It’s the first time we’ve headed back that way since moving from Berkshire to South Devon and – once we’d got over the loooooong journey – we were very happy to find ourselves in the capital for a night at Live By The Lake. 

When you have kids, the opportunity for an evening out together is a rare and very lovely one. It’s funny, I don’t think I’ve had a bad night out since becoming a mum and that’s partly because I’m so damn excited to be off duty that any night out seems pretty special.

That said, Friday night was a spectacular treat, because it involved a night in a hotel, drinks in a pretty pub AND the most stunning setting for a gig I’ve ever experienced.

Set against the rolling gardens and lake of Kenwood House in London, Live By The Lake is a series of concerts over a week. The line-up includes the likes of Suede (who we saw on Friday night), Keane (who played on Saturday), plus a whole host of classical music.

We started our Friday night in The Spaniards Inn, a gorgeous pub with the best chips I’ve ever tasted. A couple of gin and tonics with friends under the dappled shade of the leafy courtyard and I was more than ready to head over the venue.

Walking into the stately gardens of Kenwood House was a bit surreal. Couples, groups of friends and families lounged on the grass relaxing in the evening sunshine, soaking in the grand setting. 

Despite taking about a gazillion pictures, none of my photos could do the place justice. It’s just so vast and green and beautifully kept, it felt a bit like stumbling across a secret place.

The NLM and I have been together for more than five years now, but we’ve never been to a gig together before. I know, ridiculous. Part of the problem is that we have really different taste in music.

Friday night was a refreshing change though, because we didn’t squabble over the tunes once. Both being kids of the 90s, the Britpop music of that era is about the only music that we both agree is good. We grew up on Pulp, Oasis, Blur and Suede. I liked Suede back in the day, but the NLM was a HUGE fan and still rates them as one of his favourite bands now.

There’s nothing that quite beats the excitement and anticipation of seeing a band play live, but the setting of this particular gig marks it out from every other concert I’ve ever been to. There was enough room to sit down or dance around without getting trodden on. Plus, the atmosphere was really relaxed – we even saw groups of families with toddlers chilling out at the back taking in the tunes.

Whilst the queue for the bar was hefty, once we’d made the decision to get in a couple of rounds each time, we didn’t need to worry about going back to join the queues again. I didn’t wait more than ten minutes for the loo either, which is a blessing when you’ve had a few drinks!

The NLM is a teacher and, although it’s been great having time together as a family over the last few weeks, I have to admit there have been moments recently where we’ve got on each other’s nerves. We’ve survived a huge relocation, my own stress over pending work deadlines and the juggle of life / kids / work / moving. It’s fair to say we needed a night off from it all, away from it all. And Live By The Lake provided that perfectly.

The verdict? Brilliant music + superb setting = happy mum and dad.

***

I was provided with four tickets to a night at Live By The Lake, for the purpose of this review. 

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I’m a firm believer that parents need some downtime too, and what better way to grab that time than an open air concert at a stunning venue like this?

We’re going with friends, so it should be a brilliant night of relaxation and fun. Plus, I have won some major wife points for getting tickets to see my husband’s favourite band of the 90s – Suede. 

Remember these guys?

Stuff you need to know: 

Live By The Lake runs from Friday 23rd August to Sunday 1st September and includes an amazing array of artists, including classical to Indie to crooners. You can check out the full line-up here.

You’re encouraged to take your own picnic (although Suede and Keane are standing only, so no picnics allowed) and chill out in the beautiful grounds while soaking up some stunning music.

If you don’t want to faff with your own sarnies then there’s an option to order a special Carluccio’s picnic. Just looking at pictures of it makes me hungry.

Can you tell I’m excited? A night off, in London, at a beautiful place with lovely friends. Couldn’t be more perfect really. (Hope it doesn’t rain.)

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My two year old has always loved music, from the newborn days when she’d stop and turn her head towards the direction of my (mostly awful) singing, to now, when she tends to do most of the singing herself.

