Carrie Underwood at the Oracle.

For Andy's birthday (which was a couple of weeks ago - read about our adventures here) I got tickets to see Carrie Underwood on her Blown Away tour. 

She won American Idol a few years ago, and was the first country singer to win a national TV competition like it - since then, I'd say she's probably become America's most well-known country performer.

She was playing at the Oracle Arena over in Oakland (where San Francisco's NBA basketball team, the Golden State Warriors, also play).

 We headed across the bay on BART, and found our seats.
Andy definitely dressed the part in his leather waistcoat.

Very fetching.
Although at least he wasn't wearing a cowboy hat like some people.

Supporting was Hunter Hayes, who I'd never heard of but who's apparently up-and-coming in the country music world. He looked a bit like Justin Bieber.

After we had some garlic fries...

...Carrie got underway.
The thing I like about best about arena concerts is it's not just the artist playing their music. It's a real show. There were costume changes, video clips and a flying stage, which you just don't get with smaller venues.

Best of all though, she still managed to sing really well live - I liked 'Last Name' and 'Before He Cheats', and the encore 'Blown Away'.
'Temporary Home' also struck a chord with me, for obvious reasons!
Give her a listen here on YouTube.

Chinese New Year Parade.

Today was the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco's Chinatown - it's meant to be one of the best Chinese New Year parades in the world, so we felt we should be there! The actual New Year's Day was a couple of weeks ago, so Chinatown's been gearing up for the parade for a while!

Me and Vicki headed out at dusk to get a good viewing place.

Armed with our boba tea (weird but delicious)...

...we got a great spot to watch the parade, on Kearny near the end of the parade route. 

There was plenty of flag-waving, gong-bashing and dancing displays, and a few sponsored floats (but they weren't as interesting!)

There were also loads of dragons (even though this is the Year of the Snake!):

Though fireworks aren't really allowed (in most of America, actually), in Chinatown anything goes - people were throwing firecrackers everywhere, including this huge one!

Standing under the Chinatown Gate on Grant Ave:

Sorry a lot of these pictures are blurry - it was hard to catch everything in motion!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Twang Sundays at Thee Parkside.

This Sunday we trekked to Thee Parkside, which is a little 'dive' bar over in the Potrero Hill neighbourhood, a part of town I've never really been to.

Every week they hold Twang Sundays, and country, western and bluegrass groups come and play live.

The bar itself is really cool, with an outdoor patio where they serve food.

I was invited by Josh...

 

...but I couldn't go to something like this without country music's #1 fan Andy.

.

After some chips and curry (not at all like the ones from the chip shop, but still yummy)...

We listened to the band, Coffin Hunter, who were just so incredibly country - they had one song called Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. 

Check them out here!

Beach Barbeque.

It's as if this sunshine is never-ending!  

(Sorry if I'm making anyone jealous who's back at home in the freezing cold.)

Yesterday myself, my room-mates and neighbours all headed down to Ocean Beach.

We watched Andy surf for a while, before firing up a little barbeque. The tide was nearly all the way in, but we still managed it - even if we did have to sit on the sand banks!

We hung around until the sun set - which was quite early, around six-ish. 

Because of all this warm weather we've been having I keep forgetting it's still only February!

The Vaccines at The Fillmore.

I know it seems like all I've been doing this week is going to concerts - but I've had the tickets for this one for months, whereas I went to Swedish House Mafia on a whim.

Last night I headed back to The Fillmore (read about my last trip here) to see a British band, The Vaccines. It's weird to think that the majority of live acts I've seen while I've been in the States are from my lovely home country.
We obviously have the best music.

I wanted to see The Vaccines, frankly, because I was jealous of my sister, who saw them a while ago at the O2 Academy in Newcastle.

We got a great standing spot for once - usually I don't end up seeing much at all! I went with my friend Keegan, the only other person I know who had heard of the The Vaccines.

The support group, funnily enough, were called San Cisco - from Australia! They were really good! I think I may have found a new cool band to listen to.

And then it was The Vaccines! British Indie Rock at its best.

My favourites were 'If You Wanna' and the encore 'Norgaard'.

As the show was at The Fillmore, I wangled another free poster - definitely one for my wall!

Valentine's Day.

February 14th - a day which causes no end of stress for most people!

Luckily none of us care that much, so we just ate Valentine's cookies instead.

I love these girls!

Our neighbours were also very kind and got each of us some flowers - roses and gypsophila are my favourite!

Hope you all had a good Valentine's Day!