Brighton Rocks!

On Friday I visited Brighton for the first time. Steph, Stat and I went down primarily to see The Deciphers play, but also to catch up with Chloe & Antony and to check out the city.

Unfortunately due to over sleeping (the alarm didn’t go off), we didn’t get there until nearly 3pm (it’s a 4 hour drive), but we still had enough time to have a look around – and we liked what we saw. After meeting up with Chloe & Antony and depositing our luggage at their flat we headed off to ‘The Lanes‘ – Brighton’s historic quarter, which is a maze of narrow streets and alleyways filled with dozens of shops, boutiques, bars, cafes and galleries, selling everything you can possibly imagine. Many of these are brightly painted and adorned with graffiti or sculptures – it really is one of the most interesting and ‘vibey’ places I’ve been, Steph and I both loved it and vowed to return so we could explore some more. Before long I was daydreaming about what it must have been like in the swinging 60’s – the place is bohemian enough now, it would have been amazing in the 60s and 70s!

We wandered around aimlessly for a couple of hours soaking up the atmosphere, dipping in and out of shops – Steph bought a cowboy hat and some new sunglasses (she really looked like she belonged there!) and I searched in vain for some slip-on vans trainers, but as usual nowhere stocked my freakishly large shoe size.

Before long Steph, Stat and I (along with Chloe’s friend Shona who’s visiting from Australia) made our way to the sea front. Living where we do, home is about as far away from the sea as you can get in the UK, so there was no chance of us going all the way to Brighton and not making it to the beach! We headed straight for the Pier to soak up some classic British seaside culture – along the way we introduced Shona to ‘chavs’. Unsurprisingly the whole Pier experience was a little tacky – as is British seaside resort fashion, but it was fun to walk along the Pier taking photos and seeing what was going on. Shona headed back to the flat and the three of us enjoyed fish and chips on the Pier for tea – how very English!

After a little more wandering, we decided to make our way to The Barfly where the boys were playing at. We arrived to find no one there, but after a phone call and some slightly over-complicated directions (thanks Michael!) we found everyone at a a nearby bar – they were all eating what looked like the most amazing Thai food, it was completely out of place in the type of bar it was and I secretly wished I’d had their food instead of Fish & Chips on the Pier.

A couple of ice cold beers later (it was a hot day and we’d done a lot or walking!) everyone made their way to the venue for the gig. I’m not sure whether it was the sea air, or maybe the Thai food – but the boys were on fire! I wasn’t sure they’d make it to the end of the set due to the amount of energy dispensed during the first 3 songs – but they did, and the whole gig was brilliant. It was definitely their best performance together so far – and definitely a glimpse into what is hopefully the not too disant future when they’re playing in a different town every night to a room full of adoring fans. I was really proud of them that night, and proud to be able to witness it happening.

Post-gig we chatted to friends, caught up with some people we hadn’t seen for a while, and generally had a good time drinking and talking. Not long before the witching hour we headed back to the flat – what followed was a hot and sticky sleepless night – not exactly what the doctor ordered the night before a 4 hour drive home!

By 8:15am the next day we were sat in a cafe imaginatively named ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ eating sausage and egg sandwiches. By 9am we had hit the road and were heading north back to the Midlands, in serious need of some sleep.

Thank you Brighton, we’ll be back!

Update: My photos can be found here and Steph’s are here.

[tags]Brighton,The Deciphers,Brighton Pier,Brighton Lanes [/tags]