About

Hello, hey, hi! I’m Stephanie O’Keefe. I started this blog to catalog the project my husband and I created to celebrate turning 50. That’s since wrapped up, and now, this blog is a personal space for me to share stuff intermittently about music, gigs, and life in general. I’m a Global HR Business Partner at Automattic. I live in Sheffield, UK with my husband, two sons and our rescue dog.

The 50-50 project

We are Steph and Mike. We love music. The 50-50 project was our 2022 goal to attend 50 live music ‘events’ in one year. The purpose; celebrate music, life, and 50 years (each) on this planet.

Some gigs were small and intimate in local bars and dark clubs. Some were arena style. We also went to record launches, open-air festivals, and some other experimental settings. We attended DJ sets, big bands, and orchestras. We saw new bands and music theater. We enjoyed bands of our youth alongside emerging talent and bands our kids love. We just wanted to try out all the music. We were excited to find different types of music from across the world.

Anything was fair game. It just needed to be live. We had to be there in person to experience it. It was harder to achieve than we imagined (partly because covid was still disrupting live events), but a lot of fun! We cataloged the gigs for our own indulgence.

See the Gig list with linked posts here

Firsts

My first gig:

OMD and Depeche Mode at the Radio One roadshow, c. 1986. I’ve not yet found any online evidence of the show, though I do have band member autographs somewhere.

My first record:

I asked and received ‘Super Trouper’ by Abba for Christmas in December 1980. This is the first time I remember being interested in pop music in my own right. It was different from whatever music my parents were listening to.

Mike’s first gig:

Either Hothouse Flowers at the Appleton Arms, Warrington c. 1987, or the Earthbeat festival at Sefton Park, Liverpool, 1987