21st Birthday Weekend

Yesterday, 20th February, was my 21st birthday! So I am now officially old. I can now buy alcohol in America. I can now...well, I could already do everything else, but still. 21. Twenty-one. Two One. Woah.

To celebrate this monumentous coming-of-age event, I pretty much had the best weekend ever. On Friday afternoon I met up with my BFFAE Gregory, which was amazing because I haven't seen him in over a year (he's been studying abroad). He told me the insane news that he's actually been offered a job working in America so he's moving to near San Francisco - how wicked is that? Then I went to Hayley and Steph's house, where they gave me presents and cupcakes and birthday cake and sourz slushies (which I didn't realise that I needed in my life until I had one) and sparkly wine with gold bits in it and all sorts of lovely party birthday things. After my mate Ben arrived all the way from Newcastle, we headed into York to Fibbers to meet some of my other friends and to see Frankie and the Heartstrings (how magical that they were playing in my city so close to my birthday). The gig was absolutely perfect, a proper good start to the weekend. After the show we went to Reflex, which is this creepily awesome eighties bar, and danced. Cracking night. (Big up to Michael from F&TH for sorting me and Hayley with tickets, what a diamond).Doing the Creep.

On Saturday my parents organised a party for me with all of my family, so we had about 25 people from both sides of my family at my house. It was fantastic! I hadn't seen a few of them for quite a while, so that was really lovely.
Yesterday it was my actual birthday, so I had a lie-in because I was completely knackered, then got up and opened presents from my family. I'll have to put some photos up later when I've taken them because I got some beautiful things. We had lunch and then went for a walk at Towton, came home and watched The Other Guys, which my brother bought me for my birthday. Best film ever! Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell - who would have thought that they would make such a dream team?
But now the partying is over and I'm 21. Does that mean that I have to grow up now?

Nah.

Hunger

My much spoken of favourites Frankie and the Heartstrings release their debut album Hunger today. I preordered it from HMV and it arrived on Saturday, so I have been listening to it all weekend (amidst all the partying and becoming 21 that I have been doing...more on that tonight). You have to get it. Just, please. Buy it. It is incredible in ways that music does not really tend to be any more. Plus, if you order it from HMV it's only a fiver, and it's free delivery. You can't go wrong.

The Heartstrings are on tour at the moment, and I saw them (again) last Friday as part of my birthday vibes. They completely blew me away. I mean, they always do, but there was something different this time. Me and Hayley were talking about this; the difference in them from when we discovered them supporting Florence and the Machine 14 months ago is astounding. I don't know whether Edwyn Collins has been sprinkling fairy dust on them, or something (he produced the album), but somehow the songs have reached a whole new level of excellent. The new version of 'Fragile', which was already one of my favourite songs of all time ever, is achingly beautiful, and 'Don't Look Surprised' is quite possibly the most perfectly composed song I have heard. It is nice to have a version of 'Possibilities' that I didn't rip off the NME website a year ago on a very questionable internet recording site, and as I always do when I mention F&TH, I highly recommend that you check out the video for 'Tender'. There is some great dancing on there.

I realise that my persistent Heartstrings promotion is getting a bit tiresome, but I really love them and I cannot imagine any band that deserves success and your support more. Hunger is a properly stunning album and I really, really cannot recommend it - and them - enough.

Frankie & The Heartstrings at Brudenell Social Club, Leeds

Right, I promise that this is the last time that I will post about Frankie and the Heartstrings (at least until their next tour) and tonight I will go back to posting hilarious anecdotes from my life mixed in with lists of things that I hate and pathetic weekly updates of how dull my existance is. I can't imagine who reads this stuff.

ANYWAY. Frankie and the Heartstrings were in Leeds last night, playing beautiful music and making people dance at Brudenell Social Club (on an only slightly related note, I once met Luke Pritchard there...nice). I've got a cold and I've had a headache since last Tuesday, so I was feeling pretty rough, but me and Hayley are very ambitious and we decided to walk to Brudenell from Leeds town centre when we had absolutely no idea where the venue was. Obviously we got lost and had to get a taxi which took us all the way back to about five minutes from where we'd walked to anyway, so the evening wasn't entirely without drama. But it was another smashing gig, even better than York, and I love this band more than I love Heinz beans on white toast, so getting to see them twice in one week was SUPER.

P.S. Brudenell Social Club is the best venue ever; it's like being in a living room that's been converted into a cinema that someone has decided to stick a stage in.

Frankie & The Heartstrings at Fibbers, York

Last night, Frankie & the Heartstrings came along to our fair city of York and played at the newly swished up Fibbers. What an odd place Fibbers is now; I felt like I'd stepped into the neon underworld. It is much better for gigs though, because you can actually see the band on stage now, which helps a lot, I find.

The gig itself was smashing - the best that I have seen them play yet. It is really heartwarming to see a band that you enjoy and love go from being the opening support act to the headliners with people dancing and singing along. I'm so happy for them! And I can't imagine a nicer bunch of lads for it to happen to.

If Carlsberg made pals...

Who are you, stranger?! The lad who took the following two photos, also took this one. I have no idea who this is.

I am saying something ridiculous here, thus the odd look on my face.

This one is better.

LOVELY NIGHT.