stall, since I found it was impossible in me winning the green dog I had my heart set on in the claw machine.

Knowing we were all to be up early the next morning, that evening we all packed up all our gear ready for the morning so that we only had little bits and pieces to tidy before we leave. We then got ready for our final night together in Skegness, and this time we were actually going into Skegness! We visited 2 clubs just along the pier and had one of the wildest nights since...uh.. just 2 nights ago! Our time in Skegness soon became to an end and we soon found ourselves back in my friend’s car making our way back to Goole, where I would then spend the next few days covering from a flu (why this blog entry is late!)

All-in-all it was a fantastic trip and I’m glad we all got back in 1 piece, though shamefully left our dignities back there. Hopefully one day we can go again, though, to reclaim them!

 T4 on the Beach 2012

Yesterday, myself and my friend Sophie attended the well-known pop festival, T4 on the Beach. Having seen the line-up beforehand, I was highly doubtful of expecting a joyous time (you’d expect it to have been a little better with it being the 10th anniversary, wouldn’t you?!), but surprisingly I rather did. When I first bought tickets to the event, I was hoping for One Direction to be there, but sadly they were never confirmed but a handful of other artists I had never listened to were. Regardless, like the last time I went to T4OTB back in 2010, these new artists soon became my new current obsessions.

Since we live in a small-town in the North of England, traveling to this event was a pain in the bottom. We both had to set off from our homes at half past 4 in the morning for a 40 minute drive down to the Sheffield Interchange, where we were to catch the coach provided by the National Express to take us further down to Weston-Super-Mare. Due to heavy traffic just outside the location for the festival, we arrived an hour late which means our whole journey there was 6 hours. By the time we finally arrived, we were both already quite tired, and the day had yet to begin.

We both met-up with our other friend, Megan, just along the road next to the beach as we headed down to the entrance for T4 on the Beach. Along the way, we could hear music blaring from the stage but as the singing was so bad, we thought it would have been a comedy band or something. It wasn’t. It was The Wanted. Oops! I’m sort of gutted to have missed them as I have always had a wee crush on Nathan Sykes, never been a fan of their music though so not totally gutted by it. However, they were ultimately my least favorite act of the day purely because of the fact we missed them.

Moving on.. we soon made our way past the gates on into the crowd just in time to see the 2nd act of the day to perform. The female boss of pop came onto the stage just as we joined the crowd and sang some of her old hits from N-Dubz. The presenters then came on and (I think) made the crowd sing happy Birthday to her? I’m not actually sure if it was to her as her birthday is on the 13th (thanks, Wikipedia) but Happy Birthday anyway! Tulisa then sang her solo debut “Young”.

Cover Drive were the next act to perform. I hadn’t really listened to their music prior to seeing them live but nonetheless I enjoyed their performance and “Twilight” has been in my head the whole time as I write this blog. I am definitely a fan of this group now and will be sure to download their music. I then noticed Little Lix come on stage and, of course, booed them. With them, though, was the T4 presenters and Conor Maynard and some other males (they were singers too but I can’t remember who they were!). This then lead to a ball game with the crowd. Due to my personal hatred towards Little Mix, I was thrilled when the boys won.

Three more acts then performed though their music didn’t really engage my interest. According to Wikipedia these were Maverick Sabre, Stooshe and Wretch 32. An act worthy of my attention soon came on however and picked up the atmosphere from the crowd. Alexandra Burke sure got everyone dancing. Must admit, I’m not really a fan of her latest 2 songs as I think they’re very generic pop songs and she is capable of much better, but “Let It Go” was great to dance to, so in this sense, I enjoyed it.

Gradually, our little group of friends were sneaking past our way closer to the stage just in time for the act I was most excited for - Conor Maynard. He sang his newest single “Vegas Girl” before singing is huge hit debut, “Can’t Say No”. By this point I couldn’t stop waving my arms about and singing directly into the camera above us, hoping for a chance on air. It was hot, he was hot and the atmosphere was incredible.

