2024 In Music

 

Happy New Year one and all! I hope everyone's had a good one. Today's blog is to celebrate the music that made my 2024 a lot more bearable and gave me some fantastic memories that I'll cherish forever. 

2024 has been one of the best years I can remember in recent times for music. I keep a list on my phone throughout the year of songs and artists I'm enjoying to make sure they get a mention on the end of year blog and 2024's was more of a scroll 😅 no complaints there! 

In last year's blog I enthused about how excited I was for Green Day's 'Saviors' album due out at the start of the year (I also enthused about how excited I was to be seeing them live too but sadly I couldn't go which was utterly heartbreaking as the tour was also celebrating the 20th anniversary of American Idiot one of my favourite ever albums 😭😭😭😭💔💔💔) so it only seems right to kick off with them.

Green Day - Saviors

I was absolutely right to be excited for Saviors as I love it. In my opinion it's a real return to form as I was a bit lukewarm about 2020's Father of all ... Although there are 16 tracks on it the songs are short, sharp and to the point meaning that the album never feels overlong. Thematically it does remind me a lot of American Idiot (hardly surprising in these times!) especially in songs such as Living In The 20s and The American Dream Is Killing Me (also my favourite song on the album). The album is absolutely fantastic and it was so close to being my album of the year but (through no fault of it's own) I'm still too heartbroken about not being able to see the songs played live this summer so listening to it has been a bit difficult. I'm keeping positive that they'll tour again soon. Some of my other favourite songs on the album are -

One Eyed Bastard

Dilemma

Bobby Sox

Goodnight Adeline

 

One live music experience that I did manage this year was seeing my favourite band 30 Seconds To Mars for the 20th time! As I said in last year's blog, I didn't love last year's album It's The End Of The World But It's A Beautiful Day and they did only play a couple of songs from it in the show, however Stuck and Seasons do work really well live. 

The show was absolutely amazing! I was at the side of the stage (hey it's not every day that a girl sees her favourite band for the 20th time) so I got a great view -

The highlight of the whole evening for me was GETTING ONSTAGE! The band always invite fans up onstage for the final song of the show and I couldn't believe it as I was ushered up too 😀. I can't describe the feeling of being onstage at the bloomin O2 Arena with my a band who's music has seen me through the lowest lows but also the highest highs. I did however manage to hide from the camera as no-one deserved my mug on the massive screens 😂

I have a blog about the show with loads more photos and videos of what was an amazing night. In the last couple of days Jared has posted photos on his Instagram of being back in the studio recording and hinted that new music will be coming this year so 🤞they'll be appearing in 2025's music blog.

Whilst I only went to 1 actual concert it wasn't the only musical 'event' I attended. Last year my friend Helen got me into Ghost and in the summer their Rite Here Rite Now show streamed in our local cinema. 

Describing Ghost is quite hard, they're kind of symphonic metal mixed with hard rock and quite a lot of tomfoolery on the part of Papa IV actually one of the best descriptions I heard of them was 'Satanic ABBA' referencing their Swedish roots 😂 Joking aside they seem to be amazing live and Helen and I are seeing them in April and in the meantime are 'practicing' by watching their live videos on YouTube. There's the promise of new music to go along with the tour and we got an inkling of what it might sound like with the track The Future Is A Foreign Land which gave me Doors-esque 60s vibes. 

Lady GaGa

Little Monsters had a lot to be excited about in 2024 as Mother Monster dropped some new music for the first time since 2020. First off we had 'LG 6.5' with the release of Harlequin a concept album tied into GaGa's role of the same name in the Joker movie. It was made up of show tune covers such as Smile, Get Happy and The Joker that all showed off her amazing voice. 

It was followed up by the release of a duet with Bruno Mars Die With A Smile a country vibed song. Then just before Halloween the first single from LG7 (and my favourite song of 2024) dropped ...

Lady GaGa - Disease

I immediately adored it and in fact 'may' have listened to it 10 times in a row .... It's GaGa back to her dark pop best (apparently she's described her upcoming album as 'dungeon pop') with lyrics about fighting with your demons (hi there). If the rest of her album is as good as this then 2025's album of the year is already awarded!

I'm bending the rules for the next entry on the list as whilst the single technically came out in 2024 the album is a couple of years older. And in a shocking instance of not living under a cultural rock I got into this artist at the same time as everyone else. I am of course talking about ...

