HOLIDAY: Cardiff

After dumping our stuff at the Premier Inn our first port of call was an incredibly expensive NCP (£5.70 for two hours, £11.00 for three!) which meant that our second port of call (Cardiff Castle) was to be visited with a watchful eye on the clock. We need not have worried. Despite costing £12 per entry, an hour was ample time to explore the somewhat inconsequential charms of Cardiff Castle. There was a few state rooms, and a rather unexciting keep, and not a lot else really, ho hum.

After a nice meal back at the hotel and thoroughly stupendous evening at The Globe watching Nachtmahr, we headed back to eat crisps, drink wine and eat chocolate. When we finally decided it was time for bed (well after 1am) it became apparent that the outside ventilation noise was too much and we requested to be moved to a quieter room. This was done with little fuss and the new room was much quieter (at the back of the hotel away from the fan and the busy road).

We woke up early, about 5:45am and tried in vain to get back to sleep. Eventually we gave up and had an early breakfast (which was really nice, especially the large, warm croissants) before checking out and heading in to Cardiff.

We parked in the Capitol Centre and ventured out into the streets to find it was raining quite heavily, rain in Wales, who would have thought it? We slipped into Phase Eight where Rose found a nice skirt (excellent birthday present) and then went in search of Hotel Chocolat. We eventually found it, and a man outside with a rabbit head (very David Lynch!) who very flamboyantly gave us a leaflet which offered us 10% off any purchases we might make, well it would have been a shame not to!

After this we stayed in the centres out of the rain, stumbling across a Pia store which had some cool jewellery and a Watches of Switzerland shop which had some nice Brietlings, Omegas and TAGs.

After this we decided to head home, rather tired from a short night and eager to get back to see Cleo Catra.

GIG: Nachtmahr (Cardiff)

Thomas Rainer - Surprisingly hilarious...!

When I discovered that Nachtmahr was intending to play a gig in London on a Saturday night I was intent on making the trip down to see him perform, at least until I found out that the gig was club based, and that this meant he would be coming on stage at 12:30am. This was not acceptable, especially since the tubes in London close at 12:00. 

Then I found out that another date had been added in Cardiff on the preceding Friday, while I was keen to go it seemed even further than Bristol and just a bit too far to drive home again afterwards. So we decided we would make a weekend of it and stay overnight, leaving us Saturday to explore Cardiff.

We left the hotel at 8:30pm or thereabouts and got to The Globe at about 8:50pm. The second support band were just playing their last song, which wasn't as dire as the song we had listened to on youtube, but was no great loss. It was quite a small venue, with a friendly clientele (who probably all knew each other and wondered who the fuck we were to be honest...) a balcony with armchairs and some tables between the bar and the stage.

Once V2A had finished their set we ambled over to the merchandise stall to check out the goodies on offer and I was pleased to see the Feindbild CD Book on offer for £25, along with a selection of three possible T-Shirts. The girl behind the stall was dressed in the full Nachtmahr-frau uniform with the hat and the 'N' lapel badges and she looked very cool in it too. I didn't want to buy the CD and stand there holding it all night, possibly having some numpty bump into me and damage it, so I decided to buy it at the end, providing they still had some left (they did).

I bought a Feindbild T-Shirt anyway, since I could wrap that over my hoodie and after a short break the lights went out and 'The March of the Imperial Guard' sounded from the speakers, inspiring hope that the opening track would be 'Tradition'. Sadly it wasn't, in fact I don't even know what the first track was, but it was all good. 

Thomas was a lot more fun than I thought he would be... nothing like the image he projects or the image others project onto him because of his aesthetic choices. During 'Feuer Frei!' he was getting audience members to sing the chorus and one either forgot or messed it up and he cracked up while trying to sing the next few lines.

Another thing which was really impressive was the video which accompanied the performance, which sometimes featured some slightly uncomfortable images from WWII but also quotes about war and combat from famous names, along with a very clear message that 'war is not the answer'. 