It soon got a little um, less exciting once he had left the stage in time for this year’s Britain’s Got Talent winners perform. I love dogs, I’m a huge animal lover - but not for this dog. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen more talented dogs before. Pudsey is ridiculously overrated, proven by the fact I heard very little cheers coming from the crowd during and after their little act. I think the reason is because it’s not a musical act so you really need to be able to see it to be able to appreciate it. It looked better on television when I watched it back, got to admit, but when you’re there expecting music, it wasn’t great.

Taio Cruz then came on stage and lifted the mood a bit singing a couple of his songs. I’m not really a fan of his myself but his performances weren’t bad. Anyway, DJ Fresh came on afterwards and sang their huge hit “Louder”. This was a highlight of the day, because, not only is it a great song, I was shown on live television during this performance. If you sky plus’d it, I am seen at 98 minutes in with a blue Nikon camera in my face. My nose (unfortunately) was unmissable.

Joining them on stage just before their last song was Rita Ora who sang “Hot Right Now” with them. Rita later stayed on stage and did a little speech about her hit single with Tinie Tempah only a year ago, suggesting an applause for him, which I thought was appropriate as he was my favorite act from T4OTB 2010. She then performed her no. 1 single “R.I.P”. I hadn’t really been a fan of this song before, it is extremely overplayed, but I was impressed by her singing during this performance, not by her outfit choice, though. Just like what happened with Tinie Tempah, after seeing her live, I would now definitely call myself a fan of hers.

Next up on stage was the very annoying Professor Green. I thought his performances sucked. After this torture, he soon left and the presenters then came on stage, followed by Hollie-Jay Bowes (Michaela McQueen), Ashley Margolis (Ricky Campbell) and Matt Littler & Darren Jeffries (Max and O.B.) from the cast of Hollyoaks. They played against the cast of Made in Chelsea where they had to pop as many balls as possible. I couldn’t really see much of this and I’m unsure who won but, with being a self-confessed addict to the show, I hope it was Hollyoaks that won.

Marina and the Diamonds was the next act on stage who sang her greatest “Primadonna”. After this performance, me and my friends decided to leave the crowd to go and get something to eat. We went to a nearby burger van where my friends paid £5 each for a burger. Ridiculous! Being the cheapo I am, I settled for just a tray of hardly cooked chips for £3. We then made our way across the steps on into the next section of the event where there were fair rides and the sessions stage. We stayed in this section for the rest of the event and missed the rest of the acts on the made stage. The only act that bothered me missing was Dappy, I love him! Oh well..

The sessions stage soon got more crowded than the main stage once it was announced that The Midnight Beast were to perform. We waited at least 20 minutes for them to come up on stage after the presenter lied and said it would only be in a “few moments time”. Anyway, it was well worth the wait. I hadn’t been a fan of theirs prior to this so didn’t know any of the words to their songs. Thy choruses are so catchy, though, I soon caught on and sang my way through the whole of their set. This was honestly the best part of the whole day and I have been reminiscent of seeing them live since. They were brilliant!

All-in-all, it was an awesome day. The sun was out for the duration of the event which was an added bonus! I now have a really bad sunburn on my face though. Ouch! The festival was a lot better than I initially expected it to be and a day later I am still amazed at The Midnight Beast’s performances. They were outstanding!

[All images are my own]

My all-time favorite Carrie Underwood songs!

Since meeting her seeing her live, I haven't been able to fully overcome my Carrie Underwood fever as of yet. My mind is literally non-stop reminiscent of that night I was lucky enough to have experienced her sold-out concert at the Royal Albert Hall. All this excitement has prompted me to write a new blog revealing my all-time favorite Carrie Underwood songs. The following list counts down 20 of my most-loved Carrie songs in order:

20. Lessons Learned
A song I feel every teenager can relate to, "Lessons Learned" talks about dealing with past regrets leading towards you becoming a stronger person, despite life getting harder along the way. It's all about accepting everything you've experienced in life to be able to be to move on as it is all behind you. After listening to this song, it personally makes me feel a lot more positive towards life and to be thankful for the life I have been granted.

