10 May - Birmingham, UK (The National Indoor Arena)

Amily wrote:

Albi

[flash=350,287:j0c500rj]https://www.youtube.com/v/XK-pQ_0QuMs&hl=en&fs=1[/flash:j0c500rj]

Just referencing one of my favourite parts from the Birmingham show.

* Albi on the little piano - it sounded great. Plus Bret losing the microphone off it and trying to do a fix on stage.

* The Northern accent. Not sure it is quite a Birmingham one ( ) - sounds more up my neck of the woods and beyond. I loved the occasional slip into a Yorkshire accent. Do we really sound like that? As we moved ever north, I was amazed at the great job they did at each show with the changing accents.

* Bret using the cymbal on his drum kit for the jellybean noise. He looked around and decided to use that. Which instrument he used also changed from night to night.

* The Albi Remix - that made me laugh so much.

sargifster wrote:

Amily wrote:

Albi

[flash=350,287:3afirarg]https://www.youtube.com/v/XK-pQ_0QuMs&hl=en&fs=1[/flash:3afirarg]

Just referencing one of my favourite parts from the Birmingham show.

* Albi on the little piano - it sounded great. Plus Bret losing the microphone off it and trying to do a fix on stage.

* The Northern accent. Not sure it is quite a Birmingham one ( ) - sounds more up my neck of the woods and beyond. I loved the occasional slip into a Yorkshire accent. Do we really sound like that? As we moved ever north, I was amazed at the great job they did at each show with the changing accents.

* Bret using the cymbal on his drum kit for the jellybean noise. He looked around and decided to use that. Which instrument he used also changed from night to night.

* The Albi Remix - that made me laugh so much.

They're so talented!!! I wonder if he'd ever do Albi in an American accent.

sargifster wrote:* Bret using the cymbal on his drum kit for the jellybean noise. He looked around and decided to use that. Which instrument he used also changed from night to night.

sargifster wrote:

Amily wrote:

Albi

[flash=350,287:18bqnkq8]https://www.youtube.com/v/XK-pQ_0QuMs&hl=en&fs=1[/flash:18bqnkq8]

Just referencing one of my favourite parts from the Birmingham show.

* Albi on the little piano - it sounded great. Plus Bret losing the microphone off it and trying to do a fix on stage.

* The Northern accent. Not sure it is quite a Birmingham one ( ) - sounds more up my neck of the woods and beyond. I loved the occasional slip into a Yorkshire accent. Do we really sound like that? As we moved ever north, I was amazed at the great job they did at each show with the changing accents.

* Bret using the cymbal on his drum kit for the jellybean noise. He looked around and decided to use that. Which instrument he used also changed from night to night.

* The Albi Remix - that made me laugh so much.

Yes, this is definitely one of the highlights of the shows I've been to so far. Jemaine's changing Northern accent was hilarious.

Thanks Courtney for taking these pics!

Venus wrote:


Thanks Courtney for taking these pics!

These are gorgeous!
[align=center:ticmrw1k]
[/align:ticmrw1k]

Venus wrote:


Thanks Courtney for taking these pics!

They look so happy. Awww ... and your Bret hug is perfect. Look at your adorable smiles!

Venus wrote:


Thanks Courtney for taking these pics!

So cute!!! I'm so happy you posted these! " title="" border="0"/>


[size=75:kk0g4btk]
I'll post mine in a bit.

Venus wrote:


Thanks Courtney for taking these pics!

So adorable!

Those photos are so cute, Vesna!

May I also add that I love that they are both wearing hats!

Aww, thanks so much for the kind words, ladies!

Yes, I was loving both of their outfits including their hats! " title="" border="0"/>

onlyalways wrote:So cute!!! I'm so happy you posted these! " title="" border="0"/>


[size=75:4uuaaq1q]
I'll post mine in a bit.

Yes, you definitely need to post the other pics you took! They're absolutely brilliant!

About time I try to write up a more proper recap of Birmingham. Its almost been two weeks!

