madonna at koko

I was amazed when working for a Time Warner company came up trumps for me on Tuesday. We has a staff competition and at stake were 2 pairs of tickets for the Madonna show at Koko in Camden.
Imagine my suprise then when Corp Comms called me to tell me I had won the tickets. I was a little overwhelmed and it left me with a dilemma. Andy was working away as usual during the week (he would naturally have been my number one choice) so I had to decide who could go at short notice. Matt ended up being the lucky recipient as we had only been discussing at the weekend how he had never been to see her maj in concert. I needed to fix that immediately.
So we legged it to Camden to collect the tickets from the box office. Casually wandering past the crowds of people who had been queueing overnight to get tickets. To be fair we hadn’t realised they had been there all night.

So Then it was a little like waiting for a flight except the lounge was fancier and it had a huge mirror ball in the ceiling. Waiting from 7:30 until 10 when madge was due on stage. I had bets that she would not turn up on time. She never has at any concert I have been to before.
She did arrive on time though and did a quick set for about 30 minutes or so. It was brilliant and I really enjoyed it but I can’t honestly say I’d have been happy if I’d waited overnight to get in.

Neil Tennant and the other celebrities in the VIP lounge seemed to enjoy themselves too.
So all in all a fabulous Tuesday evening and as soon as I can get bluetooth working again I’ll upload some pics.

seederney mardee grah (Part 1)

Okay so I’ve been a bit slack with the update from Sydney Mardi Gras and my annual pilgimage to the southern hemisphere. What can I say – even Dave managed to get his account up before me this year!
I’ll have to get him back for the Stimpy comments somehow…

I have managed to upload a whole heap of pics though – so peruse them at your leisure. Not so many of things this year as there really are only so many Opera House and Harbour Bridge pics you can take ;o)

So here goes as much as I can remember from what was possibly the most drunken debauched three weeks of my life so far since last time.

Northy and I started the trip with some beers at London’s Heathrow Airport bar and a bit of bluetooth mayhem. We flew our seperate ways (long story) to arrive sydney 07:00 friday morning minutes apart. Met Jo and Northy and do the introductions.
The three of us head back to Jo’s house in Darlinghurst for a shower and a change before brunch on Oxford Street at Cafe Comity.
Wandered around and caught up before going for more beers and then home for a quick disco nap. Jason (Northy) and I ended up at my spiritual home The Colombian for a beer early evening before heading to the shift. we ended up in the club instead of the bar by mistake but this turned out to be very good. we stayed out until 5am and hoped this would counter any jetlag!

azure harbour party

Saturday was shop yourself stupid (name change) and then yet more beers. we ended up at what the sydneysiders have nicknamed the rsl because of it being so cheap! it’s palms. I met a nice boy in the toilet and then it turns out he knew Jo. small world. I was very very drunk and left the party early! Sadly not early enough. Felt awful the following day and that was sunday which meant it was time for… Harbour Party

Excellent as ever. lots of beautiful people. Bumped into half the world both outside and inside the party. There are only 5,000 people but it feels like much more.
Saw lots of people from London too.
Neither Northy nor I made it to any of the after parties as jetlag and the partying hard the night before prevented us being chirpy. We did however decide we should become club promoters and launch River Party on the banks of the Thames by the London Eye. But erm then we drank more and forgot about it.

recovery at the opera bar

So the following day was inevitably going to be a quiet one. Northy and I got up slightly earlier than Jo (who had stayed to party) and meandered through Pitt Street shopping heading down to circular quay for the Opera Bar for some brunch. We met Jo there and after a couple of beers a bottle or two of fizz and wine we all felt much better. In fact then we went for champagne tea at the QVB. So much for recovery then. More like starting all over again.
That evening was also less than subdued with more drinking and much more dancing involved. Various bars spring to mind but to be honest by this point I think we didn’t care where we were.

Tuesday was also a drinking day (can you spot a theme here?)

Wednesday morning bright and way too early the lovely Dave arrived from Wellington bearing gifts of Gold, Frank Rasberri Absolut, Apple Sours and Krispy Kreme Donuts. Yay! We then dragged him down the coast to the lovely Husky.

More to come…