19. Before He Cheats
In this song, Carrie portrays her anger towards her cheating ex-boyfriend who, whilst slow-dancing with a bleached-blonde tramp in a bar, is unknown to the fact that Carrie is right outside digging her keys into the side of his car, before slashing holes into its tires. Whilst not your typical Carrie Underwood song reflecting more mature problems, this revengeful song became her biggest ever hit and is still as popular 6 years after its official release.

18. Just A Dream
From what you'd gather from the beginning of the first verse, this song would be about a girl, who's just turned 18, in her wedding gown about to walk down the isle to be married. However, this is not the case. Instead, she is attending her late husband-to-be's funeral who appears to have died at war whilst they were engaged. We are made to believe that the girl has still not accepted that he has died so would attend his funeral just as she would if it were their wedding day. This song has to be one of the most emotional songs Carrie has ever sung which describes the girl's hurt and hoping it all to be a dream instead.

17. Nobody Ever Told You
Onto a more positive route, "Nobody Ever Told You" is an inspirational song which tells girls that they're beautiful just as they are. This song is a great feel-good song and is to me P!nk's "Perfect", Demi Lovato's "Believe In Me" and One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful" all mixed into one to create this truly impressive piece of music.

16. Play On
Another song which helps you to make you feel better about yourself and to never give up, even if you think you're wrong, as everything is worth a sacrifice. Sort of a "Nobody Ever Told You" meets "Lessons Learned", this song tells you that it's okay to make mistakes and that you have to play on, even when you think you're all alone.

15. Quitter
Like Carrie mentioned at her concert at the Royal Albert Hall, this song is a very "backwards" song. It starts with how her love-life has been all her life, which she explains to have been very negative because of boys who have acted like jerks. The song soon changes once she meets a new boy who makes her feel completely the opposite and that she never wants to give up on him.

14. Songs Like This
Carrie sings about another ex-boyfriend who has constantly lied and cheated on her. Despite her Christian faith, she admits to wanting to hunt him down to "rip his heart right out", though she probably didn't mean it quite literally. To prevent any violence, she puts all her anger into this song and speaks of all the revenge she would like to plot on him.

13. There's A Place For Us
When I first heard this song, it was the b-side to Joe McElderry's 3rd single "Someone Wake Me Up". Having not heard of Carrie Underwood before then, I thought his version was very applaudable and it soon become one of my most-played songs of his. I then discovered that this was originally a Carrie Underwood song. Although it didn't tickle my fancy as much as Joe's did on first listen, I gradually become more loving towards it and it has now found its way into my top 20 all-time Carrie Underwood songs!

12. Starts With Goodbye
"It's sad, but sometimes moving on with the rest of your life.. starts with goodbye" - one of my favorite Carrie Underwood lyrics, which couldn't be more true! In aid of coming over a difficult break-up, you have to have some time-out from them in your life. As the song says, it's going to hurt a lot, but after crying and letting go of things you have loved, you will soon find yourself stronger and on the other side and you will soon find that time will heal your heartbreak.

11. How Great Thou Art
Although not an original Carrie Underwood song, I felt it would be a sin not to include her magnificent version onto my countdown! This song is the most important song that Carrie will ever sing in her whole career, and I feel utterly privileged to have witnessed her sing this song, live, at her concert in London.

10. See You Again
Having been unsuccessful in becoming the theme for the movie 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader', in which "There's A Place For Us" won the title instead, we finally got to hear it on Carrie's latest album instead. This song features the same themes the song just mentioned. Having not seen the movie this song was written for, I'm unsure whether it's about seeing a lost-loved one again who has previously died or just a loved-one. It is still a beautiful song and I relate to it myself about hoping to see Carrie again.

9. I Just Can't Live A Lie
This song deserves its place in my top 10 as it has helped me a lot. It is about missing someone you still love and coming to terms with the the fact that are still not over them. Carrie sings of a heartbreaking confession about how she is still in love with someone and all the good times that they have been through together and her desperation to tell this person the truth instead of living a lie.

