It was on Wednesday night of this very week that I drove to Brighton with Chris Light with the express interest of seeing Explosions In The Sky play live. Do you want to know how it was? Even if you don't, I shall tell you now. Read on.
I took Wednesday off of work. The plan was to go to Chris' on Tuesday evening to practice on Guitar Hero for our forthcoming Iron Man event. It was planned that a few beers would be ingested and that I would sleep at the house of Light. As it turns out, this didn't happen. Chris was up in London until the early hours, so it was deemed unnecessary to venture round to his abode. Instead I watched a programme about Hugh Everett's "Many Worlds Theory", hosted by Everett's son: Mark Oliver Everett (AKA E, from the rock band "Eels"). It was a very good programme called "Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives". Thanks, BBC Four, for such compelling programming.
It was during this viewing that my sister informed me that Heath Ledger had passed away. I felt a bit sad about this, as I found him to be a talented and engaging actor. I look forward to seeing the new Batman film, as his portrayal of The Joker looks to be rather fantastic.
So I woke up on Wednesday morning at 10:45am to a call from Bruno Fountain, who was wanting to play squash. I said it might be a possibility. I went to Chris' at about 12pm and we caught up on Guitar Hero and Pro Evo. After some time had passed it became clear that squash would not be viable as it would involve too much driving around, and we had a tight schedule to adhere to. We set off for Brighton at 6pm.
It took us about an hour after we had taken out some money and negotiated the rush hour traffic. Upon parking up outside Concorde 2 on the Brighton seafront, I grounded the front bumper of my car, Ralf, on a particularly high kerb. This annoyed me. The damage is not too substantial, but the sheer fact of knowing that I have done this has made me angry. Why do they do this?
We got into the club at 7:30pm and settled down for the night's events. There was only one item of merchandise that warranted a buy, seeing as I already own all the current Explosions In The Sky T-Shirts. I bought an Eluvium shirt, as this was the support act. At 8:30 Eluvium played. He was very enjoyable, but very loud. At one point everyone was covering their ears as the high pitched drones became too much to bear. I got a bit annoyed at all the people talking through his set. Very disrespectful, I feel.
Explosions In The Sky came on at 9:30pm. They were rather good, but again it was the crowd that ruined the experience. Too many people pushing past other people to try to get to the front. Many times we were thrust forward into the backs of dirty unwashed crusties with dreadlocks. Dreadlocks make me feel ill, all that filthy hair makes me gag. Eventually we moved to a more cumbent spot, but it did nothing to quell the chatter from the ranks of arty freaks and young pretenders. Also, there were loads of old people there. If I'd known this, I would have taken my Nan for a little treat.
During the set I was beset by a vicious headache that lasted for a couple of minutes. They come on every now and then, so it's no biggie mac. They're like intense electrical storms inside my head, all flashing lights and head cramps. It passed quickly, but the infernal talking of my fellow bystanders did not. "Hey, I didn't pay £15 to listen to drunk, smelly idiots talk", I moaned to myself. The only other high point, other than the band, was a pretty brown haired girl. I liked her.
We left sharpish, as the band do not play encores. The drive back was quite alright, although I did suffer a brief headache coming through Brighton. It passed quickly again, so all was well. Coming out of the town on the A23, there are two speed cameras, one for each side of the road. I slowed down in time for the one on my side of the road, but I crept back up to about 37mph and the one going the other way flashed me. I didn't understand this, as it was facing toward me and there were no road markings on my side of the road. It is for these reasons that I have not let it trouble me. You could say that I am nonchalant in the face of speed cameras on the other side of the road. If something comes of it then I shall challenge the ruling. You shall not pass.
