Sunday, March 4, 2012

London (2)

These are the only photos I could manage since I was pretty much freaking out the whole time.

The highlight of my trip to London was definitely seeing Blur at the Brits, which was the main motivation for my going in the first place. I know they got a lot of negative press afterwards, and yes, I might be a bit biased, but I thought they were amazing and the most exciting performers of the night.

A few days later, we went to the National Portrait Gallery, where there was a Lucian Freud exhibit. I was really struck by the following quote from him: What do I ask of a painting? I ask it to astonish, disturb, seduce, convince.

It reminded me of what I look for in the music and made me consider what it was that I that I love so much about Blur (and all my favourite bands/musicians). I'm not just interested in something that's easy and pretty and safe. I want music that excites me and challenges me and maybe even scares me. Sure, their performance wasn't the most polished of the acts that night, but it wasn't staid and choreographed. It was full of excitement and energy and enthusiasm.

And to be perfectly honest, I was so caught up in everything and excited to be there that I really enjoyed all of the performances, even though I don't listen to any of the other artists and didn't know the songs.

Okay, I always feel super pretentious when I try to talk seriously about music and this happened nearly two weeks ago, but I just felt the need to share this.

3 comments:

  1. Lucky you, that must have been so great!

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  2. Exciting! Are you tempted to see them at hyde park? (too pricey for me :(

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    1. oh man, it'd be a total dream to go to hyde park, but i'm fairly certain i can't get the time off work and i can only imagine how insane the flights would be to london this summer. :( i wish they'd announce more warm up gigs and some not so far away from me! :D

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