Even more Reviews!!....

Here are some more reviews that I have found... but only posted up now... woops....

Sunday 11th May 2008
Give It A Name Festival – Sheffield Hallam Arena

Any gig claiming to be a festival, but all indoors, is a strange one for me… well, in my opinion, all festivals should be outdoors…. But anyway I digress…
I had booked tickets for this gig earlier in the year, mainly to Alkaline Trio (which for the price of a ticket is a bit silly) but they hardly tour over here anymore and anyway I digress again. This is not usually a gig that I would go to with great enthusiasm, mainly because it turns out to be a complete ‘Emo-fest’ – plenty of bands pleasing the emo/scene kids – don’t know what they are? Google it, I’m sure there will be some explanation there.
I turn up with my friend/housemate/drummer and I’m right! We’re both there to see Alkaline Trio as we had not seen them since two years earlier and they had a much anticipated album out soon. We’re greeted by scores of kids in brightly coloured get ups and faces covered in hair. We had planned to give the festival a chance, turn up early and check out the early bands, as after all some might be good. But greeted by the sight of kids modelling the latest Top Shop fashions, we decided to go the nearby cinema instead to kill some time – see next review!
Cut to later – an hour before Alkaline Trio – the stadium doesn’t looked packed at all as we had assumed it was sold out. The stage was to our right – as we had managed to get some pretty decent near the front seating tickets – and was split into two. The far side was a smaller stage showcasing up and coming bands and the side nearest to us was a larger stage for the bigger acts, and the set times for each band alternated between the two stages. We had a main band to watch, and then one on the smaller stage before Alkaline Trio on the main stage again. The kids went crazy for pretty much every band that came on – half of which I had no idea who they were – and the sound overall was ok.
Alkaline Trio came onto an excited reception from the crowd. The set was pretty good! There was a good selection of songs from old albums and a chance to showcase some new songs off the new album. Overall I thought it was good, however thought that the sound for their set was too drums and bass heavy. I could hardly hear the guitar on some of the songs and there was a bit of trouble with the microphones at the beginning of the set leading to some of the first half being vocal-less. Infact the drummer Derek Grant had the best mic set up! He was heard clearly as was lead singer Matt Skiba. The headliners for the evening were Paramore, a female fronted pop/rock/punk band from Tennesse, who came on to the biggest reception from the crowd. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but this band sure had the energy and front woman Hayley Williams has a very good voice! Their live set was actually pretty good and the songs were tight. In all the set times and change overs were performed really well. On stage you could see all the bands supporting each other – many watched from the sides as bands played, and some even joined in randomly. The atmosphere was good onstage and you could see the bands really enjoying themselves. As for the audience, well, most were too concerned with eye-ing each other up/checking out who looked better/hiding behind their hair. With this in full view as the house lights came up at the end, my friend and I made a sharp exit, but yeah, good gig overall.


Sunday 11th May 2008
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Arriving early at the Give It A Name Festival, and seeing scores of Topshop kids, my friend and I decided to venture to the nearby cinema to waste some time. Upon arrival the only film starting soon was Forgetting Sarah Marshall, so we went for it, popcorn combos in hand. Forgetting Sarah Marshall is from the same people, such as Judd Apatow (who produced this film), that brought us 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. I loved 40 Year Old Virgin, which starred Steve Carell, so was looking forward to watching this.
The film is about a man called Peter Bretter who was going out with well-known sexy TV star Sarah Marshall. I say ‘was’ because she breaks up with him in the first 10 minutes of the film! And thus a story about how Peter gets over her is shown. He decides to go on a holiday to Hawaii to forget about it all and ‘recover’ only to arrive and discover that not only is Sarah there also, but staying at the same hotel as him… with her new rock star boyfriend Aldous Snow – played by our very own Russell Brand. Along the way he spends more time with a girl who works there called Rachael (played by Mila Kunis) and she shows him how to basically have a good time again. Staying at the hotel on his own he also gets to become friends with other members of staff – all brilliant supporting characters. Jason Segal, who also plays Peter Bretter, wrote the script. The rest of the cast include Kristen Bell from Heroes, Mila Kunis from Family Guy and other Judd Apatow film regulars – Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill and Bill Hader. I thought this film was very funny! The script is excellent and the editing makes it even better. I loved the way that there wasn’t one ‘hero’ and one ‘villain’ in the story. The characters showed how difficult and complex relationships can be and showed that they can all be likeable and have faults at same time. The supporting cast were the best, with Paul Rudd on fine form – having been excellent in 40 Year Old Virgin and Anchorman – continuing his streak as a good character actor. This film has some good one-liners, excellent supporting cast who all had quirks of their own, and is good for both ladies and gents. I thought it would be more of a chick flick at first – something which I actually hate – but this film turned out to be on par, if not better, than 40 Year Old Virgin. Go watch this film if you like Anchorman and 40 Year Old Virgin!