As time passes, I tell myself that I probably made it better in my memory than it really is. I tend to do that, embellish memories positively. It makes for a happier outlook on life and the past, but it’s something I have to watch out for.
So I tell myself - I probably remember it better than it is.

But no, in this case, Sworn To A Great Divide is still a fucking incredible album. It is made of awesome - the vocals, the drums (!!), the guitar riffs, the lyrics (who are part symbolic, part incomprehensible)… the ENERGY of that album just keeps me going, gets me smiling… grinning, even. Here I am, standing in the middle of a fitness hall, exercising my ass off and sweating bucketloads, but I’m grinning like an idiot, because The Pittsburgh Syndrome has the single most awesome drums I’ve ever heard, and I’m trying to match the pace of the song. Or I smile at the lyrics of As The Sleeper Awakes. Or I catch myself as I want to sing along with Exile or 20 More Miles. Need I go on?

(having said that - Song Of The Damned is giving As The Sleeper Awakes a SERIOUS run for its money where it comes to End of Year songs. That so why are we trusting those cynical souls sequence is just too pretty)

Anyway, Soilwork is love. <3

Wow, where did the weekend go? It’s gone by so fast… Friday I’ve gone with the boys to the jam session. They were pretty sloshed, so the musical part of the jam wasn’t very fruitful, but the social part of it was awesome. At some point I went upstairs to the bar to read and chill out, and when they were done they joined me. We had talks and laughs and all in all, a pleasant evening.

Saturday was my Laundry Day Of Doom, on which I started to tackle the humongous heap of laundry that’s gone neglected in the past month *coughs* I also cleaned out the house, until Brenda arrived in the late afternoon… because afterwards, we’d be going to a concert! (the second of three in as many weeks).

Rodrigo Y Gabriela was brilliant. So very, very impressive. It looked like they were randomly tickling their guitars, but the things they did… wow. Especially Gabriela, she’s not just a very skilled guitar player, but she used her guitar as a drum as well. It was gorgeous, and I had such a great time watching their show.
I mean, seriously… doing a singalong with the crowd with music without lyrics? These guys pull it off. And really well, too. Cool stuff!

The whole evening was a success anyway, afterwards we went for drinks at De Koe (hadn’t been there in forever) with a whole bunch of sweet people. We had beers, and everyone wanted to know about the reiki thing of course (my hands tingled like a motherfucker during that whole conversation) and all of Sunday I had a bit of a hangover. So Sunday I mostly stayed inside and watched the snow fall. Poor Bren still had to drive through, back to HHW, but she made it back safely.

It made for a weekend that was way too short. But next weekend is going to be longer - with another concert (Flogging Molly) on Thursday, and I have the Friday off which I’m going to spend with Kat and Wen. And once *that* is done, I still have all weekend left. Awesome

So, how was the Slipknot concert? Fucking incredible stuff. <3 Seriously, it was a brilliant show, I loved every moment of it. Hooray! Worth every penny, people. I’m so glad we went to see them.

I knew the setlist already and I knew they were going to play a lot of the older stuff (despite the fact that it’s the All Hope Is Gone tour, but oh well ;)) so I knew what stuff to listen to. I missed a few songs that I really wanted them to play, but because I knew this already, I was prepared for that.
However, they made one very big change to the setlist… they included Eyeless. You know, that song I lamented about with the incredible angry ‘motherFUCKER!!!’ that makes me want to have Corey’s babies? That one Dead Memories was beautiful as well, but it kind of didn’t fit with the setlist… with the way they were grinding and keeping up the tempo, I would have preferred All Hope Is Gone - that would have been AWESOME. But to sing it along on top of my lungs was just beautiful as well. The crowd choruses during the songs were goosebumps-inducing anyway. Maggots are a good crowd.

Oh btw, Corey is still one hell of an entertainer. He gets the whole crowd along. The whole jump the fuck up scene during Spit It Out was made of gold. I would have done anything he wanted if he told me to (if he’d just keep talking). Sexiest voice in history people. I don’t think there’s anyone on this planet who has that kind of raw sexual energy in his voice - and who has this effect on me. Can I please drag him to my bedroom already? 

The percussionists were bloody brilliant as well (at some point they were pounding on a huge drum with a baseball bat - how’s that for a bassline enhancement?!) and Joey in his rotating drum, hanging on his head during Sic, OMG

I’m not as fucked up after the Soilwork concert this time - there’s just this difference between the tiny Oude Zaal at the Melkweg, or 5500 people packed into the Heineken Music Hall, it’s so much more massive that you miss the connection a little bit. It gives more of a festival feeling, where you’re farther away from the performers. But still, it was fucking incredibly good. Concert of the year goes to Soilwork, but Slipknot follows right after. I’ve sweated and sang and headbanged with glee and love. <3

I am so terribly looking forward to this.
I know it’s not going to be ANYTHING like Soilwork two weeks ago, but the reviews I’ve read told me that I’m in for a night of pure awesomeness. That, and I get to turn into a puddle of goo when I listen to Corey screaming, that’ll pretty much make my day already.
Slipknot, here I come

So why are we trusting all those cynical souls
Bleeding, aching, bleeding, aching, bleeding with hearts
Open wide all so cold
Live for the moment get killed for the thrill
Bleeding, aching, bleeding, aching, bleeding for nothing
For we’ve seen it all

These lyrics make me terribly happy to shout along on top of my lungs I’ve been having this song on eternal repeat the past two days during writing, because somehow it seems to fit the story. Also, it’s a gorgeous awesome song. That helps, too!

Soilwork is love, and so is the ‘Natural Born Chaos’ album.
Brenda, you were right.

