READING FESTIVAL 2013 // AMAZING

Last Thursday Nicola and I packed our things and headed on the short train journey from Egham to Reading to get our tent pitched and ready in preparation for the start of Reading festival on Friday. We found an OK spot that would later lead to someone tripping over our pegs and falling on our heads in the early hours of Saturday morning but that's another story! Thursday night we sat outside our tent on our deckchairs watching the world go by. The chairs were such a great idea because we had so many people just come up and talk to us (or slur, because they were all drunk or high) - a great way to make some friends. After having to get a German guy to drag a man from Neath out of our tent we had some rest before venturing in to the arena around lunchtime on Friday.

Can you feel the love Reading?! Two of many people dishing our free hugs over the weekend

 Most early afternoons there was no music that we really wanted to watch so we would just perch ourselves in the alternative tent where over the weekend we saw comedians such as Josh Widdicombe, Russell Kane and Stephen K Amos. Friday we began our music day with Kodaline who were great and managed to fill the NME/ Radio 1 tent until it was overflowing. We stayed in the NME tent and watched Deap Vally. I've been listening to a lot to this Californian duo over the last few months and I was really excited to finally see them live and they certainly did not disappoint. A set filled with energy, great guitar rifts and heavy drum beats. Later that day we also watched Frank Turner and Bastille who attracted a massive crowd and one of my Friday highlights which we saw before the night's headliners - Green Day (!!!) - were teenage Irish rock 'n' roll band The Strypes. They performed on the smaller Festival Republic Stage but they still managed to pull in a very sizeable crowd. From the moment they walked on stage the energy was massive and by playing classic blues covers as well as songs from their new album Snapshot they attracted both young and old festival goers alike.

Deap Vally

 The Strypes

But the Friday belonged to one band and one band only and that was Green Day. Both myself and Nicola have loved the American punk-rock band since they released American Idiot back in 2004 so seeing them live after almost ten years was nothing short of AMAZING. They kicked off with 99 Revolutions and went on to play all the classics from American Idiot to Basket Case and to the marathon that is Jesus of Suburbia. The band also managed to fit the whole 1994 Dookie album in before Billie Joe Armstrong left the crowd to go back to their tents after a beautiful solo acoustic performance of Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). Oh, and they also threw in some of AC/DC's Highway to Hell which was pretty awesome. Absolutely great :)

The Mighty GREEN DAY

Still reeling from Green Day's performance the night before we got out of our tent's with a slight headache after quite a rough night in the little pop up tent we were sleeping in, (RE: man falling on our heads) we pumped ourselves up for another day at Reading fest. We caught the very end of what seemed like an actual mental set by Palma Violets in the NME tent before we watched Johnny Marr get the crowd excited by playing some Smith's songs. Just before Marr finished his set the tent began to overflow as people tried to find a good spot to watch the next band that was about to take the stage - Imagine Dragons. From the first bang of the massive drum, the Dragons were insane! They finished their set with their big hit Radioactive and I can not wait to watch their performance back on iplayer because it was awesome being there and I'd love to see what the crowd looked like as the men from Las Vegas rocked the tent.

After Imagine Dragons we bought ourselves some Gourmet Burger Kitchen burgers (yes they had a burger van there and it was very reasonably priced) which were absolutely delicious - so delicious that I had the same thing for dinner on Sunday night as well! We ate our burgers while listening to a bit of Chase and Status before we went to see the spectacular Jake Bugg. The man is just too cool. He rocked the tent even with just his acoustic guitar and everyone was mesmerised by his 60's bluesy/country/rock 'n' roll voice. Unfortunately we had to leave before we got to hear Lightning Bolt because we had to fight our way through the ginormous crowd to get a good spot to watch Saturday's headliner Eminem. Eminem is a legend - like Michael Jackson was for pop Eminem is for rap and it's very cool that I can say that I have seen the man live but he was far from my favourite performer of the weekend. It might have something to do with the fact that we could barely hear him over on stage right because the speaker wasn't working so for most of the set it sounded like he was raping in a box but like I said it is very cool to say that I've seen Eminem perform Stan with Dido!

