Current Mixed Favourites...

Hiii! Something a little different today but as I have literally nothing to do with my life right now I'm getting blog posts popping out of my mind left, right and centre.

Here are my current mixed favourite things!

Favourite Album:

Madness - Sleeping with Sirens.

This album is the ultimate tits, you know when you listen to an album so much you just get sick of it…well with this I haven't yet. Almost every song is sweet as and I especially love Go Go Go, The Strays and Gold. It's such a good listen!

Favourite Book: 

Billy and Me - Giovanna Fletcher.

I'm such a fussy person that it takes a lot for me to read which is really annoying, when I was little I loved to read but unfortunately I just grew out of it. But now, as I've already said I've finished university for now and I have so much spare time there is no excuse. So I finally have time to read Giovanna's collection of books and of course started with 'Billy and Me'. It's so cute, a story about a normal girl and her famo boyf,

Favourite Clothing Item:

MY TOPSHOP PINAFORE. (I searched for it on Topshop and it no longer exists) 

I'm in LOVE with it, if I could wear it everyday I probably would but I'd definitely look smelly if I did that. It goes with everything, looks cute as balls and it's just lush. I love it! My favourite purchase of the past 19 (almost 20) years and that's me being over the top but that's fine because I'm in love with this item. I might marry it, who knows.

Favourite Shop:

Topshop obvz lol. 

My favourite shop always and forever, we are made for each other. Me n you 4evz Topshop.

In all seriousness, I go there almost every week just to try new stuff on because I have a sad life. But Topshop on Oxford Street is the tits and I can't help myself, I've tried some absolutely banging clothes on lately. They've honestly got such a cute collection in right now! (I may do a wish list post but that would take a million years because I'm greedy and want everything)

Well, I hope you enjoyed this it's a bit different. Slightly inspired by my pal Georgia! 

Bye-ya x x x

A Lil' Catch Up…

Hey palz,

Been a while hasn't it, my bad! I don't even know why I have abandoned this blog but I've not been very motivated and had no idea what to even write about, my friends seem to think my tragic life would be a good start - I might take their advice. I thought I'd do a little update in case anyone in the universe is even slightly interested.

• I finished my first year at uni! I completed all my work, submitted everything and here I am bored off my tits. I've spent the last two days colouring in…how very adult of me.
• I went to Scotland and Sweden over the Easter holiday and they were both sick and I got very merry in two new countries, well done to myself. I feel like I should have done a post about the both of them because both holidays were super fun. In Scotland we done a lot of stuff, more than I thought we would! We went paint balling which was an experience and I got hit in the arse and hit my friend in the arse, so that's a success in my eyes. In Sweden we walked about, saw how beautiful the country is and one night got merry, went out, I spoke and complimented a dodgy looking hot dog seller outside of a club, so that was an experience.

Loch Ness with my 7 best pals!

In Sweden with a Swede and a German. 

• I went to see The Vamps a couple of times, that was fun, Brad was dreamy. I also saw All Time Low twice in a weekend AND MET ALEX GASKARTH BLEGH. MY 12 YEAR OLD DREAM WAS FULFILLED AND MY FOREHEAD FLEW OUT WHAT IN THE DICK?!?!?! 

Hiding the dreaded forehead with Alex G x 

• 5 Seconds of Summer came back for a little bit and I managed to see Ashton and he tapped me on the shoulder like we were old pals, little did he know I was very hungover and had puked 3 times that morning. Oops.

• I bought a pinafore and it should be worldwide news because it's beauts. 

I'm not sure what else has happened the past few months, definitely nothing of interest. 

I'm comin' back ladz, I might even be hitting up YouTube but we'll see. 

See ya x x x 

The Vamps Headline London!

Last night my friend Libby and I got last minute tickets to go and see one of our favourite bands, The Vamps in London! The seats were right up in the circle and we were next to two very drunk and merry adults, so that was quite fun.

You see, I've loved The Vamps for a super long time, since they were on YouTube and had no original songs…that was a long time ago in my eyes. I even made a blog post about their first single coming out way back when, you can read that here!

They put on an amazing show, it was electric the whole time and Brad…well I can't even talk about Brad because he is the biggest dream boat on Earth even from afar. Nope, can't talk about him.