Vesna did an amazing recap that I'm just going to add bits a pieces I remember. " title="" border="0"/>

Venus wrote:
Towards the beginning of the gig, Jemaine pointed out that Bret had some pink stuff in his hair and wanted it to be taken out. So Jemaine called Matt on stage and to take it out of his hair and said that was what Matt was there for. " title="" border="0"/>

This was adorable. By the time Matt came out, Bret had gotten it out of his hair and it fell to the floor. Right when Matt was about to leave the stage, Jemaine says sometime along the lines of: "
Matt. I see it. It's on the floor, get it!"

Bret also asked Jemaine to do a Manchester accent but Jemaine pointed out there were in Birmingham so there was a low, disapproving groan from the audience and Bret tried to get out of the sticky situation by saying that there were insulting Manchester by mimicking their accent.

After the groans, much like what Vesna said, they saved themselves by saying "
Hey! You don't know what we were going to do! We were going to make them sound like dicks! Now you're the dick!"

Jemaine heard someone make a sheep noise so they played off that throughout the evening. He said that it wouldn’t be unusual for there to be a few sheep in the audience in NZ. He also said, “If someone is making sheep noises, how insulting! If there is an actual sheep here, welcome.”

After that, Bret said "
But if you're not a sheep, go f-ck off."
Which got a big laugh, but then he kinda made a face and quick added "
Just joking, just joking."
like he went too far. But then Jemaine added, "
No, really. F-ck off."

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Foux du Fafa was great and I loved the addition from Bret of “Le coq sportif” and l’interlude du musicale from Folk The World where Bret was saying random “Formidable!” “Amazing…le!” “Wow!”.

I was SO impressed by Foux da Fafa live!! It was just HYSTERICAL. There overly animated facial expressions during it just had to make you smile. Toward the beginning Jemaine would say "
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?......... Menage et trois?........ You, me... baguette!!"
XD

Before Bowie there was banter about time tripping on acid and when they ended up at David Bowie’s party in the mid 70’s where Bret and Bowie laid down some “rancid chops"
. They also talked about Bret jamming out with Bowie (...) Bret talked about playing Bowie an easy to play Bowie book to make the next 20 years a lot easier for him. Jemaine also talked about the formation of FOTC when it was only him in the band but Bret just joined in and he just kept playing behind Bret and to demonstrate, [size=100:en4olf23]Jemaine got out of his seat and stood behind Bret but Bret said he did the same with Bowie but it wasn’t successful.

He has his base uke when he did this, tt was a literal L'amour moment!!






Thoughts on Demon Woman:

Spoiler:

Meeting them!

Again, Vesna did an amazing job with the recap. Just adding some more bits.

After Bret's surprise!hug, he was still bouncy as he asked "
so... want me to sign anything?!"
We gave him the shirt and he asked if he could open if, which of course we said "
Yes! Please!"
He took out the shirt and just kinda squinted at it as a slow smile appeared on his face. He asked "
Did you get this at TopMan??"
We thought it was called TopShop so we replied "
Top... shop??"
XD And he said something about it being the same. " title="" border="0"/> He said that he saw the shirt a few days prior but it was in gray, and that he remember thinking that he liked the shirt. " title="" border="0"/>



We gave him the cookbook and his eyes filled with wonder. He began to page through than noticed more fans were making their way over and said that he would have to look at it later which was totes understandable.

This is where my memory gets foggy. " title="" border="0"/> There was a bit of jumping around to get the posters signed by them. I know at one point, I think as I got the silver sharpie from Sara after we met with Bret, my back hit against someone and I turned to apologize and it was Jemaine! " title="" border="0"/> " title="" border="0"/> He didn't look over so I didn't say anything about bumping into him. " title="" border="0"/>

I got Sara and mine posters signed, and it looks pretty much exactly like Vesnas. I was so happy to see Bret drawing the guitar with wings in person. They were both impressed by how prepared we were with the silver sharpies.

We gave Jemaine the retardosaurus tank but he didn't have time to look at it then with more fans being there. We also gave him the cookbook and he had to have at least smiled and thanked us, but it was a bit more of a rush at that point so he didn't have time to really comment on it.

Here is a picture I got with Bret. It started as us just beside each other than just elevated to this full-forced hug.



(Loser. : " title="" border="0"/>)

Eugene! His set was amazing and I was already a fan of his work. I brought his CD from home, but I had left it in the car before the show.



