Top 5 Fave 'Opening Song' Gig Moments

Everyone who has been to a gig has had this experience. The band you have been waiting to see forever com on stage and they play the opening bars of the first song and you simply wet yourself. That's happened to you right? No? Just me then. Well that's OK because it was worth the wet trousers to see some of my favourite bands. So without further ado here are 5 of my favourite all time 'opening song' gig experiences (in no particular order). Enjoy and then tell me yours. (Please keep your pant wetting stories to yourself.)

1. Manic Street Preachers- 'Australia' Ulster Hall, Belfast, August 31st 1998

I very nearly never made it to this gig since it was on a Sunday and Sunday gigs were a big no no. However enough pleading from myself and my friend Peter to our parents and we were allowed to join the rest of our friends at this. I will be forever grateful for that decision too since I am pretty sure we had already bought tickets anyway and to see my favourite band of the time, on the night they got their first number 1 single with 'If you tolerate this.. was just incredible'. Life changing.

 

2. Cliff Richard- 'No idea'- Kings Hall, Belfast, Sometime in the early 90's

So with this entry you can rest assured they I won't put any obscure cult bands that only a few people will have heard of, just to sound cool. Because Cliff Richard is not cool. I know right? Shocking. My parents assured me was. Regardless I did listen to quite a bit of old Cliffy growing up and this was my first actual gig and it was mind blowing. I can't remember what song he started with but the way that the image of him on stage changed into the real Cliff Richard blew me away. It was my first experience of a stage show and it got me hooked on live performances. Say what you like about Sir Cliff but he knew how to get the crowd going... Even if most them of were OAP's.

3. That That- 'The Opening'- RDS Arena, Dublin, June 28th 2006

Not so much an opening song as an opening video. Intercutting sound bites and footage from their breakup press conference with footage of the band being brought back to 'life', I was genuinely ready to cry. Am I embarrassed about that? Not at all. You weren't there ok? I was there before Robbie came back! You don't understand! (Runs off crying) Alright, so maybe the soldier in a war syndrome analogies are going a bit far but standing there waiting with thousands of other people when the biggest boy band ever to reform finally appeared on stage was pretty awesome. The next 3 hours were even better. The little girl at 1:07 pretty much sums up how I felt. Pop at it's best...And they are a man band now so it's ok to like them alright?! Haters... back off!



4. Radiohead- 'There There'- Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, May 21st 2003

When Radiohead's tour of 'intimate' shows were announced I knew I had to be in Edinburgh that night. I knew tickets would sell like warmed through cakes and I was going to be at a computer when they did. The day they were released I slept in. I didn't get tickets. Radiohead were clamping down on touts so even after I bought a ticket for 80 quid off ebay I couldn't take it. Imagine my sheer abounding joy when one day in the computer labs in Stirling Uni. I saw that more tickets were being released. I had been given a second chance and I was not going to mess it up. Radiohead were amazing and the opening song of 'There There was a great choice with it's drum intro and the dull, wet setting of Edinburgh was perfect for the night. Standing there watching Radiohead for the second time was all the more satisfying because of the trouble getting tickets...And I'd do it all again.

5. Pearl Jam- 'Sometimes'- The Point, Dublin, June 1st 2000


Some bands are worth missing school for. Pearl Jam are without a doubt one of them. Not least because of the way they change things around. While I was used to hearing bands start off with big, fast songs; Pearl Jam don't follow the established way of doing things and instead opted for the quiet and subdued 'Sometimes' off 'No Code'. This was brilliant not only because I didn't see it coming but also because it set up the second, faster, jumper friendly song 'Breakerfall' perfectly. Yes. Definately worth missing a double History for.


What are some of your favourite gig opening song experiences? 


Tune in for more top 5 gig lists where I reveal my top 5 'crying at a gig' experiences and 'trying to get served drink while underage' gig experiences. Some of which strangely overlap. Go figure.

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KONY 2012. Why laziness is the best critic.

Kony2012 has been blogged about, reported and analysed countless times since the video first aired last week.