They all had their own little moment, Tristan had an epic drum solo - IT WAS INSANE I FELT LIKE I WAS IN A TRANCE. James sung a little solo of Move My Way, Connor done a cover of All Time Low's 'Dear Maria' and Brad, although he is the obvious front man he had a little sing-song on his own when he sung Shout About It. It was all very cute.

But then Brad changes it up from the cuteness and goes mental on stage like the true front man he is but still manages to sound like a husky angel, how does he do it?! I don't know, get away.

It really was a special night for me to watch such a show like that, it was awesome and to know I've watched them grow from YouTube to this was something else and I left the venue feeling quite emotional but in a good way because they are four boys who really deserve what they have. They've stayed super grounded, haven't sold themselves out to America and given in to all of the financial side of the music business. I think they really do what they do for their fans and to simply enjoy it and that's obvious when you watch them on stage. There is nothing fake about them, they're totally real and I feel like they'll stay that way throughout what I assume will be a very long career.

They're going on tour next year too so you can get tickets this weekend if you want, you probably should though this isn't even a suggestion I'm literally going to force you to buy tickets because YOU MUST.

get tickets here!

Reading Festival 2014!

Hiiiii!

It's been a week since the last day of Reading Festival and I was going to make this post during the week but in all honesty I've just felt way too run down, anxious and weird to thing straight let alone write a blog post. I still don't feel great, potentially even worse because the stress of leaving home in just a week is really getting me down but I've got to power through and tell you all about my weekend at Reading which was the BEST weekend. This could be a long one, stick with me you might enjoy it! I'll do it by the days so it'll be broken down, okay? Okay, let's go.

Wednesday - 

Me and my friend Corinna travelled to Reading so we could into the camp site early on Thursday morning, as we had learned from last year (you can kinda read about that and what you should/shouldn't do at festivals in a previous post here) and I was being a super stressy arse and I was convinced Corinna was close to strangling me, I don't blame her! I tried chilli cheese bites from Burger King and well, they were just beauts but that's pretty irrelevant to my Reading experience, ANYWAY. We got to an awful Travelodge in Reading for the evening and then went to get some alcohol for the weekend, the Tescos at Reading was rammed with teens buying alcohol and such, aisles were replaced with bottles of vodka - quite funny really. Then we just went back to the hotel and I hit my head twice on a low ceiling which filled me with anxiety all night so I didn't sleep and watched teleshopping from 3am…great night for me.


Thursday -

We woke up at 6am and got ready, had one last beloved shower and met our friends before going into the campsite to set up. After waiting in the dreaded queue to actually even get in we walked for a while and met up with some other people who had already got a spot for us, the whole thing was flowing so much nicer than last year and it was SO refreshing. The stress of last year was kinda traumatising so it was just so nice for to all go so easily. We set up, went and got some food for the weekend from Tesco and then just bummed about all day, I can't really remember what we even did all day. I know we got offered balloons about 3 times, but not the nice kind of balloons…so I politely declined.

Friday -

The festival had truly begun! On the line up today was one of my favourite bands from years ago - PARAMORE. I was so stoked because Hayley Williams is like the Queen of pop punk, I wanted to just bow down to her. We had a few drinks at the tent, met up with some of Corinnas friends and then we went to the main stage to watch Enter Shikari and then Paramore and it was just so sick. Enter Shikari are a band I used to love a lot as well so it was so cool to finally see them properly after briefly seeing them last year at Warped Tour. Paramore had some technical difficulties but powered through when they sung The Only Exception, it was just Hayley and us, the audience. I honestly welled up a few times because 1) it was just so fricken cute and 2) I'd loved this band a lot when I was younger and I still did and I was finally seeing them and music really just makes me quite emotional in general.

If you went to Reading this year let's talk about the freezing cold nights, WHAT WAS THE DEAL WITH THEM!? I literally used socks for gloves it was ridiculous.

