Some of you may or may not know that I am a
HUGE Massive Attack fan, and have been since their first hit single Unfinished Sympathy in the 1980's. I own absolutely everything they have ever done, and have even introduced a few Swampies to their genius. My Facebook friends will have noticed me favourite loads of videos, as I love how they perform live, and have been dying to see them in concert.
Well, around Christmas time they were putting tickets up for sale for a gig at the Hammersmith Apollo, which is like half an hour from my house, but the timing was awful. There was no way I could justify £70 a ticket with presents to buy, so I let it go, extremely disappointed. They hardly ever come to London, as they tour Europe, so this was a big opportunity missed.
I follow their Twitter @massiveattackuk, and a couple of days ago they started a competition to celebrate the release of their new album. Simply retweet the message to be in with a chance of winning tickets, so I did so and thought nothing more of it.
Yesterday I get a push notification on my iPhone, a DM from Massive Attack saying I had been shortlisted to win the tickets, be the first to reply to win. I replied immediately and then a minute later I got another DM saying CONGRATULATIONS you've won, please email your name etc to blah blah. I was in shock. Was this real? Did I really just beat thousands of people into winning the tickets? No way. I emailed the guy with my details and he emailed me back to confirm my name +1 guest was now on the Guest List. I read it about 5 times. OMFG this is real, I've actually won the ****ing tickets!
I phoned my husband who thought I was taking the piss, then he finally believed me. Told me to take someone else if I could find anyone at this short notice (he's not really a fan like me). Phoned my mate, we screamed on the phone for about 20 minutes and made arrangements for the night.
We arrived at Hammersmith Apollo and at this point I'm still not expecting my name to really be on the guest list, but hey, lets go in and see anyway. Went up the ticket office, said I'm on the guest list, gave my name (fingers crossed). She found my name straight away, not only that but I have seats in the upper stall and a pass for the after party in the bar. O.o F*ck me it's actually real.
The night was absolutely AMAZING. I can't describe how seriously awesome it was. Not only did they perform some of my favourite hits, Angel, Teardrops, Unfinished Sympathy but freaking
Daman Albarn (Gorillaz) shows up too.
So there we have it, a lifelong dream realised in the space of a few hours thanks to some amazing luck, Twitter and Push Notifications on my phone.
Massive Attack, Hammersmith Apollo, London, February 11th 2010.
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