Not another concert, my oh my, aren't we cultural!

We hello once again to our beautiful, wonderful, friendly blog followers and you have been busy this month with over 10,000 views, why are you wasting your time reading this chit chat blabbering crap 😂. Your either all very bored, very lonely or need to be sectioned, either way we are thankful for your time and effort to stay awake as you read this nonsense.

It's another trip to London and yet another concert, Coldplay.

Sian saw them in 2017 and i was meant to be going with her if i could find a flight from Zakynthos to get me there for the morning of the concert and then a flight back the next morning but there was nothing viable without a long trip in the UK back to Cardiff so Sian went with a friend, BUGGER!

Now then, lets get something straight first, i loved their albums "Parachutes" and "Rush of blood" and their performance of "Clocks" at the Brit awards was nothing like i had ever seen before with the stage show which blew me away and "Paradise" is still one of my all time favourite songs, less we forget that "Sky full of stars" is our song, it was the song that was playing when i proposed to Sian at the Calgary Stampede but all the rest i thought was a bit of a sell out just staying fashionable and more pop than indie when they started out, middle of the road safe songs so i tuned out of the rest of their stuff BUT i still wanted to see the stage show and listen to the songs i liked and i was lucky enough to get us tickets at one of their Wembley gigs. I decided to get us tickets in the upper stand as i wanted us to experience and see the stage show not be in amongst it on the pitch and what a great decision that was.

We started off as usual with our holiday breakfast, me with my usual toast and Sian had granola with Greek yoghurt, blueberries and honey, Sian always chooses the better stuff, so not fair.

So as you know our lovely blog followers we have been to London so many times we're starting to get cockney accents so we won't bore you with the usual sight seeing pics as we've pretty much exhausted London of all it has to offer but we did have a wander and go to a few different places.

I had booked us in to Travelodge at London City Airport which is on the very edge of London but what a great hotel. newly refurbished, our room overlooked the runway about 100m away so could watch the planes coming and going, the transport in to central London was every 10 mins and the room was dirt cheap, 3 night for £180 in a super room which is their upgraded rooms and with Coldplay in town, that's a bargain. 

We arrived late afternoon and it was a bit grey and very light rain but it didn't last that long so we dumped down the bags and off we went to Canary Wharf for a small pub crawl as tomorrow is a long day.

We had seen a bar in Canary Wharf when we stayed over there a few years ago we wanted to try so that was our first stop, it's called "Fair Game" which is an adults only fun fair arcade bar, just look for the giant floating rubber duck......ah...there it is. 

As we enter the bar there are candy floss and sugar cane stalls, and nice big bar and then behind the bar are your arcade games like shoot the basket ball, horseracing, knock the tins off, water gun clowns, the sort of games you find at a fun fair for you to win teddies and the atmosphere was really good but the DJ was terrible, so many different ages, nationalities and genders but just one type of music, shit music.

Sian with her "Bear goggles" beer as the Fair Game logo is a tipsy looking bear. CHEERS!

After just the one in there time was pushing on so we head off to a German bar called "Munich Cricket Club" do Germans play Cricket? It's a very English thing isn't it, cricket, grown men playing a game where they can rub their genitals in public in front of hundreds of people in the ground and thousands watching on TV and get away with it, it's a minefield, you can be lude on a sports field but mac flashers back in the day were arrested, very confusing.

It was a Saturday night and the bar was very quiet, but we liked the bar so we went downstairs and we like German wheat beer so it was perfect for us and they played a good selection of music.

And after a few beers we're a bit peckish so we head back to our room and order a take away which was the quickest ever delivery we've had, it was literally 10 mins as the take away was round the corner, perfect when we got the beer munchies. Fed, full and tired it's nigh nigh time. 

Sunday and IT'S COLDPLAY DAY AND IT'S SUNNY, YAY! As we're getting ready to go out for our morning walk and a coffee i turn to Sian and say "Why aren't i excited, i'm looking forward to it but not excited like all the other concerts and gigs we've been to, weird" Sian said she felt the same, the buzz wasn't there but we were both really looking forward to the concert, ah well.

We take a walk beside the Thames and we find a swing in a small area by apartments so Sian couldn't resist, i found a climbing web but because of my shoulder i couldn't have a go, so not fair again. HMPH!

We continue over to the O2 arena before heading over to Wembley to find the indoor sky diving centre called Ifly as Sian's mum bought us a flight each for Christmas and we we're booked in to fly today but again due to my shoulder we had to reschedule but we wanted to see where it was and we couldn't resist a photo opportunity.

Angels do exist.

The least angelic look in the world 😕

A quick pint in Whetherspoons and off to Wembley we go and we hit it at the right time.

