Arsenal vs Portsmouth - Highbury, London - Wednesday 28th December 2005

Something of a stroll in the park - Arsenal were one up inside 10 minutes, 2 up before 20 minutes, and 4 goals up by half time. Then they switched off, saved energy for the games coming up, and played out a goalless second half. The whole experience was reminiscent of the Arsenal that existed before this season, but I think that was probably more to do with how utterly bad Portsmouth were, as well as any specific qualities on Arsenal's part.

The day was extremely cold, and the evening was even colder - not much wind, just extremely cold. Snow outside London had also meant that there were very few trains in from Kent, and none back there after 8pm. Despite that, an attendance over 38,000, so very few seemed unable to brave the weather to get to Highbury.

Its Man Utd next at Highbury, and they will make life considerably more difficult for Arsenal, such is the huge gap between their quality and that of Portsmouth. I couldn't see Pompey scoring all week, let alone all evening, so they left with what they deserved from the game - nothing.

Huntingdon Boxing Day Races - Huntingdon - Monday 26th December 2005

Off to Huntingdon Racecourse for some Boxing Day outdoor action, instead of the Arsenal game. Its actually the first boxing day for 5 years that I haven't watched Arsenal (and I was out of the country for that one), so it seemed strange not to have to brave the non-existant public transport for once.

As is customary at these things I guess, lots of money was lost, until my saviour arrived in a horse called Jupon Vert - my only winner of the day at 4-1. To be fair, it only won because there was a 3-horse pile up at the final fence, but let's not worry about that.

Horse racing is a strange sport - lots of very wrinkly old men there, who normally probably spend all day in the bookies. I cannot understand the attraction of just watching horse races - it seems like the most boring thing in the world. But, when you're at the course and have small amounts of money on them, it turns into an excellent diversion for an afternoon.

Doncaster Rovers vs Arsenal - Belle Vue, Doncaster - Wednesday 21st December 2005

A trip to the cauldron of football pictured above, with its white hot, intimidating atmosphere!! The fact that Arsenal fans were given around 2,000 terrace places tempted lots of people into making the otherwise unappetising trip. Its not often that we get to watch football from terraces these days, so this was unmissable for many.

And, with good reason. My first time on a football terrace for a few years, and immediately it reminded me how much I miss them week in, week out. Standing at the back, right behind the goal with around 10 mates, the terrace filled up quickly in the half hour before kick off.

The most enjoyable aspect of a good 3 hours (including extra time and penalties) was the sheer number and frequency of songs - being packed in together much closer than you ever can be with seats certainly helps with this; as does the obvious ability for groups of friends and people that want to sing to park themselves together. Anybody from the football authorities who says that seats can have the same atmosphere as terraces is either blind or stupid, most probably both. This trip reminded me how much I miss terraces, and I will probably now go looking for some lower division or non-league football when I'm at a loose end in future.

What about the game? Arsenal were shocking, completely beaten for workrate and enthusiasm, not to mention willingness to have a shot at goal, by Doncaster. Too keen to pass the ball around the edge of the area instead of shoot, and not keen enough to get stuck in and win the ball back when needed. It seems the problem doesn't just affect our first teamers! So, Doncaster deserved their 2-1 win after extra time. Oh, sorry, they didn't get it. We scored in the last minute of extra time, then Almunia pulled off his penalty party trick in the shoot out. To be honest, we robbed them, and the faces of Doncaster fans coming out of the ground said as much. Never mind, we needed to go through today to get the train back on the rails, so I'll take it however lucky it may be.

Match Report here

Arsenal vs Chelsea - Highbury, London - Sunday 18th December 2005

Of all the times you could choose to play the reigning Champions and runaway league leaders, you probably wouldn't fancy your chances after you've just lost 2 in a row, and when you haven't scored a goal all month. So, some trepidation all round for this one.

The atmosphere inside Highbury was electric from before the players even came out - it seems after all that we can rouse ourselves for big important games like this, we just can't be arsed against the likes of Blackburn. Oh, and when we start losing big, important games like this, we all shut up again quicksharp.

First half, Arsenal came out strongly I thought, with an obvious game plan to get men behind the ball when Chelsea had it, and not to let them play too much. We made one mistake in trying that, and were punished with the only goal of the half. We also hit the post, and had the ball in their net (which was wrongly ruled out for offside). All in all a good first half performance.

