Played In Chelsea

It's always the same dilemma. 
You're sat watching your weekly TV show when some background music comes on and you wonder who the artist is, and by the time you have opened Shazam the song has faded. 

Fortunately, if you watch Made In Chelsea, then the artists are playing at a weekly gig in West London, which means you can find out who sang that song and see them play live.

Each week, 'Played In Chelsea' is held at Under The Bridge, featuring three live acts from the shows soundtrack. I was invited down to one of the gigs, so set off the other evening to see what it had to offer.

It literally was 'under the bridge'. 
Chelsea Football clubs stadium, Stamford Bridge, in fact.
I met up with Ryan outside, strolled down the courtyard past the photos of past and current players, and headed on in to grab a drink. 

 Ryan wore his Barbour Coat, Topman Trousers and a satchel from a small shop in Winchester.

I went for my Winter Coat, Taxonomy tee, Black Jeans, shoes by Hudson and my Mulberry manbag.

As it was going to be streamed live on E4 online, we grabbed our spot and watched as the floor manager came on to warm up the crowd into a small frenzy.
Before being quickly followed on by Jamie Laing and Proudlock from the series.

Who laughed and joked about the night and show, before introducing us to the first act.
A new up and coming indie band called Outside Central.

Their songs would act as the perfect backdrop to a day at the beach, cider in hand with your friends. Listen to 'Tell Me That You're Mine' here - I have just added it to my Spotify Playlist!.

In-between the bands, the guys came back on to film some scenes to introduce the next artist to the stage for everyone who was watching at home.
If you follow me on Twitter, you would have seen that we did send a couple of cheeky tweets using the #PlayedInChelsea hashtag to see if they got read out.

Next up was Pylo.
My and Ryan clearly did not know who this band was, or even heard of their music. 
Our vacant faces gave it away whilst everyone else cheered as they walked on stage.

It's all about discovering new music though, right?

By the end of their set, we were tapping our feet and bopping our heads along in enjoyment!
More of a chilled set than a jump-around-going-crazy set. 
It went down well with a pint and they had a few more fans by the end of it too, ourselves included! Take a listen here.

The final band of the night was Deaf Havana, a band we both knew about this time!

The crowd went absolutely wild for these guys, and there was no question they brought the house down.

Think guitars, drums, and a good voice mixed together with a good pace! They are one of those acts that makes you want to put your hand up in the air and sing along!

Three songs later, the band left the stage and the lights came up. 
Gig over, a little tipsy, we grabbed our coats and went back out into the ground of Stamford Bridge.


Being at Chelsea FC, we couldn't resist a little football cheer for the team.

Clapped, foot tapped, and all cheered out, we headed off back home after what turned out to be a great night of new music! 
Played In Chelsea was a great opportunity to discover new bands, and there is one more show left as the TV series comes to an end.
Unfortunately, it is sold out of tickets (which is good though, as the proceeds go to charity!), but you can watch it online and discover who those bands were playing on the latest episode!

I'm off to download some new albums from iTunes, and start foot tapping again under the desk!

MKS. The Comeback Gig.

Last night, me and the guys went along to Scala in North London to see the comeback of Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan. Previously know as the original Sugababes, now know as MKS.

If you are unsure who they are, let me recap for you. Their arrived 12 years ago, but one by one left the band for various reasons, and were replaced by another female singer. At the end, Sugababes were a trio of girls who's sound couldn't have been further away from the original line up.

Fast forward to 2013, and MKS have officially reunited and headlining their first comeback gig at Scala, an intimate London venue.
It's taken 12 months since the groups announcement, but the buzz has been absolutely phenomenal leading up to this gig. Twitter has been ablaze, and tickets sold out in 14 minutes! People were desperate for tickets.

Once inside, the buzz built and built until the opening beats to their first single Overload started, the three of them stepped on stage, and it was honestly a gig like I haven't experienced before!

The group performed Overload exactly how they performed the single on Top of The Pops and CD:UK all those years ago. It was their opportunity to open the show with what they were, and take us through to who they are now.
Rolling through old time classics like 'Run For Cover' and 'Stronger' as well as new singles from their forthcoming album, it was as if they never disappeared.

Trust me, their new album needs to be at the top of your want list, the songs are that good!

The best thing about this gig was the incredible support the crowd had for these girls. There was a moment where Siobhan, who left the band first, sang the lines of her replacement and the crowd went mad with encouragement. It was deafening.
This is what every fan had been waiting for, to see these three reunited, picking up where they left it.

We were literally in awe not only at how the crowd reacted to MKS, but at how amazing the band sounded too! These days the artists never sound like the song when they sing it live, but MKS showcased their vocals to their full range.

After about an hour of being on stage, they said their thanks and we all screamed for more, as you do! They then came back out, and performed their new single 'Flatline' (which we all knew word for word!) before hugging on stage, thanking us all for coming, and ran backstage.