Oh we also drunkenly watched a comedian and went on the Waltz and they were both very strange experiences when you're a bit merry…

Saturday -

Everyone I was camping with went to see Die Antwoord and well, that was a damn experience and a half. If I'm honest, they kinda freak me out but it was actually so fun to see them because everyone was just partying hard it was so funny. We also saw Chvrchs and they were super chilled so that was cool. Then in the evening we saw Arctic Monkeys, a band I absolutely adore and it was ace to see them again after not seeing them for a couple of years! They played a lot of songs from their recent album 'AM' and if I'm honest it's really not my favourite album at all, I much prefer their others so it was kinda just a really chilled set to me. Alex Turner made Corinna and I swoon to no end, he is just something else. He is such a cocky shit, I LOVE IT.

Sunday -

The final day, cue the tears please. I was so looking forward to this day because there were so many bands I wanted to see, we literally spent all day in the arena which is something we'd never done before but I didn't know that this day was about to be one of the best days of my whole life!

I really wanted to see Tonight Alive but I was too tired to move in the morning, it was kinda pathetic. But then we went to see Papa Roach and they're a bit older now, but still knew how to rock a crowd for sure. We just sat at the main stage and watched these bands and it was so chilled and cool, we also watched Sleeping with Sirens and A Day To Remember and they were SO good.

THIS IS WHERE IT GETS EXCITING. After that we were just walking around and three people approached me, I thought they were like Reading fest security so I just didn't really know what they were doing but they said to me "we see from your t-shirt that you're a Blink 182 fan?" I responded as you would expect, because hello…I was wearing a Blink top. They went on to say "how big of a fan are you?" I didn't want to big myself up and say I was the biggest fan on Earth in case they asked me like a super awkward question so I just said "fairly" and at this point I was super confused, then the man said to me "well, if you can make your way to the guest area at 7pm then you'll be meeting the band, we're from Radio 1" AND THAT'S WHEN THE WORLD STOPPED BECAUSE IT WAS THE MOST AMAZING NEWS I'D EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE. Me and Corinna were meeting one of the biggest bands on Earth, what the actual shit?! I still can't even believe they approached me, I'm usually not lucky at all but someone wanted me to have a sick day!

We met them, no pictures were allowed, it was just a signing and I was kinda just lost for words because THEY ARE BLINK. They were so cool and American and I was just not okay, simply not okay. I was stood in front of Mark Hoppus thinking, what do I even say to a man like this?! He's a damn legend in my eyes and I was just done, could not think of what to even do. They were all so cool and it ended so quickly but I MET THEM, AGH. Absolutely amazing and I'm so grateful that the people from Radio 1 came up to me because it made my weekend just that little bit more amazing!

After that we watched The 1975 who were so fricken good, Matty is a really good front man I have to say. Then it was time for Blink and I was so tired I couldn't go as nuts as I'd liked but I was still seeing my favourite band and that's really all that mattered! The set list ruled and it honestly topped off one of the best days of my whole life!

The whole weekend was just awesome, definitely pissed all over last year. I consumed many bacon rolls, took on the disgusting toilets, was surrounded by the annoying shouting of 'ALAN' and 'STEVE' and it was just the best weekend.

Well done universe, you done be proud that weekend. It's gonna be tough to beat a weekend like that now!

What Happened This Week?!

Hiii! I'm super crap with posting on here regularly, I have no excuse apart from lack of motivation and stuff but hopefully soon enough that will all change!

This week was interesting, let's see what some big points were…

5 Seconds Of Summer hit number 1 in the UK Top 40! 

Yep, I spoke about them previously (I speak about them everyday, they're my favourite band DUH.) But they did it, they hit number 1 with She Looks So Perfect. They're the 4th Australian artist to get a debut number 1 and the first Australian artist to get a number 1 in 14 years (Kylie had that crown, maybe they can go out for tea) but anyway, how amazing is that?! Four teenage, Aussie lads taking over the world one country at a time. This was such a far fetched thing to even think about only a year ago, a year ago on the 7th April I saw them and met them at a little acoustic gig at the Camden Barfly and a year later they're set to go on their first headline American tour, another Australian tour and then joining One Direction yet again on their worldwide stadium tour. Not bad at all for some boys playing guitars from Western Sydney, they definitely deserve it though so if their name isn't already engraved in your memory then do that now because they aren't going anywhere anytime soon!

