Do you all remember how, a few weeks back, I posted that nifty column beginning to tell about my adventures in Europe and how it connected back to Wizard Rock? Well, I’m finally able to continue the mini-series after getting settled at my new job! Hurray!

While more often than not, I will be describing to you how I brought Wizard Rock with me,  I would like to take some time now to tell you more about the actual gigs I attended. I was in Scotland for four months and attended two gigs in England, two in Scotland (technically), and one in Sweden.

My first actual Wizard Rock experience outside of the US took place in Birmingham. To say the least, I was freaking excited about my first ever opportunity to watch international Wizard Rockers perform live. The show was labeled as “fancy dress” and I was totally excited for the opportunity to get dressed up and have a good time. You see, I had brought my Hogwarts robes overseas with me. There was really no way I couldn’t, the way I see it, and this was my first opportunity to pull them out of the wardrobe and wear them out in public since I left home. To top it off, I had just gotten an awesome orange dress, and got to add to the brightness of the orange and yellow with fuchsia leggings. I was meeting up with a number of my friends upon my arrival at the train station, at which point I was able to help my friend Christie (who you will hear more about later) find the final pieces to her outfit… a Cornish Pixie. She was blue and everything. Absolutely awesome! The she and I were running around Birmingham in bright blue wings and bright yellow robes (respectively). Not something you see every day.

It was after spending a good amount of time with the other fans who had come to Birmingham for the event that it was finally time to head to the library. (In the interim, Christie and I decided to play iPod karaoke. You should try it!) Before I move on to my description of the show itself, I would like to provide a little information on my mental state at the time (are you worried?). Two nights before, I only managed to get a few hours sleep because I was finishing some work for class the next day. The night before, I didn’t sleep at all because I was watching episode after episode of “How I Met Your Mother”. So when I looked at the clock and realized it was 5:30am and time to leave my flat for the train station, I was shocked. Needless to say, by this point I was on about my 10th wind and was exceptionally delirious.

That was when we got into the library and started meeting the bands who were playing. I already knew Zoe (Split Seven Ways), but it was my first time meeting the girls of Siriusly Hazza P and Luna Wants A Long Bottom. Siriusly Hazza P blew me away with their hilarious and adorable recreation of the series through Wizard Rock, both original music and covers. We were encouraged to sing along with songs we already knew, and I know I had a ton of fun with it! Split Seven Ways followed, impressing me with what I consider her most amazing show to date (that date, at least!). Zoe was confident, composed, and sang like a pro! And gave us a taste of a song previously unreleased! Finally, the show was topped off with Luna Wants A Long Bottom, a band I had heard a little of before, but didn’t know much about. Their set not only included fun and entertaining music, but they had some dancing involved and general fun all around. I took the opportunity of their set to get up and start the dancing! I even pulled a few others to the dance floor with me!

Prior to this show, Christie and I had discussed with a couple other friends the idea of having a Wizard Rock show at (or on) Loch Ness. We were going to call it Wrock the Loch. So when the Birmingham gig was over, we started telling people about it, encouraging them to come up to Scotland and croon to Nessie with us.

Before that was to happen, I made the amazing journey to Stockholm, Sweden for their “Wizard Rock Halloween”… an amazing show and event. However, I already covered it in a previous column for ‘Straight from the Dinah Saur’s Mouth’, so I’m just going to point you in that direction at this point!

I will be posting again soon about the rest of the Wizard Rock events I attended in my time abroad! Prepare to hear about the amazingness that was Wrock the Loch! And as a teaser, you’ll find below a video from that event. Huzzah!

^_^

Dinah Saur

*rawr*