Starry Eyed, Ellie Goulding at the Hammersmith Apollo : LOCAL LOVES

London loves music. There's no doubt about it. The music scene is incredible in this city.

I went to see Ellie Goulding at the Hammersmith Apollo this week and had a bloomin' brilliant time. I went with my uni friend Louise (she's a black belt in karate and knows more about Harry Potter than JK Rowling) which was a lovely excuse to see her. She works at Woburn Safari and lives near the park in the gorgeous countryside so I don't get to see her much - the animals don't tend to work normal office hours you see.

 Again, this was another first for me - I've lived close to Hammersmith for three years now but had somehow missed out a visit to the Apollo. Well, when Ellie came along I couldn't say no. I'm a MEGA fan and people always say that I look like her, even strangers, very odd! So I thought I should grab a ticket and say hi to my long lost twin.

We got there a bit late so did our best 'polite elbowing' to get nearer to the front - Louise was much better at it then me, I reckon it was because of her ninja skills.

As a little aside - I wasn't expecting the inside of the Apollo to be so nice to be honest - the foyer is flooded in mint green light there are two swanky white bars shining in the corners. Fancy.

Ellie opened with a total corker -  Figure 8. It's a really bass-y track from her second album Halcyon and the crowd loved it. Other highlights were her acoustic version of Guns and Horses and a very emotional performance of I Know You Care which is about her dad. My absolute fave Ellie song is Joy; it's an album track so hasn't had much coverage but there's a lovely live version here - such a damn good voice! She really gave it some welly on the night and I just loved it.

One of the best bits of the night though had to be My Song - the version Ellie did for the John Lewis Christmas ad a few years ago - I took a little video which I keep watching back, the entire crowd was singing along so loudly you could hardly hear Ellie. Also, I found a kind of dubstep version of it a while ago - I'm nowhere near cool enough to be in to dubstep but this is really brill. It sits cosily on my ipod surrounded by McFly and Ed Sheeran.

The two major crowd pleasers of the night were Anything Can Happen and Burn - the two big singles from Ellie's most recent album. I had total "OMFG I really really really love Ellie Goulding, she's the best thing ever and I want to be her best friend and always listen to her music!!!" moments. You get those too, right?

So yeah, it was awesome and here is some more proof of Ellie being super cool - proof.

If you're a Londoner you are lucky enough to live close to some of the UK's biggest and best music venues - the O2 Arena, Wembley Stadium and Arena, Hammersmith Apollo but the city is also home to brilliant smaller venues like Water Rats in King's Cross and 12 Bar Club in Soho. The first time I went to Water Rats was to see Toploader - I went because a friend of mine knows the bassist and we ended up drinking cider with them in their dressing room. If you'd told my 13-year old self that.....ha!

Because my life is so mega full of theatre I don't actually get to that many gigs - I personally find the O2 a bit too big and expensive, you can fork our £50 to sit about a mile from the stage. I need to go to more stuff and would love to check out some smaller venues - so let's flip this blog round - do any of you musical Londoners have any suggestions?

RAH daaarling : LOCAL LOVES

R.A.H. The Royal Albert Hall. 

What an absolute BEAUTY.

The Albert Memorial - opposite the North side of the hall

Well, I finally went to what can arguably be called one of London’s, if not England’s, most beautiful buildings! I’ve lived in London for over 3 years now and I can’t believe it has taken me so long to see something there. Now here comes the potentially un-cool bit – I went to see one of my fave bands…McFly! If, like me, you were doing your GCSEs about ten years ago I would bet a good tenner that you have a little soft spot for these guys. Their songs are so catchy and they’re genuinely lovely boys. Over the years I’ve met a few of them through mutual friends, they’re real gents and completely deserve to still be so damn popular a whole 10 years down the line.

So when I heard they were celebrating their 10 Year  Anniversary at the beautiful Royal Albert Hall I just had to go. I have a lovely little friend who managed to get me on the guest list (perks of being a theatre luvvie!) so we had really fantastic seats and just the best night ever!

I went with my gorgeous friend Catriona (total mega babe and a real hoot, she calls us girls ‘ladies’ and adds a bit of old school glam to everything). She is the proud owner of a McFly tour t-shirt and a copy of the greatest hits album, yep, a mega fan! We got there early and popped to the lovely Berry Bros. & Rudd No.3 Bar for a glass of bubbly before taking our seats. It’s really beautiful in there, the walls are a dark forest green and all the furniture is clad in deliciously sumptuous leather. They do scrummy cocktails too which I think I shall be sampling the next time I go – yum!

After getting our champers fill we headed into the auditorium….and my gosh it really does have the wow factor! We were in for a great night.

And the best bit? BUSTED CAME ON!!!! I full on reverted to my fifteen year old self and couldn't stop screaming! They played Year 3000 and Air Hostess. I, of course, knew every single word so sang along when I could stop myself shrieking. Deary me.

They’re no Bastille or Arctic Monkeys but I really bloody love McFly and went home on such a high – so I’d really recommend that you….

-          GO TO THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL! Get on the website and find something you want to see. The shows change all the time and there’s lots of one-nighters so I’m sure you’ll be able to find something that floats your boats and the tickets don’t all break the bank I promise. They do brill crimbo carol sing-alongs in December apparently ;)

-         BE A TOURIST! I've lived in London for long enough for it to start feeling like home now and it’s really making me complacent. There’s so much on our doorstep - you have to go and explore!