Post-Singfest 08

Awesome, surreal, fantabulistic! I am totally loss for words after attending Singfest 08. Absolutely amazing - the energy was so alive and present. Everyone was there for that one common purpose: for the love of great 'live' music. Many of our favourite bands all rolled into a 2 day open-air concert, and the fans have been so great - how awesome is that? (see, I am speechless - repeating myself).

In fact, I have not recovered from the surrealism of that experience - still feeling super-high from being a mere 10 metres away from Travis performing 'live' before my very eyes. I saw my favourite bands, and became a fan of a few others. The company I spent it with were most wonderful too. It will be hard to forget this experience. L & N: Thanks!

In fact, whilst writing this entry, I have Travis singing away from my iPod - and I still cannot believe that I saw them performed right in front of me. I am elated! (I'm repeating again :) I don't really know how to write a post-entry to Singfest, so I will just let you into some of these bands and their music that absolutely kicked me :) The various introductions that ensued were taken from wikipedia.

Travis are a Scottish Indie pop band from Glasgow, comprising Fran Healy (lead vocals, guitar, piano, banjo), Dougie Payne (bass guitar, backing vocals), Andy Dunlop (lead guitar, banjo, keyboards, backing vocals) and Neil Primrose (drums, percussion). Travis have twice been awarded British album of the year at the annual BRIT Awards, and are often credited with having paved the way for bands such as Coldplay, Keane and Snow Patrol. They have released five studio albums, beginning with their debut, Good Feeling, coming in 1997 and their latest The Boy with No Name in 2007. On September 29th 2008, Travis will release their 6th album, Ode To J Smith, which promises to be their rockiest album since their debut in 1997.

Unlike the usual commercial choice, my favourite Travis's song is Writing To Reach You, followed by Driftwood.


Because my inside is outside
My right side's on the left side
Cause I'm writing to reach you now but
I might never reach you
Only want to teach you
About you
But that's not you


Home is where your heart is
But your heart had to roam
Drifting over bridges
Never to return
Watching bridges burn

Simple Plan is a French Canadian pop punk band based in Montreal, Quebec. The band has released three studio albums: No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls (2002), Still Not Getting Any... (2004), and Simple Plan (2008); as well as two widely marketed live albums: Live in Japan 2002 (2003) and MTV Hard Rock Live (2005). The members of Simple Plan have helped nonprofit and advocacy groups by donating to many established organizations such as the MTV Asia Aid benefit, MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), RADD (Recording Artists, Actors, and Athletes against Drunk Driving), and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The Simple Plan Foundation focuses on teen problems ranging from suicide to poverty to drug addiction. Here is a sampler of Welcome To My Life and Perfect.


Do you wanna be somebody else?
Are you sick of feeling so left out?
Are you desperate to find something more
Before your life is over?


Hey Dad look at me
Think back and talk to me
Did I grow up according
To plan?
Do you think I’m wasting
My time doing things I
Wanna do?

Taken from their website: Influenced by the songwriting classicism of piano men Elton John, Coldplay's Chris Martin, and neo-soul star John Legend, Mêlée present their own style of carefully crafted melodic pop on Devils & Angels, the quartet's debut album for Warner Bros. Records, which was released on April 3rd. The songs, which range from driving pop-rock anthems to uplifting power ballads, are characterized by solid hooks, lilting melodies, and frontman Chris Cron's soaring vocals and expressive piano-playing. The stunning piano ballad "Can't Hold On" is about someone Cron knew who died. "I was concerned about why I wasn't getting really upset," he says. "I thought, 'What's wrong with me? I don't want to be an emotionless robot. I want to be able to feel like everyone else.'"


Someone cries and it washes the street with tears
But when they are mine, they collect in my head for years
Rain or shine, still I'm standing on all I said
'Cause it's in my soul, carry on when the feeling's dead


'Cause this is real, and this is good.
It warms the inside just like it should,
but most of all it's built to last.

Lostprophets (are a Welsh rock band formed in 1997. They have produced several demos (none of which are still produced commercially), three studio albums and eleven singles. Their first album, Thefakesoundofprogress, was originally recorded in a week for £4,000 (GBP) and intended as a demo, but the band re-recorded and re-released the album on a much wider scale through Columbia Records in the USA, although they remain with Visible Noise in the UK. They released Start Something in 2004, and Liberation Transmission in 2006, both to mixed reviews and commercial success. The band are favourites to win "Best British Band" at the 2008 Kerrang! Awards, for a third time running, after already becoming the first act to win the award twice in a row, despite not having released any material since 2006. This is Rooftops and Last Train Home.


When our time is up
When our lives are done
Will we say we've had our fun
Will we make a mark,
this time
Will we always say we tried


But there's still tomorrow
Forget the sorrow
And I can be on the last train home
Watch it pass the day
As it fades away
No more time to care
No more time, today