After that, it started to go downhill - when we failed to make early progress in the second half, we quietened down, and in the end Chelsea were easily the better team.

I'm OK about being gracious and admitting all that - we didn't deserve anything from the game overall. But, the way that Chelsea play football really sticks in the throat - 5 players in the referee's ear after every decision; players doing sneaky fouls when they know the referee isn't looking; players going down and rolling around at every opportunity; and the constant moaning, fouling, diving, and, well basically its called cheating.

All very unsportsmanlike, and it stinks. No wonder Chelsea have no respect, when it is clearly a tactic running throughout the club to take advantage of every opportunity, no matter how petty, to possibly gain some advantage. It really takes football to its base level, and that's not something the majority of football fans want or like to see.

Hard Fi, Maximo Park, Editors, Dead 60s - Brixton Academy, London - Sunday 11th December 2005

The title of this post should start with the words "Kaiser Chiefs". The fact that it doesn't is a real shame.

Firstly, full marks to XFM for putting together such a great bill under the same roof, all in a good cause for Shelter. Much less than full marks to them for ruining all of the gaps between bands with a ridiculously annoying compere, and some of their very self important DJs, who none of the audience gave a toss about. And, most annoyingly of all, no marks for allowing the gig to overrun indefinitely, meaning that many people had to miss the Kaiser Chiefs in order to get the last Tube home.

Before the gig (the week before and the day before), it was billed as a 10:30 finish - fine for the Tube. Given that Hard Fi (second on the bill) didn't even come on stage until just after 10pm, that was clearly never going to happen. Maybe the organisers wanted all the gig goers to get really into the Shelter spirit, by all missing their last Tubes home and having to wander around all night, or perhaps get a dodgy minicab in the middle of Brixton. Thanks XFM!!

What allowed this to happen is probably due in some part to the new licensing laws, which previously would have forced the music to stop at 10:30. Now, with a 24-hour licence, there is no need to stop if they don't want to. I guess we could see more gigs like this in future, where the music overruns to past the time where transport stops - forcing people to either leave early or take their chances getting home. Most annoying.

Anyway, to the bands. Dead 60s were very much like the Coral, or in fact like a cross between the Coral and the Specials, 2 of my least favourite bands. They sounded OK, but I won't be going out of my way to see them again.

Editors, who I'd not seen before, were fantastic, sounding excellent, and their album will be high up on my Christmas list - one great song after another.

Maximo Park came on stage to a warm welcome, and announced that they were going to play their whole album, in order, for the first and probably the last time. I love the album, so was pleased with this. However, probably a mistake, because most of the best songs on the album are in the first half dozen tracks. This meant that the set started to flag halfway through, and by the end, many people that didn't know the album were starting to lose interest. I loved it though!
And then to Hard Fi. Having seen them 2 days previously and loved it, this was every bit as good. Playing to a less converted audience that were also there to see other bands, they really won everybody over with a very energetic, if shorter than normal, set.

At 10:45 when Hard Fi departed, so did I, along with dozens of others. I'm sure that the Kaiser Chiefs were good, but I'm also sure that there weren't that many people still there by the end of their set.

Oasis, Foo Fighters, Razorlight, The Coral, The Subways - Millennium Stadium, Cardiff - Saturday 10th December 2005

So, after 2 gigs the previous night, I set off unreasonably early in the morning for an extravaganza in the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. First announced back in July, this gig promised Oasis, Foo Fighters, Razorlight, The Coral and The Subways on the same bill - all in the Millennium Stadium with the roof shut.

Staying the Saturday night in Bristol meant that we went there first to check in. Then, just before midday, we caught the train at Bristol station, bound for Cardiff. Amazingly, given an event with 60,000 people in Cardiff that day, the return trains all finished at 9:30 - halfway through Oasis' set. It is incredible that our public "services" are allowed to so blatantly ignore us when we want them to serve us!!

After arriving in Cardiff, we retired to a bar for a few drinks, before getting into the stadium just in time to see The Subways play. They were surprisingly good, I had expected them to struggle in such a large venue, but they carried it all off very well.

After The Subways came The Coral, one of the bands I detest most in the world. Quite why was summed up by the number of times I heard the question "haven't they already played this one?" - given that all their songs sound the same, they of course played the same song a dozen times. Dull, dull, dull.