8. Flat on the Floor
Flat on the Floor is song about feeling stalked from a certain boy and relating the situation to like being trapped inside because of a storm. Not one of Carrie's more emotionally depth written songs, this song is a lot of fun to listen to and always manages to get me on my feet dancing.

7. Temporary Home
Singing about 3 different people of separate walks of life, Carrie tells each of their stories in each verse about the hard times they have had to face in their lives. Firstly, she sings of a young boy who appears to have been in-and-out of foster homes that it all feels normal to him, but is still certain that he will one-day find his true home and it's just one more step to where he's going. The second character in this song is a young, homeless mother with nowhere to go who is finding it extremely difficult to find a job or someone to turn to for support. One of the more uplifting parts of this song is where she whispers to her baby girl, "someday we'll find our place here in this world". The next person she sings about is an old man surrounded by his family as he lays down in his hospital bed. He tells them that he will see them all soon before looking up to say, "I can see God's face". This song is definitely the most emotional song Carrie has ever sung. It has been beautifully written to the core and I never listen to it without tearing up.

6. Jesus, Take The Wheel
Another upsetting song which tells the story of another mum driving to Cincinnati on a snow white Christmas Eve to her parents' house. With too many issues plaguing her mind, she loses control of the speed of her car and suddenly sees both her and her baby's lives flash before her eyes. She looks over her shoulder to find the baby unalarmed, "sleeping like a rock". She finally gives in and puts her arms in the air and surrenders to God that she has been living her life terribly wrong and she pleads for one last chance. This is definitely one of Carrie's most iconic pieces of music and has been declared a "classic".

5. Fix You
Okay, so this may not be a Carrie Underwood song, but after seeing her perform this song live, it should be. When I saw her sing this version live I was instantly impressed and was just amazed throughout the whole performance. I have never really been a Coldplay fan before, but have heard the original version of this song many times but never really thought much of it. Hearing Carrie perform this song live blew me away and I now think very highly of it to the extreme that I believe Carrie should release her version of this as single herself as it is truly a masterpiece.

4. Who Are You
It is very rare for Carrie to sing a song about true love, but when she does, this is the result of it. "Who Are You" is a powerful ballad taken from her 4th studio album, "Blown Away", and was a significant highlight from it. Being the last song on the album (unless you have the UK edition), some would find it a case of 'save the best until last'. I can honestly say I was stunned by this song when I heard it and long for a day when I can, hopefully, relate myself to to it.

3. All-American Girl
This song, I believe, was written about Carrie. It tells of how a man's dreams changed of having a baby boy which he'd hoped for, to having a beautiful baby girl becoming the centre of his whole world. Years later that baby finds love of their own and falls in love with the senior football star, who she later marries before wanting to try for a baby of their own. She asks him what baby he would like, and as romantic as it sounds, he says that he would like "a sweet, little, beautiful one just like you. I want a beautiful, wonderful, perfect All American Girl!".

2. Good Girl
A fairly new release of Carrie's, "Good Girl" advises a, um, good girl, that the guy she's dating isn't all he makes out to be. Being the sweetheart she is, Carrie tells her that she is worth a lot more than him and that she deserves a lot better than someone who will say one thing but mean another. She tells her before she gets too attracted to lock up all her love and go and throw away the key before he finds his away in, preventing her from getting hurt. After seeing this song live, it was the only song to give me an instant thrill (probably because it was the first song she performed, but hey). I had goosebumps all over me throughout the performance and was amazed by Carrie's guitarist during his solo. Since then, I have loved this song a whole lot more than I initially did.

