Friends Only

( Tara 101 )


Last updated: 21st May, 2012

So last night I went to see NKOTBSB and, for a couple of aging boybands, they somehow managed to put on the best concert I've ever been to :O

I'm kinda shattered from the concert itself and not getting home until really late, and then being woken much earlier than I needed to be by Monsieur Dog this morning, so I won't do much in the way of a proper review. It was such a surreal experience, though. It was like All The Eras Of Tara were being brought out. My inner eleven-year-old was completely flabberghasted by the thought that New Kids on the Block were up there on stage and my inner twenty-three-year-old was so pleased to be seeing the Backstreet Boys live again.

It was such a well put-together concert, too. The seating looked pretty weird when I headed in, because there was a MASSIVE catwalk that took up a huge part of the Rod Laver floor, but they utilised it really well. And, to my benefit, they did a lot of stuff right at the end of the catwalk, which was only a few metres from my seat ;)

Speaking of my seat, it had seemed pretty ordinary when I bought it, because I missed the start of the sale due to family commitments, and it was to one side and a decent way back from the stage. But then, as people who were forced to read my live-tweeting will know, it turned out that being in the front row of my block was actually a rather good thing, because the aisle in front of me was used several times during the concert by different group members. Nick came out first, to pick a girl to take on stage for 'I'll Never Break Your Heart', and being a matter of centimetres away was v.pleasant, esp. as he has LONG HAIR now (I should really have been warned about this) and has put on a fair bit of the weight he lost. I don't like skinny!nick. The whole point of Nick is that he's tall and solid and soft-bellied, not skinny and unhappy looking.

Anyway, so that was v.exciting to the Tara Of Ages Past who had Nick as her number one celebrity crush for years and years. And, yeah, to Tara Of Ages Now, who still has a pretty big soft spot for him against her better judgement. And then Joey McIntyre came out into the audience, and I am pretty sure my inner eleven-year-old took over for a while, especially when I got a high-five on the way back ;) Later, BSB walked down into the audience from the top of the stands and, while Howie was on the other side by himself, for some reason, the other three blokes (because Kevin's not back just yet, alas) came past me. So that was more happiness for twenty-three-year-old me, because, yanno, she was far more chuffed by the Brian and Nick contact than the Joey contact ;)

The concert itself was extremely professional. Everything was smooth and the changes between the bands were generally very seamless. It really was surreal to be at a NKOTB concert over two decades after they became my very first musical obsession. Jon was always my favourite as a kid (and wait, how did I not know he was gay until just then? Huh), and WOW does he look awkward up on stage. As an adult, I've always liked Donnie best, and he was in great form last night. It's WEIRD watching Jordan, knowing just how much of a heart throb he was back in the day (esp. as he still looks almost exactly the same) and Joey should NOT Be an adult, because that's just wrong. God, he's almost forty. WHAT IS THAT??? And I found it hilarious that Danny is STILL getting overly buff in order to make up for his head. He did some pretty impressive breakdancing, though.

As for BSB, they didn't do any of their Everything Sounds The Same stuff from the latest album, and it was mostly all pre-Never Gone, with 'Incomplete' thrown in, I think. I find Howie really embarrassing to watch, most of the time, so it was probably a good thing that he mostly faced the other side of the audience. Or perhaps it was just that I was always focussing on Nick and AJ. Brian is always interesting in a concert situation, because normally I find his "wacky" stuff irritating, but it's kinda amusing in person. As I implied above, Nick was looking extremely pretty last night, so my shallow was pleased with that. My less-shallow was even more pleased with how healthy and happy AJ was looking, with a 'daddy to be' or something similar on the back of one of his tee shirts. I think I could lose all interest in other boyband members and boybands entirely and I would still adore AJ. And he's so genuine in the concert situation, unlike a certain Mr. Carter, who grins at the adulation, but never has anything showing in his eyes.