I asked for a picture, and Sara popped in there right before the picture took, and Eugene said "
I hope you two are friends..."
because she wasn't with me when I asked. I wanted to get into a bit more of a conversation with Eugene, so I said that I had his CD for him to sign but I accidentally left it in the car. He replied super serious: "
Well I'm not going to your car to sign it."


"
Oh no! I wasn't implying that!"


"
I know... I was joking..."


"
OH! (awkward)Ha ha ha ha..."


It was great!


Here is a random picture, because Eugene asked if he could get a picture with Bret! I got so excited to get a picture of Bret and Eugene but he was just joking... again. So here is a picture of essentially nothing. " title="" border="0"/>




When it finally hit me that I hadn't seen Nigel, I noticed that he was in the van. I was later told that he was out for a while, but went back in I guess because no one/not many went up to him! :-[ I'm sorry Nigel! I just had tunnel vision! I would have loved to meet him too, although I don't know what I would have said.

They began to get back into the van, Jemaine was the last to get in and he said "
Thanks for the stuff!"
( ) He then noticed that he still had one of Sara's silver sharpies. I said it was ours and must of made a stupid jester for him to throw it! From far away! IN THE DARK. XDDD He threw it and I remember thinking "
OMG COURTNEY YOU HAVE TO CATCH THIS, YOUR MICRO-SIZED AMOUNT OF COOLNESS DEPENDS ON IT!!!"
But I used a substantial amount of good karma and managed to catch it one handed. I must have made an expression along the lines of "
Hey! I got it!!"
cause Jemaine kinda smiled at my small victory.


And then they went on their way. The whole night with their performance and surprise!meeting them was for lack of a better word: epic.


[align=center:en4olf23] [/align:en4olf23]

onlyalways wrote:
my back hit against someone and I turned to apologize and it was Jemaine! " title="" border="0"/> " title="" border="0"/> He didn't look over so I didn't say anything about bumping into him. " title="" border="0"/>

d'awwwwwwww (and )

(Loser. : " title="" border="0"/>)

you look LOVELY!!!


eeeeee!!! Eugene!!!! and your misunderstanding with his "
joke"
-

I said it was ours and must of made a stupid jester for him to throw it! From far away! IN THE DARK. XDDD He threw it and I remember thinking "
OMG COURTNEY YOU HAVE TO CATCH THIS, YOUR MICRO-SIZED AMOUNT OF COOLNESS DEPENDS ON IT!!!"
But I used a substantial amount of good karma and managed to catch it one handed. I must have made an expression along the lines of "
Hey! I got it!!"
cause Jemaine kinda smiled at my small victory.

THIS.


is the cutest thing i have EVER read in my 30+ years of reading things (yeah, that's right - i read as a newborn b'itches! i'm *that* hard core about reading ;
) )

onlyalways wrote:Meeting them!

Again, Vesna did an amazing job with the recap. Just adding some more bits.

After Bret's surprise!hug, he was still bouncy as he asked "
so... want me to sign anything?!"
We gave him the shirt and he asked if he could open if, which of course we said "
Yes! Please!"
He took out the shirt and just kinda squinted at it as a slow smile appeared on his face. He asked "
Did you get this at TopMan??"
We thought it was called TopShop so we replied "
Top... shop??"
XD And he said something about it being the same. " title="" border="0"/> He said that he saw the shirt a few days prior but it was in gray, and that he remember thinking that he liked the shirt. " title="" border="0"/>



We gave him the cookbook and his eyes filled with wonder. He began to page through than noticed more fans were making their way over and said that he would have to look at it later which was totes understandable.

This is where my memory gets foggy. " title="" border="0"/> There was a bit of jumping around to get the posters signed by them. I know at one point, I think as I got the silver sharpie from Sara after we met with Bret, my back hit against someone and I turned to apologize and it was Jemaine! " title="" border="0"/> " title="" border="0"/> He didn't look over so I didn't say anything about bumping into him. " title="" border="0"/>

I got Sara and mine posters signed, and it looks pretty much exactly like Vesnas. I was so happy to see Bret drawing the guitar with wings in person. They were both impressed by how prepared we were with the silver sharpies.

We gave Jemaine the retardosaurus tank but he didn't have time to look at it then with more fans being there. We also gave him the cookbook and he had to have at least smiled and thanked us, but it was a bit more of a rush at that point so he didn't have time to really comment on it.