1. Ever Ever After
Admittedly, I first discovered Carrie Underwood after seeing the movie "Enchanted". As you may already know, Carrie sang the theme song for this movie which is called "Ever Ever After". This song honestly changed my world and gave me a new outlook on life. It has changed the way I think about a lot of things and that there is always joy beneath everything which is to be claimed. Being a huge fan of fairytales, and Disney in general, the song's theme relates to all of that and is everything I love all in one piece of music. Also, let's not forget the video. I don't think anyone has ever looked as beautiful as Carrie did in the song's music video. Her smile and cheerfulness in the video never fails to brighten up a miserable day. From the first listen, this song has remained my all-time favorite song and I don't suspect it ever being replaced. It is truly an outstanding piece of music.

 Carrie Underwood at the Royal Albert Hall

Last night I attended probably the most anticipated concert of the year: Carrie Underwood at the Royal Albert Hall. If you know me, you’d know that Carrie Underwood is my all-time favorite singer ever and I obsess over everything she does, so you could probably guess how excited I was..

Having just met Carrie the day before, I was still over-hyped about having my picture taken with her; and the fact I got to see perform live the next day just topped it all off! I spent nearly the whole day getting ready trying to look my best for Carrie. I think I spent about 2 hours(!) straightening my hair. Come 6 o’clock, I was just about ready. I made my way to the tube station ready for a half an hour ride to South Kensington. After about 20 minutes on my arrival there looking around and trying to find the venue, I found myself stood in front of the Royal Albert Hall (shamefully, my first thought was: OMG THE SPICE GIRLS HAVE BEEN HERE!!)

Walking by all of the tourists on into the main door, I got increasingly more excited about the fact I was, yet again, in the same building as Carrie Underwood. I walked around the whole of floor 1 before finding the location of my seat in the Grand Tier. By the time I was sat down comfortably in my seat, it was 7:30. The show didn’t start until 8:30. A little girl then sat down in front of me with her mum wearing a Carrie Underwood t-shirt. Moments later I would be seen at the merchandise stall downstairs. I bought a Carrie Underwood t-shirt, a picture, a poster, and a keyring. It all came up to £33! So worth it! I then went into the bathroom to change into my t-shirt, before heading back to my seat.

I then had another 45 minutes to wait before Carrie comes on stage. Time soon flied by and I noticed, whilst tweeting, that the time on my phone was 8:30, yet Carrie wasn’t on stage. Seconds later the waiting music stopped and the room turned dark. I gulped. The next thing I knew Carrie was on stage.

Good Girl
The first song of the night was her current hit single “Good Girl”. I got immediate goosebumps the second she started singing and the music started playing. Throughout the performance she waved to the crowd and smiled. The people sat in the arena were soon on their feet. The middle 8 came and her guitarist came and stood near Carrie ready for his solo. This part of the performance was honestly out-of-this-world.

Flat On The Floor
Carrying on the party mood, Carrie went straight into performing “Flat On The Floor”, one of her most adored songs from “Carnival Ride”, and one of my all-time favorite Carrie songs! Again, a fantastic performance which also got people on their feet dancing!

Wasted
She then went onto singing “Wasted” from her first album. Not one of my favorite Carrie songs - but still a great performance!

 Two Black Cadillacs
“Two Black Cadillacs” was her next song, sounding just as epic and dramatic live as it does on the album! After this performance, Carrie thanked in advance for the wonderful night she’s about to have and for everyone coming. She expressed her excitement for the show and how performing at the Royal Albert Hall was such a massive milestone for her to have accomplished.

So Small
Her speech about how the littlest things in life are what’s important was such a fitting start into her next performance, in which she sung the beautifully written “So Small”, a track  from her 2nd studio album.

Temporary Home
Carrie then deemed her next song to be the most personal song that she’s ever co-written, which is “Temporary Home”. If you own her 3rd album, you have probably heard this song before or seen the video and how important the message behind it is. I knew as soon as she started singing the first verse that I was going to get emotional throughout this song.  It is definitely one of her most vital pieces of music and I’m thrilled that she sang it live for us!

Last Name
Before leading us on into emotional breakdowns, Carrie picked us all up and performed her  2008 smash “Last Name”, which is so big that it was also sung in the first season of Glee! She strutted her way up and down the stage for her fans singing about a very drunken night, indeed!