There have been supporters and critics in probably equal measure. But there are a few things we can notice from the Kony 2012 campaign and it's commentaries that we should take notice of.

1/ It's easy to criticize. Making fun of something is easy if we don't do the proper research. In other words. Journalists can be lazy. We must not.

2/ Sometimes when we criticise an organisation or person, we actually find we have more in common than we think. So if those that accused IC of presenting false or at least misleading facts looked closer they would see that IC also encourage the practice of conducting proper research into a situation. Or in other words. Bloggers can be lazy.

3/ This blog won't tell you everything you need to know about KONY 2012. So why do we assume one video will tell us everything we need to know about Joseph Kony and the LRA. Of course it won't. But it should get you asking more questions. But sometimes we won't. In other words. We can all be lazy.

4/ It's OK for a non profit to spend money on media. If your plan is to make billions of people all around the world aware for the first time, of an atrocity being carried on children, somewhere in the world, then a cleverly marketed and inspiring video is money well spent.

5/ It's not enough for a non profit to just spend money on media. Which IC don't. But regardless, a movie won't change the world. But millions of young people calling, emailing and talking to their Government can. A community committed to educating themselves fully and then making sure that those that can do something about it hear them, can.

6/ We can get carried away. We can be moved by a video beyond the point of actually caring and just wanting to be involved in something 'cool'. Which is great. Until being involved becomes the complete opposite of what we are trying to be involved in. Because executing Kony is different from capturing him.

7/ It's easy to attack back against our detractors. But it's difficult to respond graciously to them and give them the answers they want. One is more noble and productive than the other. 

8/ Did you read the the criticism of the Kony 2012 campaign from Resolution:Possible, Resolve or the Enough Project? You didn't because there wasn't any. These organisations realise that they need each other and this is not about beating each other to the punch. Work with people. Share your expertise. Share your stories, inspiration. You don't know everything.

9/ Read, watch, learn, question, educate, dare, create, ACT. 

10/ Never give up. This could happen.

Invisible Children

Enough Project

Resolve

Resolution: Possible

 

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I think I am in love

Ryan Gosling is pretty much the perfect man.

Women want to be with him and men...also want to be with him.

He breaks up fights in the street. He has a 6 pack. He believes women are awesome. He did Ballet as a kid. He has a 6 pack. His face. Even when he is a dick in movies he isn't. He cares about kids in Africa. He is in a really weird band that is incredible. He has the best dance moves. He makes George Clooney look ugly.

And yet you never get the feeling he is full of himself.

There is no deep message in this blog.

Just, if all men were a little more like Ryan Gosling maybe the world would be a better place.

Just a thought.

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Us V Them

There is right now, a myriad of organisations and charities that are taking steps and actions; sometime big loud, freedom cry,ear shattering actions to end injustice, to end suffering and to end misery.

This is great. There will probably never be a time when there is no injustice. This isn't meant to depress anyone, it's meant to move us. We are called to fight this. I don't think this is a Christian issue, it's a human issue. But if anyone should be at the forefront of tackling this, then surely Christians should be there looking it squarely in the eye.

Which there are. Water, porn, trafficking, poverty. We're looking around at the world and realising it's not enough to just sit back and wait until some unspecified day when we are all going to be whisked off to the sky somewhere. We are meant to act this morning in anticipation for this evening.

To get to a state of injustice requires some sort of mess up. Something that usually was caused by an act of one person on another. With trafficking, it is someone using power over another to control their movements. Where they can go, what they can eat, who has sex with them.

So our natural inclination is to help the trafficked. To free them. To work endlessly for their freedom. To take steps to ensure it never happens again to that person.

But if we achieve this and see that as job done I think we miss something.

We miss the one who carries out the injustice. The one who God saw fit to tell us we were to love. Our enemies.

There has been an amazing petition going around which is striving to ensure that all magazines and products that contain adult material like Zoo, FHM, Nuts etc. be covered up in newsagents, so children will have one less avenue of being exposed to it. Please sign up here to add your name to help out.

