MUSIC: Mumford and Sons in Nottingham

There's something about going to a concert that always makes me incredibly nervous and excited at the same time. The amount of people in the venue always terrifies me, feeling trapped and like I can't get out is one of my biggest fears. That being said, I love going to gigs and having not been to a concert in a year and half, Mumford and Sons concert on Saturday night was a great way to get back into them.

Myself and Scott went to Nottingham on their first night of their tour and there is only one way to describe the entire concert and that's amazing. The two of us went standing as that's both of ours favourite way to watch a gig, it's easier to get involved in the atmosphere and I think you enjoy it more. They are by far the best band I've ever seen live without using gimmicks or lots of pyrotechnics they were simply themselves playing music to thousands of fans. They were entertaining and had the room singing, dancing and jumping around in support.

The gig began with support act, Jack Garratt. Now, I had never heard of him or listened to his music before that evening, that being said, I was completely blown away. It's always going to be tough for anyone to warm up the crowd for Mumford and Sons but he completely held his own. His music is quite different to anything that I've ever heard, there's no doubt that he has an incredible voice that's so versatile too. But he's managed to create his own style of music keeping it pop and current, with emotional ballad types of songs but with a beat that makes it up-tempo and get's an entire room moving. It was amazing watching him live as you could see how unique and how passionate he is about his music. He definitely stands out from everything else that you hear and is also like a one man band with everything he achieves on stage. He was incredible and I cannot wait for him to release his album. Jack Garratt is definitely one to look out for.

After an interval it was time for Mumford and Sons and they were as strong at the end as they were at the start. With simple lighting and nothing too much that distracts you from their performance it was wonderful watching the men perform. For me, 'Believe' had the most impact, telling the audience to use the torch on their phones or lighters looking around the arena and seeing thousands of lights it was a magical feeling for just one person amongst the crowd so how it felt for them must have been surreal. Within the arena itself they had these almost bauble like fairy lights hanging from the ceiling that in certain songs were lowered and lit up different colours and it made the room feel a lot smaller and cosier. It wasn't just myself who liked this touch as the couple next to us mentioned them being 'cool' and you kept seeing different people looking up at them all evening in awe. I think this helped with magical feeling and giving everyone in that room a sense of unity.

They performed a mixture of their older music as well as songs off of their latest, 'Wilder Mind' album which I really enjoyed. I like to have a mix especially with these guys with their earlier songs being more folk. Those songs had the crowd really going and half way through I turned around to Scott and said, 'Its closest to line dancing I'm ever going to get'. It really did have that feel to it.

As you would expect, the band themselves sounded perfect. Their voices were so strong and powerful, there were no moments where you couldn't hear them because the crowd was louder. Their performances were amazing even though they don't have fancy dance moves they just performed the crap out of each song and it works for them because they are amazing musicians and singers and have incredible songs. The interaction from the band and the audience was amazing too. With Marcus Mumford passing someone his beer and heading into the crowd himself, we were pretty close to him though not as  lucky as some, it just made the evening so special. They even bought out Jack Garratt within their set and performed 'Sweet Dreams' and together they sounded beautiful, capturing the eeriness perfectly.

Mumford and Sons are by far the best band I've ever seen live, even if you like their music but aren't a huge fan I would seriously recommend going and seeing them because I was expecting it to be good but their isn't enough words you can use to describe the atmosphere within that arena that night. I can't wait to go and see them again in the future and there is no doubt that I will see them over and over.

♥

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MUSIC: You Me At Six Cavalier Youth Tour

It was only the other day that I was moaning to one of my best friends about how long it had been since I went to a concert (November 1st to see Tyler Hilton). As someone who spends most of their time looking for new music and basically being obsessed with music this saddened me. So on Wednesday evening one of my longest friends text me asking me if I was seeing You Me At Six on Thursday. My reply was 'no'. You see, a lot of the concerts I've wanted to go to recently have been in arenas and I was scared of getting claustrophobic or passing out in such a big place, but she promised me that it wouldn't happen and that she would look after me. So at 4:30 Thursday afternoon I text her saying I had a ticket and would join her to see one of our favourite bands. This was a big deal for me as I was literally terrified about going to an arena.

