Live Music

I went to see Madness at the Manchester Apollo on Tuesday night. They did all the classic hits like ‘Our House’ and ‘Baggy Trousers’. It was great fun. I’ve been to see quite a lot of live music this year. I’ve seen Blondie, The Manic Street Preachers and Gorillaz to name but a few and I’m going to see Paul Weller tomorrow night at the MEN arena.

What gets me annoyed is the ticket prices and how far in advance the tickets come out. I booked tickets yesterday to see The Specials at the Apollo. The gig is not until next October and the tickets cost £45 each! I don’t know if this ticketmaster’s fault, the promoters fault or the bands fault but the tickets are far too expensive and making people book almost a full 12 months in advance is crazy.

Shine Manchester

It was the ‘Shine Manchester’ midnight walking marathon on Saturday night / Sunday morning. Over 7500 people walked the streets of Manchester raising money for cancer research. A friend from work and I were volunteer marshals on the night based at the Old Trafford pit stop.

The start and finish lines were at Manchester Central (formerly G-Mex) and live music from Blake kept everyone entertained whilst waiting for the walk to begin. It was a fantastic night and everyone had a great time. Some of the walkers were in fancy dress and others had the names of loved ones suffering with or lost to cancer stitched to their clothes.

The organisers hope the event will raise £1m for cancer research. You can still support cancer research by visiting the cancer research website:

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/

Pictures from the ‘Shine Manchester’ walk can be found by clicking the following link:

http://shine.cancerresearchuk.org/