Usually I slap Popo-ratings to the concerts where I go to. But you know, the Soilwork concert is not something I can put into words. Because it was made of gold and it made me not care whatsoever that I was standing at the edge of a mosh pit, right in front. I was drunk during the concert, exactly that amount that makes things beautiful. It made it pass in this huge rush of awesomeness, despite the horribly crappy sound (and it was so LOUD - my ears were fucked up all night but it was worth it). And they played EXACTLY the right songs.

Sworn To A Greater Divide, As We Speak, Exile, As The Sleeper Awakes, 20 More Miles, and fuck they even played Black Star Deceiver (their second time ever, they said. and Bren and I were just lamenting the awesomeness of that song that very night) and Follow the Hollow (which I so sorely missed during Graspop) & Nerve during the encore. I *think* the audience tore the place down, but I can’t possibly be sure. I know I did, at least, and the people in front did. At some point it was just this rush going on, this blur in which the whole world was perfect and I gave it all. But you know when a random stranger grabs your hand in pure companionship when you’ve sticked your arms in the air and you sing along together at the top of your lungs… then you know there is love and magic in the air. And I think the magic happened last night in the Oude Zaal in the Melkweg. It was intimate, because there weren’t that many people. But fuck did it rock. It rocked SO hard.

And we had chats with the bandmembers afterwards, because they were selling their own shirts before & after the show. I got Bjorn (the singer) to sign my cleavage, bwahaha And Dirk (one of the best fucking drummers in the world, people!, check out this youtube vid of him, the guy’s a machine!) signed my t-shirt. Had handshakes and brilliant smiles and all, told them the show rocked so hard. That was great. Olli bought two t-shirts and a beanie hat, Brenda bought a t-shirt and a hooded sweater, and I just bought a t-shirt. Glad to have some awesome Soilwork merch for myself now <3
I also bought a cd of One Way Mirror, the support act, who was more than decent. They rocked as well, so I’m wondering what they sound like on cd. Uber-drummer Dirk was drumming for them, the support act. An excellent way to get yourself into the whole feeling, I guess. That guy just played two gigs after another, how awesome is that.

Anyway, so now it’s the next morning and I’m aching everywhere. Worse than after the In Flames gig. This might very well have been the gig of the year already (thereby shattering the Editors gig, which was beautiful for completely different reasons). I’m very curious as to what Slipknot can dish out in two weeks. It’s going to be hard to top this.

Thought of the day:
The way Corey Taylor shouts “MOTHERFUCKER” during the song Eyeless makes me want to drag him into a corner and shag him senseless. Surely there must be something wrong with me. I can’t imagine that’s what he intended when the boys of Slipknot recorded this song.

Quick thought of the day:
The new Snow Patrol album, “A Hundred Million Suns” is really good. It’s most triumphant moments are The Lighting Strikes (16 minutes, gorgeous song despite the piano being reminiscent of ‘God moving over the face of the earth’ by Moby - it makes me think of musical seeds being used, hehe) and If There’s A Rocket Tie Me To It. But the best moment?
Dancing around to Disaster Button. Upbeat despite the depressing lyrics and muchly sing-a-long-able. It makes me very happy. What a brilliant song

(and thus it dawns on me that despite my metal-influenced year, my torrent love affair with britpop/indie rock is far from over)

Events, taken from my Last.fm eventlist:

* Nov 7 — Soilwork @ Melkweg, Amsterdam, Netherlands

* Nov 20 — Slipknot, All Hope Is Gone World Tour @ Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam, Netherlands

* Nov 29 — Rodrigo y Gabriela @ Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands

* Dec 4 — Flogging Molly, Eastpak ANTIDOTE tour @ Melkweg, Amsterdam, Netherlands

* Jan 23 — Enter Shikari @ Melkweg, Amsterdam, Netherlands

* Feb 13 — All That Remains @ Melkweg, Amsterdam, Netherlands

I honestly couldn’t tell you which one of them I look forward to the most. Well, maybe Soilwork. Or Slipknot? Enter Shikari is a blast when they play live, whereas ATR completely blew my mind first time I saw them. Flogging Molly is always good for a happy time, and Rodrigo Y Gabriela is something I’ve wanted to see for ages.

*squees* I’m so looking forward to this!!

Okay, so a recruiter tried to headhunt me over Hyves the other day, much like I used to do for my old job at D. back in the day. This amused me, because it was such a reminder what my old job used to be like (this was not the bad thing about it — when I did get responses, they were always nice). And this guy was nice, too.
He was cheerful in his PM, and ended on a note between brackets that he thought my music taste was excellent, too. I checked out his profile and found names like Stone Sour, Slipknot and All That Remains and told him that even though I adored his music taste as well, I wasn’t going to accept his job offer because I was comfy in my current job. But if I’d run into him at the Slipknot concert in a few weeks, I’d buy him a pint. He thought that was a great answer.

We got to talking and exchanging PM’s, and he is indeed going to be at the Slipknot concert AND the All That Remains gig. After some chats I told him to listen to Soilwork as well, because he probably would like it, and he said he’d check it out. We didn’t talk for a week and then today I got a PM from him: OMG, why didn’t I take this music seriously before. They’re awesome! Thanks for the tip!

I kindly pointed him out to the 9 November gig in the Melkweg. Wonder if he’s going to be there.
And I wonder if I can now call myself Lannie, the High Priestess of Soilwork? *grins*

In other (RP/Popo) news: we managed to knock up Lianne again. There’s going to be a third rebel baby in six weeks. Steph’s the father again, of course. Whohoo!