We all caught our breathe, finished our drinks, and went out into the London night humming along to their new song!

You can pre-order their new single here and check out their website too, they have more gigs coming up!

On the day where a current member of the Sugababes declared they were over, MKS came on stage and carried on the party they left 12 years ago.
It's come full circle, and definitely an exciting act to watch out for!

Wireless Festival

Wireless Festival is one of the biggest festivals in the UK. Over the course of three days, some of the worlds biggest music acts are spread across different stages at the Olympic Park.

To get everyone excited for the weekend, the festival organisers held a launch party at The Mayfair Hotel a couple of weeks beforehand. With a few of the artists gracing the miniature stage, it was a chance to find out which acts everyone was excited for whilst having drinks and canapes.

Top from Zara, Jeans from Topman 

A couple of weeks later, me and a few girlfriends made our way across to the Olympic Park. Nearly a year after those monumental moments, we found ourselves walking alongside the now-empty Olympic stadium towards the newly crowned 'Queen Elizabeth Park.'  It was the most surreal moment. I could see the track through the fencing where Super Saturday happened, with only a few marshals patrolling the perimeter.

I would be lying if I said I didn't try to work out a way to get in there!

Once we were in we got our bearings and checked who was playing which stage at what time, so we knew where to dance throughout the day, before heading over to the VIP Nation area to hydrate after our tube-sauna of a journey! With a BBQ on the go all day, and a trip to the bar for a cider or Pimms, this was the perfect chill out area in between the acts whilst also bumping into a few friends!

Vest from Topman, shorts from American Apparel, Sunglasses from VB, Necklace from Topman

Once we were full of BBQ food and a few drinks down, we headed out to the main stage. With Jay Z, Rita Ora, Justin Timberlake, Macklemore, Calvin Harris, Miguel, Kendrick Lemar, Iggy Azelia, Emile Sande and loads more acts playing, the line-up was the best among the big festivals for 2013. With surprise acts joining others on stage for collaborations, it was a day where it didn't matter if you were at the Main Stage or one of the other stages... there was a constant party which didn't want to stop!

My last pint of cider ran out just as Jay-Z finished his encore with JT, so with that perfect timing we headed to the tube station to relax after a party-jumping, sun-shining day at the park.

This was my first time to Wireless, as it was held in Hyde Park last year, but this had to be one of the best festivals I had been to in a long time. The highlights of the day had to be Jay-Z, Calvin Harris and Macklemore. A pimms in hand, the sun shining, and on the same site where the Olympics were held...

Of course it was going to be something special!

Did you go too?

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Celebrating in Style

Whenever there is a birthday, there is always a party. Whenever there is a party, there is always cake and alcohol.
Or if you are like me, you skip the cake and head straight for the alcohol!
This weekend called for just that, with Jason celebrating his 40th birthday at The Sanctum Hotel in Soho. Of course, we knew that everyone that is anyone was going to be there (Jason knows alot of people!), so we had the perfect opportunity to have a few drinks beforehand and get into the party spirit...

I wore jeans from Topman, Blazer from Zara (similar one here) and a plain white tee.

A tube ride of spontaneous dancing and singing later, and we found ourselves at The Sanctum. This has to be one of Soho's hidden gems that you have to go and experience for yourselves. From the decor, to the staff, everything was fantastic. Granted, the lift was out of order and we had to walk up five flights of stairs to the roof terrace, but even they were lined with signed photos of A-Listers who love the hotel too.
At the top we were greeted by a 40th birthday party fit for our friend, set in an intimate but stylish roof terrace! As we walked out we were greeted by the gymnasts from Spellbound, who were there performing their routines from Britains Got Talent.
Sod the gymnatics, have you seen those bodies!





Dragging our eyes away from those chiseled bodies, we made our way through and carried on with a night full of drinking and celebrating!









Of course, no birthday is complete without a birthday cake.
Wonder Woman style!







One of the biggest surprises of the evening came from Jason announcing that the lead singer from Living Joy would belt out a few of her hits for us to all get dancing to. For all of you who cant remember, all you need to do is sing this out loud...
'Here we lie all alone, am I dreaming?
Your heart's smooth, my soul is unbelieving.
Now you see the me and I'm a-feeling,
I'm a-feeling.
I feel your hands, your lips, the heat of your body.
Whisper you love me, you say you love me.
Please just love me down never leave me

I'm a dreameeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.'













We carried on partying into the early hours, until it was time to hit the road to Mcdonalds and onwards south of the river.



All in all, a fantastic birthday for a great person! Happy 40th Birthday Jason.
If you fancy going to The Sanctum Hotel for an event, visit their website where you can see more and make an enquiry. It really is a great venue and I would recommend it to all of you to stay, eat, or drink at when in the area!