Though You Swear That You Are True

A mere three days after I requested it in my blog, New Found Glory have announced three London shows in October where they will play the first six of their records. New Found Glory and Sticks and Stones at the Forum. Catalyst and Not Without A Fight at the Electric Ballroom. Nothing Gold Can Stay and Coming Home at the Underworld.

I've written about it before this blog, but this band have been part of my life for 13 years. I've seen them live more times than I can count in tiny clubs and at Earls Court. I've travelled to Nottingham to see them on three occasions and once sat shivering in the bus station waiting for a coach home at 3am whilst two girls from Chesterfield offered me poppers*. They've helped pull me out of depressions. I have mountains of their t-shirts and two of Cyrus Bolooki's drum sticks. Jordan Pundik once asked me if I was ok when I was stood in the front row with a surging crowd behind me. I was.

 I once walked three miles to the nearest HMV when I was at uni to buy Coming Home on release day. At last year's Slam Dunk festival, the guy in front of me turned around during their set and said to me "You sound like you're having the time of your life". I always do.  I want tickets to these three shows more than I've wanted tickets to any show ever. Wish me luck.

By the way, I currently lack the mental capacity to tackle the elephant in the room and will leave it for another day. Suffice to say, it is no longer acceptable for good men to do nothing.

*I declined. There isn't really anything more to add to this story.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I'll See You In My Dreams

 Today is the first day of the 2024/25 English football season. It will be the first season that begins without my Dad, who died four months ago on 9 th April at the age of 76. My Dad and I have shared football together for as long as I can remember. I fell in love with football largely because of Eric Cantona, who I remember thinking was the coolest man alive. I dimly remember him returning to action after being suspended for his infamous kung fu kick on a Crystal Palace fan, scoring an equaliser against Liverpool and swinging around the stanchion behind the goal at Old Trafford. All of this subsequently led to me wanting to follow Manchester United. I am surprised in retrospect that this man from Houghton-le-Spring who spent most Saturdays in his youth at Roker Park to watch Sunderland AFC didn’t object more vehemently to this. Perhaps he saw it as a decent excuse to watch higher quality players than he was used to. Dad always wanted to watch good teams playing good football. ...
Read more

February In Film

  The Fabelmans The film follows Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle), a young aspiring filmmaker dedicated to his craft who must negotiate the challenges posed by familial strife. Any resemblance to a real director is I presume entirely coincidental. One of my issues with the family early on is that they’re almost insufferably twee and not a great deal of interest seems to happen. The film’s central familial conflict feels somewhat implausible and is centred around Sammy’s mother Mitzi (Michelle Williams). I have enjoyed Williams’ work in the past but found her overwrought, hysterical performance here rather offputting.   Thank goodness then that Uncle Boris (Hirsch) arrives to drop a grenade into proceedings, explaining his own history with film and the arts and underlining Sammy’s forthcoming dilemma. He decides to get to work on his highest scale production to date, a war epic. These are the most joyous shots in the movie, teeming with invention especially in the deploym...
Read more

June In Film

  The Little Mermaid I have not seen the original Little Mermaid for something like 25 years. This probably aided my general enjoyment of yet another Disney remake, as I imagine that more diehard fans of the original would find more to fault here than I did. Having said that, some of the alterations worked for me such as the decision to give Prince Eric more backstory and a new song. Halle Bailey is perfectly cast as Ariel (regardless of what the internet’s worst arseholes will have you believe) and the quality of her singing is a match for the original. The highlight of the entire film is probably the moment when the crescendo of “Part Of Your World” hits, the waves crash against the shore and you’re fleetingly reminded of when Disney could still stir the soul. There’s an enjoyable performance too from Melissa McCartney as Ursula who brings a certain amount of fun to one of the House of Mouse’s greatest pantomime villains. Unfortunately, what these films lose in the transiti...
Read more