 We slept until 11:30am on Sunday! This is the miracle of the weekend - we went to bed just after 2am and had (on and off) almost 9 and a half hours sleep - MENTAL! Sunday's headliners, Biffy Clyro, were the band both Nicola and I had been looking forward to watch all weekend so it was great that we'd had a decent rest in preparation for it. We spent most of our day by the main stage watching The Lumineers, the classic punk rock band - Fall Out Boy - who were really great and we also saw the Editors before getting ourselves ready for Biffy! We decided to watch Nine Inch Nails before Sunday's headliners came on stage and I was really surprised how awesome they were. I'd heard of them and had noticed a lot of hype surrounding their new album but I'd never heard their songs. They are a metal band with a lot of aggressive shouting and I loved it! The most funny thing I saw was a man carrying his 5(ish) year old child out of the crowd as she had fallen asleep watching NIN - she fell asleep watching a heavy metal screaming band!

Having a chillax watching Nine Inch Nails

 When Biffy Clyro came on stage both Nicola and I did not stop smiling and I still don't think we've fully recovered from how incredibly amazing their performance was. Simon Neil is just something else isn't he! Many had questioned Biffy's credentials as headliners but the Scottish band slapped all the doubters in the face as hits such as The Captain, Black Chandelier, Biblical, 57 and many others got the crowd going crazy. After setting his guitar alight after a massive version of The Captain Biffy came back on stage and closed out the show with a magical version of Mountains. Wow - that is basically all I can say. Green Day were Amazing but Biffy were just incredible. Mon The Biff!

Reading is such an awesome festival and I definitely think it's my kind of festival. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed my time in V fest the week before but I LOVED my time in Reading. My type of music and my type of people. It's strange, whenever I tell people I've been to Reading fest they always ask what the crowd was like expecting me to say aggressive etc. because it's a rock festival but despite the tattoos, leather and piercings they were the nicest people ever - much nicer than the V fest crowd. I have already booked a hotel for Reading 2014 (because camping is too much - I am now suffering from a bad cold!) and I will be taking my Mam with me to her first ever Reading fest and her first rock festival since she went to Download when she was a teenager. An amazing weekend! See you next year Reading Fest :)

V FESTIVAL 2013 // SUMMER ADVENTURES

Well hello there. It's been a long time since I last posted on this blog but I have very good reasons for this. I have spent the last week and a half festivaling it up at V festival in Chelmsford and Reading Festival and wow what a week or so it's been. I have decided to write a short account of my time there and then I'm going to do my top 5 or 10 favourite performances from each festival.

First up was V festival in Chelmsford, Essex. I went to V festival last year but this time I went with four of my university friends - Hollie, Lauren, Laura & Kally. It was nice to be in a big group because there were more people to share the fun with and it was also interesting because we all have different music tastes so I was able to hear about acts that I would never have gone to see. The festival began on Saturday with The Fratellis kicking off the main stage and they were superb. I've loved the Scottish band since I was about 11/12 years old but they haven't been around for a while so I was unsure what to expect however, they did not disappoint. Later that day we saw everyone from Labrinth to Paloma Faith, Gabrielle Aplin to Jessie J. I think my favourite performance was from Irish rockers The Script. The crowd went mental and sang every word to practically every song. Beyoncé was the headliner and the main stage was packed with probably over 50,000 fans. Queen B. was over 20 minutes late much to the dismay of the crowd who began to chant "where the F**k is Beyoncé" and boos rang around the arena. When the headliner finally came out onstage she was very good but we didn't see much of her because she made about 6 outfit changes. Yes, you heard right, SIX! Yeah . . . .

Sunday was my kind of music day which is quite apt because Sunday is my favourite day of the week. While the others watched Olly Murs (I saw him last year) I ventured over to the 4 music stage where I watched Seasick Steve. Seasick Steve was one of the people I was most looking forward to watch all weekend and he was superb. He played with John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin! Amazing. After Steve it was time for The Vaccines and then the Stereophonics. The Welsh legends were absolutely immense - one of my top moments of the whole festival. While the other girls went to watch Calvin Harries, myself and Hollie closed out our festival with some Kings of Leon and what a performance. In my own personal opinion the Kings of Leon were miles better than Beyoncé but that might be because their music is more up my street. A great way to end a fab weekend.

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO // #2 Playlist

Nothing will ever be as good as Springsteen's original version of The Ghost of Tom Joad but this version by Mumford & Sons and Elvis Costello is pretty cool. Marcus Mumford's voice is perfectly suited to this folky Springsteen song and the harmonies with Costello are c'est magnifique! Also the incorporation of Do-Rei-Mi is a great addition to the cover as it makes it different to the original rather than attempting to copy The Boss' masterpiece. I could listen to it again and again.