Chappell Roan - The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess

I first heard about Chappell Roan from her single Good Luck Babe at the start of 2024 and really liked it but didn't 'follow up' on listening to any of her other music until the end of the year. The album actually came out a couple of years ago (Good Luck Babe was added as a bonus track when she started to 'break' at the start of 2024 apparently) but my blog my rules! Other songs I really like on the album are Pink Pony Club , My Kink Is Karma and Guilty Pleasure.

Some other albums I've enjoyed this year -

Taylor Swift - Tortured Poets Department (obviously) with standout songs - Fortnight, Who's Afraid Of Little Old Me? and I Can Do It With A Broken Heart

Bring Me The Horizon - POST HUMAN: NeX GEn . My favourite song on the album is Kool Aid (one day I'll manage to see them live again!)

Next up are a couple of soundtracks I've loved. First up we have a series I watched on Amazon this year.

Hazbin Hotel follows the story of Charlie the princess of hell (daughter of Lucifer and Lilith) and her attempts to set up and run a hotel in hell where souls can be redeemed. There's so many fantastic characters and the soundtrack is broadway-worthy. Some of my favourite songs on it are - Poison and Happy Day In Hell.

Wicked OST

There's absolutely no way that Wicked wasn't making it's way onto the list after I saw the movie. I've wanted to see Wicked onstage for years and after seeing the film it's made me even more determined! I knew Defying Gravity but now knowing how it fits into the story, it felt like a battle cry to break out, be yourself and live in the way that you know is right. As a practicing witch it fit right into the way I try to conduct myself and use the power the universe gives us all. Other songs I loved from the film were Popular and Dancing Through Life. I can't believe that I have to wait all the way until November for part 2!

Before I get to my album of the year here are some songs I've enjoyed -

Allie X - Off With Her Tits

The Warning - S!ck  (I'm really looking forward to hearing more from them)

St Vincent - Broken Man

Harper - I Hope You Choke

Yungblud - Abyss (From Kaiju No 8)

Black Country Communion - Red Sun

NXCRE & The Villains - Twisted

Nite - All Your Pain

And now for my album of the year ......

Delilah Bon - Evil Hate Filled Female

In a year of so much amazing music it was this album released in the autumn that has *just* pipped the others to #1. The album felt like a breath of fresh air with it's themes of female and LGBTQIA empowerment and, more interestingly, society's reactions to this request. Songs such as The Internet and the title track Evil Hate Filled Female reflect this perfectly. The 'revenge on bullies' anthem Finally See Me is the music I wished I'd had at school (along with artists like Delilah, Yungblud, Gaga et al) is balanced by more 'fun' tracks I Am The Best (Just Ask Your Momma). There are more delicate songs such as the stripped back Volatile and the heartbreaking stand alone single Not The President. 

It's hard to describe her sound and best to let her YouTube bio of 'BRAT PUNK SCREAMIN RAPPER' cover it. In my humble opinion in this world as women and the LGBTQIA  community we need voices like Delilah's rallying cry to bring us together to fight for our rights. I'm excited to see her in a couple of months time to scream along ...

That's it for my 2024 music wrap up! If you made it all the way through then wow 😱. Thank you as always to those lovely people who do read my blogs and comment your support. 

Love Jen

XxxX

Ps if you're interested in previous year's music blogs they can be found here -

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024 In Aviation

 

Merry Christmas everyone! Between helpings of mince pies and pigs in blankets I thought I'd share my favourite plane geeking moments of a really packed 2024 season. 

2024 has definitely been one of my favourite seasons of recent years, great weather (I only got mildly drizzled on once on the Saturday at RIAT and it was a bit miserable on day 1 of Airbourne), interesting 'themes' with the commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the D Day landings, ticking off multiple aircraft from my display bucket list and of course the celebration of the Red Arrows' 60th display season. 

Duxford D Day Airshow - 2nd June 2024 

Full blog here 

Duxford kicked off my season in beautiful sunshine with their regular summer airshow moving up a weekend to coincide with the D Day commemorations. 

One of the D Day Squadron Dakotas flying past

Duxford secured the services of the French Rafale to kick the show off in style.

The beautiful Blenheim

One of the highlights of the show were the Flying Bulls DC6 & B25 Mitchell glinting in the sunshine during their graceful flying display. 