ANYWAY. This somehow got long and I have to head back into Melbourne soon for the footy. It was an excellent night, though, even though it still seems like some weird kind of boyband mashup dream caused by too much pizza. I'm very glad I went :)

Haven't done one of these in a while, and re-tagging old entries reminded me that it's a thing. Leaving this one unlocked because it seems only fair that an anonymous entry allows anonymous commenting. Would love to read YOUR ten things in comments!

1. We don't talk enough these days :(
2. You are enormously important to me. Please stay <3
3. Things feel more normal now you're back around.
4. They say that perfect isn't possible, but you're definitely perfect for me.
5. Sometimes I think you enjoy all the drama.
6. I need to go visit you. Sometime when I'm not saving for the UK. *cough*
7. Of course, now I'm missing you all over again. But I appreciate the sentiment anyway.
8. I worry about you. Quite a lot.
9. I'm scared that we'll have nothing at all to talk about any more.
10. I feel like you don't think very highly of me a lot of the time.

Quick break from study etc to say that I SAW JOHN CLEESE LIVE LAST NIGHT. So good.

I admit to getting kinda teary when he first came out, because we're talking JOHN FUCKING CLEESE here. Also, because I was brought up on 'Fawlty Towers' because it was my father's favourite show and it would've been really nice to have Dad there with me. I also teared up a bit at a couple of points when John was talking about Graham. Because I am a sook.

The first half mostly consisted of John talking about his parents, early life and the path he took to get to Monty Python. A lot of what he spoke about, I already knew, given that I have a ridiculous number of books about the Pythons and their works. But there were lots of great anecdotes in there as well. I think the best part for me was the second half, though, because there was a lot of clips played, largely John's favourites from the Python projects, 'Fawlty Towers' and A Fish Called Wanda, with him talking about various aspects of them. And seriously? Watching 'Fawlty Towers' with John Cleese? It doesn't get much better than that.

So good. I would hate to actually meet John Cleese, because I idolise him too much, and I'd hate for it to be a let-down like it was with Michael Palin (although even WORSE), so last night was pretty much the pinnacle for me as a fangirl. All the yays :D

Saw A Chorus Line yesterday with Mum. I know the music well ("At the Ballet" is one of my favourites), but didn't really know anything about the structure of the show. It all came as rather of a surprise - it's so unusual to have long, quiet monologues within a musical. It all felt quite like a revue. I didn't adore it, gotta say. The cast was mostly made up of unknowns, and it showed. Strangest thing was Rohan Browne having such a minor role, although he did it very well. Most of the cast were dancers rather than singers, although Karlee Misipeka was the easy singing stand-out as Dianne and Debora Krizak was the crowd favourite and did a good job with "At the Ballet".

Interestingly, the biggest name in the cast, Anita Louise Combe (major West End credits) didn't excite me at all as Cassie. Her dance solo was boring (and didn't look brilliant) and her singing was all about belting, with no light and shade.

All in all, I'm glad I've finally seen A Chorus Line, but this specific production is not one that I'd need to see again. Glad we had the cheap restricted view seats ;)

*

In other musical theatre news, I am actually going to be seeing The Lion King for the first time. It's never really interested me, but it's touring the UK this year and will be on in Manchester when I'm there, so I've bought a ticket.

Shattered, because trips to Melbourne in 37 degree heat don't go very well with bad CFS times, but I shall post quickly to say that Mum and I went to Yes Prime Minister today and it was v.enjoyable. Gorgeous set, with a fun rain effect (love a gimic) and plain but appropriate lighting.

'Twas lovely to finally see Philip Quast live in a proper, meaty role. Mary Poppins does NOT count, because he was appallingly wasted in that. He seemed an odd choice for Humphrey, mostly because of his size and imposing presence (unlike Nigel Hawthorne *g*), but he was perfect. Just enough of Hawthorne's Humphrey without making it a parody.

