Oops, I did it again…

How long have you been reading 6000 miles…?

If it’s more than *weep* 6 years, then you may remember this post from Christmas 2009. It was when my amazing wife bought me amazing tickets for a-ha’s amazing last ever gig in Oslo.

There was much excitement. So. Much. Excitement.
I had almost a year to plan and anticipate my trip, I was going to meet friends and family on the way through. It was going to be amazing. I couldn’t stop smiling for 11 months. I even made a category on here for the whole thing.

But then… then this:

5230643297_8ce7b2ae10_bAnd this:

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And the rest, as they say, is history.

Really, really expensive history.

But then, on a happier note, a-ha reformed, announcing one last album and one last tour.

It wouldn’t be like me to do something daft and use the a-ha fan club pre-sale link to buy tickets for their last ever gig in Bergen next May, would it?

Would it? Er… yes. It would.

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Oh crap. Here we go again.

As impulse purchases go, it was ridiculously expensive and both wholly unthought-through (hence impulse) and yet somehow carefully considered (in that this concert will sell out and I can certainly pass the tickets on should I need to).

Accommodation is sorted too, thanks to a remarkable hotel flex deal meaning that I pay nothing til I get there and don’t have to decide whether to I want to stay until 1600 on the day I check in. 1.4km from the train station, 700m from the concert venue (including a ferry trip). And cheaper than a hotel in Cape Town. I know. You do the maths.

There are a few minor things to work out. Childcare, flights, trains, annual leave and a million other potential stumbling blocks.
But suddenly some bare bones, bare bones which I hadn’t even considered this morning, are in place.

And look, Google is chilled AF about the whole thing:

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Or as the Norwegians would say “Weekend i Bergen”.
Ja. Let’s go play. Possibly. Maybe let’s tell my wife first though.

Laura Palmer: Bastille to tour SA

Not had any music on the blog for a while. It’s all been writing and pictures. We need some music.
And here it is.

This one just seemed appropriate, with Bastille SA tour dates in Kirstenbosch in Cape Town and Emmarentia Dam in Joburg just announced for January 2014 and with me being a huge fan of Twin Peaks.
(that latter one being a bit tenuous, I know)

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Tickets: Cape Town | Johannesburg

Tori Amos in Cape Town, Joburg – November 2011

Much excitement last night as someone (@frantaljaard?) while (presumably) searching “Tori Amos” and “Concert” and “South Africa” and “November” on Google, discovered that Tori Amos is due to perform some concerts in South Africa in November as part of her Night Of Hunters tour.
Isn’t Google amazing?

The dates currently held are Saturday and Sunday 12th & 13th November at Emperor’s Palace in Gauteng and Thursday 17th November at the Grand West Arena in Cape Town.
Tickets are R390 – R765 for Gauteng and R395 – R695 for Cape Town and are being sold through Computicket.

This flame-haired, modern-day Kate Bush has been around for a while: I saw her in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on the first night of her Under The Pink tour in February 1994 and never thought that I’d get the chance to see her in Cape Town almost 17 years later. Or any other city, to be honest. Well, it’s not the kind of thing you do think about, is it?

The iconic, platinum-selling singer-songwriter continues her legacy of ground-breaking recordings with this 21st century song cycle inspired by select classical pieces spanning the last 400 years. This is, quite literally, vintage Tori Amos, in scope and in sound.
With Night of Hunters, Amos carries on the classical tradition of variations on a theme: taking inspiration from classical forms to create a bold new work while paying tribute to the mastery of the original compositions.

So classical piano music with a contemporary twist? We’ve been here before, haven’t we?

To celebrate, here is her wonderful live cover of Radiohead’s Karma Police (which does eventually get going after a whole lot of whooping fans) which is fully downloadable via janovlk on Soundcloud:

[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/janovlk/tori-amos-radiohead[/soundcloud]

I’ll let you know when the tickets are being released (once I’ve got mine) 9am, Thursday 8th September and I’m sure that there will be some stuff from the new album available to post on here in the very near future.

Computicket app now available for Android users

No huge fanfares here, this app does exactly what you would expect it to do. And that’s cool because the computicket website is a pain to use on a handheld device.
With this, you can browse listings and events and check seating plans before buying your tickets via their secure server. All very nice, very smooth, very user friendly.

Will it crash on the mornings when tickets for big events like Coldplay and U2 are released?

Probably.

Available free on the Android Market now, or just scan here:

Coldplay in SA in October

UPDATE: Confirmed! Coldplay to play Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday 5th October 2011 and Johannesburg FNB Stadium on Saturday 8th October 2011. Ticket prices range from R270 – R635 for each venue.
Tickets available from THURSDAY 12th MAY AT 9AM
Computicket, www.computicket.com, 083 915 8000
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The rumour mill has been at full tilt for some time now regarding Coldplay coming to SA. And it seems that the official announcements will be made simultaneously and at the same time on Primedia stations on Monday that they will indeed be gracing our shores in October 2011, presumably following their trip to Rock in Rio in Brazil.
Some would argue that they are the first decent band we’ve had out here since The Killers, and I’d be inclined to agree.

Herewith, in celebration, the clever video for Fix You – one of their more atmospheric live tracks and one which provided the biggest boost for church organ sales in recent decades.

On the bright side, since the successful hosting of the World Cup last year, it seems that SA is finally becoming recognised as a worthwhile stopping point for some of the bigger names, although bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better, of course.

Anyway – I missed them at Glastonbury because I moved to South Africa by mistake, so what better opportunity to go and tick another band off the list?

Once again, you heard it hear first. Unless you heard it somewhere else before this, obviously.