Video killed the radio star
Jan. 15th, 2008 10:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emmelinemaySo that's day 1 over with, the Brits Launch Party. It was fun, each band did one song each and allwere excellent, but it was very much a TV recording and not a gig. As I said on the radio (for those listening) it seemed a rather pointless event - a whole show just to announce the nominations? Seemed a bit, well, superfluous. But perhaps that is how things are done these days, to be honest I've not paid much attention to the Brits since Jarvisgate.
I met Brian outside, having sent a text saying 'I'm short, blonde wearing a bright red coat'. The red coat never fails! He's a very nice chap, laid back and cool and we hit it off straight away.
We had an excellent view, due to the strange way that people behave at gigs - amassing at the middle without moving to the side, which meant that is was impossible to see, and hard to move. The queue for the bar was 4 people deep. Having experienced this crush for previous gigs, I assured Brian that if we walked all the way round to the right, we'd be able to practically walk up to the stage, and not only was I right, but there was also another bar there with no queue.
The show itself began with the Editors doing Smokers Outside the Hospital Door - they were excellent, but then the Editors are awesome. They had a great sound, the kick drum pounding into your heart. Then some faffing while Kelly Osbourne and some bloke called Reggie I didn't recognise did some links, and announced some nominees. Then Bat For Lashes, who were surprisingly good. Like a less annoying Kate Bush, and very 80s. In between bands, VT was played of famous people talking about the nominees, but the sound wasn't great and it was pretty hard to hear the screens.
Then Adele, who has an amazing voice, and The Hoosiers, who I remember nothing about, so they can't have been terribly special.
We tried our best to find famous people to leave a message for Alex - we were this close [.......................] to getting one of the Editors, but just missed them. Some music industry dude took my number, went to the VIP area and did his best - no idea who he was by his number is now in my phone as 'music industry dude from brits'. That'll be useful, I'm sure.
It was a weird set up - there were lots of people with 'artist' and 'crew' tags at the main bar, so I assume either there wasn't a bar in the VIP area, or it was a 2-tiered thing with a separate bit for the REALLY FAMOUS people and the not-so-famous-people-and-and-their-mates had to come downstairs to buy their own beer.
Seeing as there were lots of not-so-famous-people-and-and-their-mates hanging around the main bar, we staked it out and stuck to our method of going up to people with 'crew' or 'artist' tags and basically asking them to go find famous people for us. There was no way we were going to get back stage; it would be easier to rob the bank of England. After a few false starts we found some friends of Adele and her bass player, who seemed to have no idea what was going on, but was quite happy to introduce us to Adele. She was really sweet, very nice, and very pretty in person. And she's so YOUNG! Bless her, she really didn't want to do the call, which was far enough, so we didn't push it and headed back to the bar.
Back at the bar, we found another chap with an 'artist' pass - he said 'yeah sure, no prob, I'll get Adele to do it'. Dammit! We told him she didn't want to , but on finding out he was her tour manager, we decided he'd do :)
We tried for one more, in case we could get someone even more famous than 'Adele's tour manager' but seemed to have missed the boat. We did spend ages chatting to a chap called Danny who's been in the music and TV industry for about 30 years, and he has some AMAZING stories about his first music job at 16 being to roll spliffs and book hookers for a rock band while they were recording, and a great story about Slash on CDUK having a cigarette case full of coke :)
As it was a really early gig (starting at 6, finishing at 7.30) the place was empty at 8.30, so we headed off, thinking that at least our first gig of the week would have an early night...
That was not to be as I wandered past the Dev on my way back to the station, and saw
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green_badger and _alexandra_. As I'd already had a couple of San Miguels, I didn't think another would hurt...I rolled into bed at about half 11, having drank 3 pints of water to stave of an epic hangover, woke up at 7am feeling fine, considering that it was 7am.
The XFM Studios are in Leicester Square, about a 45 minute journey. I can't understand how people who commute by train regularly manage it. The crowds, the heat, the rage of people waiting for train after train too busy to squeeze onto. The worst thing is the silence. Hundreds and hundreds of people all crushed together into the shape of the doors, all absolutely silent. Eerie.