I guess I've been liking more folky music over the last few days because my next favourite tune is The One That Got Away by The Civil Wars. Waw - what a band. Superb. With Joy Williams' silky smooth lead vocals it is no surprise that The Civil Wars new self titled album has gone straight in to number one in the US' Billboard 200 album chart. If you haven't checked this duo out before then where have you been! Please youtube them because they are really fab. Despite splitting after their 2011 debut album Barton Hollow they are back to their best once more and their best is pretty good and even Grammy winning good.



This next one is a bit of a blast from the past. Cherry Ghost are a band that I first heard of when I saw them live when they were supporting the Manic Street Preachers a few years ago (although they could have been supporting someone else I can't actually remember but I'm pretty sure it was the Manics). After the show I went straight out and bought their album Thirst For Romance that graced our musical shelves back in 2007. One song stood out more than the others and I have no idea why but it was the song - Roses. I liked it so much that I remember in English probably in year 9 or 10 we had to bring in the lyrics to our favourite song to analyse and search for metaphors etc and this is the song that I brought in. Quite rocky but chilled at the same time.



There is something a bit retro about the sound of The White Lies'There goes our love - a bit 80's maybe. Now, I'm no lover of 80's music - the shoulder pads, mahoosive hair and even bigger cheesy beats didn't really do anything for me but to my pleasant suprise I'm really loving this band. I've only listened to a bit of their stuff but so far so good!




This Californian alt-rock group just produce great song after great song. Having heard various bloggers rave about this relatively new band (they released their first album I Love You,. back in April of this year) I went straight to Youtube and searched for The Neighbourhood. The five piece band stay true to their Californian roots by producing surf-chilled, sun-kissed beats that just makes your day better. The song that I've chosen is one of their biggest hits so far and that is Sweater Weather which also bares the Californian rocker sound. A really cool skater-boy band that I'm certain will power on to bigger and
better success in years or actually even months to come.

TOUCH THOSE TOES //

I can touch my toes! Yes. This is a fact. This achievement might not mean a lot to many, if any of you - it's just something that the majority of us take for granted. I know I certainly took it for granted until I was unable to do it for over a year and a half. Last week I managed to touch my toes for the first time in a very long while and it made me realise how much we take for granted. We take for granted that when we want to run we can run, when we want to raise our hand - we can and when we want to dance - we can. But I suppose it's the same for everyone - we take things for granted until we can't do them anymore and then we realise just how awesome our bodies really are. Many people in this world have no option but to lie in bed or to be constrained to a chair for the majority of their lives so why do we, who have the choice to do whatever we wish, choose to do nothing?

This week I went on a long bike ride for the first time in over a year and wow it felt good. The breeze in my face, the burn in my legs and what felt even more amazing was the feeling of achievement. Achieving what seemed very, very, very far away only but a few months ago. What I'm trying to say is 'touch your toes'! Go out and do everything you can, grab the bull by its horns and live life to the full because when your body is in full health there is nothing else you need in the world.

SUPER SONG SUNDAY // JOHNNY CASH Folsom Prison Blues

Last night I was searching for a DVD to watch and I found a film that has been in the house for years but I had yet to watch. It was the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line. I have no idea why it took me so long to watch it but waaaaaw, it was worth the wait. What an epic film and what about that Joaquin Pheonix - he was incredible! Such an amazing actor who had an uncanny resemblance to Cash. I don't think I need to comment on how amazing the soundtrack was because after all it was about a musical legend's life. I have always loved Cash's music but having watched the Oscar winning film it gives you more insight in to what he went through before he made it big and even while he was quickly becoming one of the world's most celebrated rock 'n' roll artists.

Post-film watching I turned on Cash's immensely popular album Live at Folsom Prison (it even outsold the Beatles!) and what a treat. Every song is spectacular but what makes it stand out more than any other album is that you can hear the prisoners shouting from the back of the room and Cash's funny replies. You can imagine all these prisoners who were doing time for crimes such as murder, just forgetting about their lives for a moment by immersing themselves in Cash's majestic, grim and often funny lyrics. It just shows the power of music and the power of Johnny Cash - to go against the grain of the electrification of music by sticking to his own roots, his acoustic guitar and by playing the music so many, including thousands of prisoners, related to. One of the greatest and most influential artists of all time.

