The Killers: Battle Born!

Firstly let me say that I am a huge, diehard Killers fan and that the Killers have been my favourite band since I was about 8 and onwards, so chances are I will not be very objective.

I had huge hopes for this album and definitely was not disappointed after 4 years without a new album – besides Christmas singles. The first time I listened to Battle Born it completely blew me away. Upon first listening I enjoyed every song and some even brought a tear to my eye, after repeatedly listening I couldn’t choose one song which I disliked or would consider a least favourite and when asked what my favourite song of the album is I find it impossible to select one. I'll only talk about a selection of the songs, not that I don't adore them all

1 - Flesh and Bone – This is a rousing battle hymn if ever there is one to be heard! Brandon on synth and Dave on guitar are the driving force of the song but it is the lyrics that really five this song punch.

2 - Runaways – This holds a special place in my heart as it was the first new of the album to be released as a single. From Ronnie’s galloping percussion to the soaring outstanding vocals and reverberating guitar this track screams arena rock, this is one of the many songs on the album that need to be heard live to feel the full impact.

3 - The Way It Was – This is an amaaazing song and in classic Killers format, they tease you with the verse and suck you in with an epic chorus. I may have lied earlier saying I didn’t have a favourite track of this album because at the moment this is definitely it, especially after seeing is sang perfectly live, ever better than in digital form it’s a moment that’ll stick with me.

4 - Here With Me – The Killers aren’t known for their ballads but this certainly is a beautiful ballad. (In fact it makes me wonder if maybe everytime Brandon Flowers coughs or pees of something a piece of lyrical and musical art comes out)

5 -  A Matter Of Time – This track reminds me of The Killers Hot Fuss era, but with the heavier pace and the background vocals are very reminisant to Somebody Told Me with a hint of Sam’s Town, another great arena rocking song.

7 -  Miss Atomic Bomb – When I first heard this track I fell in love, the love for this song grew with each listen. Until you realize that it is the prequel to Mr Brightside then it becomes totally mind blowing. This is lyrically in my top 3 on the album and in true Killers fashion it tells a beautiful, sad story. It has hints of A Dustland Fairytale – One of my all time favourites.

11 - Be Still - One of the slower tracks of the album, but extremely beautiful lyricially with an hypnotising melody.

12 -Battle Born – The ending of the album (Not including deluxe – Although that is amazing) It opens with ascending keyboards and guitars, this song is most definitely an inspiration anthem. I love every last part of this song, the guitar, drums, bass but best of all is the vocals as Brandon reminds us all, that we are battle born.

Ed Sheeran live

Me and my best pal Lucy Hodgson went to see Ed Sheeran in Manchester at the O2 Apollo on Friday 2nd November, so I figured that I would just review this and talk a little about our experiance.

Before Ed Sheeran took the stage at 9pm to do a two hour setlist Passenger and Foy Vance were the support acts. First Passenger came on stage to preform a 40 minute setlist, i'd never heard of him but soon fell in love with his catchy lyrics and fun personality, quicking warming up the audience with great interactions. Almost a week on and i'm still humming the chours to the song ' I hate ' after only hearing it once.

Next up came Foy Vance with another 40 minute set, he was alot quieter than passenger and his style was different but still enjoyable, making the audience sing along and have a good time. 

We got rather close to the front of the crowd and had a good view as Ed Sheeran boomed onto stage with the fan favorite Give Me Love and the entire crowd shouted and sung along with Ed. Just beside me and Lucy stood a drunk foursom merily dancing and singing, they amused us alot until they moved towards the back. Also at this point there were a group of girls behind us complaining about something and me and Lucy tried to secretly get pictures of them and we heard them saying that they wanted to photobomb us, so all worked out and we got a terrible picture of one of the girls. Anyway the girls soon moved away, or maybe me and Lucy got closer - It felt like that.

Mr Sheeran had the crowd under his control, asking for silence in slow songs such as Small Bump and had the crowd screaming as loud as they could with songs like Lego House. There where the more intimate moments when he spoke to the crowd about nights out having everyone wrap their arms around eachother and sway singing the beautiful This Is. Thoughout the proformance he brought out each of the support acts and sang duets with them excellently.

When Ed came back on for the encore be belted out the extended edition of You Need Me Man I Don't Need You which had me to start thinking maybe this guy is a robot, seriously he rapped for almost ten minutes straight having the ocassional moment with the crowd getting them to sing along. Then onto The Parting Glass the crowd silent as he played acoustic with no microphone and finally played fan favorite A Team and the crowd chanted every lyric of the song with him.

This description really does not do the concert justice, me and Lucy had an excellent times and thought that Ed was brilliant live, even better live than he is on the records. I would most definatley go and see him again live. Everyone around was super friendly, the songs where grade A and the night was great.

All photos taken by Miss Lucaay Hodgson.

MAROON FOR PRESIDENT!!!!

PS - HE WON!

Fright Night: 2011

Set in a lovely suburban area of Las Vegas, the film introduces us to Charley Brewster, a nerdy but charismatic teenager who we find out has given up his relationship with his friend "Evil" Ed to be with the cooler kids, including his new girlfriend Amy. Then he meets Jerry Dandrige, a buff, sweet new neighbor that Charley's mother and Amy take a liking to. When Ed tries to warn Charley of Jerry's hidden, and gruesome, intentions, things take a turn for the worse. More people wind up missing, and it becomes evident to Charley that Jerry is a vampire. Nobody believes him before it's too late, and it's up to him and Hard Rock celebrity Peter Vincent to kill this sucker (Yes that's a pun ;)) once and for all.


The film has a fantastic cast of well-known actors. Anton Yelchin, as always, does a great job and fits the role of Charley perfectly. Toni Collette stands out as Charley's mother, and Imogen Poots is terrific as Amy. Unlike other horror blonds Amy was smart, and at times brave enough to try to take down Jerry herself. Christopher Mintz-Plasse is great for the role of "Evil" Ed, and he was born to play that role I couldn't imagine anyway else doing a better job. He gets some pretty funny lines and an enjoyable amount of screen time. David Tennant, known as being Britians male sweetheart after staring in Doctor Who was hilarious as celebrity vampire hunter Peter Vincent. I was pleasantly surprised.


I first watched this film over a year ago with my bestfriend and her mother one lazy afternoon and we all loved the film, re-visiting it now I found it to still be brilliant and would most definatley watch it again. The film was not very scary, more of a comedy horror than anything but an excellent film with interesting editing techniques and cinematography.