I had not seen Razorlight since Alexandra Palace in March, which did not go well! However, even at that gig, Razorlight sounded great, so I was quite looking forward to giving them another chance. And they didn't disappoint, they went down a storm, playing an excellent set that didn't dip at all during the hour they were on for. The singer is clearly an arrogant little bugger, but they get away with it by being a truly solid live band.

Next up, arguably a set that could have filled the stadium in its own right - Foo Fighters were warming up for a UK arena tour, and the fact that Oasis managed to get them as support act raised a few eyebrows when I told friends who was playing at this gig. A huge coup, and a truly world class live band didn't disappoint the audience at all. Some from the new album, some old singles from previous albums, a fantastic set all round.
Finally, Oasis. The big thing about watching Oasis is that your experience depends too much on those around you in the crowd, who can often be such tossers that they ruin the gig for you. It has happened many times before, that the idiot count in the crowd is just too high. A real shame, because your enjoyment of the gig often bears no resemblance to how good Oasis actually were. Little problem at this gig, as the crowd was a good one, so you could concentrate on enjoying the band. Lots to enjoy, albeit from a set which has been pretty much the same all year for Oasis gigs in the UK. There was a surprise outing for "The Masterplan" though, a very pleasant surprise indeed.

Being a stadium gig, we were all finished by 10:15, which allowed time for a quick beer in the Walkabout near the stadium - Welsh hen parties and all!! 2 hours, and a £60 cab ride later, we were all back in our Bristol hotel bar.

The Others - Koko, London - Friday 9th December 2005

A completely unnecessary one, this. Having just been to see Hard-Fi at the Astoria, and with a further 2 gigs in 2 days over the weekend to come, I decided to go to see The Others play a late gig in Camden. This may have had something to do with the beers I'd drunk, which meant I was up for anything. That, and the memory of the riotous show at the Garage in May, drew me up there.

After navigating the pretty long queue (I must say I detest Camden Town at 11pm, when everybody in the world seems to be trying to do the same thing I want to do), we got into the venue, got a beer, and watched the tail end of the support act, The Crimea. Sounded OK, but didn't really have a chance to get into the set before it finished.

The Others came on just after midnight, and t was extremely easy just to walk up to the front to watch. The front middle was busy, but you could easily stand about 5 rows back, or on the barrier at the edges of the stage.

The crowd were separated from the stage by a row of security and barriers, which kind of ruins the Others experience somewhat, especially in comparison to the Garage in May. The set was good enough, but the real point of the Others is to see them live in a small venue, with lots of stage diving. This didn't have that spark of riot about it, so it felt a bit flat.

Hard Fi - Astoria, London - Friday 9th December 2005

My second time with Hard-Fi in as many months, and my first headline show. Also, back at the Astoria, what a great venue that place really is. We got into the venue just after 8pm, and with no band playing, retired to the bar. No band in fact came on until around 9pm, when Hard Fi unexpectedly appeared, unexpectedly early because of the club nights that happen later on at the Astoria.

I enjoyed the set much more than the Lille gig a month ago, I think because the sound was better in tune with what Hard Fi play, also because the crowd was more up for it, and because they played for longer. The start was electric, and at some points the band were drowned out by the audience - a triumphant homecoming indeed!

I had heard and read about a Hard Fi cover of Seven Nation Army many times before, but tonight was the first time I'd heard it. I thought it was awful - it essentially doubles the number of musicians, but somehow manages to halve the quality of the song. I really don't know why they think that's a good idea - that song will be my "go to the bar/toliet" moment in future!

Other than that, a cracking set, leaving all of the audience wanting much more. Definitely high up the list to go and see next time (and in fact I'll be seeing them in 2 days time again - can't wait).

Arsenal vs Ajax - Highbury, London - Wednesday 7th December 2005

Something of a non-event really. Arsenal were guaranteed to qualify top of the group, and Ajax guaranteed to finish second. So, absolutely nothing to play for - the number of spare tickets floating around made this quite obvious, as did the attitude of many of the players, who treated it as a practice match. And you can't really blame them, with many far more important games coming up this month.

One thing of note did happen in the game - we got a penalty, which Thierry Henry slotted wide of the post. Other than that, the game just petered out into a dull 0-0 draw, one of the least interesting matches I've ever seen!

Prior to this game, Arsenal had set an all time record for scoring in consecutive European games - 22 games since we last failed to score. Well, all runs must come to an end some time, and at least the fact that it was now makes something vaguely interesting to say about this game.