Here is a picture I got with Bret. It started as us just beside each other than just elevated to this full-forced hug.



(Loser. : " title="" border="0"/>)

Eugene! His set was amazing and I was already a fan of his work. I brought his CD from home, but I had left it in the car before the show.



I asked for a picture, and Sara popped in there right before the picture took, and Eugene said "
I hope you two are friends..."
because she wasn't with me when I asked. I wanted to get into a bit more of a conversation with Eugene, so I said that I had his CD for him to sign but I accidentally left it in the car. He replied super serious: "
Well I'm not going to your car to sign it."


"
Oh no! I wasn't implying that!"


"
I know... I was joking..."


"
OH! (awkward)Ha ha ha ha..."


It was great!


Here is a random picture, because Eugene asked if he could get a picture with Bret! I got so excited to get a picture of Bret and Eugene but he was just joking... again. So here is a picture of essentially nothing. " title="" border="0"/>




When it finally hit me that I hadn't seen Nigel, I noticed that he was in the van. I was later told that he was out for a while, but went back in I guess because no one/not many went up to him! :-[ I'm sorry Nigel! I just had tunnel vision! I would have loved to meet him too, although I don't know what I would have said.

They began to get back into the van, Jemaine was the last to get in and he said "
Thanks for the stuff!"
( ) He then noticed that he still had one of Sara's silver sharpies. I said it was ours and must of made a stupid jester for him to throw it! From far away! IN THE DARK. XDDD He threw it and I remember thinking "
OMG COURTNEY YOU HAVE TO CATCH THIS, YOUR MICRO-SIZED AMOUNT OF COOLNESS DEPENDS ON IT!!!"
But I used a substantial amount of good karma and managed to catch it one handed. I must have made an expression along the lines of "
Hey! I got it!!"
cause Jemaine kinda smiled at my small victory.


And then they went on their way. The whole night with their performance and surprise!meeting them was for lack of a better word: epic.


[align=center:j5coo871] [/align:j5coo871]

I have died from TEH CUTENESS of all of this.

[align=center:j5coo871]

[/align:j5coo871]

onlyalways wrote:
I was SO impressed by Foux da Fafa live!! It was just HYSTERICAL. There overly animated facial expressions during it just had to make you smile. Toward the beginning Jemaine would say "
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?......... Menage et trois?........ You, me... baguette!!"
XD

Foux du Fafa live was so great! I've definitely asked someone "
Menage a trois? Moi, toi, et baguette!"
since the show
Those five years of french lessons finally paid off

onlyalways wrote:

Here is a picture I got with Bret. It started as us just beside each other than just elevated to this full-forced hug.



(Loser. : " title="" border="0"/>)

OMG AWWWW.
Loser? More like....winner...of everything.

onlyalways wrote:
Here is a random picture, because Eugene asked if he could get a picture with Bret! I got so excited to get a picture of Bret and Eugene but he was just joking... again. So here is a picture of essentially nothing. " title="" border="0"/>

I love Eugene! That's a beautiful picture of nothing.


This was an awesome recap.

Courtney!! Thank so much for posting your account of the experience! I knew there'll be stuff that you'd remember which I hadn't mentioned! Ah memories!

onlyalways wrote:After the groans, much like what Vesna said, they saved themselves by saying "
Hey! You don't know what we were going to do! We were going to make them sound like dicks! Now you're the dick!"

Yes!

After that, Bret said "
But if you're not a sheep, go f-ck off."
Which got a big laugh, but then he kinda made a face and quick added "
Just joking, just joking."
like he went too far. But then Jemaine added, "
No, really. F-ck off."

I loved the sheep banter! I remember them also mentioning that the people making sheep noises wouldn't know what they're saying in sheep language.

I was SO impressed by Foux da Fafa live!! It was just HYSTERICAL. There overly animated facial expressions during it just had to make you smile. Toward the beginning Jemaine would say "
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?......... Menage et trois?........ You, me... baguette!!"
XD

Yes, their facial expressions were the best! I thought it was cute when Jemaine said "
Discotheque?"
and they smiled at eachother and Bret said in his French female voice "
D'accord"
.

Here is a picture I got with Bret. It started as us just beside each other than just elevated to this full-forced hug.

This is such a cute picture!!