We take a walk around the outside of Wembley as all the bars close by were rammed and find our gate. Once again, like Tottenham stadium, the businesses were all playing music that wasn't Coldplay, don't these people get it! COLDPLAY ARE IN CONCERT! Couldn't find a bar we liked outside the stadium so we decided to head in and go to the bar where we drank in at Taylor Hawkins tribute concert, now the excitement is kicking in.

Sian with her beer goggles on, get it, drinking a beer and wearing moon goggles.....please yourselves. Only found out after we got home that the Moon goggles give an enhanced experience of the fireworks and light show, wasn't told this on the day. DOH!

I know what your thinking "Could you be any further away" trust me, this was the best spot to see the stage show.

Our usual crap selfie, i'm very proud of the fact our selfies are getting worse, well done us.

The theme from E.T. starts to play, screens light up and there are Coldplay walking under the stage towards the centre stage and out from the side of it, it was a very calm entrance by them, nothing over the top but the crowd were going wild and then the show begins......

SEE.....now that's why we sat where we did, to see the actual show not be in it. It is an amazing show that Coldplay put on and the wristbands how they work is brilliant as they can even choose where they want them to be on and what colours.

The show is all very love, peace and harmony which in these days is a rare thing and i've never been to a concert where the whole stadium stood for every song even the slow songs, we sat for those so we must have looked like weirdo's to the others. We sang loud, clapped along and jumped around which in a steep seated area ends up being quite dangerous, we had to check ourselves a few times as we almost fell over the seats in front of us. Now i bet your thinking "Coldplay are boring", i will say it was a very pedestrian concert and just rolled along smoothly, i really enjoyed our song which i was happy to hear Chris Martin say "During this song (Sky full of stars) just one song, everyone put their phones away and go mad" which almost everyone did including ourselves as it holds that special memory for us and i sang "Paradise" as loud as i could but then something happened........they played a song i had never heard before.......and it blew me away........

It was loud, it was heavy and the light show was dark with just flashing bright white lights like huge strobe lighting that just made the songs experience feel even louder, WOW. Why can't they make more songs like that instead of all the bubblegum pop stuff, i saw them in a different light after that and even watching that video it made the hairs stand up on my arms.....well it's not going to be on my head is it. Unfortunately they finished the concert with 3 slow songs, not really going out with a bang is it, so we left during the last but one song as we know how manic it gets leaving at the very end.

We would definitely go to see them again, if they had been in Cardiff a week later we would have gone but it was only Wembley BUT we had a great night after the non pre concert buzz. The journey back to the hotel was quick and painless and it was dry and sunny all day, phew!

Monday and it's do what you like day and that's exactly what we did, a nice wander around central London, visit our fav drinking holes and just chill, well if walking 14 miles is chilling that is.

We always make a beeline for our Canadian home from home bar "The Maple Leaf" and it's had a very nice refreshing refurb and it looks great.

They also have a new Canadian brewery Sleemans, I had the Honey Brown beer, it's so good, CHEERS!

We then went to The Argyle which we've told you about before across the road from the London Palladium, we do like it in there as it's a proper traditional oldy worldy pub with the little snugs then it's "Messy Time" to the Hard Rock, HooRah!

We pop in to the shop first as we realised we've visited Hard Rock London more than any other Hard Rock but never got the tshirt as we have tshirts from all the others we've visited. We buy our tshirts and are then asked would we like to see the vault. This is a new one on us, we had only found out about it that morning and had never seen it before. In the shop is a staircase that you just miss, i've never noticed that staircase before and we've been in that Hard Rock shop over half a dozen times and across the staircase is a rope closing it off and until your asked if you'd like to go down in to it the vault stays closed as it really is a locked vault. We were two out of a lucky five given the privilege to go down in to it. THIS IS SO COOL!

We were given a tour of the most precious exhibits and guide of how the Hard Rock started and stories of the rock stars who have ate there as regular customers when they lived in London in the 70's. At the back of the room is a church pew from Jimi Hendrixs home in London and look at a few of the stars who have sat on that pew......(Sorry about the glare of the picture frames glass)

Aerosmith

The Edge from U2

Manic Street Preachers

Mr. Ringo Starr

And the ultimate rock stars.......US!

We were told by our guide that Ringo was the most miserable sod and didn't really want the picture taken so our guide told us to look miserable like Ringo...it's very hard to look miserable on purpose.

Our guide was brilliant, lots of stories of hard rock, he was funny and he had worked there for so long he couldn't remember but he had worked there since being a young waiter and now in his fifties, really enjoyed it and felt like an honour to see inside the vault.

And of course you couldn't have a rock music vault without a piece owned by a true rock legend, Freddie Mercury.

His chair from Garden Lodge.

After a brain overload it's time to get messy, YAY!

Start off with a couple of cocktails....

Followed by a few shots....

HIC......CHEERS!