Anyway, I got to the studio in plenty of time, met Pete (who really DOES have tiny hands!) and met up again with Brian. We were ushered into the studio, and in came Alex Zane, who looks exactly like his posters. Not every DJ manages that! He was a thoroughly nice chap, I take back everything I may have ever said about him >_<
He talked about my piercings and tattoos for rather too long, but seemed to like the predator tattoo, and did call me 'pretty' at one point, so that made it worthwhile getting up extra early to do my hair and makeup...
It felt oddly natural to be in there, chatting on the radio, and despite my nerves feeling like they were eroding my insides like acid, I quite enjoyed it. I think I'd rather like being a DJ, or a reporter! I'm probably too old to get into it now, but still, I think I'd be rather good at it :)
When I got into work, it turned out EVERYONE in the office had been listening! they were all very complimentary, said I was a natural and didn't sound nervous at all. They also congratulated me for 'telling it like it is' about the Brits, which makes me wonder if perhaps I was more negative about it that I really felt, as it was a good night.
So tomorrow we're off to see The Kills which I am pretty excited about! Should be a lot of fun.
I'm not too tired right now, but nerves have killed my appetite, since yesterday all I've had is one bowl of shreddies, a banana and 5 pieces of tofu. Oh, and a cup of tea, 3 san miguels, a glass of white wine and a vodka tonic.
I should probably go eat something...
Photos here! (photos are also on my facebook!)
For those that missed it, apparently you can listen to previously broadcast shows over at www.xfm.co.uk
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Date: 2008-01-15 11:46 am (UTC)And I love Bat For Lashes, she's such a talented girl. :-)
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Date: 2008-01-15 11:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 12:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 12:30 pm (UTC)I'm hoping someone clever will know how to get the right section and record it, mainly so Mum can hear it, but also because it would be nice to keep.
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Date: 2008-01-15 12:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 12:15 pm (UTC)I'm not sure whether it's locked so you can't listen outside the UK, or if it because it needs some kind of software you don't have. What sort of error message do you get?
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Date: 2008-01-15 12:23 pm (UTC)error message =
var pPlayerTabs = 0; var pStationID = ''; var pSkinID = ''; var pRequestEpisode = ''; var pAd_Tag = '
MediaManagerPlayer error '800a005b'
Object variable or With block variable not set
/player/NonScripted/container.asp, line 23
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Date: 2008-01-15 12:18 pm (UTC)NICE!
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Date: 2008-01-15 12:20 pm (UTC)Every morning at about 9.30!
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Date: 2008-01-15 12:20 pm (UTC)i got to go and hang out at the brits 2 times, thanks to radio competitions (both radio 1, i think. many moons ago, anyway). man, i might start listening to something other than smooth fm again!
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Date: 2008-01-15 12:23 pm (UTC)They did say that Macca is getting the lifetime achievement award though, which should make you happy :)
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Date: 2008-01-15 12:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 12:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 12:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 12:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 12:30 pm (UTC)and Alex is a sweety isn't he? ask him what his brother James is up to at the moment and how the frick he spells his actual last name so that I can find him (james not alex) on facebook.
or don't.
the kills should be awesome!
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Date: 2008-01-15 12:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 01:20 pm (UTC)Sounds like an amazing evening - good for you for grasping the opportunity with both hands.
(I guess it was probably Reggie Yates, a talentless numpty who has annoyed me without me having a clue who he actually is or what he does - which is quite impressive)
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Date: 2008-01-15 01:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 10:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 03:03 pm (UTC)The proper XFM website is a bit of a shit to navigate if you're not quite sure what you're looking for, though... I presume the gig pig section is part of Alex Zane's breakfast show?
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Date: 2008-01-15 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 03:14 pm (UTC)I'll try to catch you on the radio live henceforth, though!
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Date: 2008-01-15 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 04:05 pm (UTC)