The main fun and excitement came away from the game, in Lisbon to be precise. Manchester United, who apparently have won the Champions League trophy before (although you would never know, because the media never mention it); very humiliatingly failed to beat the mighty Benfica. That meant they failed to get through the group stage for the first time in 10 years, and even more amusingly, failed to qualify for even the UEFA Cup as a consolation. I know that's bad in the long run for all English teams, but it was well worth it for the short term amusement. Highbury erupted on hearing the news, as I later found out, so did most football fans everywhere!!

Mystery Jets, Jamie T - Forum, Tunbridge Wells - Friday 2nd December 2005

A welcome, and long overdue return to Tunbridge Wells Forum, a mainstay of my weekend activity when I was 16. The place is a godsend to a town like Tunbridge Wells, run by a group of guys that very much do it for love as opposed to money. The place perennially struggles to break even, but is one of those places that must be helped to survive.

Their website front page gives an idea of the artists that have played there in their early careers - places like this give a leg up to so many deserving artists. They also prevent people growing up in places like Tunbridge Wells from getting too depressed at the lack of alternative culture there.

A group of about 20 of us descended on the 200-capacity venue to have a few drinks, and also to watch the Mystery Jets. They will be first on the bill at next year's NME Tour, so we all thought they would be worth a look in a much, much smaller venue. The Forum has changed little, if at all, from the time I last went - very comforting to see.

Right down to the groups of kids hanging around outside, trying to get in. Now that licencing laws prohibit under 16s being in a room with drunk adults, and given that the Forum is far too small to have any more than one room, under 16s are officially not allowed in without an adult. So, I became a responsible adult for 5 minutes, to blag a couple of 14-year-olds in to be ale to see the gig.

Jamie-T was the support artist, somebody I'd never heard before. For me, he was the undoubted highlight of the evening. Just one guy on stage alone, strumming an acoustic bass guitar, and singing/talking/rapping over the top. His guitar style was reminiscent of Willy Mason, but the words were far more like Mike Skinner. An interesting, and downright excellent combination.

Spent some of Jamie's set talking to the drummer from the Mystery Jets (you can do that sort of thing at TW Forum), who was a really nice guy, albeit very tired as he came to the end of a month-long tour.

The Mystery Jets started very strongly, playing the one song of theirs I knew early on. From about 20 minutes in, though, I though they started to falter a bit - the set got bogged down in some overly long songs, with strange instrumental parts. All picked up towards the end for a great finish, but I though they'd lost too much energy in the middle of the set. Still, I will definitely get to the NME Awards Tour gig early to catch them again.

A review of the gig from Artrocker is here.

Arsenal vs Reading - Highbury, London - Tuesday 29th November 2005

This is always a highlight of the season - a Carling Cup home tie, with reduced ticket prices, the youth team out on the pitch, and usually a fantastic atmosphere in the ground because of all the occasional visitors.

Opponents this time round were Reading, who took over 7,500 tickets. Added to the low prices in the home sections, the ground was almost totally sold out. I had the pleasure of sitting right next to the REDsection, the designated singing section in the middle of the North Bank (although its only there for Carling Cup games), so the songs barely stopped all night where I was.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the Reading fans, who despite their number, hardly made a noise all evening. In fact, the sight of the Clock End fully seated was something I don't think I've ever seen before, and must be a mark of some rather quiet supporters!

The game ended in a good win for Arsenal's kids, against a strong Championsip side in excellent form. On we go to the next round,

Arsenal vs Blackburn Rovers - Highbury, London - Saturday 26th November 2005

A game memorable for a few things. Firstly, the fact that it was extremely cold, probably the first game of the season where you're in no doubt at all that winter is well and truly here.

The second memorable thing was that the match was particularly crap - Fabregas opened the scoring after 4 minutes, and after that the result was a fairly foregone conclusion - Blackburn never looked like showing enough desire or skill, or even caring enough, to get anything from the game. So, the final 86 minutes were a case of sitting in the cold, watching the inevitable.

The most memorable thing, however, especially given such a dull game, was the quality of the goals. Fabregas scored a standard shot from the edge of the area, but that was the worst of the bunch. Henry's second, close to half time, was a great finish to a great move, and Van Persie added the pick of the bunch in the 90th minute. He picked the ball up on the wing, darted past a couple of men (and Robbie Savage), and curled a beautiful shot into the far corner. By now very cold, that at least allowed everybody to leave with a smile.

