Northern Chords Festival

It's been a crazy few weeks. I have finished my second year at Newcastle University and I have moved out of my flat in Jesmond, returning home to Lincolnshire for the summer break. I have also had a case of writer's block and I haven't been able to think of anything to post about. This has given me an excuse to abandon blogging for a bit (a terrible thing to do, I know) and so yesterday I wrote a list of ideas for blog posts over the summer. Fingers crossed that this period of inspiration will last.

In the last few weeks of term, I went along to the Northern Chords Festival in Newcastle for a review I was writing for Northern Soul. The festival of concerts takes place over a week in different venues across the North East, each equally spectacular, in a celebration of chamber music and young musicians. This year, to mark the centenary of the First World War, the festival had a 1914 theme. The first concert I went to was named 'Midnight in Paris'. I wasn't expecting to enjoy the evening that much. I thought that I would like the first ten minutes of the concert and then become very bored. I was, however, proved incorrect and I enjoyed every moment of it. The music was emotional and rousing, not to mention the beauty of the venue. The Sage in Gateshead is magnificent (I'd never been before and I was seriously impressed) and the chosen hall for this particular concert was small and cosy.

Going to concerts on your own is a very strange strange thing and it takes some getting used to. Aside from the occasional pitying looks from smug couples during the interval, I actually don't mind going to places on my own. I like my own company. The first time I ever went to something on my own, I was reviewing the Radikal Words live literature event for The Courier. I was nervous about being there alone and so I drank a large glass of red wine before I even went into the theatre. This certainly improved my outlook and I thought that evening spectacular, too. Going to concerts and theatres on your own is actually quite fun. However, it is also true that wine and G&Ts really do help, though let's pretend you didn't just read that. I also managed to take some pretty pictures of the quayside in the early evening. I feel quite proud of them, so I put one in this post. You can read my review of the festival, here.