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO // Playlist

Over the past few days (weeks) I've been trying to figure out what direction I want to take this blog (you've probably noticed by the continuous changing of the layout design!) and even though I still haven't quite figured it out completely one thing that kept popping up in my head was music. I love music. I listen to it everyday and whenever I have a chance to go listen to it live I'm there (with 5 gigs and two festivals this summer I think I rest my case!). So I thought that I'd bring a lot more music in to my little blogging corner of the internet with more playlists etc. I hope you enjoy them and if you have any song/artist recommendations then I'd be more than happy to give them a listen. 

These are just some songs that I've been listening to over the last few days which I personally thing are pretty cool. Go on, have a listen :) 

Everybody loves a bit of Kings of Leon don't they. However, over the past few months they have been through some troubling times with rumoured disputes within the band. Despite this their new track Supersoaker is quite awesome. The band seem to be back to their rock 'n' roll routes (thankfully) and are sounding better than ever. I heard this song the other day whilst watching MTV ROCKS and I have been playing it constantly since then. I am super looking forward to watching them next week on the main stage at V festival! 

I saw Texas live in a festival last year and they were superb. I first heard of them when I was really young as my Mam has gone to see Sharleen and the band live a few times but they were just another band that was playing in the background until I really started listening to their stuff over the last few years. There new album The Conversation is out now and it has some really good singles on there. Detroit City which is released on the 12th of August is a really great tune. More beats than usual but a perfect summer song for those not wanting to listen to the dance dominated songs that relentlessly pop their heads up during the hotter months. 

I randomly came across Deap Vally while roaming NME's Youtube channel and wow, they are awesome. They are rocking it immensely! It's quite rare today to find Joan Jett/The Runaways style band but these two Californian rockers are pretty cool and their new album Sistrionix was given an 8/10 review by the music giant that is NME magazine. They are playing in Reading & Leeds fest this August and I can assure you that I will be in the crowd listening to this duo do their stuff. 

For some reason the Imagine Dragons hype passed me by but that might be because I've been out of the new music loop for a while just replaying Springsteen, BB King and Lynyrd Skynyrd records but wow the Dragons are so cool. This tune is something that just makes you move your head to the beat without thinking - when that happens you know it's a good song! This song reminds me a bit of Alex Clare's Too Close - might just be the beat (and the uncontrollable head bobbing). 

 One of the best modern rock bands that are making music today. Let me assure you that my judgment has nothing to do with the fact that the hail from Springsteen's Jersey Shore and have played with The Boss a few times (well maybe just a little then!). No, in all seriousness The Gaslight Anthem are incredible and their single 45 is no exception. I've been playing this song on loop and as of yet I have not started to hate it which is always a good sign. Give them a listen and I'm sure you will not be disappointed. A truly awesome band. 

IT'S HOMEMADE BURGER TIME // Beef, Chilli & Sun Dried Tomato Burgers

Last night I decided to make some burgers from a Nigel Slater recipe I discovered in the Observer a few weeks back. They were slightly different to your usual plain beef burger as they were made up of beef, chilli and sun dried tomatoes. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of sun-dried tomatoes, to be honest that actually make me feel a bit queasy when eaten on their own but thankfully they were delicious when combined with the beef. I made about 14 burgers and I think the whole family liked them because by the end of the night there was only one burger left on the plate. If you'd like to try making these burgers for yourself then just click here for the recipe. I have also included some photos of me making this delicious meal if you would rather see the end product without actually having to make them yourself. I have to say that these burgers were super easy to make and only took a maximum of 30 minutes to complete - bonus! :)

*Makes 4* - I doubled the recipe but managed to make 14 burgers out of it. I'm not good at maths but even I know that that doesn't make much sense but it happened . . . somehow! 

1 medium red chilli 

6 tbsp of sun dried tomatoes in oil

Add everything together, mix and add some salt to season - (400g of minced beef)

Roll together and grill or fry, whichever you prefer. We did both to make the process a bit faster as the family were hungry!

Nigel Slater also gives us a recipe for a suitable salad to accompany our tasty burgers. Once you've done all of the above steps (about 7 basil leaves, 1 lime, two avocados) mix them all together to make some deliciously zesty side dish. 

