Bon Jovi Live at last

Last month, on Thursday June 27th I had the chance to see Bon Jovi in concert!

Though I don't really like their latest album " What about now" the band from New Jersey will always hold a special place in my heart. You see, around the year 2000, I was a young 16 year old not listening to much music except to what they played on the radio and my old Spice Girls and Aqua CD's. Oh yeah, and occasionally Eminem (I went through a very brief hip-hop phase). Anyhow, unlike the first time I heard HIM, I don't remember the exact details with Bon Jovi. I do remember, however, staying up late to watch the transmission of a Bon Jovi concert on TV and printing and cutting out pictures of Jon Bon Jovi to hang on my bedroom closet door. *g*

The first  song I remember hearing from Bon Jovi, was It's My Life. It was a life changer. That summer that song became the anthem for my summer holidays in Sweden (we'd march through the woodlands singing it *g*) and after that it became something more. It was the song that made me jump, scream and send everyone that had ever harmed me to hell and back. It was the song that gave me courage. It was the song that officially got me into rock and metal music (even if some time later I realized that rock had always been present in my life with my dad's passion for Led Zeppelin and The Doors). All in all, Bon Jovi got me started down a path that would mark the person I am today.

Due to this, I always wanted to go see them live in concert. What could be more thrilling? Unfortunately, if it wasn't one thing it was another and I wasn't able to go to any of their Spanish shows until this past June. Quite by accident, around April, I was searching the Ticketmaster for an article I had been writing when I discovered that the band from New Jersey was not only coming to Madrid but their tickets were really cheap (conscious of the Spanish economic crisis they decided to not get paid for the show, thus selling cheaper tickets). Right then and there, I bought them. For the first time in over a decade I'd be seeing Bon Jovi live. I was ecstatic!

Time seemed to crawl -especially since around those dates I was suffering through my driver's license- but finally the date arrived.

Our seats were numbered (pit tickets were sold out when we bought ours) so we didn't have to worry about getting there early, but we did so anyway, and good thing too, since we came through the wrong door and had to be escorted to another part of the Vicente Calderón Stadium in Madrid. (Fortunately, the waiting and escorting was made much more entertaining with some really nice and cute security personnel).

Our seats were way, way, way at the top. Bon Jovi would be little more than ants, but it didn't matter, what was important was the vibe of the show; the possibility of listening to that music live.

The stadium quickly filled up as the finishing touches to the stage were prepared.  Dusk started to fall, lights went on and Bon Jovi entered the arena. The crowd went wild and so did I.

The Spanish audience thanks the band

Old classics like You Gave Love a bad name, Runaway, Bed of Roses, Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars, or Bad Medicine, got the crowd singing and dancing with the band. New songs, though not as well learned, were also cheered. I alternated between sitting in my seat and moving to the rhythm of those rock anthems. However, I have to admit that the best moment of the concert for me was when they played It's My Life. I sang the lyrics at the top of my voice and fisted my hand in the air with the rest of the crowd as my thoughts whirred around the terrible few weeks I'd been having lately. If time could have been stopped I would have done it at that moment, during that song, when my anthem was playing and assuring me that it was my life and because I wasn't going to live forever, my torment was not going to last forever.

Unfortunately, 2 things marred my first Bon Jovi concert. One, the sound in the Vicente Calderón stadium was truly awful. Perhaps because we were so high up, or because it was windy, or because the sound technicians weren't doing their jobs right or there was just bad acoustics, but from where I was the music and lyrics would fade and disappear into nothing or sound distorted. More than one song was ruined in this way.
The second thing was that I had to leave early. Since I didn't have my driver's license and I live in the middle of nowhere, I had to take a bus back home and the last one left at 1am. To reach that bus I had to leave the concert at around 12:15, missing out on almost another half hour of concert.

Still, I'm happy and thrilled that I finally had the chance to eliminate "seeing a Bon Jovi Concert live" from my bucket list, and do hope to see them again, this time with better acoustics, from the pit and until the end.




It's so shaky because I kept jumping up and down *g* 

New Year Blog Hop!

Good morning my friends!

It's currently almost 3 am and here I am sitting in front of my laptop while listening to Greensleeves and wondering what New Year memory to share with you.