A few cocktails and shots later and it's time to zig zag home. SO....we had planned to leave hard rock at around 7.30pm.....OOooopppps! It's 10pm....well not far off eh! We always have fun what can i say.

Tuesday and it's home time Boooooooooo! BUT we're booked in to Gordon Ramsays Lucky Cat again in Mayfair.

This time we knew what not to order, the 1 bottle of water for instance and 2 small beers, those alone last time cost us for the 3 a total of £21, this time we ordered 2 pots of mint tea and we only got charged for 1, GOT YA BACK GORDY!

Aren't we posh!

The last time we were here the set lunch menu was 3 courses for £38, this time it's been changed, it's a express lunch box 2 courses for £30 or 3 courses for £35. We didn't fancy a dessert so we went with the 2 courses and added crispy hoisin duck boa buns. It was so good, as good as the first time BUT Gordo has started to tighten the belt a bit with his portions, below you can see what we got for our 2 courses with edamame beans being the starter course which is cheap and the same as last time but the meal itself was allot smaller but in saying that really filling and amazing flavours BUT the rice was very greasy, not great. On our first visit the components of the main course were much larger and on individual plates, now its a bento box, no wonder Gord's doing Burger King adverts now, he must be strapped for cash along with scrimping on his lunch menu, what a tight arse.

Sian looking as gorgeous and cool as ever, she my girl, BACK OFF FOOL!

With heavy hearts and full bellies it's time to go home to Squidly, not that Squidly cares as she's got the whole of the house to run round and food, treats and water coming out of her floppy ears. She's very happy to be left alone but she does shun us when we first get back but it doesn't take long for her to come round.

Squidly unimpressed and fast asleep in her play tunnel when we arrived home.

And that's another update done and dusted.

What's in store for the next update....well.....we have the UK Foo Fighters but i've written about them loads of times .....and.....another trip to London and another concert...Lady GaGa. Don't know to many of her songs just the earlier stuff, Sian knows more but i want to see the stage show, from what i've seen that also looks spectacular and we've got Ifly booked in if my shoulder is OK by then and a day in Fair Game to try and win a bear.

And finally......I'm always on the look out for interesting new food and sauces and in a well known British supermarket (Not Lidl or Aldi) i found these.....

Cock, FuFu and Shito. 

I found these lovely delights in one section of an aisle. I'll pass on the Cock, i'm OK with the FuFu but i'm sure if i put the Cock and FuFu together i may need the Shito. 

COME ON.....you'd pay good money to see Ricky Gervais tell that joke and you lot just got it for free.

So until the next time........, 

Serve All, Love All, Peace All, Kevlar, Mrs. P. & Squidly Out!.

WE ARE IMAGINE "WELSH" DRAGONS

 So your sitting around doing nothing, thinking of what a great time you had in Paris and seeing Imagine Dragons 2 weeks ago, What do you do? You look for tickets to see them in London, It's obvious isn't it. So i go on Twickets and nothing doing, no ones selling any tickets for either of the 2 gigs from 25th on the Friday and Saturday. Bugger! I know lets search on resale websites. Because both shows are sell outs they are stupid prices, we wanted to be closer to the stage this time and Golden circle tickets were over £200 each, sod that! Last chance, lets look on Ticketmaster, you never know. Just as bad, all tickets are resales and at stupid prices. Well i got nothing else to do so lets just sit here refreshing Golden Circle tickets and see if any drop their prices. I'ts now been about 45 mins of refreshing and no one budging on their resale prices, then out of the blue 2 Golden circle tickets pop up, original tickets NOT resale tickets and they are £129 each, YESSSSS, and we're in. YAY! This was 11 days before the concert on the Friday. Since we got back from Paris Sian has been obsessed with the band and i've just been listening to their songs while i work so to get these tickets we couldn't believe we were going to see them again within 4 weeks of each other.

In Paris we were standing right at the back as i explained in my last update just drinking and partying, this time we're near the stage and walkway, we are so excited, EEEKKKKKK!

Now time to find a room. It's difficult because on the same day Oasis start their Wembley stint, rooms are scarce and the ones left are at a premium high BUT as with all the vacations and short breaks we have i just persistently keep looking, hours upon hours, days upon days and like the concert tickets a room pops up in an amazing location with a really plush room and £90 cheaper than it's original price at CitizenM London Tower Bridge and what a place it is, very cool and trendy indeed.

The view from our room....It's the Tower of London.

The views a thumbs up from me.

  

Then we have a bar on the 8th floor for residents only.

The view from the bars balcony.

And the bar and lounge on the ground floor

Sian just chilling in the bar area.

We've seen London so many times and written about it on here so many times there's not much left to write about or see....but.......we did see the late Queens rowbarge, The Gloriana

Very impressive but what a waste of money as it's used hardly ever and costs a fortune for its upkeep and mooring fees, not a royalist myself, don't see the point.

