Review: Kate Bush Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith, London 02/09/2014

Picture from The Mirror

If I'm honest, I didn't really know what to expect from the Kate Bush gig - I'm used to small, dingy venues where everyone is squished together and there's a constant argy-bargy to get to the front, so the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith was a bit of a change. I also had no idea what to expect from the show itself; nothing prepared me for Kate's performance.

When she walked on, everyone was on their feet, clapping and cheering. There were so many people there, with a variety of age, gender, race and sexuality; it was so communal and so wonderful to be in a versatile sea of people, all enjoying the same astounding woman on the stage. I especially loved that she came out with no shoes on.

Before the Dawn wasn't just a concert, it was a whole stage show, with a running theme and a storyline, stunning theatrics and costumes, and of course, fantastic music. The only old song she sung was Running Up That Hill, and the whole venue just about lost their minds when we heard the opening bars. Her new songs are still brilliant, though; they're somewhat different from her most well-known songs, but the essential Kate Bush style is still there. And her voice is unbelievable - it filled the Apollo effortlessly, and sent chills down my spine.

Another nice surprise was the performance of Kate's son, Bertie. His singing was lovely to listen to, his acting was convincing and very funny at times, and I've since found out that he was responsible for a lot of the mad footage that happened in the background for the majority of the show. He's so young, but he has clearly inherited his mum's kooky creativity and talent, and it was infinitely clear how proud Kate is of him.

Overall, the show was dark and strange and utterly captivating - Kate Bush definitely did not disappoint. She drifted around the stage in her floaty dress, looking just as ethereal as she ever did, and thanked the audience so many times throughout the show. I wanted to thank her for giving us such a great show, and for being so brave and facing such a huge audience after not performing for 35 years.

Walking out of the venue and looking around, I could see everyone beaming and talking about their favourite parts of the show; the atmosphere was so positive and everyone was happy and excited. Caz and I were grinning our heads off for the rest of the night - it was so worth it.

Review: Phantom of the Opera, Majestic Theatre, New York City 23/08/2014

Picture from Broadway.com

When I went to the Majestic on August 23rd, I was immediately thrilled because I had a front row, stage left seat; I could literally lean slightly and peek over the low wall in front of me into the orchestra! I also couldn't believe how much I paid for the seat - around $150 for front row, Saturday night, on Broadway.  

Having seen Phantom in London's West End back in 2007, I knew the basics of what to expect from the show but I still got chills after the auction scene, when the main theme starts and the chandelier is pulled up. From the front, the sound of the orchestra was absolutely huge, but not overwhelming and I was immediately hooked. I'd originally thought the stage at the Majestic was a bit small, but it was at this point that the curtains around the sides fell away to reveal the golden statues and I was bowled over.

The show was absolutely incredible. Norm Lewis was unbelievable as the Phantom; the rest of the cast were phenomenal, but he absolutely owned the stage when he was on. His voice is absolutely huge, and his performance was completely believable. It was mostly because of him that I found myself crying my eyes out at the end of the show. I cannot begin to explain how much I enjoyed his performance - Norm Lewis' Phantom is a definite must-see.

I also adored Michele McConnell, who played Carlotta; she was the perfect mix of glamorous and hilarious. She definitely had Carlotta's character down to an art, sweeping around in elaborate costumes and demanding attention and respect, which the audience gladly gave. Her voice was out of this world too - some of the notes she can reach are absolutely unbelievable!

Picture from Playbill

All in all the entire cast, right down to the last ballerina, did such a good job of bringing the show to life; the performance was polished and well-rehearsed, but came across as entirely natural. Another honorary mention has to go out to Laird Macintosh and Timothy Jerome (Monsieurs Andre and Firmin), who absolutely cracked me up. They worked fabulously as a double act! The sets were also absolutely stunning - I particularly enjoyed the Phantom's underground lair, and the staircase scene for 'Masquerade'. I also loved the final few seconds of the show, when Meg Giry (played by Polly Baird) held up the Phantom's mask, and the lights slowly faded. My heart was pounding for most of the show, and I had a constant knot in my throat.