Brooklyn Beckham makes everyone swoon…

This boy was always going to make a name for himself with the parents he's got and well the genes he's inherited, but he's going it alone and making his way onto the cover of magazines. For a 15 year old he worked those photos and you can tell that pre-teens across the world were very heart eyes over him (maybe even old girls too but can I even say that?). The photos were taken by Alasdair McLennan for Man About Town magazine and I can see more modelling in the near future. Definitely following in his parents footsteps but in his own way, whether it's the modelling or the football I'm sure we'll see a lot of him for many years. 

photo credit to Man About Town Magazine

Ed Sheeran announces new album! 

YES, 3 years after his first album '+' was released he's finally releasing a new album called 'x' or as he said in his tweet - 'multiply', so there's for sure a trend I can almost see into the future with the next 2 albums (psychic me). I'm so excited about this because his first album is still super good and you can still listen to it so many times and never get bored, this is so exciting I can hardly even talk about it because years of work has clearly gone into this and that just screams THAT IT IS GOING TO BE AMAZING. 

23rd of June is the release date so let's just prepare for that, like cancel everything we need to prepare.

Thanks for reading - if you read, does anyone even read this…hello? Anyway, I'm going to try and make this more frequent and I've said that loads of times before but I have a busy life of breathing and stuff so you know…I'll try my best! 

FOLLOW MY TWITTER - @oxoshannon_ come chat and stuff! 

Hello, McBusted!

This week the most exciting news that has come out of the pop world in a very, very long time was the announcement by McFly and Matt and James from Busted that they were creating a supergroup for one whole tour - MCBUSTED! Now if you read my 10 year anniversary post for McFly you'll know that I saw McBusted at the RAH anniversary shows and I said "all I want is a McBusted album" but a tour is definitely good enough for me.

All 6 of the guys click so well together and always have done so this tour is going to be beyond insane. They had to add many more dates onto the tour, even 3 nights at the O2 somewhere McFly have never headlined but this is a great time for them to do it and I cannot wait to witness the show.

Although Charlie isn't joining them on this little journey it's going to be an amazing show no doubt.

McBusted did their first live performance as a supergroup last night on BBC 1's Children In Need and it was electric, I sat in my living room with a massive grin on my face because it just looked so fun and it's made me so excited for the tour!

There might be tickets still available for some shows and you can get them from Ticketmaster 

What do you think about this supergroup? Did you manage to get tickets?! Let me know below in the comments!

'Never Underestimate A Girls Love For Her Favourite Band'

Hiiiii!

As I spent Friday evening/Saturday morning at Heathrow airport waiting for 4 of my favourite boys to arrive in the UK (5 Seconds Of Summer) it made me think about how much time and effort I put into bands. I will spend hours on end waiting around for a band and half the time I gain nothing but a wave from it, why do I do it? That's the question everyone always asks me, well I'm going to tell you why myself and many, many others do things like that!

It's not about meeting a band to say you've met them for me, it's about being around the people you look up to the most, the people who are there without intending to be when no one else is around! Just to see a band I love makes me super happy and if I can get a picture and have a chat then that's a massive bonus.

I've had many low points, especially this year and I've always fallen back onto music, music is SO powerful sometimes people forget just how powerful it can be. I'll listen to my favourite bands and be happy a little while later and that's something special.

My friends and some of my family just don't understand why I do it and I'm sure if you're like me then your friends and family are the same, but it's just something I love to do I mean I don't do it all the time - I don't have the money or knowledge for that! But when I do I just hope for the best and if the best happens then that's great, if it doesn't then it's a shame but the only thing I can do is try.

This weekend I got pictures with 3/4 of 5 Seconds Of Summer and I really just wanted to have some hugs and a chat with them but unfortunately it was too busy to happen and I could've met them earlier in the year when they were less known but again just lack of money, life is tough sometimes haha!

Anyway, if you're like me and you love a band and will go out of your way to see them then don't stop just because everyone else thinks you're a bit weird for doing things like that, if that's the way you have fun then carry on! I always have a laugh at things like that and most of the time I'll talk to other people there and everyone just gets along, it's just nice.

The Vamps At Number One.

There is a band that is about to take over the hearts of teenage girls all around the country if they haven't done so already - The Vamps.

