Love, Poetry and Revolution - Monday 27th November 2023

I can begin counting down the days now.  In four days' time, depending on how you count the days, I will be retired. On Friday the 1st of December I will no longer be a number, I will be a free man!

It's starting to feel very real; today I had my first haircut as a senior citizen.

In the past week, I have been to have a couple of gigs and also been out for a curry with an old school friend, not to mention organising for the impending life change.

Gigs! The first gig was The Orb at Sub89. A great evening out with a good friend, which included a trip to Nando's, a rum and coconut-based cocktail.   The Orb were excellent, with some crowd-pleasers including a number I didn't recognise, based around Pink Floyd's 'One Of These Days', but much more danceable.

Most recently son #1 and I went to see Queens Of The Stone Age at the World Resorts arena in Birmingham.  What a gig!  It certainly ranks amongst my top ten if not top 5 gigs.  Here's the setlist:

Regular John
No One Knows
Smooth Sailing
My God Is the Sun
Emotion Sickness
If I Had a Tail
Time & Place
Carnavoyeur
The Way You Used to Do
The Evil Has Landed
Paper Machete
Burn the Witch
Make It Wit Chu
Little Sister

Encore:
In the Fade
Made to Parade
Go With the Flow
A Song for the Dead 
 
The sound was excellent despite being in such a large venue, a nicely varied set with a mix of new songs and 'hits' from across their albums. The lighting complemented the music and the atmosphere was electric. 

We stayed overnight in a hotel nearby and I was still on a high for a few days after it.  I keep replaying the final encore in my mind, it was exactly what I was hoping for.

Since then I've been winding down at work getting the final logistics and leaving drinks organised.

I'm away in Liverpool this week, and so far have been to the cinema to see 'Napoleon' and eaten out a couple of times. 'Napoleon' was an interesting film.  I quite enjoyed it, though it's not a film I'd want to see again.  I know the battles are key, but they did start to get a bit same-y after a while.  I've been told (by the barber today) that there's a director's cut that's over three and a half hours.  Oh, joy!

Queens Of The Stone Age /  'Emotion Sickness'  / 'In Times New Roman'


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