Happy Bastille Day!

Bastille, the band, that is. (apologies in advance for the incoming hipster-music post)

On Tuesday, I had the great pleasure of going to a sold-out Two Door Cinema Club and Bastille concert in Glasgow. On Monday, I had the almost-greater pleasure of getting tickets to said sold-out concert.

Bastille

Two Door Cinema Club

Both bands are UK-based, though Two Door Cinema Club has gained a wider following in the US over the past few years (and Bastille soon will). Funnily enough, though I love both bands, I had NO idea either of them were playing this week. Just last week I had been researching Bastille to see when they were playing, only to find that their show here in Edinburgh in March was already sold out. I thought that was the end — I'd have to wait at least a few years before they come to the US to see them live. But fate intervened!

On Monday, My friend Lauren posted on Facebook that her friend had two spare tickets to a Two Door Cinema Club show, if anyone was interested. Along with Bastille, this was another band I was looking to see live while in the UK. I had looked and found that they were playing in April in Edinburgh... but this was even better. I googled the show and couldn't believe it when I saw Bastille was supporting. I snapped those tickets up like a sea-turtle.

turtles like music too.

Tickets were only 15 pounds, which was quite good considering I was getting them the day before a sold-out show. The show itself was at Barrowlands in Glasgow. Another guy from my program, Richie, bought the other ticket. The four of us took the train into Glasgow around 6:30 on Tuesday evening and then walked to the concert venue. From what I saw, Glasgow has some nice historical buildings, though it is definitely a more "industrialized" area due to its location. I'm planning to come back in the daylight soon so I can actually look around!

Both bands were fantastic live. (That is my #1 criteria [criterium?] for a band, apart from liking their actual music. If you can't sing live, you're not worth my money.) The Scots were going absolutely crazy for Two Door Cinema Club, who are Northern Irish, and probably fairly popular here (maybe). Also, I'm not sure if it's just me, but it seems like Scottish people are a lot shorter than American people. Or maybe (more likely) I was just shocked I could actually see pretty well at a concert (do I have enough parentheses yet? [I even have parentheses inside parentheses. I think there's a word for these.]).

I took some video of a few of my favorite songs from each band:

Bastille - Pompeii

Bastille - Flaws

Two Door Cinema Club - Next Year

Two Door Cinema Club - Come Back Home

Next month I'm seeing Lewis Watson with Saint Raymond (two acoustic singer-songwriters) in Edinburgh, which I'm also very excited about. Also, tomorrow night I'm hopefully going on a Ghost Tour with some friends, an event that seems to be very popular in older cities!