Family Outings

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are that of my own and are no way formed to cause conflicts of interest in other readers. ;))

Last friday night (About a week ago now, sorry for the late update!) I took my baby cousin to see this band that was playing at Festival Hall in Melbourne. Her dad had bought her tickets for her birthday but unfortunately got sent away for work and couldn’t take her.  He asked me ages ago if I minded taking her and I said no worries, FREE TICKET!!!  I’d heard of the band, maybe listened to their songs on the radio, only because they were on but did I actually know the band? Nope! Turns out they are something like America’s answer to Britain’s One Direction.

Hot Chelle Rae.

After chowing down on Poppy’s homemade meat pie and chips, BeeJayy escorted us into the CBD. (Which was a mad house I might add! Traffic everywhere and I HATE traffic!) We found the $9 flat rate parking lot right near the hall.  Talk about a win.  I was more excited that it wasn’t full than actually going to see this band! 😉 Another sarcastic joke.  Whoops! 😛

Nanny had given me the tickets because I was the responsible adult and she didn’t want Lauren (that’s my baby cousin) to lose them.  TRUE STORY!

While double checking on the door we had to be at, we were just chilling, waiting and it wasn’t long before I was surrounded by a sea of bouncing and screaming 16/17 year olds. Seriously FML!  Look, I shouldn’t have been surprised, in this current day and age, but I swear more than half these girls were in shorter dresses than I own (for the record, I have a few extremely short ones) and heels probably about 3 to 4 inches tall.  I was thinking, “Wow honey, you are standing there with no jacket, shivering and freezing your butt off while wearing shoes that are already hurting your feet.  Put some bloody clothes on! Be sensible”  Then I thought, “Oh no, what a mum thought! I don’t want to be old!” I had even opted for flat shoes, jeans and my sports jacket I bought at Anfield, Liverpool. WOW! Flat shoes and no dress and I was out. Ahhh geeezzz!! A day before I was 23 and I felt like the oldest person in the room.

After spending about half an hour waiting for the first act to start, I pulled out my camera and started taking selfies! HAHA! They are always fun.  Check us out!

So I’ll cut out the boring souvenir buying and get to the first act. The support act for the support act. 5 Seconds of Summer. 5SOS or some “cool” abbreviation like that.  I must say, they weren’t too bad.  A home grown band from Sydney.  Ha, Lauren was a tad annoyed at the girls that were there just to see this band and not HCR. I said to her, they wasted their monies to see them, not yours.  Stress less.

Here is what the 5SOS fuss was about.  All photos can be found here.

(I apologize in advance and I have no musical background to back this up but it is my own opinon and I am entitled to it! So *blurt* ;)) Who’s up next. Ah yes, Cher Lloyd, the actual support act. Cher finished in the top 4 in the UK’s 2011 X Factor so Lauren and I were excited interested to see what all the fuss was about.  There were girls screaming and crying everywhere, saying O.M.G Cher Lloyd, she is so amazing.   WELL… We both thought she was average.  I was sitting there, listening, trying to think maybe the next song will get better but I continued to think all she was doing was trying to be another Missy Elliot or Lil’ Kim.  She is obviously a well known artist in the UK and now in Australia, but unfortunately, she just did not cut it for me. Photo found here.

Now on to the main act! Hot Chelle Rae.

I’m not going to go into a huge explanation session about how amazing they were or weren’t.  I only knew 2 of their songs, as they are played on the radio here in Australia.  They were pretty good.  Not going complain at all about them.  There was a lot of talk from other’s around us that they were better than One Direction.  I disagree. Maybe that’s because I listened to all of 1D’s record first, I dunno.  Lauren was in hysterics by this time but I had made her promise she wasn’t going to cry.  The amount of screaming that was filling the hall was insane and I am surprised my hearing hasn’t been affected!  They probably played about 10-12 songs and each time, the roar of the fans was incredible.  Those ‘Beautiful Freaks” (that’s apparently what they call themselves, kinda like Directioners’s for 1D I guess) wanted a party and HCR certainly bought one to the table.

Lauren tells me they are so beautiful.. Have a peek and let me know what you think. P.s. I want that bow tie! Images here.

Now I have posted all about the bands, I want to focus on the crowd for two seconds.  Is that alright? Sweet! 🙂

I believe it wouldn’t have even been half way through 5 Seconds of Summer (just a reminder, this was the first support act) and I had wittnessed half a dozen girls go to first aid.  Passed out or so overwelmed that they has to be carried out by security from the floor to taken to first aid.  Anyone who has been to Festival Hall in Melbourne would know it’s a very old hall and there is no real space for a first aid room, so they has a small area sectioned off beside the stage.  Unforuntely for the girls that got attended to, this doesn’t make is very private and everyone and I mean everyone can see you. The number’s increased as the night went on.  Even one girl has to be taken away on a stretcher and into an ambulance because she was having a seizure.  Talk about a night spolier.  She’s paid what, $100-$150 for her ticket and she was wheeled away before the end of the second act.  Security were throwing bottles of water into the crowd just to keep people hydrated as they did not want to leave their front row positions.  Is this band worth so much to you that it may affect your health and well being.  Obviously the answer is yes.

I think the excitement of HCR pumped copious amounts of adrenaline through a lot of the girls as I didn’t see many more go to first aid once they took the stage.

All in all, even though I didn’t know any of the bands, I had a great night.  What was more important was that Lauren has an even better night, which was the main aim.  We even finished it off with $1 lollies from Kmart.  So yum.

🙂

C. x