Craig Watson - Web Designer, Sound Engineer

Time to catch up with happenings over the last month. Christmas settled down to become quite nice and relaxing after the Music Marathon. Was really nice to be back at home and not have to do my own washing or cooking for three whole weeks! Apologies for not updating for over a month, but exams and the start of the new term has left me with quite a lot to do.

I’m now fully back into the swing of things in Aberystwyth, and I’ve actually managed to cook myself Spaghetti Bolognaise for the first time - and also managed not to give myself food poisoning in the process! Aside from that, things have been going pretty smoothly, I’m just starting to prepare for the one-off web design lecture I’ll be giving in a couple of weeks. To be completely honest, I’m nervous already.

I’ve now got another We Will Rock You trip booked for mid-February. Another “flying” visit, into London on the Friday afternoon (train this time, I don’t particularly want to spend 7 hours inside a coach), see the show on Friday evening and out of London by 2pm on Saturday.

Well well well, boys and girls. Time for me to reflect on what has been a mind-blowing few days of awesome live music. This will more than likely turn into a long entry, so grab yourself a coffee, sit back and read on.

The start of the Marathon was We Will Rock You on Thursday evening. It was my 36th show overall, and my second that week (I had already done one show on Monday on my way home from Aberystwyth). What a show. The entire cast and band were on top form and the sound was amazing. I managed to give Jenna a few bits and pieces which I’d done for the cast for Christmas (a WWRY image edit I had printed, a tin of Quality Street and a card), I don’t actually know if the rest of the cast actually saw any of the Quality Street or not! It was a full principal cast, and everything was nigh-on perfect for the whole show. I’m not going to go into great depth with the review but I think I’ve already said most of it. Jenna and Peter were brilliant, you could see the great chemistry between them in Hammer To Fall and Who Wants To Live Forever. Mazz and Alex had a storming show, as did Rachael and Colin. All-in-all: one of the best performances I think I have ever seen.

My first of two Iron Maiden gigs in two days comes next. Got to the Earl’s Court Arena at about 7:30, just missing Lauren Harris’ set (Maiden bassist Steve Harris’ daughter). I went into the Arena with an open mind towards Trivium (the main support act on the tour), as I hadn’t really heard anything from them before. It was mediocre at best. The vocals were a bad Metallica-copy and the drummer was just playing the same pattern over and over again. I was glad to hear the end of their set, as it was only just bearable. They were annoyingly American and commercial, and it I think that it was Trivium who caused the majority of the crowd trouble later on, with massive surges and stupid, pointless pushing.
Iron Maiden was - predictably - awe-inspiring. They played the full A Matter of Life and Death album from start to finish, and although it did start to drag towards the end of the set, the classics at the end more than made up for it. One slight hiccup was the fact that the main power cable into the building caught fire and melted halfway through and rendered the band instrument-less and reduced Bruce Dickinson to a mega-phone and the crowd singing Christmas carols for a full 20 minutes. Two Minutes to Midnight, Fear of The Dark, Iron Maiden, The Evil That Men Do and Hallowed Be Thy Name was a class end to a class set.

The Maiden madness continued into yesterday (Saturday 23rd) when I went into Earl’s Court again for another round of ear-bashing from Trivium and comparative harmonic bliss from Maiden. This time I went into the venue about 10 minutes before the doors officially opened at 6pm, thanks to the First To The Barrier wristbands I won in a raffle from the Iron Maiden Fan Club. Lauren Harris’ set was solid and definitely deserved to be higher up on the bill than Trivium, who were just as bland and unimanginative as before. Again, I endured their set and Maiden were brilliant. The highlight of the Album set was Benjamin Breeg. Atmospheric and downright headbanging. Again, the classics during the encore were just draw-dropping. I actually got a nod of the head from Steve Harris at one point during the set, that was enough to make my night.

Anyway, I think I’ve rambled on for long enough, so merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all

With under two weeks to go until I leave Aberystwyth for almost a month over Christmas, the assignments are gradually piling up, though I think I’m on top of things (just!).

I got my Databases Part One assignment back today. 90%!! The last time I remember getting anything in the 90’s was my year 8 Humanities end-of-year test! As you can probably imagine, I’m pretty pleased with it to say the least.

Java is going surprisingly well, having almost completed the group project (due this Friday), which makes up about 30% of my total mark for my Java programming module. Out of the two progress tests we’ve had so far, the highest mark has been 87%, which goes towards another 20% of my total module mark. The exam in January carries 50%, but I’m trying not to think about that at the moment!

So I guess that’s it, I’m really looking forward to going back home - both spiritual (Dominion Theatre, London) and actual  (Witham, Essex) - as well as the Music Marathon I have planned for my first week back:
Monday 18th December - We Will Rock You
Thursday 21st December - We Will Rock You
Friday 22nd December - Iron Maiden: Earl’s Court Standing
Saturday 23rd December - Iron Maiden: Earl’s Court Standing

Now that is going to be one very very good week!

Well, it’s taken me a while to get around to writing this, but here it is. My first We Will Rock You performance in two months! It was my first Saturday evening show as well - which sounds quite weird seeing as it was my 34th show overall. I’m not going to go into massive detail with this entry as I would normally do with my show reviews, but just give a short(ish) overview.

As I’m living on the coast of Wales at the moment, it’s been near-impossible to get into London. The only chance I have is if I get the train (or bus) on the Saturday morning, see the show in the evening and go back on the Sunday. Unfortunately I left it too late to book a cheap train ticket, so I had to go for the bus instead.

The bus left at 8.30am. Seven hours on a coach later, I get into London. On the Sunday, I left Victoria at 3pm and got into Aberystwyth at 8pm. Next time I’ll be booking earlier and taking the train.

At the Stage Door before the show, I was shouted at across the car-park by none other than Rachael, saying “You’re back!”. Peter also said a quick “hello” and asked how things were going. Jenna commented on the fact I took the bus by calling me “mad”. It’s certainly nice to be missed!

Until next time….

Up the Irons!

Well well well. My first ever blog! Where do I start? Today I got a PM on the Iron Maiden message boards saying that I’m one of the 60 Fan Club members that have been drawn to get a “First To the Barrier” wristband at Earl’s Court! Get in! I can now stick two fingers up at all the poor sods in the mile-long queue outside the venue and get right at the front.

I’m now really looking forward to going back to London to watch We Will Rock You in 9 days time. Will be nice to get back to my (spiritual) home - the Dominion Theatre - at least for a couple of hours anyway. I leave Aberystwyth at 8.20 in the morning on the National Express coach, 7 hours later I arrive with deep-vein thrombosis and cramp at Victoria - but hey, it saves me a tenner when compared to the train so I’m not complaining.