4 boys, Brad, James, Tristan and Connor, this week released their first single 'Can We Dance' and have reached the number 1 spot in the mid-week charts. Crazy for a new band to do that but with their impressive fanbase on Twitter it really is no surprise! 

They started their time as a band on YouTube uploading covers as a threesome at first and then Connor joined the boys and here they are today, releasing singles and are about to take the music scene by storm. To me they remind me of a young McFly and I've watched McFly grow since the start, they just have that kind of vibe which is special. They seem to have a good bond together which is necessary for any success in a band. They have spent the year supporting people (McFly, Selena Gomez) and performing for shows during the summer and at festivals but by this time next year without a doubt they will have probably sold out their own tour. 

I can see big things happening for these boys and I am a big fan, any band that makes good music and can make me laugh is a good enough band for me! They really are something special...I can feel it. 

Buy their single 'Can We Dance' on iTunes now and help keep them at the top spot this Sunday! (There's also versions from each of the band members that you might wanna check out too - sick!) 

BUY 'CAN WE DANCE' HERE 

CHECK OUT MY NEW VIDEO.

If you wanna see some clips from the RAH show last night then take a look!

Happy 10th Birthday, McFly!

10 years of my life have been spent on one band consisting of 4 boys - now men. How strange? 10 years ago I put on Top of The Pops and there they were, singing 5 Colours In Her Hair live on television for the first time and I knew they were about to have some sort of impact on my life. That continued when they supported Busted on their tours and at a show in my home town, 3 times I saw them and their career hadn't even kicked off properly yet but I was there about to watch them grow into the people they are today.

When Busted split up I continued to support McFly, did they replace the love I had for Busted? Perhaps (BUT I STILL LOVE BUSTED TO THIS DAY.) As I was only young my mum took me to their shows, mainly in my home town and then I started to grow up and that's when I took the whole thing to a new level...waiting outside of venues for hours on end just to get a wave from McFly was so exciting and from doing so I made friends which I still have today!

It took 7 years for me to finally meet them, 2010 was the year for me and it was an emotional time because these 4 boys had given me a reason to go out and have fun, they were my childhood and they were growing up as I was too.

This year they are celebrating 10 years of being in McFly, to mark the occasion they took to The Royal Albert Hall for 4 evenings with a set list full of classic McFly songs, a new song and well...a Busted/McFly collaboration. MCBUSTED WERE BORN! But I'll get onto that later.

They started the set with 'Saturday Night' from their first album, perfect to get people ready for the night that was ahead. It was my 14th time seeing them and I can honestly say this was the most amazing, most electric time. Also, the night was blessed with videos from the boys' past, from the Wonderland album days, and even earlier than that which filled me with nostalgia.

McBusted, how can I possibly put into words how amazing that was?! Danny, Tom, Dougie and Harry were joined by James Bourne and Matt Willis to sing Year 3000, Air Hostess and Shine A Light and it looked so crazy on stage, so much energy from all of the guys and the only thing I want in life right now is a McBusted album!

Danny later on went on to sing 'Walk In The Sun' by himself, the only things on stage being him and his guitar and it all felt very intimate, Tom also had a go on stage by himself as he let out his love for musical theatre in a song he'd put together called 'Mcfly: The Musical' - full of lines to make us laugh and perhaps a dig at a certain bushy eyebrowed ex-Busted member.

The set was finished off with 'The Heart Never Lies', a song that gets to every McFly fans heart as the line "it's not always easy, but McFly's here forever" sticks in your mind every single time because they just mean THAT much to some people - I might have felt a bit emotional at this point.

All in all it was a great night to end 4 great nights at a crazy venue for a period of time which has made many, many people happy. Here's to many more years! Like Tom said last night, these shows should be made an annual thing! I'm very proud to have supported this band since the start, I've watched them grow into men as I've grown from a child to a young adult, that's a bit mental.

I'm going to be making a YouTube video later today or tomorrow with snippets of the night in, so keep an eye out!

GALAXY DEFENDERS, STAY FOREVER.

Brit Awards 2013 Predictions.