Just A Dream
The next song of the night was the Grammy-nominated ballad “Just a Dream”. Another emotional performance which received a huge cheer from the audience.

I Told You So
Continuing with her ballads, Carrie went on to singing “I Told You So” from her 2nd album, a song originally sung by one of her biggest idols, Randy Travis. I do feel she over sung the chorus in this song, but still very good!

 Leave Love Alone
Back to her country roots, she performed the very county “Leave Love Alone” from her current newly-released album “Blown Away”. Not one of my favorite performances of the night, the chorus kind of goes on and on for a while..

 Cowboy Casanova
Her next song of the night was one of her biggest hits. “Cowboy Casanova” surely got the crowd onto their feet again.

 Nobody Ever Told You
After bringing an acoustic set onto the stage, Carrie and her band got ready to sing one of my favorite songs from her new album “Nobody Ever Told You”. Such a feel-good song which got the crowd clapping along to the beat.

Quitter
One of the most surprising songs of the night was “Quitter”, which is an unreleased track from her 3rd studio album “Play On”. I love how Carrie in this song managed to turn it from acoustic to still sounding like a big set!

 Do You Think About Me
Another acoustic performance with “Do You Think About Me”, which was beautiful, as always.

 One Way Ticket
Carrie next sang her vacation-themed song “One Way Ticket”, one of my favorites from “Blown Away”. The crowd seemed to thoroughly enjoy this song too, waving their arms about in the arena. Come the middle of the performance, her band seemed to walk away from the set leaving Carrie sat their on her stool carrying on with the song, which then became a big-set song and sounded even better!

Undo It
The next song was probably my least favorite of the night, “Undo It”. Never really been a fan of this song, still, the vocals were great.

 Fix You (Coldplay cover)
She then made a speech about how our “great” British artists are taking over the US, and how she respects them, before singing a sensational cover of Coldplay’s “Fix You”. As you’d expect with Carrie, it was much more beautiful with her singing it.

 Jesus, Take The Wheel / How Great Thou Art
Soon the biggest moment of the night came when she sang “Jesus, Take The Wheel”, mixed with “How Great Thou Art” towards the end of the song. The switch between the songs surprised me greatly, I couldn’t believe she was about to sing one of the most important songs in the world. As a strong-believer of God, I was utterly breath-taken during this performance and will forever be grateful to have experienced this.

Cupid’s Got a Shotgun
“Cupid’s Got a Shotgun” was the next song of the night. Kind of a let down after the previous 2 songs.. got to admit.

 Before He Cheats
20 songs in and she finally sings the biggest song of her career, which, of course, is “Before He Cheats”. The best part of this song was when she let the crowd sing the chorus with her. Great performance!

[Audio disabled by YouTube]

 I Know You Won’t
Believing that to be her last performance, I began to put my coat on, but noticed that no-one else was moving. Carrie then came back on stage with her mic and stand. She began to sing the strong ballad “I Know You Won’t” from her 2nd album. Her vocals at the end were extremely powerful and breathtaking.

Blown Away
The last song of the night was “Blown Away”, which is the title track from her new album, as well as her next single release. Thankfully, she didn’t sing it with the acoustic set like she has been doing on recent television appearances. Again, a strong performance with a magnificent vocal.

Overall, the concert was everything I’d hoped for, and I can honestly say that, unlike most singers, Carrie sounds outstandingly better live than on her records (not that I don’t enjoy her records!). Instead of going all Gaga (not that she would, anyway), she stuck to doing the traditional thing with just her, a mic, a band, and an audience. Carrie doesn’t need props in her concerts to put on great show.

The past 2 days have been amazing and I am so grateful to have had the chance to meet and see Carrie live. I hope to meet her again someday, too!

