Two Gigs in Manchester

At the end of June and beginning of July I went to two gigs in Manchester which cost me a lot in terms of pain and tiredness, and meant that at the beginning of July while I was away with my friend Lucinda, I was hobbling about and needed her to be patient with me while I took ages to do anything! But both gigs were good and I'm glad I saw them.

First of all I saw Alanis Morissette on one of her Jagged Little Pill anniversary shows. My friend Sam and I have had these tickets since way before the pandemic. The gig had been rescheduled twice from 2020 and then again, and then Lee and I came home from holiday early so that I could go to the gig, which was supposed to be the 25th of June. But then on the Friday night Alanis was supposed to be playing Leeds, but she cancelled it as she had a bad throat, and she wasn't able to reschedule it, so all the Leeds people got refunds. My friend Stacey and her mum were literally on the way to the arena when they found out it was cancelled, which is so annoying! But it came as no surprise to Sam and I when Alanis postponed the Saturday, but fortunately she was able to reschedule for the Thursday night. This just meant I had to travel twice to Manchester... 

Lee took me on the Thursday night and went to the cinema while I was at the arena. I got there just before 8pm and sat next to Sam - our friend Jodie was also there, but elsewhere. Beth Orton was support, which was quite nice - she was pleasant enough to listen to. 

Alanis was AMAZING. I love Jagged Little Pill as an album SO MUCH - I know it inside out and upside down, so it was a real bucket list moment to hear all the songs off it. She didn't play them in order but it was such a pleasure to hear some of the album tracks. When she played Ironic it was dedicated to Taylor Hawkins, who played drums for Alanis for a while, and who of course recently died. It was a lovely gesture. 

I felt like the whole arena was singing along. Alanis' voice is absolutely spectacular and I loved it so much. Alanis' energy just never wavered throughout, it was so good!

Beth Orton

I liked this at the end, it's the Jagged Little Pill album cover

On Friday 1st July I went to see The Libertines on the first of their Up the Bracket anniversary shows. Their debut album is twenty years old this year so they were playing some gigs where they played the whole of the album and then some other songs. You know they're my favourite band and I am so glad I got to see them again. Up the Bracket sounded SO good and it was nice to hear some songs like Radio America that you wouldn't normally hear live. The band were in good spirits and playing well together. There were bleachers at Castlefield Bowl which Sam and Lucinda and I got seats on, but I ended up standing up for a lot of the Libs because people in front of me were standing up... But we got through it, and it was so good!

Before the Bowl filled up entirely

Lucinda's hair matches my hoodie

Sam and Lucinda and me!

Saying goodbye at the end