Thursday 29 August 2013

Lindsey Stirling @ the Metro Theatre

Lindsey Stirling's concert was held at the Metro Theatre on 28 August 2013. It was her last show for her worldwide tour and it was brilliant.

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My favourite shot.
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I wasn't sure how many fans she had in Sydney, but she managed to sell out the venue which has a capacity of 1400. I had to pick up my ticket from the venue itself and arrived there at around 5pm (doors opened at 7pm). At the time, there were 5 people waiting in line, however when I returned after dinner at 5.45pm there were around 30-40 people in line. I started chatting to the man in front of me who was from Canberra and completing his PhD in astrophysics. Also met another guy who looked so similar to Leo from Veronica Mars (Max Greenfield), even his smile. Matt (Canberra guy) taught me something new: there is an English children's game called conkers. The things you learn everyday.

I have been to three other concerts/ shows in my life. By that I mean three different artists: Ingrid Michaelson, Taylor Swift and Rufus Wainwright. The demographic of those fans are somewhat similar; the age range somewhat differ but the vast majority are female. Lindsey's fanbase is quite diverse. There are those who like dubstep, her covers of game theme songs, her dancing and then there is me. I don't particularly like her covers of game theme songs, purely because I don't play the game and there isn't that connection with the piece. I wouldn't say that I am a dubstep fan either, but I enjoy her music. Her compositions are different and thoroughly enjoyable to listen to. I was second row behind the barricade which would have been impressive. Except for the fact that the crowd was 98% male. Tall males. I was either armpit height or shoulder height if I was lucky. The three people in front of me were a good 15-30cm taller than I was.

Her opening act would not leave the stage. He was some DJ, and his name escapes me. He wasn't 'famous' (didn't turn up anything on Google) and he was DJ-ing for a good 80 minutes. Finally Lindsey came on and she was just amazing.

It was super hard to take decent photos. All my photos turned out super grainy because it was a) very dark, b) the lights were going crazy and c) the smoke machine was adding additional grain to my already grainy pictures. Plus she was moving everywhere. But alas, here are my best photos.

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Still don't quite understand how she managers to have so much control to bend down and then up again whilst playing.
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 The best quality picture out of the 400 that I took. Yep.

Not my photo, but a picture of the set list


My favourite from her entire show was her medley of Phantom of the Opera. I adore her medley but to see her perform in person was just amazing. I cannot stress how much I love the medley. Side note, I love the music of Phantom of the Opera but dislike the story. Creepy guy watches girl grow up, seduces girl and girl falls in love with creepy guy who ultimately throws a tantrum. And people say that Edward Cullen is creepy. Of course, I also loved her performance of Transcendence and My Immortal. When she was palying Zelda and Skyrim, I completely blanked out because I just didn't connect with the pieces. Ah well.

Kudos to Lindsey. She was sweating so much (not only was her face completely sweaty but so were her arms) and I am surprised her make up didn't just slip off her face. At one stage, she played a very off note and her facial expression was very funny.

Going back to the crowd. It is quite something being in a crowd predominately male and having the crowd sing to 'Call me Maybe'. It is quite surreal.


This entry is very long and going everywhere. But there are perks to being female in certain circumstances. I feel that generally in crowds, it is more acceptable and tolerated to have women standing very close to other women or men. But for men to be standing very close to other women or even other men, I guess it is not as okay. I am not suggesting that I am pressing myself against other people or invade their personal space on a regular basis. But just an observation at the show. I was quite close to the people in front of me (and accidentally touched the under 18 year old's butt countless times. Whoops) but looking around, everyone was quite spaced out, relatively. (The only reason I was so close was because there was a slight elevation behind the barricade which would have made me 3cm taller).


She reminds me of a part of the poem, To This Day.
we grew up learning to cheer on the underdog
because we see ourselves in them

I will add my videos to the next post since this is getting overly long. I can't wait for her next show in Sydney.
Saturday 24 August 2013

Lindsey Stirling @ Martin Place

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Lindsey Stirling was performing for the Sunrise show for a pre-recorded performance at Martin Place. I am going to her show this coming Wednesday and I am very excited. She was scheduled to perform at 9am so I arrived at 8am, as I wasn't quite sure how famous she was here in Sydney. When I got there, there was quite a crowd. However, it was for Jessie J. Truth be told, I didn't know who Jessie J was - although I later recognised her music- but I definitely didn't know what she looked like.

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There were probably around 120 people for Jessie J's performance and for Lindsey, there were a maximum of 30. And I was pretty sure that most weren't sure who she was, but they just wanted to be on tv. Namely all the teens and tweens.

She is amazing. My favourite pieces and covers by her include:

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At the end of her performance, I went to the side in the hope of getting a photo with her. I am still quite bummed that I just missed out as the security guard had almost taken my camera, but her tour manager said, "no more photos". I try not to let it bother me, but it still does bother me. I am understanding that they do have a schedule and can't stick around forever. HOWEVER, considering that there were only 10 people waiting at the side (and I am guessing the only fans out of the meesly 30 people who viewed her performance {the channel 7 people tried to squish people together as much as they could, just to give the illusion that there were a lot more people than what the actual situation was}) it really didn't make much sense as to why she couldn't stay for another 3 minutes maximum. Out of the 10 people, she took a photo with 3. I mean really? It honestly still baffles me.

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Side note, she is actually quite short. Even shorter than I am, which is surprising because I didn't expect that.

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Also, all the teens that were watching her performance were hanging around for this guy. Adam. They were all gushing over him and managed to take a photo with him. I don't even know. Also, some of the girls were there for the drummer who was also Reece Mastin's drummer. Hmm.

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Monday 19 August 2013

Sunset at North Curl Curl

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This post is long overdue as these photos were taken on the 2nd August. After a day at university, I decided to head to my nearest beach. More accurately beaches as it is divided into North Curl Curl and South Curl Curl. On the way, I walked by my highschool and it was quite nostalgic.

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On an unrelated note. All I can think as of late is this: trust no one.
Saturday 10 August 2013

N2 Extreme Gelato

Haven't posted for a while. I originally had plans to meet a friend who I hadn't seen in over a year for dinner. However, my Saturday class finished early and we ended up meeting for lunch instead for ramen at World's Square. It was both an interesting and awkward experience. What was interesting was sitting in her car that was completely decked out in Hello Kitty gear.

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