Glitz Glamour and Grunge: Courteeners @ Liverpool Echo Arena

So if you've seen my previous posts you will know I've been to a couple of Courteeners gigs recently. Every year for the last 6 or 7 years Courteeners have done a Christmas gig in December and its tradition that we go and I've never missed one. Unfortunately there was no 'Courteeners Christmas party' gig this year so the Liverpool date was our substitute with it being the final date on the tour and the biggest with it being at Echo arena. We were super lucky again and were put on the guestlist for this date, it did mean we'd be seated which was going to be weird as I've never seated for one of their gigs.

So on the Friday Me and Alice got the train to Liverpool first thing and we arrived just after dinner time. Unfortunately the weather was pretty grim so our plans for a bit of sight seeing was not going to happen. We decided to walk to our hotel and got absolutely soaked, after dropping our stuff off and drying off we headed back into town and had a look around the shops. The trees and huge reindeers in the city centre looked so nice lit up as it went dark. The weather seemed to get worse as the day went on but we didn't want to let that dampen our spirits. We decided to go to the ice lodge for a mulled wine to warm up whilst we waited for our friend Sophie to arrive. The lodge was super cute and looked really authentic with antler lights on the ceiling, wooden ski decorations and a Christmas tree, it was really fab to say it's just a temporary fixture, it would've been nice to have a ice skate or go on the ice slide but the weather was still awful and we were pushing it for time as usual.

We headed over to Albert docks to have food as it was near to our hotel, we'd decided to go to smugglers cove after hearing good things about it, but after a treacherous walk in the wind and rain was told there were no tables all night, it looked so fab aswell so we were a bit guttered. We headed over to revolution instead and it was happy hour so it was cocktails all round, the bubblegum sour I had was soo nice. I had a chicken burger, it was so delicious it had fried pickles and onion rings and was pretty big but after not eating all day it went down a treat.

By the time we got back to our hotel to get ready we were very behind schedule. We really wanted to see support bands Blossoms and Circa waves but with half an hour till the first act came on we accepted it wasn't going to happen so got ready and had some wine before we had to leave. The arena was only across from us so luckily it didn't take long to walk over but there was still huge queues outside even thought we were cutting it fine. The queing system was a bit ridiculous with it being a bit of a free for all, although we'd actually left with enough time it meant they came on as we were still waiting at the box office. We could hear them so it eased the pain of missing the start a little, although they mixed up the set starting with two of my faves 'Are you in love with a notion' followed by 'cavorting' so I was sad to not see them fully. We headed to our seats and was in the first block right at the front, it might have been weird seating but we certainly had some of the best seats in the arena. We also didn't sit down once, it was kind of nice to actually fully see the stage and see the standing crowd from above and not get squished with 50 drinks and God knows what else chucked all over us.

The set was perfect again and the band put everything into it, aswell as the crowd with people on shoulders and crowd surfing all throughout. I always get sad as a tour comes to an end as I never know when I'll get to see them next, but when Liam told us to keep the first weekend of June free for a big manchester gig, the crowd went wild with joy. As the set drew to a close the boys ended on the usual crowd pleasers and as expected people in the standing area set off flares. Every single person from the front to the back were on their feet and singing along, they really do have the best fans in the world (if I do say so myself) and rightly so, they deserve it.

We had wristbands for their private afterparty at Almost Famous so after the gig we headed over. We knew quite a few people there so it was nice to have a few drinks (well more than a few) with everyone and end the tour on a high.

The next day we had to be out the hotel by 10 and although the weather was better we literally had no energy to do anything active. We had to wait till 12 for Almost famous to open then we were back again, we had bacon bacon fries and the wonderland burger that was ridiculously huge but amazingly tasty, I love that place! After that we headed to the train station to start the mammoth journey home.

It's always hard to decide what to wear for gigs when you're going out after, as you want to be sensible but also look dressy. I'd been rushing around when I was packing so had took minimal outfits to choose from and the most unsensible shoes for the weather. So I decided to go for a fishnet bodysuit which I have customised myself with palm trees on the nipples to cover my modesty. I've seen a lot of them around and loved them but thought they were quite over priced so thought I'd have a go at making my own, I don't think it went too badly actually. Although pvc and fishnet could be a recipe for disaster, I thought the length of my black pvc skirt still gave it a touch of class rather than trash (well I hope). I wore a donut for an up do as the weather was still crap and thought it added a bit more class to the outfit. I got some fab necklaces that day from forever 21 so wore a chunky layered chain that was only 99p layered with a thin cord choker and my tattoo choker. I only had my black flatform sandals with me which were not so great for the weather so wore my frilly socks so my toes didn't freeze off. I wore my gold foil Kimono to cover my modesty untill later on and to keep the chill off and my black feather bag, I didn't take any pictures with them on apart form a toilet selfie though but I'll put that on anyway so you can see the complete outfit.