Singing at bedtime

As a baby, we did a singing session at a local church hall, involving lots of plastic instruments and bells. Then, at around 9 months, we switched to a different club that didn’t clash with sleep patterns, and we’ve been going there ever since. But, due to changes in lifestyle and childcare patterns, this Thursday will be Frog’s last ever session at that group.

On the one hand, it makes me sad. It’s a bit like the end of an era. The familiar faces of other mums at the group and the little Thursday afternoon routine that we’ve stuck to over the past year will be no more. The classes are in a local gym and I’ve become used to lifting my ever-growing tot up to the window, to watch the serene swimmers doing lengths in the pool and the polished professionals lounging in the jacuzzi. It’s a rhythm of our life that I’ve taken for granted but, as with all things child related, it has suddenly stopped and we’re now moving to a new beat.

Without the weekly singing sessions, my karaoke queen will have to be content with the regular dance and song classes run at her nursery. She’ll have to amuse herself with constant YouTube videos of her favourite rhymes. I have no doubt the evening family meal will continue to be punctuated by bursts of Old MacDonald Had A Farm and Row Row Row Your Boat. She’s nothing if not predictable.

There’s a certain infectious vitality in toddler song. When my tot is really belting it out, she’s lost in music, deep in a world of high notes and comforting stories. She sits back and closes her eyes, moving her arms as if conducting her own imaginary orchestra. The complete lack of self-consciousness is infectious. She could be in the middle of a busy supermarket or alone in her bedroom and her behaviour would be the same.

As loud and repetitive and often comical as her singing is, it marks the soundtrack of our lives: joyful and full of gusto. And for that reason, I never want her singing to stop.

(Just remind me of that next time she serenades me with a Justin Bieber track.)

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First it was shoes:

Then it was hats:

Then it was ketchup, Mr Tumble, pasta, swings, chocolate, ketchup again, books, crayons and Mr Bloom.

Those were all the things she loved. Loves.

But now she is a little older she has started letting us know (in no uncertain terms) what she DOESN’T love. Namely, what she “DON’T LIKE MUMMY!” At the moment this list consists of willies, lawn mowers, Grandpa in My Pocket, bedtime, not being allowed to sit in puddles and anything that isn’t yoghurt.

When Frog gets her mind set on something it’s like the inevitable trickle of water towards a waterfall. There’s no distraction. It’s from nought to sixty in a second. The rage is all consuming and That. Is. It.

Of all the obsessions that have tested my patience the most, it’s one song. She’s been through Gangnam Style and out the other side. The Wheels on the Bus is history. Even Carly Rae Jepsen has been crossed off the list.

But those bloody monkeys… They’ve been in our life for at least six months now and they’re showing no sign of going anywhere.

Meet my child’s Obsession Number One. Five Little (very annoying) Monkeys. Kill me now.

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Well that does it. As if my cool credentials weren’t at the bottom of the heap already, Kate at Kate Takes 5 has issued another Listography highly likely to make me cringe.

But needs must and if I can do stand up comedy and read the news in my bra, I can own up to some dreadful taste in music.

This week’s Listography demands that we admit to the first five albums we ever owned. So here goes…..

1. Kyle Minogue: Kylie

I went through a phase of actually believing that I was Kylie Minogue. Remember that look she used to sport with the curly hair flowing out of a hat? I adored it. I used to sit in the bath singing I should be so lucky, lucky lucky lucky at the top of my voice. I was five OK? Give me a break.

2. Bonnie Tyler: Super Hits

I’m not apologising for this one. Total Eclipse of the Heart and Holding Out for a Hero? Classic tunes.

3. Take That: Everything Changes

Again, no apologies. You already know how much I love TT (as us fans call them).

4. Red Hot Chilli Peppers: Blood Sugar Sex Magik

Ok, so I realise Take That and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers may be unlikely partners in a music collection, but I acquired this album completely by accident. A boy at school recorded it for me onto cassette when I was eleven. I thought I was desperately cool and painstakingly copied the picture on the front cover.

5. Oasis: (What’s the Story?) Morning Glory

Don’t confuse me with someone who’s got taste. I bought this when I was twelve and decided I was an Indie. I cut my hair into something resembling a wedge of cheese (because I wanted to look like Justine Frischman out of Elastica) and died it brown. Except it didn’t go brown, it went bright red because my cousin sneaked a bit of red food colouring into the mixture to “give it some oomph”.