Thank you, Carrie x

[All videos are my own]

The day I met Carrie Underwood

Hello. So on Wednesday (20th June), I met Carrie Underwood. Yes. Carrie Underwood. The “Queen of Country”. Or as now I would refer to as the-most-beautiful-amazingly-talented-person-alive. I’m writing this blog on the Friday after as, since meeting her, I haven’t been able to stop obsessing over her and haven’t really found the time to write about the experience until now. Since I’m writing this on a Friday, not only have I met and had a photo with Carrie Underwood, I have also seen her live (which will be my next blog). However, let’s start from the beginning..

On Wednesday, the day before her first ever UK concert, I found out via her twitter page that she was doing a CD signing at HMV Oxford Circus. Of course, I went, but as I have never been to one prior to this, I had completely no idea of what to expect or do. I already had her album that I pre-ordered from amazon so I thought I’d need to buy it again from an HMV store so that I’d be allowed in. So I did. Though when I got there, they didn’t check at all. The plus side to this is that it counts to Carrie’s weekly sales, though.

Anyway, I got there at about half past 6, 30 minutes before the signing was to begin as I thought I would be able to get to the front of the queue. However, when I arrived, the whole store was literally filled with Carrie Underwood fans. I had no idea she had so many in the UK! I nervously trotted towards the back of a line just in time to see Carrie Underwood walk on stage. Her natural beauty literally glowing up the whole of the store. She looked absolutely stunning!

15 minutes passed and it was finally my turn to walk up onto the stage. I was unbelievably nervous at this point. I walked up to the desk where Carrie was sat and shyly said “Hi”. She asked how I was but I was too nervous to say anything in fear she wouldn’t understand my accent, so I just smiled and said “I’m great now, thanks”. After signing my CD, she stood up so that we could both have a photo. I got closer to Carrie ready for our photo together, but the camera guy seemed to have a problem. Carrie noticed, too, and said “Just keep smiling”. Unfortunately, I looked away once he clicked the camera so the photo turned out pretty bad (of me). Oh well. I’m hoping I can get the opportunity of meeting her again so I can have a better photo with her.

As I walked off the stage, I was still amazed at the fact I just talked to and met Carrie Underwood. I had been waiting for that moment for so long and it finally happened. Walking out of HMV, I grabbed my phone straight away and called my mum. I walked down Oxford Street towards Oxford Circus tube station, completely oblivious to everyone’s else presence on the street, as I told my mum all about how beautiful and kind Carrie is in real life. Once I got home, I had still not been able to talk about her and I couldn’t believe the fact I had just met her.

Throughout the rest of the evening I listened to all of her CDs and admired my photo of me and Carrie (I did watch Eastenders too which managed to take my mind off Carrie for a moment, how evil is that Michael?!). Surprisingly, I did manage to get to sleep that night at around 1am, so that I was up early enough to prepare myself for the concert the next day.

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My Accent

As mentioned in my last blog, I speak in a “strong” Yorkshire dialect. Being the largest county in the United Kingdom, there are obviously several dialects that are spoken within Yorkshire depending on which area you originate from. If you’re from outside Yorkshire, you probably think we all talk like how we are represented on the British soap opera Emmerdale (despite there being quite a few geordies on that show these days, what’s that about?!). However, having been born and raised in East Yorkshire, I’ve noticed how differently people talk in others parts of Yorkshire too.

From personal knowledge, I knew that the Yorkshire accent originally came from the Vikings when they took over most of Northern England, as well as parts of the East, during the 9th century before conquering the South and West of England. After expanding my knowledge further, I read that they divided Yorkshire into 3 districts that would become the North, West and East Ridings, which are still commonly used as sub-counties today. West Yorkshire is said to have the more broader accent, which apparently came from the hardworking millworkers during the 19th century. North-Eastern parts of Yorkshire are much more rural and the small communities surrounded by farms gave them the “softer” accent.

I come from Goole in East Yorkshire (basically near Hull) so my accent is pretty “slang”, or as some may say, how “chavs” would talk; which, coming from near Hull, they wouldn’t be wrong. The most common characteristic about the East Yorkshire accent is that we tend to not say the word “the”. This word is forbidden. For example: “I am just going to the shop”, would be, “Am just off t’shop”, in our dialect. Last year I tasked the “Tumblr Accent Challenge (below)" and uploaded the video to youtube. The comments I received were mainly how they find my accent funny and that I tend to miss-pronounce a lot of words, which again is another characteristic of the Yorkshire accent.