The two backing keyboard players were quite entertaining, especially the one on the left who came over like a frustrated male-stripper! But Thomas was the star, of course, and he entertained us brilliantly with his between track banter (in perfect English and with great hurmour) and hilarious moves. The small but appreciative crowd loved it and the band realy gave it everything for the 70 or so people in attendance... and as it goes the crowd responded not by holding up mobile phones to record every last second, but by engaging with the experience, what a refreshing change!

Highlights included 'Ich Bin', 'Rise and Fall', 'BoomBoomBoom', 'Madchen in Uniform' and the aforementioned 'Feuer Frei!' Sadly there was no appearance by a pair of drummer-frau's as had been witnessed while watching live clips on youtube from the last tour, but there was plenty of additional entertainment to be had looking at the crowd, which included a guy trying very hard to look like Faderhead and several people who had definitely dressed up for the occasion. 

Lovely merchandise lady!

When the show ended we went back to the merch stand to pick up my CD Book and a Nachtmahr patch, where the girl we had spoke with earlier had dispensed with her jacket to reveal a very impressive cleavage (tightly confined by her regulation white shirt!). She kindly offered us some free Nachtmahr stickers and we chatted to her a little more before calling it a night, shaking our heads at the idea of heading to another club and an afterparty which was scheduled to last until 4am!

Before I decided to see Nachtmahr I liked his music, but he wasn't exactly up there with the Meshes, Assemblage23s and the Aesthetic Perfections. So it's hard to know why I was so keen to see him really, especially as it entailed an overnight stay and a very long round trip. I was a bit concerned that Rose wouldn't enjoy it as well, but once I gave her a CD of likely songs and she decided that actually she did quite like it, that made me feel more positive about it and as the time grew nearer and I listened to Nachtmahr more and more I got into it more and more too, and now having seen him put on a great show I am so glad we went because (hard as it is for me to believe) it was even better than Mesh in January! I would certainly go and see him again and I would consider visiting the Globe again as it was a very good venue.

MEAL OUT: Premier Inn (Cardiff)

We had bookmarked a couple of options in Cardiff, but after arriving at the hotel and seeing the menu for the hotel's own restaurant we decided to eat there instead. Of course we'll never know how good the other places could have been, but for £15 each we both enjoyed a very nice steak and fries and a very agreeable pudding (Rose's was a massive Eton Mess sundae, mine a more regular sized brownie and ice cream). It's a shame that the bar was closed when we got back from seeing Nachtmahr because it looked very nice, with an open fire (gas, but very realistic). The other noteable feature of this restaurant was the friendliness of the staff, and indeed the hotel receptionists who were also lovely (and very helpful when it came to locating the Cardiff branch of Hotel Chocolat).

MEAL OUT: Ashfields (Earl Shilton)

Bizarrely there seems to be no picture of Ashfields frontage available on the internet, which is a bit odd. I don't remember it being particularly hideous, but still nor was it a breathtaking vista. I had fancied the lamb and sausage, but the menu said it was cooked 'pink' (how I hate being told how I should like my food!). Still, I guess it's better that they tell you these things upfront.
Rose had the lamb, cooked through (as requested) and said it was very nice, especially the sausage. My steak was pretty good too, a few fatty bits around the edges, but nice enough. My sticky toffee pudding was nice while it was hot, but as it got colder it seemed to become a bit naff.
The surroundings where quite nice, a very agreeable level of lighting, but somehow the atmosphere didn't seem quite as it should. The tables were laid out in a bit of an odd way, almost as if they were deliberately trying to make it look less 'obvious',but at the same time making it less effective.
Kudos for having sea salt and black pepper mills on the table though, and Rose's raspberry and rhubarb frangipane thing was apparently top drawer.

MEAL OUT: Grey Goose (Gilmorton)

Another visit to the Grey Goose, and it may just be starting to wear a little thin. The menu seems incredibly static and the puddings are sometimes incredible and sometimes incredibly average. Yes the surroundings are nice, but the prices are perhaps a bit on the high side, the fillet steak is very nice but it should be for £25.