After a little bit of a stroll around the area and to find Liverpool street station we make our way to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the station of White Hart Lane and i have to say WHAT A DUMP!

The stadium is amazing, the area it's in is terrible. On the way to the stadium the highlight of the walk was 3 port~a~loos with 4 druggies/drunks outside them using the toilets to have wash in then drip drying outside in the sun, what a great first impression. As for the businesses along the way, again, clueless. Remember how i explained about the walk up to the Stade de France where all that was playing from the bars and restaurants was Imagine Dragons to build up a concert atmosphere....did we get that at White Hart Lane? Nope. We did get loud music blasting out from the bars and take aways but all shit music like RnB, Techno and Drum & Bass, it was the worst walk up to a stadium concert we have ever encountered.

Phew, we're at the stadium, thank god for that.

And what a great looking stadium it is as we make our way to the Golden Circle.

As we take it all in we find a place to stand while the support acts on and have a beer but this time we're not going crazy with the booze as now we can take the concert in right by the stage.

Declan Mckenna was quite good, entertaining and wasn't a bad support act to be fair but we're here for Imagine Dragons and here they come......

As they rise from beneath the stage and the music fades in you get a wave of emotion that washes over you and i start to get the odd tear in my eyes. I am an emotional person but this is more of joy, i hardly ever get emotional in sadness, it's always when i'm happy and having a great time, it's just overwhelming because in that moment my anxiety fades away and being around hundreds of people fades in to the background and it's just Sian and I having an amazing time.

It's an amazing experience being in the Golden Circle. We've both been at the front of concerts before but both of us were at rock concerts and mosh pits so it's a bit more crazy and hazardous, this was very joyous and uplifting.

As you can see we were very close and Dan is singing one of our favs very early on in the concert, we still went a little crazy with the partying but without the booze this time 😁

The set is mixed with some singalongs, some acoustic and some heavier rock anthems.

The acoustic set.

The slower set

And the Rock Anthems

Time for a beer and to buy Sian her surprise tour t~shirt even though she knows that every time i go to get a beer at a gig i always come back with a surprise tour t~shirt for her so it's not much of a surprise even though it's meant to be. As i was walking out to the bar i thought i'd take a pic of half the crowd from behind the stage, it's very full indeed, well it would be with a sell out show.

Now it's time to play a game and the game is "Where's Wallies?" So in the picture below see if you can spot a short ass balding Welsh man and his beautiful wife. This pic was off Imagine Dragons official Facebook page from our nights concert. I will give you until the next update that will be the first week of September.

We are also Youtube superstars. Someone had filmed the whole concert on their phone and put it on Youtube.....WHY? WATCH THE F**KING CONCERT WITH YOUR EYES ONLY, NOT THROUGH A F**KING PHONE SCREEN, YOU F**KING D**KHEADS AS NOBODY ELSE WANTS TO SEE YOU SCREEN IN THEIR VIEW!

Rant over. So, at the point where Dan has his back to the camera you can spot us at the top of the screen right above his head, you may notice my trademark wrist attire flailing about. We do let ourselves go and have a great time when we go to gigs, who wants to be reserved?

And before you know it the concerts over and your on an almighty high and a almighty low both at the same time and just want it to carry on. 

Imagine Dragon concerts are just a joyous wall of sound, lights and colours. We've both been to many concerts but Imagine Dragons we could go to over and over and not get bored of them as it just fills you with energy and positivity through every song no matter if it be a slow sad song or a hard loud song, it's an amazing thing to behold and we've now seen them 4 times in Milan, Paris, London and Cardiff, the 4 fashion capitals of the world 😂 When they tour again i think it could be a tour of us following their tour, THAT'S A GREAT IDEA!

We make our way to the train station and wait with the masses until it's our turn to board the train. 

GOOD GOD, NOT NOW, I'M BUSTING FOR A WEE! Ah well, just got to keep calm and hold it in for another 45 mins. Sian amazing at keeping me calm and i hold out until we get to Liverpool street station.

Now this wasn't meant to be the end of the night, It's Friday, It's the busiest night of the week in London as all the offices close up for the weekend, Imagine Dragons has just finished, Oasis has just finished, 2 sold out stadiums of fans descend on London Central so you'd think it would be party time.....WRONG! As we walked back towards our hotel every single bar we passed, which was around 13 or more were closed. What type of sick joke is this? We're in a busy part of London and not one single bar was open apart from our hotel bar which is open until 4am, oh well, hotel bar it is then.

We have a beer and head up to our room with our ears still ringing from being so close to the stage speakers and Imagine Dragons song lyrics rolling around in our heads, what a great day and night which a spur of the moment idea which become a trip away for the weekend.

Goodnight Tower of London!

Serve All, Love All, Peace All.......Kevlar, Mrs.P. and Squidly Out!