Monday 20 May 2019

Having High Hopes & Celebrating The Death Of A Bachelor | Panic! At The Disco's Pray For The Wicked Tour At Manchester Arena

Hey everyone!

Welcome to a brand new blog post! I went to see Panic! At The Disco, a while ago, and, I thought that I would talk to you all about the great time that I had at the gig.

If you haven't heard of Panic! before, then let me tell you a little bit about them. Panic! At The Disco is a Pop-Rock/Pop-punk based band that started out in the early 2000's with the help from fellow Pop-punk band, Fall Out Boy. The band has been a vehicle for. lead singer, Brendon Urie, to experiment with different genres within different albums. Most of the public may know the band for their infamous tracks, such as, I Write Sins Not Tragedies, Nine In The Afternoon, and, Emperors New Clothes

A blue-purple circle with a triangle in the middle with circles and curves on the outiside to mimic P, !, A, T, D, on a black rectangular stage on a dark background

Myself and my very good friend, Abbey, have a good habit of buying tickets for ourselves and the other friend, and then randomly telling the other one that we will be going to the aforementioned show within the future. So, when I saw that Panic! At The Disco had released tickets for their 'Pray For The Wicked' Tour, I knew that I had to have them, and twenty minutes later, I had booked the tickets and messaged Abbey that we were going.

Now onto the day itself. 

I met Abbey on the train to Manchester. We nattered and joked about all the tunnels that we had to go through during the journey. (I had decided to name them every time we went through one. Gladys was a good tunnel to go through...)

We arrived at Manchester Victoria, and met up with my good friend Alex. The group of ragamuffins (myself, Abbey, and, Alex) decided to kill some time, so we decided to venture to the Lush Naked store that sells non packaged products. (If you haven't checked out the store, and you're near Manchester, then you should!) After picking up every other product and sniffing it, we decided to slowly make our way to the Arndale Food Court. As Alex has only had Taco Bell once, and well, me and Abbey normally end up getting Taco Bell before every show we see in Manchester, it made sense to get, well, Taco Bell.

A picture of a person in a red and black checked shirt with a black leather jacket wearing a hat which says, 'I'm not sorry about your fragile masculinity' in bold white font with a girl with purple long hair wearing a black top on a bright background

We nattered for a bit and then waited in Manchester Victoria for a bit, to wait for mine and Alex's good friend Jim, especially as Manchester Arena is located directly next to the station. We waited for Jims arrival, then catched up and chatted about all sorts for a while, before saying goodby to Jim and Alex and making our way to the queue line for the show.

We weaved our way through the several large metal barriers, and, made our way into the venue. Thank goodness, that I had booked seated tickets, because after that queue alone, I didn't have the energy to stand up for the duration of the show. Abbey eventually found the seats, and we then chatted until the two support acts came on.

Sadly, I don't remember the name of the first support act, but Mø was the second supporting act, and, they were fabulous. Mø is a Danish singer and songwriter. Their music is mainly electro pop. This genre of music definitely built the anticipation for Panic! up via the fast beats. Mø, themselves also built the audience up via engaging with them before the end of their act. One of the songs that I especially loved from Mø set, was, Red Wine (ft Empress Of), from their album, Forever Neverland. \

The performance by Panic! started. It was amazing. A collection of the bands greatest and newest hits from the album, Pray For The Wicked were performed. They dedicated a few of the songs to the lives that were lost at the Ariana Grande performance at Manchester Arena. Brendon interacted with some of the audience that were standing at the bottom of the stage, which was quite nice, as sometimes artists don't do this. Panic! even played their cover of The Greatest Show from The Greatest Showman. The vocals were completely live, with moments of, Brendon reaching notes that are higher than any of my aspirations within life. All in all, it was an amazing show and I loved every second of it.

Have you been to any music events lately? Let me know down below! 

Thanks for reading! 
Jamie x

Friday 17 May 2019

Pulling The Pig Off The Lead & Into My Sandwich | Northern Soul Manchester

Hey everyone!

How are you doing today? (Let me know down below!) I've had a slight break due to University, but halleloo, I'm back!

Welcome to a brand new blog post! I thought that today, I'd talk to you all about some amazing food that I had in Manchester a while ago!

A large squared triangle light brown shop with northern soul in bright yellow font with light brown chairs and circular tables on a bright background

Northern Soul is the first ever Grilled Cheese restaurant within the UK. Based in Manchester, Northern Soul create a mixture of gorgeous grilled cheeses, pasta dishes and everything in between.

I was in Manchester with a friend, and, I thought that I would try out Northern Soul, after hearing so many rave reviews and general good words about them.

We walked in, perused the menu and decided on a selection of products on the menu to try. I was uhming and aching about getting the Deep Fried Pickles, I should've got them and I didn't. I regret that to this day.)

The first dish that we had decided to get was 'Pig On A Lead'. This is a Mac & Cheese Grilled Sandwich with Pulled Pork and BBQ Sauce. I loved this sandwich. Not only were there a mixture of textures from the smooth BBQ sauce, to the squidgy Macaroni, to the crispiness of the sandwiches exterior, but a mix of flavours too. The smoky BBQ sauce cut through the creaminess of the Mac and Cheese that made up most of this sandwich. This was great, but then after a couple of bites, bam! The BBQ and meat come through and just make it such a gorgeous sandwich to eat.

A triangular golden brown sandwich filled with white cheese, crest shaped white pasta  and dark brown pieces of pork with a dark brown bbq sauce on a bright background

The second sandwich that I tried, was the, Chorizo and Chilli Jam. First of all, I love Chorizo. I love Chorizo on anything. I could happily munch on it, on it's own all day long! I loved the warmth and spice from both the Chorizo and the Chilli Jam against the richness of the Cheese that was within the sandwich. I also loved the small bits of Chilli and Garlic within the sandwich against the bigger chunks of Chorizo. It was amazing and I think that this one would be great to have on a cold day within England.

A golden brown triangular sandwich filled with white cheese, red chilli jam and circular pieces of brown chorizo on a bright background

I also tried some of their famous Mac and Cheese on it's own. You can't have a Mac and Cheese Grilled Sandwich and not try the Mac and Cheese on it's own! The Macaroni was perfectly al dente, soft, but not too soft. It kept the whole dish from just having one texture throughout. The sauce wasn't  too cheesy, but, you could still tell that there were a good amount of Cheese within the dish. I think that the pot on the own would be fab on its own late at night or maybe after a long night out, the day after.

Northern Soul has to be one of the best casual dining experiences that I have had in a while. Even if me and lactose don't get on all the time, then, I know that when it does I can travel to Northern Soul and have the best Grilled Cheese that there is!

Have you tried Northern Soul? Let me know your opinions down below! 

Thanks for reading! 
Jamie x