In contrast, John Lloyd Fillinghan played quite a different Bernard. Much wetter even than the original was in the first series of 'Yes Minister'. It took a while to get used to the change but, once we did, we both found him v.good.

Unfortunately, Mark Owen-Taylor didn't quite work for either of us as Jim. He didn't have the likeability that Paul Eddington always had, so you don't really root for Jim at all. Also, I'd been waiting for him to go into Churchill mode all show, and then when he did it was awful. Not natural and hilarious, but really forced.

The show itself was interesting. Much more adult content than in the series, which changed the feel a little. Mum wasn't a fan. I didn't mind it myself, but it did give things quite an edge that I wasn't expecting.

All in all, though, a slick production that works well in the modern era. Would love to have seen David Haig as Jim, though.

Saw the new year in with E and have had a v.good start to 2012 so far (well, apart from a near-fainting incident) with lots of E-time and an email check in the morning that let me know I'd made my first sale for the year. And now, the second part of my yearly round-up :)

( Movies Watched 2011 )


( Books Read 2011 )


( Television Watched 2011 )


( Games Finished 2011 )


( Theatre Attended 2011 )


( Concerts Attended 2011 )


( Sporting Events Attended 2011 )


( Comedy Events Attended 2011 )


( Important Dates 2011 )

I sold a short story today. For actual money. Worth noting. (Because huh.)

I also saw Opera Australia's current production of Don Giovanni. I've listened to it enough times, but had never realised that it's funny. I expect laughter while watching G&S, but not Mozart.

Wonderful production, too. Impeccable singing, a lovely set and glorious lighting. Nigel Levings is doing brilliant things with OA's lighting design this year.

Finally got the chance to see Teddy Tahu Rhodes (in the title role) and I now understand what the fuss is all about. Amazing amazing voice, even if he IS creepily buff for an opera singer. Stephen Bennett was the other stand-out as Leporello - a great comedic actor and a nice voice. The female leads were all v.competent as well with Hyeseoung Kwon being my personal favourite as Donna Anna.

Am run into the ground at the moment, yes, but it was well worth spending the time and energy on. Best opera production I've seen in years.

I achieved my Not NaNo challenge, so that was good.

On Wednesday I saw performances of a couple of new Australian musicals, courtesy of dating an industry big-shot :D

Give My Regards To Broady had good writing and was v.funny in places. It ended on the wrong number (if you have the entire audience in your hands after a great song about Melbourne, don't have a long and almost silent costume change pause and then give them another much-less-exciting number to end on). More importantly to me, of the four actors, only one had a good singing voice and the two women were good at LOUD but not so good at having a nice sound, while the female lead was constantly out of tune :/ I found the music okay, but not exciting. It was E's definite favourite of the two, though, due to the script.

I much preferred Housewarming, which had great music. One of the guys in it was the guy who played Mark in the Whitehouse production of RENT, which was cool. Much better singing voices in this one, and one song in particular was musically incredible. Quite a derivative plot, and all v.cliched etc, but the musical bones are so good that I'd love to see it be developed into a full length show with fewer easy endings. Also, one character was my ex. E agreed :D My easy favourite of the two shows, while E was much less impressed.

I saw Alan Davies live last night. Almost missed the start of it, due to losing track of time at E's place, and then getting to the station to discover that ALL THE TRAINS EVER weren't running. So E drove me, which I feel bad about, but managed to get me to the Ath with 10mins to spare.

SOOO FUNNY. Topic-wise, his stand-up was pretty generic (things that kill you in Australia, childhood, having kids etc) but done so well that didn't matter. And he is so Alan Davies-y with his smile and his CURLY HAIR.

After the show, he did a book signing in the foyer, so I stayed back for that, along with Genie, and managed not to do the girly giggle he sometimes provokes in me. He was very charming and nice, which was a relief, because I've been a bit terrified to meet any other of my Britcom peeps since Michael Palin was such an enormous disappointment.