Overtime, with the affects of media and popular culture, accents around different regions of England have changed over the years. I, myself, find myself picking up “scouse” phrases after watching an episode of Grange Hill or Hollyoaks. However, because some parts of Yorkshire have remained rural and isolated, there are many places still where people talk with a true Yorkshire accent and have retained many traditional sayings and phrases. People find the Yorkshire accent very distinctive and our miss-pronunciations are what defines it.

Despite being hard for people outside of Yorkshire to understand, the Yorkshire accent is generally perceived as quite comical and is used as a centre topic in many stand-up comedian shows, though usually it is over-exaggerated. Examples of celebrities who speak in strong Yorkshire accents include Jane McDonald, Melanie B and Keith Lemon.

Personally, I love having a Yorkshire accent because the ‘missing out words’ and comical side to the accent reflects the laid-back type of person I am and makes me proud of being a true Yorkshireman.

Hi..

Hi there, I'm Daniel (Daniel Thomas Fielding, to be precise), and this is my first ever blog. Since this is my first blog, I have decided to dedicate this to my one and only true love - myself. The main reason I decided to create a blog was because I find other social networking sites (twitter, facebook) limit my thoughts due to the character limits and who’s reading them etc. Having my own blog gives me the freedom to write what I want and express my opinions on things without having people judging me (not that I care too much about what people think of me anyway, but hey..) Sooo let’s begin..!

I am currently living in London whilst ‘studying’ in my first - and last - year at university (I’ll explain more why I plan to quit further-on in this blog!). I’m originally from the North of England in Yorkshire where I have lived for 18 years before moving here. I grew up in the small town and port of Goole (yeah, you probably won’t have heard of it!) where I have plenty of friends and family there who I miss HUGE amounts! I studied at the local school Goole High School where I received my GCSEs and BTEC before moving on to the 6th Form college in 2009 where I received my diploma. Come June 2011 I left 6th Form and enrolled onto a course at the London Metropolitan University in September after summer break to study Computing. You’d think I’d be excited about the fact I got into a university in London, right? Well at first I was, until I actually got here..

My life at Uni has honestly been a nightmare. Firstly, I live in student halls based in Wood Green in North London, probably one of the worst places to live, ever. Before I moved here I was warned that Wood Green is one of the roughest places in London, which they were right; after 4 days of living here a guy just around the corner from halls was STABBED. From then on things just got increasingly worse. During ‘Introduction Week’ at uni hardly anyone could understand my accent (I speak in a really strong Yorkshire dialect), I was ill for like the first 2 weeks of lectures so had to MISS them; I literally had to get someone I hardly knew from halls to go shopping for me because I was that sick, I couldn’t even leave my bed without passing out. Basically, I was doomed from the start. The thing that made the whole experience worse was the fact nearly EVERYONE at my uni looked like they were in their late 20s, I felt like I was about 5 sat next to them in the lecture halls, and I believe I was treated a whole lot differently by other students and lectures because of my age, too.

The past year hasn’t been a total waste, though.. well, it has, but I have learned so much about myself along the way. I now know what I would like to do as a future career; which is to become a writer/novelist as I have discovered that it is indeed where my passion truly lies. Most importantly, though, I have learned how to live independently and look after myself without anyone else there to protect me. Being a small-town boy from the North of England moving to London (where I had never been to prior, btw), I think it was a brave decision and I’m proud of myself for proving that I can live on my own in a strange place and take care of myself. Uni might have been a fail but I don’t care now I know what really want to do in the future.

Future plans after my first year of uni are to move back home and find a job to pay my way whilst I write my first book of a 3-book series I have been planning since late January of this year - which I’m so excited about! I also intend to continue writing blogs about various things I love and umm yeah, that’s me..