We served our burgers with an array of cheeses - Mozzarella, Mature and Edamer. Instead of buns we opted for some rye bread on the side (that's because we didn't have any bread buns in the house!). Absolutely yummmmmie :) 

Give it a go yourself and tell me how you got on! 

Twitter - @lisagwawr

Instagram- @lisagwawr

5 Things

Since it's pouring down with rain outside I thought I might cheer myself up with a list of five things that I'm really liking right now. So here we go . . .

This is a necklace my mam bough for me over the weekend and it is so cool! The lady in the shop took the label off before putting it in the bag so I have no idea what make it is but I love it. 

I have a never ending reading list for university to get through over summer and I have no idea how I'm going to finish them all but this one that I have almost finished is superb. A real insight in to the lives and mentality of the elite in early 19th century Britain.

Records seem to be so expensive to buy so instead of forking out £20 for a single album I've just been listening to my Mam's collection. Urban Outfitters however, currently have an awesome collection of old records for £6 each or two for £10 which is amazing. 

Exercising at home is great although not all the time. Most of the time I go swimming, to the gym or out on the bike but sometimes working out at home is harder. If you have the equipment then you're sorted. Here I use 2km weights to put on my feet, 3km weights in my hands that I do a lot of reps with and finally we have the 10km weight which is great when doing deep lunges etc. 

I know, you're probably sick of me going on about Bruce but I can not help it. He is The Man, The Boss, The Rock 'n' Roll God. He is more than just a musician to many people including myself. His music is incredible but so is his relationship with his fans. His concerts are out-of-this-world with him playing for up to four hours - and yes he is in his 60's. Since the end of his Wrecking Ball tour in Europe I've just been youtubing him all day which might not be the best cure for the Bruce Blues but hey :)

SUPER SONG SUNDAY // Janis Joplin

This week's Super Song Sunday artist is the S O U L machine that is Janis Joplin. The woman was and still is incredibly awesome. The other night I listened to one of her many Greatest Hits albums and every song is just  I N C R E D I B L E!! Her voice is unrivalled and the rock 'n' roll soul music she created is unbelievable. Yes, she was a bit mental but she had one of the most awesomely psychedelic cars I have ever seen.

Cool, right?!

Anywho, she is one of my top three favourite artists of all time and I hope you enjoy her music as much as I do :)

SUMMER ADVENTURES // CARDIFF, GBK & IPHONE

It has happened guys. I knew the day was going to come but you are never really ready for it are you. Yes, you guessed it - my iphone has broken. I can happily live without a phone for a long while and I don't suffer from text withdrawal symptoms but the camera. I use the iphone camera for the majority of my blog posts and just as a way to capture daily events. It wouldn't be that bad if I lived close to an apple shop but as I live in the middle of nowhere I have to do a 200 mile round trip to Cardiff to get it fixed. Yup - 200 miles! Well anywho, Carwen, Ruth and myself had planned to go to the capital on Tuesday to get my phone fixed but we were late in deciding train times and by the time I went to book an appointment at the Genius Bar there was none left - nooooo! Although I couldn't get my phone fixed we still went and had a lovely day.

First thing was first - we had to go and get lunch because we were starvin' marvin. Having been reading the Burgers and Bruce blog recently I really wanted a burger and, well, there is only one place to go and that is Gourmet Burger Kitchen by the Library in town. I had the beef burger with bacon and avocado. Wooow - delish. Also, I have no idea what's in their relish but it's the best I've ever had. Once we were energised we did a bit of shopping. I've been searching for some records recently and they are so expensive everywhere - £24 for a Justin Timberlake vinyl anyone? Crazy. The only time I've been willing to pay £20 for a record was when I found Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town album in Portobello Market. Anywho, Urban Outfitters currently have an amazing collection of old school records which is just awesome. 2 albums for £10!! I picked up U2's Rattle & Hum and a 50's rock 'n' roll album with artists such as Jerry Lee Lewis. Yaaaay. I also picked up a Beatles and a Guns 'n' roses  tee before heading home.

We had such a cool time together and sometimes when you're away at uni in different parts of the country you start to forget how awesome it is to be around people you've been friends with since you were 10/11 years old (gosh, almost 10 years! whaaat?!). Diolch Carwen a Ruth :)

Apologies: I have only got pictures of our meal at the GBK because as I stated earlier I have no camera at the moment. These were taken by Ruth. 

Me trying to create an artistic background for the photo . . . yeah . . .