Paramore Review
As mentioned in previous posts, last night on 16/12/09 I escorted my daughter Esme and three of her mates Hannah, Lucinda and Immi to see Paramore (think a Blondie for the noughties) at the Manchester Evening News Arena and I thought forumites might be interested in a review.
The experience started when collected 4 highly excited 13 – 14 year old young women from school and back to our house for the perquisite component of a balanced teen diet – namely Margherita Pizza , known for its healthy combination of vegetables (E number laden tomato sauce) and calcium (enough cheese to sink a battleship).
Suitably fortified they attired themselves in the similar uniform of the individual budding indie Rock chick, namely skinny Jeans or Jeggings (don’t ask) T shirt and either converse branded baseball boots or Vans branded boating shoes. (I couldn’t help reflecting that if they then all made their hair into unfeasible quiffs they would have looked like 1980’s Rockabilly’s , this applied to most of the MEN audience especially as many also wore check shirts ).
We then drove to the MEN, I had thoughtfully prepared a mixed CD of teen friendly music as a balance to the rocky stuff they insisted on playing , Barbie Girl by Aqua went down surprisingly well, but there were some reservations at my inclusion of Bob the Builder.
After finding our seats (and they had all fought tooth and claw not to sit next to me), the young ladies disappeared to spend my and their parents hard earned cash on over priced junk. After they returned, the lights went down and the air was filled with the teenage girl mantra of “ Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God........” And I settled down to my evenings entertainment.
The book I had chosen to bring with me was called "Order in Chaos" by Jack Whyte and was the third in a series of books about the Knights Templer, it was carefully selected at Asda that morning on the grounds that it was cheap, had a lot of pages and I quite like rubbishy historical authors such as Simon Scarrow and Bernard Cornwell as they are a relaxing mindless read. However it was a close run thing between that and "Jade - My story”. (“an uplifting but ultimately tragic story of hope and adversity” – apparently) but sanity prevailed.
I had also purchased a key ring torch for £2 from Scoobies our local tat shop (a little bit of Blackpool in West Yorkshire) as I was not sure if I was searched on the door they would let me bring my head torch in.
I had not read the first 2 books and am not sure if they all contain the same character, but what I read implied they did. The plot focussed on the annexation and imprisonment of Templer assets and members by Philip IV of France in October 1307. The handsome hero a celibate knight monk Sir William St Clair learns of the plot and escapes in the nick of time along with the Templar treasure along with an attractive widowed Baroness called Lady Jessica Valery. The book so far is similar in style to Bernard Cornwell but not as seamless, the linking of the storyline with the historical description of Templar customs and policy such as their financial system is a bit clunky. The plot is fairly obvious in that you know where its going to lead – celibate monk knight bonking haughty Baroness and living happy ever after – unless there is a sequel (and it does I checked the back page).
Just as the fugitives had escaped by boat and were planning their next move, my crappy torch ran out of power and I looked up to find that there was a young blond (formerly red haired) woman energetically jumping across the stage (this was about a mile away as the crow flies) and caterwauling with great gusto into what looked like a stripy carrot. These actions seemed to reduce the girls around me into various stages of mass hysteria from screaming to sobbing or a stunned silence (unfortunately the stunned quiet people were not sat next to me), I also suspect that several of the seats in the audience now contained yellow puddles. Eventually this stopped and we went home. We all agreed we had had a nice time.
I hope Forumites found this review informative, I’m sorry I only got as far as page 128, but you get what you pay for in terms of torches and I will be sure to post more reviews as I get further into the book.