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We had a lot of trouble getting to the concert, doors opened at 6pm at this time we had only just got on the bus for a 40 minute journey to Nottingham. When we arrived neither of us knew where we going, she had only been in a group before and I had never been to Capital FM Arena. So we finally arrived at the arena at 7:20pm. However, we hadn't missed any of the supports and we didn't have to queue to get in (good timing, eh?). You're probably thinking we were stood right at the back with a terrible view, but no, we got in the middle as I didn't want to get too far forward to start with in case I started panicking.

The first support was a band called Young Kato. Neither me or my friend had ever heard of them before so we didn't know what to expect. But they were actually really good, we both thought that they had a similar sound to Two Door Cinema Club, which is one of my favourite bands ever, so I obviously really enjoyed them. I'll definitely be looking into more of their music as I was really impressed with them.

The next support was Don Broco, and when the lead singer walked on I'm not going to lie I thought 'what a prat'. I dunno what it was about him but he annoyed me at first, but when he started singing and the band began to play I actually enjoyed them. They moved around the stage well and I liked the fact that he asked the crowd to push back a little so the people at the front didn't get crushed, it's the first time I've seen that happen. He also wore a pair of pants over the top of his jeans for half the set after a fan threw them up on stage, which I loved (that sounds a little pervy, doesn't it? Oh well). Similarly to Young Kato I will be checking out their music as I'd never heard of them before either and I thought they were pretty good live.

Finally it was time for You Me At Six. They were my first ever concert when I was 16 and now my first ever arena concert when I'm 18 and wow have they changed. I love the fact that they did a mix of new and old songs. Personally, I don't like it when bands only do songs from their latest album, it's just a little annoying. I love the fact at an arena you can scream along to the songs and not care what the people around you are thinking, because the atmosphere is completely contagious. I love the fact that when they shout 'jump' everyone does jump about and goes crazy (well, nearly everyone). But my favourite part of the show is when the lights come up, Josh stopped singing and the crowd just sings back to them. If I was on the stage I would totally breakdown, because that's got to feel so special having thousands of people singing your lyrics back to you and knowing that they support you completely.

The band was completely amazing. Josh sounded incredible and since I last saw them they he has got to be an even better performer. It's strange to see how the band has changed in the two years since I last saw them but they were completely amazing. Max, Chris, Matt and Dan all sounded incredible too. I also love that they had videos playing behind them the whole time, including their latest music video of 'Room to Breathe' and behind the scenes of the lads just being lads. Me and my friend had an absolutely amazing time at the concert and even though we didn't push too far forward we still had decent views. My favourite songs that they played live were 'Stay With Me', 'Wild Ones', 'Loverboy', 'Bite My Tongue', 'Room to Breathe' and 'Reckless', but every song that they played were great. The crowd was absolutely insane for 'Bite My Tongue' and 'Room to Breathe'.

The two of us did miss the last bus home, however, by about 10 seconds and so we got stranded in Nottingham until my brother came to pick us up. But that meant that we had time to catch up, as I hadn't seen her properly for months (work and school gets in the way). We also just talked about the gig.

If you haven't seen You Me At Six live before, I would seriously recommend it, they're playing Leeds and Reading festival and I'm sure they will be amazing. They're one of my favourite bands to see live. Also, if you're like me and are nervous about going to an arena I just want to say it's really  not bad. You get more room than at more intimate gigs and if anything was too happen like you began to panic or felt ill, there are plenty of people around that will help you, like security and first aiders etc. You will really regret not going in the long run, trust me. You could always stay near the back and when you feel comfortable then move forward anyway. I cannot wait to start booking more tickets again. Check out their first video of their UK Youth Tour below:

Who's your favourite band to see live?
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