But first, let me remind you what you can win in this cool Blog Hop! Everyone that participates gets into the draw for:
A 1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire
A 2nd Prize (to a second winner): an $80 Amazon GC

And, to everyone that leaves a comment here on my blog I'll be picking out a name to give them a copy of my Christmas novella "The Uncertain List".

Tristan's job is to investigate those people on Santa's Uncertain List and determine whether they're truly Naughty or Nice. His last mission of the year is Amy, a sweet girl with a kinky streak that will make his job harder than expected.

• Available at:
  
  
  • Silver Publishing
  • Amazon.com
  • Amazon.co.uk
  • All Romance Ebooks
  • Barnes & Noble

So anyways, New Year memory...The honest truth? My New Years have all been pretty dull... Basically, what we do at my house is have dinner, set out the bottle of champagne or cider, prepare 12 grapes (one for each gong) and sit in front of the TV to wait. When the clock strikes 12 we eat the grapes and then we cheer and drink. After that, it's bed time or internet time. I've been out on New Year's twice and by 4am I was falling asleep on my feet and annoyed by the amount of drunk people that hunkered in every corner. I'm not a crowds person.

Anyhow, back to grapes. Tradition says that if you manage to eat all 12 grapes it means good luck... if you don't, well, no harm done. This year I didn't manage to eat even half of them. I began stuffing my mouth with grapes as soon as the clock started to strike midnight and my dearest mother found my face comical and had a laughing fit which she passed on to me. I ended up dribbling grape juice down my chin and spitting some of it out. What a way to start the year... LOL

Okay, so not the greatest memory, huh? hehehe. Oh, I know! I'm going to tell you about what I did the day previous to New Year. It's not an old time memory yet because it happened on Friday the 30th, but I will remember it in the future because it was something different.

You see, I went to the New Years try outs! Yep, just like it sounds, try outs. On the 30th of December, at Plaza Sol, in Madrid, where the clock stands, people reunite with their drinks, their party hats and their sweets or grapes (although it is rumored that having them before the 31st brings bad luck).

The blurry picture I took of Sol. That round sphere at the top, way, way at the back is the clock.

When the clock strikes twelve, they lower the ball and the clock gongs. Everyone eats their stuff and drinks and celebrates.

In the company of a close friend, another friend and other acquaintances we had cider and gummy bears to celebrate the start of the pretend New Year. Suffice to say, I couldn't stuff more than 2 gummy bears in my mouth. We didn't hear the gongs because there were loads of people and we were really far away from the clock, but it was a lot of fun!

Okay, so I've babbled enough. Leave a comment and visit the other blogs for a chance to win prizes!

Snow in Madrid Center

It's been more than 10 years since Madrid center suffered from a snow storm. Yesterday it all arrived unexpectedly.
I live in the outskirts of Madrid and it was not snowing. My surprise was huge when I stepped out of the subway (it was 8:45am)and saw that everything was snowed (and increasing) in the capital.


Photo taken from www.20minutos.es This is a picture of Madrid Center Sol.

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me.

Happy Three King's Day

Today fifth of January, many homes celebrate the arrival of the Three King's, The Three Wise Men, or the Three King's from the East. These three men,Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar (Gaspar, Melchor and Baltasar in Spanish) are said to have visited Jesus after his birth bearing gifts.

Years ago in Spain, Santa Claus did not exist and the Three King's were the one's in charge of bringing gifts to the children.
Across the years the presence of Santa Claus has come to play an important part in Spanish homes, but the Three King's are still the main characters during this festive season.
Spanish children send their letters to their favorite King: Melchor, Gaspar or Baltasar and await eagerly for their arrival tonight.
So strong is the tradition that many towns (even small villages) prepare a royal mailbox for the children to deposit their letters in and if not the Royal mailman goes to each village picking up the letters.
Even if there is no mailbox there usually is a "Cabalgata" or parade, in which the Three King's riding on their camels appear before the children throwing candy.
The most recognized Cabalgata is the one celebrated in Spain's capital, Madrid.

Melchor in last year's Three King's Parade.

Lacrimas Profundere Live

Last night was amazing, I got to see and meet the wonderful gothic-rock band Lacrimas Profundere.
Cheers!

Drummer Korl
Base Peter, and guitar Tony
Lead singer Rob, and behind him, Oliver, second guitar