Take That Croke Park, 2011

Here are a few photos from last Sunday’s Take That concert in Croke Park, Dublin. It was an amazing concert that started way too slowly. The Alice in Wonderland theme was great but the show really picked up once Robbie Williams came on stage. The guy is a master show man. If Freddie Mercury were alive he’d give him a run for his money!

Pet Shop Boys played support and I would gladly pay money to go see them again!

I would venture to say the crowd was 95% women. I bet they were happy to see the guy who half-stripped above the stage. Yes, yes, photo of him below! Over 76,000 people went to see them on Sunday night and it was amazing. We had no problem leaving after the concert and thankfully stayed in a nearby hotel which was just a walk away.

The fans enjoyed the show but so did Robbie Williams if this post is to be believed! (oh dear, the cynic in me!)

Quoting the full post below, just because I know that blog will disappear when some PR guy decides to revamp that site..

HOLY SHIT!

I CAN HONESTLY SAY EVERY SHOW WE’VE DONE SO FAR
HAS BEEN REALLY SPECIAL…..

FROM THE LOVE WE RECEIVED FROM THE GENTLE FOLK
IN THE NORTH EAST…. WHERE WE LEARNT TO BE A BAND AGAIN

….TO THE GRIT AND PERSEVERANCE
OF THE MANCHESTER CROWD THAT GOT PEE’D ON MOST NIGHTS…..

I’D KINDA FOUND MY PERFORMING FEET IN MANNY’
MOST NIGHTS WATCHING YOU ALL BOUNCE UP AND DOWN
IN LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU WAS A RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

AND THEN THERE WAS THE WELSH CROWD THAT OUT SUNG THEM ALL…..
WE WON’T FIND OURSELVES IN A BETTER VENUE ON THIS TOUR…..
SO HUGE BUT SO INTIMATE AND I/WE FELT THE LOVE

BUT OH MY LORD….IRELAND !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME ON SUNDAY NIGHT…..?

I GAVE EVERYTHING I HAD ON SATURDAY AND AS EXPECTED
YOUR PERFORMANCE WAS BETTER THAN MINE…..(ONLY JUST ; )

SO MUCH SO THAT IT WAS WITH A BIT OF TREPIDATION
THAT I MADE MY WAY BACK TO CROKE PARK THE NEXT DAY
FEELING A LITTLE JADED AND DRAINED FROM THE NIGHT BEFORE….
(SUCH HIGH HIGHS THERE HAS TO BE A COME DOWN….)

BUT I WASN’T EXPECTING WHAT CAME NEXT…..

I PROPER LOST MY SHIT……

THE OVERWHELMING GOOD WILL…LOVE…SMILES
HAPPINESS,APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE
BEAMING STRAIGHT TO THE STAGE
TRANSFORMED ME FROM PREENING PEACOCK
PRIMA DONNA SHOWMAN
TO A BALL OF MUSH WITHIN SECONDS…..

IT WAS SO POWERFUL THAT I DIDN’T
KNOW IF I WAS GOING TO BE ABLE TO COLLECT
MYSELF ….
PROPER FLOORED ..THERE’S A TEAR IN MY EYE THINKING
ABOUT IT NOW….

YES, THE GIGS HAVE RANGED FROM BRILLIANT TO RELIGIOUS
EVERY NIGHT ………BUT SUNDAY NIGHT CROKE PARK
WAS LIFE DEFINING …….IT WILL STAY WITH ME FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE….

IRELAND I BOW TO YOU….

UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The best of these photos will eventually land on my photoblog as more polished images but I wanted to give everyone a flavour of the night’s festivities and atmosphere. Yes, I did sneak my Canon DSLR and a 70-300mm telephoto lens in and I’m glad I did because I was at the other end of the stadium. BUT, Take That recognised that they can’t stop people taking photos and even recreated their first album cover on-stage. They gave everyone a count down to get their cameras out. I unfortunately only got a blurry shot as they weren’t standing in a spotlight.

Continue reading “Take That Croke Park, 2011”

Dead Island lands in early September so it’ll…

Dead Island lands in early September so it’ll be a busy few months for games, what with BF3 coming out in October, and for those who want it, MW3 that month too.

This preview of the game paints a positive picture of the gameplay, casting it as a cross between L4D and Dead Rising.

I think it could be a fun coop game. If my PC can run it I’ll probably buy it on Steam. Anyone else interested?

It’s quite impressive how much support Valve give…

It’s quite impressive how much support Valve give Team Fortress 2. It’s getting a a bit long in the tooth but it continues to get free updates.

This week you can try the game for free through Steam plus there is apparently going to be a big update today, following on the heels of new weapons for the soldier, scout and demoman. Oh, there’s a secret update for the Pyro too.

Now I’m left wondering how do I pick up these weapons? Do they magically appear on the map when playing or are they leveling upgrades? (via)

I’m a sucker for cheap indie game bundles…

I’m a sucker for cheap indie game bundles and here’s a $5 one I just bought. It has the following games: Delve Deeper, Spring Up Harmony, Mactabilis, Steel Storm: Burning Retribution and Digitanks.

I already have Delve Deeper thanks to a Steam Sale but I was interested in Steel Storm so this bundle is a cheap way of getting that game and a few others too. Some of the games even have Mac and Linux support!

More coverage on DIY Gamer, Ars and Reddit.

Go grab the Indie Variety Pack if…

Go grab the “Indie Variety Pack” if you haven’t already from Steam, there’s a sale on it right now until Monday.

So far my favourite game is Swords and Soldiers HD, Capsized is beautiful, A.R.E.S is ok but fiddly with the keyboard, Atom Zombie Smasher has potential but I only played a few minutes of it and I already had Machinarium (liked it but not enough patience to keep clicking on every single object in the screen to work out some puzzles).

I love the 60’s Batman type intermission in Swords and Soldiers HD. Lots of nice touches in that game.

Galaxy Domination for Android still lives!

One of the games I first downloaded when I bought my Samsung Galaxy S was Galaxy Domination. I played the game non-stop for weeks (well, non-stop in relative terms).

When I updated my phone I lost the game because I screwed up by having a speed-up mod on it. When Froyo was installed the phone wouldn’t boot so I had to do a factory reset. For some reason Galaxy Domination was not to be found on the Android Market!

Luckily I found it this evening here where it has been released as an open source project. The .apk file is there so all you have to do is copy it on to the memory card and install it manually. Works a treat again! 🙂