With the second goal, Thierry Henry also became the first player to score 100 Premiership goals on one ground - Pires' record at White Hart Lane sees him just 94 away from becoming the second player to do it.

Wigan Athletic vs Arsenal - JJB Stadium, Wigan - Saturday 19th November 2005

A good trip to Wigan, somewhere I'd never been before. We went to Manchester on Friday afternoon, and enjoyed an entertaining night out in a very cold Manchester.

On Saturday morning, still bleary-eyed, we headed off to lovely Wigan. Like a lot of towns around Manchester, it isn't a lot to look at! The journey from the motorway into town looked like about 5 minutes on the map, but seemed to take forever, through never ending villages spread along the main road. Eventually, we got through Wigan town centre and to the stadium - which is surrounded by more derelict land than I have ever seen so close to a town centre!! There is more empty land around than you can shake a stick at, which means lots of free parking for all.

I was very impressed indeed by the pie and pasty options around the stadium, lots of good lardy food to be had there! The stadium itself is typical of a new stadium, 4 identical stands, bare concourses where you can still see the girders and poles that hold the thing up. The floor in the concourse also bounced up and down when people were jumping about, which was nice! Kind of stupidly, the only food outlet for 5,000 people was positioned directly opposite the only gents toilets for 5,000 people. The crush at half time, as everybody tried to reach the middle of the concourse, was stupidly preventable, could have been dangerous, and underlines the fact that Wigan had never had to deal with a crowd as big as that one before. I completely trust, as well as hope and pray, that Arsenal's new stadium will be streets ahead of this.

25,000 people there, many of whom (given Wigan's recent attendances - 12,000 when top of the Championship!) clearly were new to football, and had quite possibly only come to see the Arsenal. Howling for a free kick (literally) every time a Wigan player went to ground, kind of indicated that many home fans either don't really know the rules of football, or thought they were watching rugby. The game (especially the first half) was full of thrills and spills, and finished as an entertaining 2-3 Arsenal win. It was obvious why Wigan started the game in second place - a well organised team, strong at the back, and dangerous up front too - they should continue to do well. I'd expect a return trip to the JJB next season.

The Guardian's match report is here

Work Trip to Paris, France - 8th to 9th November 2005

Was in Paris on November 8th and 9th, for a couple of work meetings. When telling anybody this, before or afterwards, the universal reaction was "oh my god, aren't there loads of riots there?", or "did you see lots of rioting and burnt out cars?".

This would suggest that there certainly are things going on, but you really wouldn't notice that if you go to the centre of Paris (or probably any other big city in France). All of the slums are outside the big cities, and physically separated from them, so you can walk around Paris and be completely unaware that anything of this magnitude is going on in the country. French TV news is also very quiet on the subject, they are hardly reporting anything at all about it.

I guess that's precisely why these riots are happening, if the whole of Paris can remain completely oblivious to, and unaffected by, anything that happens in the poor suburbs and immigrant communities just outside the city. Most of the country doesn't notice or care about these people normally - that's exactly what's causing these riots. But its also a reason why nothing positive will happen as a result - the majority of France doesn't care.

Kaiser Chiefs, Maximo Park, Futureheads, Hard-Fi - L'Aeronef, Lille - Saturday 5th November 2005

Last night's Arctic Monkeys gig was a mere warmup for the main event tonight, getting the chance to see 4 of the UK's hottest bands in a small (approx 1000 capacity) venue. The Kaiser Chiefs sold out 13,000 tickets for 3 gigs in London inside 20 minutes last month, yet under 2 hours away on the Eurostar, tickets are available on the day for 19 Euro. Having Maximo Park, Futureheads and Hard Fi on the bill as well was a lovely bonus.

There were significantly more English people at the gig than the previous night, and the venue was much less full - the French are bigger fans of Devendra Banhart and Antony than I thought! In fact, the crowd was probably close to 40% English.

So, Hard Fi came on stage at 8:30, and ran through a quick half hour of highlights from their album. Despite the venue being half empty, security seemed to be much more agitated than the previous night, at one point a security guard dived into the crowd to steal the camera of somebody he spotted taking a photo - very over-the-top. Hard Fi sounded good, but it is a bit annoying of them to use a backing track when they play live.

The Futureheads ran through a very upbeat and energetic set, probably the band I was looking forward to least of the evening, but they were very solidly entertaining!

