Whenever I get asked about my favourite bands, the second one I name (after the very obvious first choice) is always Peace. I often find the people who ask truly surprised with my answer - probably because I don't really talk about this particular band on a daily basis. I can babble for hours about some other - more or less important - musicians, but I'm hardly ever showing my love when it comes to Peace. Don't get me wrong - it's not like they are one of my guilty pleasures or I'm ashamed to talk about them - their debut album is my absolute number one among last year's releases and I think it's safe to say they are one of the best things that happened to music during the last few years. It's just that sometimes you can't explain why you love some band - you just go to a gig and perfectly know why.
Frankly, I don't think these boys are capable of playing a bad gig. Some people might treat them as another NME-hyped band but honestly, they deserve all the attention they get. Apart from making great music, they are also a bunch of really awesome people. They are funny, they make the ugliest clothes look cool and they brought sequin tops back to fashion. Overall, they are just absolute legends (or should I say - LADgends?). I had this enormous pleasure to see them a few times and they never failed to amaze me. And if you thought that after queueing for a good few hours under the bridge in Leeds on a windy day last May and deciding to have only 2 hours of "nap" after a very long Winter Wonderland afterparty to take an early bus to Birmingham when they ended their winter tour there I'd have enough, you were wrong. Even if I left one of those gigs voiceless, with a bleeding back, high fever and a nice collection of bruises, I would be perfectly satisfied with doing that every night. After saying that out loud now, I think you won't be surprised that I literally squealed when I saw this one March morning:
There were a few reasons why it took me only half an hour to decide whether to go or not. The main one though was the excellent choice of a supporting band - Drowners, a.k.a. one of these bands I can't stop talking about since I first heard them. If Peace make young girls from good homes think that looking like a trash is alright, Drowners make the same girls buy a leather jacket and wear it on every possible occasion. And as I wear leather jacket almost on a daily basis and secretly have a soft spot for boys who look like hobos - there was no way I could say "no". Luckily, I had a partner in crime. When my Alana-to-my-Danielle bestie Marta texted me she's definitely up for it, I knew it's gonna be one of the most incredible tours we've ever went on. I wasn't wrong.
Among the whole variety of - quite unusal, I have to admit - different locations we finally chose Dundee, mostly because I kept rambling on how I need to come back there for such a long time. Our choice surprisingly became a perfect opportunity to finally meet up with Rhona, my longest Internet friend and the best gal/host/guide in whole Scotland. Together we explored the most beautiful castles, did some sightseeing in Glasgow and Edinburgh, drank the nicest pear cider I've ever had and visited the most amazing record stores in the area - generally, we just had a terrific time together.
The gig night though was obviously the highlight of the whole trip. We ended up having a long talk with both of the bands filled with some funny party stories and sleazy pick-up lines ("Is your name Alana? Because Baby Haim yours" is an absolute highlight of the evening). They also seemed to love the tiny Bison Grass vodka bottles we gave them - especially Harry, who told us he heard legends about it. Funnily enough, we even happened to have the Drowners boys as our hotel neighbours, what made the whole night even more surreal. And the performances themselves were just incredibly good!
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