Recipe for a famous sock - KISS in Chicago!

Here's what you need to make your sock (or in this case Amanda's sock) famous

2 good friends on an adventure - one has to be smart enough to think outside the knitting bag - in this case all credit goes to Amanda!

2 tickets to KISS & 2 surprise backstage passes

1 sock in progress

Add a dash of waiting in line and persistence in the backstage area and you get this:

KISS holding a SOCK in progress!

After picture enjoy the concert and let rest for a while in a cool dark room until mid-noon

Wake up, brush off Rock N Roll party dust and send photo to the Yarn Harlot

Watch Amanda's pink sock become famous!

Backstage at KISS and being on the Yarn Harlot's blog in less then a week... This is so exciting I might pass out.

New Years Eve with Rihanna in Abu Dhabi

Husband and I decided to ring in the new year at (what I'm guess was) the biggest New Years party in the UAE - Rihanna's concert.

I was quite reluctant to go as I am no fan of going out to crowded places where lots of people are drinking and then worrying about driving home with all those drinking people driving home at the same time.... But husband persisted and I'm glad he did because we had a blast!!

We arrived about 15 minutes before the concert started and met up with some friend. We then proceeded to the concert area where we stood around for about 5 minutes before Rihanna came on stage.


I must say that she was great! I was pleasantly surprised at how well she sang live and she seemed to really be enjoying her self on stage.... rather than just going through the motions cough*beyonce*cough

She sang a great set that included all of her hits (wow there are a lot of them) and then ended the show with Umbrella...


Then the fireworks started...

they were amazing!!! I love fireworks!

After that we walked over to the after party and needless to say it was a bit crowded


Basically we had a fantastic night and got home insanely late (for us at least) and had a nice sleep in for new years day..

Hope everyone had a fantastic new years and wishing you and your families all the best for 20-10

Coldplay at Emirates Palace

That's right! I went to see Coldplay last night. OMGsh it was so much fun. Seriously. I had a blast.

It was raining when we got to the concert at Emirates palace in Abu Dhabi. That's right people I went to two concerts two nights in a row at the same venue.

So after we got to the concert we headed over to the Silent Disco. Ok I had never been to a silent disco before and I will admit that I was a bit sceptical going into it but it was actually a lot of fun.

At first it looks weird cause to a passer by there is a DJ at a stand obviously lost in to the music he's spinning and a bunch of people dancing to the same beat laughing and having a great time except there's no music! None! All that anyone can hear is the squeak of shoes from the dancers and people ordering beverages as well as the occasional overly loud person trying to communicate over the non-existent sound.

But head up to the entrance and you are handed headphones the same headphones everyone else is wearing. Put them on and you are apart of the party. You hear what everyone else is hearing. Dancing to the music the DJ is playing. It's a fantastic idea and quite the experience.


After enjoying the silent disco for a while we headed over to the concert so that we wouldn't miss the beginning. Coldplay was fabulous and they got to play a couple songs before the rain really started to pour


Obviously the rain had no effect on the crowd. There were so many people! I would say definitely more than 15000 people showed up


Coldplay them selves were so great about keeping the crowd in a great mood even though it was pouring. In fact I think the rain just added to the fun and the lightening seemed to know exactly which moments to light up the sky.


Like this moment.


Overall I was really impressed with Coldplay. They were fantastic live. Also what really impressed me was that in honor of last night, which was earth hour, they preformed the concert (no not in the dark) with nearly a 0 (that's zero people) carbon foot print. This is amazing for any concert let along a concert in a country that has one of the highest carbon footprints per capita in the world. They set a great example for the world.

Andrea Bocelli in Abu Dhabi

Oh yeah! Andrea Bocelli paid us a visit last night at Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. I must say this man's voice is AMAZING. Seriously amazing. I have been to a lot of concerts and heard a lot of artists live and I must say Andrea Bocelli's voice is flawless.
Photo from here
I was really looking forward to this concert. I first heard Andrea Bocelli for the first time about 10 years ago when I was in Las Vegas Navada. I was standing outside the new Bellagio. They have this amazing man made lake out front that has water cannons that do a show matching to music and when I walked past it was to one of Andrea's songs. You could hear his voice up and down the entire strip and ever since then I have been quite fond of his singing.

So I was very excited to have the opportunity to hear him live and in person. I tell you he did not let me down and the guests he brought along with him were just as impressive. It really made me thank my lucky starts that I took that class on operas in college cause I was able to recognize most of the songs he sang last night. La Traviata, Carmen, La Bohem... they were all represented and more.

This is the stage with the ginormous Emirates Palace in the background


And here's the nearly 10,000 people that came to watch Andrea Bocelli sing.


I must say that I did feel a little underdressed. I wore my usual outdoor concert attire... Jeans, black boots and a nice but warm top (and my Phiaro!!! woot woot!). Some others were wearing gowns like they were going to a proper opera. Fair enough that these were proper opera singers but the concert was outside in the sand and it was cold, windy and just plain stormy. No ball gown for me.

Alicia and George

last night i headed out to the Alicia Keys / George Michael concert at the Zayed Sports Stadium!! and i must say it was a lot of fun.



this is where i hung out until we got closer to the start of the concert. because of my hatred for traffic i always get to concerts either late after they start (if i'm not too interested in the opening act) or super early when i want to make sure to see the start of the concert. well obviously i really wanted to see Alicia Keys so i got there super early and i went to the lounge and had my usual Red Bull Sugarfree while i hung out with some friends.



this is the crowd that welcomed us as we walked down into the arena. massive.



here's Alicia Keys singing amazingly. i must say that some artists are a bit disappointing (cough-dixi chicks-cough) in person but Alicia's voice is is incredible and sounds as good (if not better) in person as on her cd's not to mention she's gorgeous.



and here is George Michael. yeah i know. GEORGE MICHAEL! in person. his voice was really good as well and he's show was fantastic.



it's kinda hard to tell in this pic but here is the crowd while George Michael was singing. seriously i didn't think it could get bigger but it did. which is why i had to get out of it.

over all the concert was well organized and easy to get in and out of and the show was fantabulous! i would definitely head out to another concert at the Zayed Sports Stadium

the only piece of feed back that i would have (which has nothing to do with the artists or the concert organizer) is that if you are a woman (or man for that matter) with long hair, especially curly, please keep in mind just how much space your hair takes up when you are in a crowded confined area. it is no fun to have someone else's hair in your face and flicking you as some girl dances in front of you. i don't enjoy it. i mean seriously is it so hard to tie it back or braid it or something? and really you don't know that you are hitting everyone around you with you hair as you flip your head around? oooh it makes me shudder just thinking about it. i'll admit that i'm very sensitive in crowds. more like i hate them. therefore i'm not very tolerant but when the third girl (taller than me i might add) decides standing in front of me is the very best place to be at the whole entire concert and the proceeds to whip me with her frizzy hair i become very intolerant. that is when said girl should be grateful that i don't have scissors on me cause she wouldn't have that long hair anymore if i did. don't get me wrong i love long hair. in fact i have had seriously long hair a few times in my life but i always tried to respect the people around me as i always figured that even though i got many compliments on my hair that that didn't mean people wanted a mouth full of it. see? here's my hair at the Bon Jovi concert. tied back.

oh yeah, and you, loud whistle guy. warn the people in front of you first!