I persevered with my new image though, and bought a tank top. I then read something about Oasis “cracking the big apple” and, having no idea what that actually meant and becoming a little confused, I proudly told my dad I knew of a new band who were so good they were going to “crack an orange”.

And that was the end of my dalliance with cool. Long live Bonnie Tyler.

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The heroine herself

If you’ve seen last week’s Listography post, you’ll realise I have rubbish taste in films. And here’s the thing: my taste in music is no better.

I have tried and failed to like “cool” music. I went through the gig phase at university. I rather got into The Libertines at one stage. I even copied my (much cooler) best friend’s Doves CD. But, if I’m totally honest, I’m not really that bothered by it all.

So that’s why I’ve decided to be totally honest when replying to Ipswich Mummy’s (Him, Me and Three) Soundtrack of My Life post. I am a mum now, so I can embrace my totally crap taste in music. Isn’t that what parents are for – to humiliate and embarrass their offspring? Well, that’s what my mum always told me anyway….

1. Bonnie Tyler – Total Eclipse of the HeartThis memory goes far back. It’s behind singing in the bath to Kylie’s I Should Be So Lucky (aged 3) but before crying at my love for Take That when they were on Going Live (aged 10).

   I am sitting in the back of my uncle’s car, by a rainy beach in North Wales. My cool older cousin has allowed me to stay in the car with her and her best friend while we listen to Bonnie Tyler. We have a new favourite song: Total Eclipse of the Heart. Or rather, they have a new favourite song. I just like it because my cousin likes it and anything she likes, I do too. We are learning the words to this amazing new song. Every time Bonnie warbles out a line, we have to pause the cassette in the tape deck and write it down, before repeating it. By the end of that holiday in North Wales I knew all the words and had my own copy of Bonnie Tyler’s album on cassette. I still know all the words and am happy to sing them for you, providing you give me a cheap Karaoke mic and a couple of Sambucca’s.

2. Take That – PrayPossibly my favourite Take That song, like, ever. TT (as us fans like to refer to them) were the first band I saw live. Aged 9, I spent an entire week deciding what to wear and made my mum take me to Tammy Girl to get a new pair of jeans for the occasion. I went with my aunty and her husband. It was the Everything Changes Tour. Mark sang Babe in a big woolly jumper. The boys did the most amazing dance to Pray. I was allowed to stand on a chair and copy the older girls screaming (at the time, I’m not sure I was fully aware why they were screaming, but I’ve always liked noise and I didn’t want to be outdone). Brilliant.
3. Eiffel 65 – Blue.I KNOW! But I said I was going to be honest…this was a summer holiday anthem when I was about 15. We went camping to France and I was among a gang of teenagers roaming the campsite being generally annoying. We thought we were so cool, making up a “big fish, little fish, cardboard box” style routine to this song. I taught the dance to my friends when I got home. We still know it now and have cleared dance-floors with it in the past. I can teach it to you too, if you like.
4. DJ Sammy – Heaven.Again, I KNOW! Truly truly awful song. But I love it! Because it reminds me of my first year at university. I have met my future best friend and dance-floor partner. We are bonding over shots of Tequila and cheap wine. We are rocking the early Girls Aloud tassly belt and pointy boots combo. This is before GHDs so the hair is big. This song comes on and that’s it: mad scramble to the dance-floor and God help anyone who gets in our way. I’m not sure she’d admit to it now, but my (much cooler) best friend loved this song just as much as I did. Either that or she was humouring me.
5. Kent – 747.Yep, I hadn’t heard of them either. This was the song the (self-proclaimed) Northern Love Machine tried to woo me with. It must have worked, because two and a half years later we have a seven month old baby. And the cycle of humiliation and bad taste in music continues…

If you join in please post a link in the comments box below. For those that are tagged, I won’t be offended if you choose not to take part.

I tag:

@KateTakes5

@SuperAmazingMum

@Jessies_online

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