Maximo Park on the other hand were much better than that, they were absolutely incredible! They arrived to the most riotous reception that any band on either night had been given, and fully justified it. They tore through most of their album, and the crowd ensured that there was plenty of noise between the songs as well. Very strange to see a band that aren't that big in the UK being received like heroes in France.

Kaiser Chiefs were predictably fantastic, their set was like a complete riot, and seemed to pass by in about 10 minutes, I was enjoying it so much. A French guy I spoke to said that he'd never seen the venue go so mad for any band - but if there's any band to make that happen right now, then surely the Kaiser Chiefs are the best around. Ricky did nothing to calm security down, they desperately tried to stop him diving off stage into the crowd - one running dive later, and they'd pretty much given up hope. I managed to evade security for long enough to take this photo.

After the band finished, we went to the bar, and had a beer and a chat with Richard from Hard Fi, a thoroughly nice guy who seemed genuinely surprised at how big his band are getting. Still, his new fame didn't stop the security guards trying to throw him out of the venue at his own gig!

A cracking evening, and a fantastic weekend all round - this festival featured Kings of Leon and Bloc Party last year - I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for next year's line up.

Devendra Banhart, Antony & The Johnsons, The Go! Team, Arctic Monkeys - L'Aeronef, Lille - Friday 4th November 2005

A strange gig this one. The French magazine Les Inrockuptibles, the French version of NME, is running a series of gigs showcasing new bands, all over France. Because most of the bands are unheard of in France, tickets are easy to come by, and quite cheap. So, what better than a weekend in Lille to see 8 good new bands. Our Eurostar took less than 2 hours, and, along with 2 nights in a hotel, all came to less than £100 each. Add in 30 Euros for a 2-day gig ticket, and you have plenty of beer money left over.

Arrived in Lille at lunchtime, and proceeded to drink small glasses of French beer for most of the afternoon. Very good. We went into the gig venue (L'Aeronef), at about 7:30, eager to see Arctic Monkeys, who were on first. Far from the norm for their gigs in England, they were bottom of the bill, and nobody in the venue knew who they were. As a result, we were able to get right to the very front, without difficulty, and with loads of space all around us. So close, in fact, that I got these pictures of the Monkeys in action.


An excellent set from Arctic Monkeys, which went down very well with the 200 or so mostly French people that were there.

The Go! Team came on next, and I thought they were amazing - full of energy, and very loud. Any band that had 2 drummers thrashing away on stage is OK by me! Again, few of the French people in the audience has heard of them, but they went down a storm, and there was good dancing by the end of their set.

Whoever put tonights bill together has a strange sense of humour! Bands like Arctic Monkeys and the Go! Team, followed by Antony and the Johnsons, and Devendra Banhart. Most of the audience were here to see these 2 bands, and, although good, they were not who I was there to see - I'd never pay to see either again. Antony & the Johnsons sounded great, but too downbeat for my liking for a live act. Devendra Banhart was (good) strange, but I can see how both him and Antony will be very popular in France.

Arsenal vs Sparta Prague - Highbury, London - Wednesday 2nd November 2005

Sat in the West Lower at Highbury for this one, and I had forgotten just how bad the view can be from there, especially if you're near the back of the stand. I was sitting in what is normally the away section of the West Lower - because Sparta Prague only brought around 100 fans to London, they were just occupying 5 or 6 rows at the front. At half time, in the queue for the Gents, the Sparta fans were completely mixed in with Arsenal fans - very strange to see, especially at a European game, when the police are usually more paranoid than normal about crowds mixing.

This photo shows how bad my view was - and this from Row 21 of a stand that goes back to Row 34. Mental note - don't buy or take tickets at the back of the West Stand.



The game itself was something of a procession - Sparta have to be the worst Champions' League team I've seen in a while. Having said that, in recent years, Arsenal would really have struggled to see a team like that off in Europe. True, we're not beating the giants of Europe yet, but at least we are no longer struggling against second rate European opposition.

Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal - White Hart Lane, London - Saturday 29th October 2005

It's never fun going to this place as an Arsenal fan, the estimated half million miles from Tube station to ground is an annoyance, and the less than welcoming attitude of the natives is a danger. I say "natives", most of the real natives of N17 are too busy shooting each other, taking crack, and unlocking stolen mobile phones to give a toss about Spurs. The welcoming party I mean are mainly based in such gritty places as Hertford, Cheshunt and Enfield. Still, a 1pm kick off meant that they couldn't get too drunk before kick off (an evening game up there, if we're ever allowed one again, could be really interesting, such is the sheltered life we have led recently on this front).