At the end, I was one of the first audience members on their feet; it was like my legs were spring-loaded. I cannot say how appreciative I was of every cast, crew and orchestra member involved in the show - Phantom means so much to me, it's been my favourite show for many years, and I suppose I'm a bit protective of it. In the Majestic, it is in good hands, and seeing it this year was just as awe-inspiring as it was when I was 15 years old. The standing ovation went on for so long, and crescendoed when Jeremy Hays (Raoul), Mary Michael Patterson (Christine), and of course Norm Lewis appeared for the curtain call. 

Picture from BroadwayWorld

I would definitely recommend that you try to catch Phantom of the Opera if you're in New York; even if you're not a big theatre person, you will enjoy it simply for the wonderful aesthetics and obvious effort and hard work every person on that show has put in to making it perfect. The theatre is definitely a nice way to spend the evening in NYC, and this is one of the ultimate shows not just on Broadway, but in the whole world. Even now as I write this, I miss the sheer magic that I experienced that evening, and I wish more than anything I could go back and watch it all over again.

Review: Carlton Arms Hotel, East 25th St, New York City

I found out about this hotel via HostelWorld, and was immediately taken in by the pictures on their website. It definitely looked like my kind of place, and it was located so conveniently (on the corner of East 25th and 3rd). For a private bedroom, it set me back $600 for a week's stay; the toilet and showers were shared, but after living in the woods for two months this wasn't even slightly a setback for me. It was a lot of money to part with, but seemed reasonable considering the location.

When I arrived, I found that the hotel entrance was a door next to a store, and you immediately have to climb a staircase to get up to the main lobby; I was amused by a sign downstairs, telling guests to bring the cat upstairs if she was at the bottom. Lugging my suitcase and holdall up the stairs wasn't much fun, but seeing the reception area kind of distracted me:

This place was covered, covered in murals; even in a week I was still spotting new things on my floor, and I haven't even seen the other floors of the hotel. It is absolutely stunning, and I love the idea of bringing in local artists and letting them loose to decorate every single room differently.

Checking in was a breeze; the people running the Carlton Arms are friendly, artsy folk who are really relaxed and approachable. I was asked which floor I wanted to stay on and, being lazy and sick of dragging my bags around, I opted to stay on the same floor as reception. They gave me the keys to the two remaining rooms on that floor and told to pick whichever one I preferred. I picked 6A, of which I've posted photos on here previously. It was a monochrome room with beautiful, slightly morbid murals on the walls - definitely suitable for me! I went back to tell the staff my choice, and to pay the remaining $510 I owed them. Here I hit a little snag - the temporary debit card that camp paid me on decided not to work. A lot of people had this problem, and I was incredibly embarrassed, not to mention worried that I would be thrown out before I'd even been there for five minutes. But the people running the hotel were honestly the nicest, most chill people. I was told to go settle in, and to bring them cash whenever I could get to an ATM. I was so grateful for their kindness, as I was pretty flustered at this point.

On my way back to my room, I noticed this windowsill and couldn't resist taking a photo:

As I was dragging my things through the door, one of the two cats (a tabby) that live in the hotel came into my room. She was very friendly, letting me pick her up and give her a big cuddle before depositing her back outside. I soon met the other, a grey and white cat who was a little more shy, and it was nice to have them roaming around the corridors - it made the hotel feel so much more homey and friendly. Not to mention that they keep the hotel clean enough so that you don't get cat hair all over everything you possess!

The bed in my room was a double one, and it was so comfortable (even if it was super squeaky). I loved sprawling out on it after a long day walking around the city. It was also equipped with a sink, and an air conditioning unit that worked like a dream. I was expecting it to be noisier than it actually was, but I suppose the noise was cancelled out a bit by the fact that all I could ever hear was the traffic out on 3rd Avenue. You'd think that would be really annoying and disturbing - I usually can't sleep with loads of noise happening - but I slept incredibly well at the Carlton Arms. Maybe I was tired from all my NYC adventures. Maybe it was because I wasn't sleeping in a cabin in the woods any more. I don't know. In any case, I slept beautifully there, even managing to have a couple of naps during the day when everyone was hustling and bustling outside.