More highlights from the show -

 

RIAT - 19th & 20th July

Full blog here

RIAT was back with a bang this year and, aside from some drizzle on the Saturday, had appeased the weather gods. It was also my first year not camping which was sad but the comfy hotel room went some way to make up for it! RIAT's themes this year included the 100th anniversary of the Canadian air force and the 50th anniversary of the F16.

RIAT was my first chance to see the Red Arrows in their anniversary year and it was great to see manoeuvres in their routine that I haven't seen in years. 

The return of the 'Diamond 9'

A flypast with the Canadian F18

There were a couple of 'Friday exclusives' this year. 

The RAF Falcons opened the show

An incredibly rare appearance by a U2

The 70th anniversary of NATO was marked by a large flypast of aircraft from various member nations (including a very colourful Italian Tornado much to my delight).

RAF Rivet Joint, French Mirage, Swedish Gripen & the aforementioned Tornado

Two other favourites returned, the Italian Spartan and the Spanish Harrier -

Spartan

Harrier

Friday's show was also the first chance I had to see the insane F15QA display -

The highlight of Friday's show was as I was leaving with the arrival of 2 Greek Phantoms -

Some more Friday highlights -

I was up extra early on Saturday to make sure I had time to walk around the whole of the showground (it was the first time I've been in on a weekend day when the full showground is open) including the incredible line of F16s -

A close pass by the Red Arrows

The RAF Chinook casually carrying a 2 tonne field gun

It was also the first time I'd seen the RAF F35 Demo this year -

The Canadian F18 demo used the painted jet and it opened it's routine with a flypast with a Spitfire -

Whilst the grey sky didn't make for the best photographs the moisture in the air combined with the tight turns created some cracking vapour. 

Some more highlights -

Airbourne - 15-18th August

Full blog here

My beloved Airbourne returned for it's 30th birthday with the final UK appearance by the Red Arrows before they headed off for their tour of Canada.

My favourite of this year's moves

Highlights of the rest of the afternoon -

Friday set the trend for the rest of the weekend with the return of the sunshine and was in some ways my favourite day of the weekend with the emotional return of the BBMF Lancaster and also the ticking off of the top of my aviation bucket list with the appearance of the SAAB Draken. 

The coolest looking aircraft

The beautiful lady returns

The show was closed by a thunderous display from the Typhoon -

Some cracking vapour

The rest of the day's flying -

Saturday & Sunday were 'full' days with more aircraft packed in. One highlight for me were The Starlings -

The two Spitfires from the Aircraft Restoration Company's D Day Squadron

Another lovely 'sounding' display from the weekend was the Rolls Royce Heritage Flight's Spitfire & Mustang pair with their Griffon & Merlin engines respectively. 

Mustang

Saturday's highlights -

Sunday's highlights -

Bournemouth Airshow - 30th August

Full blog here

The seafront show theme continued with another bucket list tick off at Bournemouth. The Draken returned with another SAAB type the Viggen.

Another crazy looking design

One of my favourite team displays of the year have been the Royal Navy Black Cats and they were in their natural nautical environment -

Some more highlights of the show -

Duxford Battle Of Britain Airshow - 14th September

Full blog here

My final show of the year was Duxford's Battle Of Britain Airshow and it was another show blessed by some beautiful weather. Naturally this is always the best show of the year for warbirds and there were some real beauties on display. 

The show of course opened with a Battle Of Britain Dogfight -

A nice contrast was the appearance of the RAF's newest fighter in the F35 role demo -

Thunderbolt

Hurricanes

Sally B with the Lancaster

I really enjoyed the Mustang pair of Miss Helen & Jersey Jerk -

It was my final encounter with the Typhoon of the year too -

The show, as always, ended with the mass Spitfire & Hurricane flypast. It never fails to bring a tear to my eye, the sound of the engines is just so emotive. You can always hear a pin drop as the aircraft are approaching. 

Much more warbird content in the highlights -

It's been an absolutely fantastic season and I've been lucky to get to plenty of shows. A few weeks ago we got the good news that Airbourne's future has been secured for another year for 2025. I also have my RIAT tickets booked (sadly in a hotel once more as camping isn't something I'll be able to do again) for all 3 days this time! All I'm waiting for now is to see if/which Duxford shows Lynn's Travel will be doing next year.

Thank you for all your lovely feedback on my airshow content this year, be it views on my YouTube Channel or likes and comments on my Instagram. I can't wait to be back out with the cameras geeking away!

Love Jen

XxxX