The Brit Awards 2013 are held tonight and I am very excited! I always look forward to watching them because it's such a good evening for British music, always really good to watch. There's a lot of talent nominated for tonight's awards so as I sat here on this boring Wednesday afternoon, I thought I would make a post about my predictions for each category. Tomorrow I'll be doing a post to talk about it and the winners!

BRITISH MALE SOLO ARTIST

Ben Howard
Calvin Harris
Olly Murs
Richard Hawley
Plan B

My Prediction: Ben Howard. 
Ben Howard has been so hyped up the past year or so, I think this would give him the recognition he truly deserves as a really good artist.

BRITISH BREAKTHROUGH ACT

alt-J
Ben Howard
Jake Bugg
Jessie Ware
Rita Ora

My Prediction: Rita Ora/Ben Howard 
This seems a bit like a tough category as all of the artists are really good! Rita Ora has been massive the last year though so I think she stands a fairly good chance. So does Ben Howard though as I said already.

BRITISH FEMALE SOLO ARTIST

Amy Winehouse
Bat for Lashes
Emeli Sandé
Jessie Ware
Paloma Faith

My Prediction: Emeli Sandé
No doubt Emeli will win this category and perhaps even the other categories she is in too. I find her quite boring (oh, shoot me) but that's just because I'm really not interested in female solo singers much. They just don't appeal to me. But I think she DOES have pure talent and that's why she would probably stand a very good chance winning this.

BRITISH GROUP 

alt-J
Mumford & Sons
Muse
One Direction
The xx


My Prediction: One Direction/Mumford & Sons 
Of course I was going to say One Direction, you all know that. I think they do deserve it in all honesty, they do produce good music that is really catchy, you will catch most people singing along to a song of theirs. But they're up against many other groups who are the complete opposite. That is why I think Mumford & Sons might take it, they're an amazing band and stand a big chance of winning. If it's not either of these then I really don't know.

INTERNATIONAL FEMALE SOLO ARTIST 

Alicia Keys
Cat Power
Lana Del Ray
Rihanna
Taylor Swift

My Prediction: Lana Del Ray 
Lana has been massive just lately and obviously has a big fan base in the 'indie' music world, so she could quite possibly take the Brit award. The rest of the category have a chance though, but who is Cat Power? Am I being stupid? Nope, no idea. But if Taylor Swift won then the whole of my Twitter timeline would be going mental from One Direction fans crying about it, so that might be funny to watch actually.

BRITISH LIVE ACT

Coldplay
Mumford & Sons
Rolling Stones
The Vaccines
Muse

My Prediction: Coldplay 
NO DOUBT ABOUT IT. Their tour last year looked incredible and how they got the crowd involved with the colourful wristbands, they have to win. If they don't I will eat my own face. But saying that, Rolling Stones could have a chance? They're ageing a big aren't they, yet they still have a fan base. I've seen The Vaccines live when they supported Arctic Monkeys and they're also very good but generally, I don't think they're overly well known by just random people. We'll see.

source

INTERNATIONAL GROUP

Alabama Shakes
The Black Keys
FUN.
The Killers
The Script

My Prediction: Tough one...but, FUN. 
Now, I don't really know about this one I've just chosen FUN because they are...fun? No, not really. I have seen them live and they were actually really good and their songs are catchy. But, I really can't call this one. The Script obviously have a good chance but I'm not too sure.

BRITISH PRODUCER OF THE YEAR

I LITERALLY HAVE NO IDEA WHO ANY OF THEM ARE SO IT'S POINTLESS EVEN TRYING TO PREDICT AHHH.

BRITISH ALBUM OF THE YEAR

alt-J
Emeli Sandé
Mumford & Sons
Paloma Faith
Plan B

My Prediction: Mumford & Sons/Emeli Sandé
For obvious reasons.

INTERNATIONAL MALE SOLO ARTIST

Bruce Springsteen
Gotye
Jack White
Frank Ocean
Michael Bublé

My Prediction: Frank Ocean 
I just have that feeling, everyone raves about his album Channel Orange, I think he really could get it.

BEST BRITISH SINGLE

There's far too many in this category and I really couldn't call it!

I can't wait to watch tonight and I think my predictions will be all wrong knowing me, we will see!