A couple of the corridors on my floor.

All in all, I had a really wonderful stay. The hotel is 'basic', in that you don't get breakfast and there's not anything like a TV in the rooms, but the complimentary WiFi is great. The atmosphere in the place is so ambient and laid back; it's a truly charming little oasis in the middle of the big city and it was lovely to come home to it every evening. I definitely missed it when I left.

So, if you're planning on going to New York City any time soon, I would highly recommend the Carlton Arms Hotel. It's clean and pleasant, with the charm of an old house that's been really lived in and loved for years. If you're an artistic sort of person, a solo adventurer, a young couple or a fan of cats, you will adore it there. It's also really accessible, only a 5-10 minute walk over to 5th Avenue and the Empire State Building, and a short subway ride to famous places like Grand Central Station, Central Park and Times Square.

If I ever get to go back to New York, Carlton Arms Hotel will be top of my list for a place to stay!

London & Kate Bush

 
Yesterday, Caz and I went to the bus station to get the coach to London, for the long-awaited Kate Bush gig! As you can probably imagine, we were ridiculously excited because Kate Bush is our queen. Here's a little selfie of us on the coach:

The gig was in Hammersmith, so we had to travel through some of the poshest areas of London in order to get to the venue. On the Tube, we saw a man eating an entire cucumber, and that was pretty much it for us; we were sitting there honking with laughter in a Tube carriage full of posh folk in expensive business wear. 

I was reduced to hysterics again in Hammersmith, when Caz said, "Omg look, it's Ian McKellen!" - I turned around to see a fabulous old man in a t-shirt and pink shorts. Honestly, it was the best analogy ever. We were massive pigs in the Broadway shopping centre, eating McDonalds and cookies and pretzels, but it was so worth it. Also it costed 50p to get into the toilets. Spend a penny, my ass.

We had fun in the queue for the gig, because there were so many people around that our lookalike game got somewhat out of hand. We had Jeff Bridges, Jared Leto, Raúl Esparza, Vivienne Westwood, Liza Minelli and miscellaneous characters like my personal favourite, Foreign Doctor (then he looked at his phone and left rather urgently, so he became Foreign Doctor On Call). The blokes behind us also thought they were dead subtle when they inched closer and closer to us, eventually overtaking us like the rotten queue-jumpers they were.

We all have assigned seats m8, no need to push in.

Finally, after about twenty years of waiting, we were allowed into the venue. There was a mad dash for the merch table, so I left Caz to it because I'm an awful friend and I needed whiskey. However, I did at least buy Caz a drink to have while she was waiting in the utter madness. When she'd gotten her t-shirt we adjourned up to the circle for the show. Now, our tickets told us we were basically at the back so we were sure we'd only see a Kate Bush-shaped dot on the stage miles away from us, but the venue is actually smaller than we'd anticipated. So my view was something like this:

We could see pretty well (except for some guy's head being in my way for most of it, causing me to sit on an angle for most of the show and develop a numb butt cheek). The gig itself was phenomenal. Kate Bush has such an amazing voice, even to this day, and she had the whole room spellbound for the whole show. I am going to be writing a review so I won't go into masses of detail, but it was so bloody good, and her son's performance in it was really great as well. It was more like theatre than a concert, and it was magical. She was perfect, and I especially loved that she came out on stage with no shoes on.

Even though getting back home was a nightmare (our bus was at midnight, but it was delayed until 00:30), we were so happy to have seen Kate Bush, especially after how quickly the tickets sold out, and the fact that she may never tour again. I'm still buzzing from how good it was, and I feel so lucky to have had this chance. A massive, massive thank you to Caz for getting the tickets for us!