Eugene! His set was amazing and I was already a fan of his work. I brought his CD from home, but I had left it in the car before the show.



I asked for a picture, and Sara popped in there right before the picture took, and Eugene said "
I hope you two are friends..."
because she wasn't with me when I asked. I wanted to get into a bit more of a conversation with Eugene, so I said that I had his CD for him to sign but I accidentally left it in the car. He replied super serious: "
Well I'm not going to your car to sign it."


"
Oh no! I wasn't implying that!"


"
I know... I was joking..."


"
OH! (awkward)Ha ha ha ha..."


It was great!


Here is a random picture, because Eugene asked if he could get a picture with Bret! I got so excited to get a picture of Bret and Eugene but he was just joking... again. So here is a picture of essentially nothing. " title="" border="0"/>

Thanks so much for the account of your encounter with Eugene because I wasn't near your guys at that time. I wish I could have spoken to him a bit more.

When it finally hit me that I hadn't seen Nigel, I noticed that he was in the van. I was later told that he was out for a while, but went back in I guess because no one/not many went up to him! :-[ I'm sorry Nigel! I just had tunnel vision! I would have loved to meet him too, although I don't know what I would have said.

Yeah I saw Nigel sitting in the van the whole time and I think I mentioned to Sarah that I wanted to meet him but he didn't seem to want to speak with fans and may have been tired. And I didn't want to walk over to the van which had other people in it if he wasn't up for it. " title="" border="0"/> So you didn't get to meet him at the other shows? That's a shame. He's so sweet and really easy to talk to.

They began to get back into the van, Jemaine was the last to get in and he said "
Thanks for the stuff!"
( ) He then noticed that he still had one of Sara's silver sharpies. I said it was ours and must of made a stupid jester for him to throw it! From far away! IN THE DARK. XDDD He threw it and I remember thinking "
OMG COURTNEY YOU HAVE TO CATCH THIS, YOUR MICRO-SIZED AMOUNT OF COOLNESS DEPENDS ON IT!!!"
But I used a substantial amount of good karma and managed to catch it one handed. I must have made an expression along the lines of "
Hey! I got it!!"
cause Jemaine kinda smiled at my small victory.

That was truly amazing! I even held my breath for you and was hoping so badly that you'd catch the sharpie! I'm so glad you did!

And then they went on their way. The whole night with their performance and surprise!meeting them was for lack of a better word: epic.


[align=center:juuttiq4] [/align:juuttiq4]

It was truly epic!

Thanks for your account and pics, Courtney!

Venus wrote:
Yeah I saw Nigel sitting in the van the whole time and I think I mentioned to Sarah that I wanted to meet him but he didn't seem to want to speak with fans and may have been tired. And I didn't want to walk over to the van which had other people in it if he wasn't up for it. " title="" border="0"/> So you didn't get to meet him at the other shows? That's a shame. He's so sweet and really easy to talk to.

Oh, so maybe I misheard and he never came out...

He was out after the Glasgow shows, but its like I wouldn't know what to say. I know he's part of WIUO, but I don't know THAT much about it. (Except how gorgeous he sounds in Africa.) But I was more than happy to see Laura talk to him then.


Thank you Vesna for YOUR recap!! I wouldn't have remember the little extra things if it weren't for your recap.

onlyalways wrote:

Venus wrote:
Yeah I saw Nigel sitting in the van the whole time and I think I mentioned to Sarah that I wanted to meet him but he didn't seem to want to speak with fans and may have been tired. And I didn't want to walk over to the van which had other people in it if he wasn't up for it. " title="" border="0"/> So you didn't get to meet him at the other shows? That's a shame. He's so sweet and really easy to talk to.

Oh, so maybe I misheard and he never came out...

He was out after the Glasgow shows, but its like I wouldn't know what to say. I know he's part of WIUO, but I don't know THAT much about it. (Except how gorgeous he sounds in Africa.) But I was more than happy to see Laura talk to him then.


Thank you Vesna for YOUR recap!! I wouldn't have remember the little extra things if it weren't for your recap.

Oops I missed the part when you said he came out. Oh, I didn't notice that he did then! Aww, that's a shame that he went back in the van. It was pretty hectic with people trying to get their posters signed at first but I'm sure once that died down, people would have spoken to him. Never mind! I'm sure he knows that he still has many fans out here who love him.

