I awoke early Saturday morning and picked up Haydes from his place so we could catch our 6:10am flight to Sydney...
We got to the airport in plenty of time and as Hayden had already checked us in we headed straight for the Gate to wait around...
...We spent 20min chatting away about how exciting the concert would be and blah blah blah...sometime during the conversation we noticed other guests making their way onto a plane we thought was going to Melbourne...
...The conversation continued until we looked up to discover there was NOONE left in the waiting area...Hayden made a flippant comment along the lines of "Is NOone else going to Sydney?" I made a joke about having the plane to ourselves and we continued our convo.
About 10sec later an announcement comes over "This is the FINAL boarding call for all guests flying to Sydney" It was kind of muffled and I didn't really hear it and Haydens like " Is that us?" and i'm like " I dunno..." So we head to the gate to check ...and low and behold there is a plane BEHIND the Melbourne plane that had been loaded and ready to go for a while....OOOPS...I'd never been the last passenger on a plane...it was pretty cool...so when we finally made it to our seats we laughed for about 10min thinking how EMBARRASSING it would have been to just be sitting around in the airport while OUR plane took off...totally oblivious!
Luckily we actually made it to Sydney! Amazing...we even got a FREE bus ride into town when we got there because the Airport train wasn't running...
We spent the first couple of hours in town and Hayden made the first BIG purchase of the day...he FINALLY got himself some Onitsuka tiger shoes...(He'd been wanting to get some for 4 years!)...and at $180 he was definitly in the lead on the spending stakes!
After grabing some Bagels for Brunch we met up with Elder Gardner's (a Hobart missionary) mum to do an exchange...we handed over old shirts she handed over new ties etc. She has actually had a bit to do with Elder Mark Dowe in Sydney so it was good to catch up on how he'd been going. (Of course I could write him and find out but that would be too much hassle:)
Then it was time to do the touristy thing...Hayden hadn't been to Sydney since he was 14 and I'd only just been last September so I took him on the now 'traditional' Manly Ferry, Pizza and Icecream run.
It was a REALLY nice day... Above Manly...Below Hayden and Sydney as we came back into Circular Quay...
Sydney!
The Opera House...
The Bridge!...
We were worse than a couple of Japanese tourists!
After walking around all day, doing the touristy thing, and playing spot the Aussie... it was FINALLY time to get ready for the GIG! We headed out to Sydney's olympic park...
It was cool because there was a Rugby game on at the same time so there were HEAPS of people and food stalls and things...the atmosphere was great!
The Acer Arena is HUGE like three times the size of Rod Laver...trying to get in was a WHOLE experience by itself...we got shuffled along in lines and had to get rid of water bottles and even chewing gum, they checked our pockets and even checked Haydens belt?? I know...overkill...But that wasn't the end...before we were allowed in the door we had to have a pep talk by security...it was like being on a CONTIKI tour...we had no idea where they were taking us...
It was cool because there was a Rugby game on at the same time so there were HEAPS of people and food stalls and things...the atmosphere was great!The Acer Arena is HUGE like three times the size of Rod Laver...trying to get in was a WHOLE experience by itself...we got shuffled along in lines and had to get rid of water bottles and even chewing gum, they checked our pockets and even checked Haydens belt?? I know...overkill...But that wasn't the end...before we were allowed in the door we had to have a pep talk by security...it was like being on a CONTIKI tour...we had no idea where they were taking us...
AT LAST we made it inside and purchased our MUST have KoL T-shirts...The support act wasn't much chop so we had to entertain ourselves for an hour or so before the REAL DEAL came on stage...
Chilling out upstairs in one of the 'Bars' at the arena...
The AWESOME t-shirts we'd just purchased...
It was getting close to GIG time so we headed back downstairs to find a spot on the floor (General Admission) Hayden decided that we'd get as close to the front as we could...here is me looking a little worried...
I'd been up the front at gigs before and didn't last long as people usually jump all over you and it's not much fun...but the crowd were really good...we managed to have our own 'space' the whole time even though we were really close to the front...and apart from dancing on alcohol cups it wasn't claustrophobic at all!!
Here they are... KINGS OF LEON!!
Crawl...
Use Somebody...
Notion...
On call...
The band consists of Caleb, Jared and Nathan Followill (brothers) and their cousin Matthew Followill...Not a bad looking family I must say...
The Drummer!!
The didn't say much...infact "We are Kings of Leon" ... "Is everyone having a good time?" and "Drive safe" was about it!...It was just one rocking song after another!!
I was really stoked to see that all the cool screams he does in his songs...he actually does!! It was awesome when they came back on for the encore and did 'Charmer' a song with lots of cool WOOOAAAWWW! Sounds:)
Chilling out upstairs in one of the 'Bars' at the arena...
The AWESOME t-shirts we'd just purchased...
It was getting close to GIG time so we headed back downstairs to find a spot on the floor (General Admission) Hayden decided that we'd get as close to the front as we could...here is me looking a little worried...
I'd been up the front at gigs before and didn't last long as people usually jump all over you and it's not much fun...but the crowd were really good...we managed to have our own 'space' the whole time even though we were really close to the front...and apart from dancing on alcohol cups it wasn't claustrophobic at all!!Here they are... KINGS OF LEON!!
Crawl...
Use Somebody...
Notion...
On call...
The band consists of Caleb, Jared and Nathan Followill (brothers) and their cousin Matthew Followill...Not a bad looking family I must say...
The Drummer!!
The didn't say much...infact "We are Kings of Leon" ... "Is everyone having a good time?" and "Drive safe" was about it!...It was just one rocking song after another!!
I was really stoked to see that all the cool screams he does in his songs...he actually does!! It was awesome when they came back on for the encore and did 'Charmer' a song with lots of cool WOOOAAAWWW! Sounds:)I was also excited that because we were general admission we had to wear cool braclets...I snuck a photo on the train of them...
The back of the T...
and here is the signature 'after the concert we look nearly dead but here are out t-shirts' photo!
and yes we ARE sucking on Slurpies...ah gotta love 7/11's!
The back of the T...
and here is the signature 'after the concert we look nearly dead but here are out t-shirts' photo!
and yes we ARE sucking on Slurpies...ah gotta love 7/11's! It took me till Wednesday to stop feeling tired and I still have KoL songs going round and round in my head!
Truely well AWESOME!
Truely well AWESOME!
This is our Nan...Dad's mum...she's still kicking on at about 96 she's doing alright for herself...she is still very independant ...all be it a little deaf and lacking memory...
Oliver enjoyed the opportunity to play some footy with the family while the food cooked...his favourite part was marking the ball...
Too bad if it all went wrong tho...just a few tantrums:)
Here is the AWESOME cake that Simone decorated...
Jessica and I lined up to get our Coldplay t-shirts and buttons...
The lights...the music...AMAZING....
When they started singing 'yellow' all the lights went yellow and HUNDREDS of yellow beach balls came down from the roof!! You could punch them around the Arena but if you hit them too hard they would pop and they were filled with little yellow bits of paper that would go everywhere!!
One of my favourite songs on the new album is 'Strawberry Swing' so I took a photo during the song:)
At one point in the show the band walked up through the crowd and started singing songs REALLY close to where we were sitting...it was SWEET...
During their song 'Lovers in Japan' millions of paper butterflys came down from the roof...I took LOTS of pics...
Here's the back of our t-shirts...
The next day we awoke EARLY and headed to the temple...it's the first time in ages that Jess and I have been able to go together! It was FANTASTIC...