I also read a blog which called us to boycott those magazines. To even boycott magazines from the same company that published Zoo and Nuts. Which meant to boycott 'Horse and Hound', 'Anglers Mail' and 'The Field' along side of many other innocent magazines. (Maybe the writer also really dislikes the countryside). The writer even admitted this would cause people to lose their jobs and livelihoods, but he was at 'war'. 
 

Which raises the question.

War against who?

War against the writers of NME, Horse and 25 Beautiful Homes?

War against people who make porn? With everyone else as collaterel damage?

It's easy to see it as so simple. I wish it was. But it's not. Jesus called us to love our enemies. Is that easy? Of course not. But does that matter? Really?

Christians have a lot of enemies it seems today. Homosexuals, Muslims, Pornographers, Mark Driscoll, Rob Bell (ha)... We like to see it as an us V them situation. God is on our side, not theirs. Seeing it like this though just pushes people away from God's love. But really there is no divide. We are all 'them'. We are all 'us'.

Should we be fighting to put an end to the porn industry or should we be doing our best to show the porn industry that Jesus loves them too? To talk to them, to show that we don't hate them. I know what appeals more to me. In fact, I know what would appeal more if I was working in the adult industry?

Justice will never fully be complete until we look to seek freedom for both sides.

Sin will never stop having an impact until we learn to love those who sin against us.

And love will never fully win until we realise we all need it. 

...Check out what happened when The Godfather of Porn came to Church

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Why Jesus loves porn shows.

Travelling into the unknown takes guts. It takes someone who has an idea what they want to happen and also knows that it could go completely and disasterly wrong...but still goes ahead.

Which is how I am sure Craig Gross felt when 10 years ago, armed with only a bunny outfit and some t shirts he went into a porn show as a Pastor, to tell people working in the Adult Industry that Jesus loves them. Maybe little did he know but 10 years later xxxchurch.com would grow into being the one place where people could get help for porn addiction and where porn stars could feel loved and not judged.

Where the religious and 'sinner's' live on an even playing field.

That's church.

I love that. I love that you can have many people tell you what you are doing is wrong and will end in tears, but still know that you have to follow what God is asking you to do. Jesus never asked His disciples to do things that were the norm. Jesus never had dinner with the people that everyone else wanted to be around. He dined with prostitutes and He told the religious they were wrong.

He threw the rulebook out the window.

But when the rules are gone, all that is left is God.

I've been helped by xxxchurch more than most of you will ever know and I have been excited and honoured to have worked with them by writing blogs for the last few years. So when my friend Shaun and I both had the idea indepentley to bring xxxchurch to a porn show in the UK, God was obviously going to make something happen.

That's why we are going to a porn show. That's right. A porn show. We are bringing xxxchurch to the UK and we want to launch it by telling porn stars that Jesus loves them. How else would you start it?!

And we would love for you to help.

Here's how.

We need Bibles to give out to porn stars. And that costs money. So I am asking you for money. Straight up.

If you help us every £ you give us will go straight to getting Bibles that will be given out for free to people in the Adult industry.

People who have been hurt by the Church. People who probably think God hates them. People who need to know that Jesus loves them unconditionally and has so much more for them.

We will have a booth and a team of volunteers who will share that Jesus loves them at the Erotica Porn Convention in London this November.We will listen to their stories.

And we need prayer.

Prayer for the team to come together, prayer for the logisitics and most importantly for God to change the lives of people caught in the world of porn.

Why should you help us out? Because Porn Shows are exactly the type of place that God likes to show up and surprise us. Because Porn Stars deserve to be loved too.

And you can help make that happen. £5, £10, £100?! Whatever you can give could be the difference between a girl in the industry feeling hopeless or lost and from knowing that she is special and loved by God.

There are a few ways you can donate. You can go here and donate online. Or you can go here and here and donate to our marathon fundraising pages.

And if you want to get more practical you can run with us for porn stars in the Belfast Marathon this May or have me come and speak in your Church about our vision and plan for the show.

Thanks for your support!!

paul@xxxchurch.com
@xxxchurchuk
http://www.xxxchurch.com/

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