Hard Rock Calling, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, June 2013

This may have been a long time in the making but at the end of June I was over the moon to have had the chance to go to the Olympic Park or as the part I went to is now called the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. 

The reason I went there, Hard Rock Calling, which left Hyde Park and has now pitched up in the park. 

The first band we managed to catch were Irish band Kodaline, who were so good and even surprised my boyfriend who was convinced they were going to be like The Script. I loved High Hopes and the beautiful All I Want.

The headliners for the event were Kasabian who played a 2 hour set and were worth the £55 tickets price alone. Alongside crowd favourites LSF, Shoot the Runner and Fire, they also played Fatboy Slim's Praise You and The Korgis' Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometimes which was hauntingly beautiful. 

I have seen Kasabian twice before and they know how to work the audience in smaller venues but were masters of the crowd of around 45,000. It could have easily been their own concert. 

 The main stage was situated near the velodrome, which looked as if a spaceship had crash landed as the sun set behind it. 

Overall there were three stages - The Pepsi Max and Hard Rock Rising which had new acts and people like Gaz Coombes from Supergrass and Steve Cradock from Ocean Colour Scene who I heard briefly on my way to the toilet. 

The Pepsi Max stage was great and featured The Twang, The View and The Tribes. The Tribes were quite good and the boyfriend suggested that we check them out, we stayed for about twenty minutes of their set before catching the end of Miles Kane on the main stage. 

In between bands we also managed to catch a few songs by The Cribs, which was great and a brilliant warm up as I am planning to see them at the Victorious Festival in Portsmouth in August. Miles Kane rocked it in all white and we heard him perform Come Closer, Inhaler and the amazing Give Up which sounded phenomenal. 

 After him was the Modfather Paul Weller, who even though he only played for about an hour filled it with hit after hit - The Changing Man and That's Entertainment. 

 I have seen Weller twice before and always had to leave before the end so have never seen him perform Town Called Malice. This time we were there and when the opening chords started the whole field erupted and everyone was dancing their heart out, including me and my boyfriend. Paul Weller did not disappoint. 

 For food we had a pulled pork sandwich from Barbeco Jamie Oliver stand, it was delicious and was only about £6. Quite good value for money as there was a lot and I couldn't eat it all. 

 However, the drinks were quite expensive, soft drinks were £2.50 and considering how hot it was there was the chance people could have gone through quite a bit. Also my boyfriend didn't manage to have a cold, refreshing pint as the queues for the bar was ridiculous.

Overall though I loved being at the park and watching these amazing bands, if they are this good next year at the same price I will be there. 

 And while I remember we got to walk right past the Olympic Stadium and the strange red looking thing. The stadium is huge and it is hard to believe that this time last year the Olympics were about to kick off and the park was buzzing with people everyday.

Wow...didn't Britain do well

I have to admit that that I have never been a fan of the Olympics, always thought it was just people running about or throwing things, nothing of any interest.

However in the past 16 days this has all changed. It all started with the opening ceremony extravaganza orchestrated by Lancashire film director Danny Boyle.  It was amazing! Full of all things British - Mary Poppins, Voldemort, the industrial revolution, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, cricket, while also celebrating the great music, television shows and films from our fair isle.

It just made me feel very proud to be British, showcasing all the things that are great about our island.

Then the games began and after three days we hadn't won anything. Uh-oh interest starting to waiver.

But then we got one a silver in the cycling and then a gold (well two but counts as one) Helen Glover and Heather Stanning won gold in the women's coxless pair in the rowing.

That is when it got exciting! We won gold medals in cycling, athletics, shooting, and canoeing. Silver and bronzes in sailing, tennis, swimming, gymnastics and diving plus loads more - 29 gold, 17 silver, 19 bronze. Wow!

Watching Super Saturday was just fantastic, Jessica Ennis winning gold in the heptathlon, Greg Rutherford in the long jump and Mo Farah in the 10,000 metres, these three were added by three others in the rowing and women's team pursuit in cycling. I have never screamed at the television so much as when I was watching Jess's heats or Mo in the final straight. It was just amazing.

Names that were household names regained their crowns or added to their medal count - Bradley Wiggins the Tour de France champ and Mod God won the men's time trial; Chris Hoy won his sixth gold medal, Victoria Pendleton and Rebecca Adlington did us proud.

Then there were others who are now the names the future generations will remember - the Brownlee brothers, Nicola Adams in boxing, Jade Jones in taekwondo, Anthony Ogogo in boxing and Lizzie Armitstead who won our first medal of the games in the women's road race.

So many amazing athletes in Team GB truly our greatest team. 

Also it makes you look to Rio with hope for even more medals, so many young stars coming through the ranks - Laura Trott may have won two golds in cycling but she is only 20! Diver Tom Daley is only 18 and has a lot more dives in him and heptathlon rising star Katarina Johnson-Thompson who is only 19.

This really is a games to inspire future generations and I really hope it does.

Then we got to the closing ceremony a celebration of British music and boy was it! Kaiser Chiefs and Mods singing Pinball Wizard, the Spice Girls, THE SPICE GIRLS singing Wannabe and Spice up your life, The Who, Gallagher singing Wonderwall - Liam not Noel, Pet Shop Boys and loads more. It was a true celebration of the athletes and all they have accomplished and looking forward to Rio 2016.

We in Britain did do it right and I am incredibly proud to be British and can only see this growing after the Paralympics.

The Paralympics which is in two weeks! Where Team GB will hopefully do it all again, hopefully Eleanor Simmonds will get swimming glory, Sophie Warner in athletics and Shelly Woods in wheelchair racing.

COME ON TEAM GB...AGAIN!!

When the Olympic Torch came to Portsmouth

Over the last couple of weeks the Olympic Torch has been weaving its way around the UK, and every day in the week I have heard Chris Moyles talk about torch cam on his show.

When I found out the torch was not only coming to Portsmouth twice but was coming on a Sunday I knew I had to go and see what all the fuss was about.

Portsmouth held an event on Southsea common, with performances from Twist and Pulse from Britain's Got Talent, local dance groups and Brighton band Rizzle Kicks. The band performed for about 15 minutes until the torch came in at 6.55pm. They were fantastic and I'm glad I got to see them live.

Three sponsors, Lloyds TSB, Coca Cola and Samsung ,had vans around the side where you could have your photo taken with a torch, there were long queues and after a little 'what are they doing? They are so silly queueing for a torch photo...' We got in one and had our photo taken.

The torch was lighter than I thought it would be.

The atmosphere was just amazing, it was buzzing so many people around and as the torch got closer it just built and built.

Then the torch, buses from coke came by and then just peeping over the top of the crowds heads was the torch, I don't know who was carrying it but it looked fantastic and I could see the flame.

I felt privileged to see it with thousands of other people. There aren't many times you can feel proud to be British but seeing the people of Portsmouth cheering and clapping and just getting involved made me feel very proud of not only my city but where I come from.

I wasn't that bothered about the Olympics before but after seeing the torch I cannot wait for the Olympics to start and Team GB to win some gold!!

The torch just outside the Queen's Hotel in Southsea...