The clocks have gone back, the days are shorter, the nights are longer, and the temperature's dropping - Autumn is well and truly here, and October has been very up and down for me - as well as very, very quick.
I'm still waiting for things to happen on a certain front, and the wait is getting to me a bit, but I'm just hoping that it will all happen eventually, as I have been doing for most of this year. I also had some very sad news in the last half of this month - I'm not going to go into detail about it here.
There has been one clear highlight this October - I went to a gig for the first time in 6 years, to Northumbria University in Newcastle, to see the band Fightstar for the third time, I previously saw them twice back in 2006. To be honest, I felt like I was the only person there who didn't have any company, but that was all forgotten once the bands started playing. Supporting Fightstar were Making Monsters, a female-fronted metal band from Ireland, whose singer Emma had one hell of a scream/growl on her; and Arcane Roots, an alternative metal band from the south, who had a very distinctive sound, not least because of their singer Andrew's high vocal range - both bands were terrific. There was an awful moment during Arcane Roots' set however - as they started playing, a lass in front of me fainted, and she had to be taken to one side by the event staff. I'd never seen someone faint before, it was canny distressing - I hope the girl's recovered since.
Now onto the main event - Fightstar were absolutely stellar the first two times I saw them, and they were exactly that this time, too, it was like they'd never been away (they'd been on hiatus for the last 5 years and only recently reunited). They played a mix of songs from all their albums, including some from their new album "Behind The Devil's Back". It also came full circle for me, as Fightstar's singer Charlie's brother Will joined them on stage to play guitar on some of the songs - Will was the singer in his own band Brigade, who I saw supporting Fightstar the first time I saw them.
For me personally, the highlight was probably when they played "Deathcar", the place pretty much erupted - but each and every song was brilliant, and I could tell the band were just having a blast on that stage.
It got better too - after the gig, I bought Making Monsters' EP "Attention" (which is excellent), and briefly spoke to their singer Emma who was at the merch table. I'd actually waited outside the venue to meet up with Fightstar after the previous gigs to get pictures and autographs, and I originally wasn't going to this time, but as they say, old habits die hard, so I waited with a bunch of other eager fans outside in the cold, and about an hour and a half later, they popped out, and I was able to get a photo with Charlie and Fightstar's bassist Dan (if either of you see this, many thanks again for that, and your set was absolute killer).
It was great getting to see Fightstar again, and experiencing live music again after so long - you really can't appreciate just how much work goes into putting on a gig and undertaking a tour unless you participate or you're either in a band or part of their road crew.
I'll leave you with some Halloween themed artwork featuring a couple of "polter-pests" - whether you're celebrating Halloween or not, hope you've had a good October.
PS: Click here to see my pics from the Fightstar gig.
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