Okay, I understand why you wouldn't know what to say to him.

No problem! I really enjoyed reading your recap too!

Thanks for the recaps and pictures Vesna and Courtney!

onlyalways wrote:

I think this is one of the most adorable 'Bret with fan' pics that I have ever seen! So cute!

onlyalways wrote:After that, Bret said "
But if you're not a sheep, go f-ck off."
Which got a big laugh, but then he kinda made a face and quick added "
Just joking, just joking."
like he went too far.

Toward the beginning Jemaine would say "
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?......... Menage et trois?........ You, me... baguette!!"
XD

Jemaine also talked about the formation of FOTC when it was only him in the band but Bret just joined in and he just kept playing behind Bret and to demonstrate, [size=100:7ctvwo8q]Jemaine got out of his seat and stood behind Bret but Bret said he did the same with Bowie but it wasn’t successful.

We gave him the shirt and he asked if he could open if, which of course we said "
Yes! Please!"
He took out the shirt and just kinda squinted at it as a slow smile appeared on his face. He asked "
Did you get this at TopMan??"
We thought it was called TopShop so we replied "
Top... shop??"
XD And he said something about it being the same. " title="" border="0"/> He said that he saw the shirt a few days prior but it was in gray, and that he remember thinking that he liked the shirt. " title="" border="0"/>

I love that he wore the shirt so much ... it shows how much he liked it. You did an awesome job choosing a gift.

We gave him the cookbook and his eyes filled with wonder.

They were both impressed by how prepared we were with the silver sharpies.

Here is a picture I got with Bret. It started as us just beside each other than just elevated to this full-forced hug.



(Loser. : " title="" border="0"/>)

This is now my favorite tour photo.


Look at your little face!

" title="" border="0"/>

I asked for a picture, and Sara popped in there right before the picture took, and Eugene said "
I hope you two are friends..."
because she wasn't with me when I asked.

Here is a random picture, because Eugene asked if he could get a picture with Bret! I got so excited to get a picture of Bret and Eugene but he was just joking... again. So here is a picture of essentially nothing. " title="" border="0"/>

It's existential.

He then noticed that he still had one of Sara's silver sharpies. I said it was ours and must of made a stupid jester for him to throw it! From far away! IN THE DARK. XDDD He threw it and I remember thinking "
OMG COURTNEY YOU HAVE TO CATCH THIS, YOUR MICRO-SIZED AMOUNT OF COOLNESS DEPENDS ON IT!!!"
But I used a substantial amount of good karma and managed to catch it one handed. I must have made an expression along the lines of "
Hey! I got it!!"
cause Jemaine kinda smiled at my small victory.

I think everyone reading this also smiled at your victory. I definitely did.



Thank you for taking the time to post your amazing recap. It was flawless, adorable, and Courtney (which is a synonym for flawlessly adorable).

Thank you Vesna and Courtney for so complete story.

I've finally read all the recaps from this show and they brought back some memories from my shows I went to. There are some similarities but also there are so many little things that make every show unique.

I'll try to work on my recaps later this week. Last week was pretty busy for me, so sorry I've been quiet around this section. I can't believe it's been over a week since I saw them and it's been like ages now .

No problem LaDonna and Sylwia! Can't wait to read your recaps as well, Sylwia.

Here's a pic I took of Bret opening the bag Courtney and Sara gave him and looking at the t-shirt. It's blurry but it shows how excited he was as he enthusiastically opened the bag to see what was inside!
(You can also see Nigel chillin' in the van in the background )

Venus wrote:Here's a pic I took of Bret opening the bag Courtney and Sara gave him and looking at the t-shirt. It's blurry but it shows how excited he was as he enthusiastically opened the bag to see what was inside!
(You can also see Nigel chillin' in the van in the background )

Blurry Happy Bret

Venus wrote:Here's a pic I took of Bret opening the bag Courtney and Sara gave him and looking at the t-shirt. It's blurry but it shows how excited he was as he enthusiastically opened the bag to see what was inside!
(You can also see Nigel chillin' in the van in the background )

Thanks again for getting a picture of everything ~in action~.

I think my favorite thing still is Nigel a creepin' back there.