Slam Dunk Festival Birmingham | Panic! At the Disco & More

Feels like its been a while since I've blogged and I've been out of the routine of it now and don't know where to start. Last week I traveled all the way to Birmingham, which is only 35 minutes by plane which isn't too bad. I traveled to go to Slam Dunk festival in the NEC Birmingham centre. We spent three days down there so there will be day one and two travel posts to go along with this but since this is the main reason for travelling I feel like this post is the most important to write. PS this will be a long post I'll try to keep it short and sweet.

Slam Dunk is a pop punk festival that Panic! At the Disco were headlining this year and I'm a huge fan so getting to see them with a lot of my other favourite bands meant I really wanted to go. The other bands I wanted to see were Moose Blood, Mayday Parade, As It Is, Real Friends and New Found Glory. I also got way too excited to go to a festival although it was indoors for the most part which I didn't know how to feel about but it was still great. We didn't realize that the queues into the festival were going to be so long, almost an hour, and we missed Moose Blood's set which was upsetting as they're such a good band. It was alright though because I've seen them live before but it was a disappointing start to the day. I'd definitely recommend them if you haven't heard them before, check them out here. 

  

   

The first band we got to see were Roam, which I've also seen live before but I don't really know much of their stuff but they're pretty good. We also got to see Mayday Parade who I'm a big fan of. They played songs like Three Cheers For Five Years and When You See My Friends which is one of my fave songs to jam out to. They were so good but we didn't get to see the full set lists of a few bands as you had to walk to other stages to see other bands which was a little annoying when you really wanted to see two bands that were on at relatively the same time. It was still good fun though.

   

   

   

The next few bands we got to see were As It Is who are so great and I loved seeing them live as I used to watch Patty Walters on Youtube and got to see him and Dottie in person which made me so happy as I'm a huge fan of both of them and their channels and music. We wandered around a few stages just checking out all the bands and listened to Zebrahead, New Found Glory and Memphis Mayfire. The food in the area wasn't really worth the money, even though I bought fries anyway, so we wandered off to the nearest TGI Fridays and grabbed some food before the main event of Panic! 

My outfit is a matching top and short two piece from Boohoo, supported by the necessary daisy chain  festival flower crown of course.

   

   

Panic! At the Disco was the last band to play on main stage at the same time as the Story So Far and others on different stages, but Panic! was the obvious choice to pick. They were the best band I've ever seen live. Brendon Urie's vocals are the best I've ever heard and he put on the most energetic and vibrant show I've been to. All the songs played made the crowd go crazy, they played songs from the new album like LA Devotee and also the classics like I Write Sins Not Tragedys and the Ballad of Mona Lisa. My favourites are This is Gospel and Miss Jackson. They also covered Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody which was literally like the original, only Brendon Urie could pull off a good cover of that song. Everything was so impressive and amazing. I don't see how anyone could not like this band. Overall Slam Dunk was amazing and there was so much talent and a great atmosphere.

Has anyone ever seen any of these bands live before or been to a previous Slam Dunk? Or is anyone going to any other festivals this summer?

Marina and the Diamonds | Neon Nature Tour

Last Wednesday I got to see my ultimate favourite artist ever, Marina and the Diamonds. I've been a huge Marina fan since I went to see her first with a friend in 2012. I've been obsessed ever since. Everything about her music and lyrics is just so appealing to me and her voice is so heavenly. Since this post just involves me talking about her it's probably going to be a long enough one, I have a lot of Marina knowledge and fangirl in me.

The first song I'd ever heard by Marina and the Diamonds was on MTV's 'ones to watch' segments where Lana Del Rey was also featured. It was her song 'Hollywood' and I admit I did like it but I didn't think too much about the artist but after hearing songs like 'Teen Idle' and 'Buy the Stars', her less pop-electro songs, I became so addicted to her stuff. Then I got into her Bubblegum/Pop/Electronic stuff. 

Her show was split into three acts based on all three of her albums in the order she released them, depicting the main imagery and vibes from these albums. She opened with her first album, 'The Family Jewels' and sang her most popular songs from the album, including my favourite from the album 'Obsessions'. She played this on piano and she sounds exactly her recordings, which just proves how amazing her vocals are.

She then performed songs from her 'Electra Heart' era, the one I know the best. Most of her most famous songs are on the 'Electra Heart' album so she played songs such as 'Primadonna girl' and 'How to be a Heartbreaker'. She also played two of my favourites, what songs aren't my favourites at this stage, 'Lies' and 'Teen Idle'. I was so surprised that she played 'Teen Idle' as it wasn't on her playlist. Is it sad for me to say I cried? It's such an emotional song. Give it a listen if you hadn't already. I think she played that instead of 'Radioactive' because she tweeted prior to the show saying her set didn't fit the stage so obviously things had to be changed slightly, not that I wasn't happy.

Her last set was her most recent era, 'Froot', the time of the show where she wears a giant piece of fruit on her head, like a majority of people in the crowd actually. She played the most songs from this album as it's the most recent. Obviously she played 'Froot', her quirkiest song yet I think. My favourites from the album, 'Savages' and 'Happy' got played too. I don't think I dislike any of her songs so I'm kind of biased here. Her show wasn't flashy at all and she still put on the most amazing show ever. I knew the words to every song too which definitely makes everything so much more enjoyable to bop along to. 

I honestly can't recommend her music enough, definitely check her out if I've intrigued you in a anyway. I've put a link under every song I've mentioned in the post for you to check out whichever one seems interesting. She has a variety of different styles of songs so I'm sure there's at least one to suit everyone. You'll thank me later. 

Is anyone a fan of Marina or has seen her live before? Let me know!