With no away wins in the League so far this season, and with Spurs seemingly making their annual resurgence last slightly past August, it was also the last place we wanted to go to try and get a result. The first half showed why - Spurs pissed all over us for the majority of it, and took a deserved lead, much to the clear delight of the idiots.

But, and it never looked like coming, the second half saw a different Arsenal. One that took a while to get into its stride, but by the 70th minute was fully up and running. I remember this Arsenal from previous seasons, and occasionally still from home games - they are really quite a good football team. Pires scored (for the hundredth year in succession at the cess pit), home fans threw missiles at him, and also at any other Arsenal player that dared go near the touchline (again, as ever), and had the game gone on for another 15 minutes, we probably would have won it. But it didn't, so draw a fair result, and only our second away point.

After the game, and after the long, dangerous walk back to the Tube, I went for a few drinks on Upper Street, back in the safety of Islington. A few drinks then turned into a lot of drinks. At about 9pm (over 6 hours after the game had finished), lots of police vans started to show up. Yes!! The mighty Spurs fans were storming Upper Street! Er, on a normal Saturday night, when very few people there give a flying toss about football - the mighty Tottenham certainly made their mark that day!!

Kaiser Chiefs, Maximo Park, The Cribs - Brixton Academy, London - Tuesday 25th October 2005

So, the latest NME tour rolled into London, and a very good tour it was too. Apart from the obscene queue to get into Brixton - I think it was my first trip there since the 7/7 bombings, and there certainly seemed to be heavy searches going on. I think that, combined with a hardcore of fans looking to get in early, contributed to the queue that stretched around 2 sides of the venue!

The Cribs opened up, sounding very promising indeed - I'd heard a couple of their songs before, and there were several more that had me interested during their set. They sound great live, but how that will translate onto an album I'm not sure. Still, we should get more chances to see them in support slots in the near future - they could do very well.

I had been listening to the Maximo Park album sporadically, so knew a few of the songs in addition to the obvious 3 singles. Their set was played in front of a surprisingly empty venue, a lot of people seemed to head for the bar after a couple of songs from them. I really liked the set, it ticked all the right boxes in including all the best tracks from the album, which is well worth a listen. Luckily, I'm seeing them in Lille in a couple of weeks, and I'll now look for tickets for their solo December tour.

Kaiser Chiefs were very, very good indeed. They really do carry off all of the showman's tricks very well. Playing Money For Nothing to build the crowd up before they came on was a masterstroke, as was their very good video "documentary" of London. I Predict A Riot, and Modern Way were my (maybe obvious, but still very good) highlights of the gig.

At the end of the last song, Ricky did his vocal, then ran off stage. The band finished playing, and all went quiet. Somehow, Ricky had got to the mixing desk, in the middle of the venue and was standing on the corner, thus......

Cue a crowd surf back to the stage, and a cracking encore to send everybody home happy.

Arsenal vs Manchester City - Highbury, London - Saturday 22nd October 2005

This game will probably be remembered forever, for Pires and Henry's crazy attempt at a penalty routine. Crazy not because it couldn't have worked, but because Arsenal were "only" 1-0 up at the time, with 20 minutes still to play, and Man City coming back into the game. For a full 5 minutes fter the incident, the stadium was echoing to the sound of 38,000 people muttering about it under their breath, and paying no attention to the game. I was in the North Bank, at the opposite end, and must confess that I totally missed it. About 18,999 other people also missed it, and the other 19,000 were busy explaining it to them.

I can honestly say I've never seen anything like that at a game before, and probably never will again. That sentence is something that you can say more often than most if you watch Arsenal, and I appreciate how lucky I am, but sometimes I wish they would just dispense with the theatrics, and concentrate on the more boring job of winning games!

We won 1-0, so no harm done in the end. I hope Arsenal get a royalty every time the footage is shown on TV again - that will build 5 new stadia.

Work Trip to Versailles, France - 19th to 21st October 2005

I've been in Versilles for a 3-day work meeting this week. As well as the usual joys of meetings, and the annoyance of (unsuccessfully) trying to connect my (crap) laptop to the internet; we did some fun stuff. A couple of nice meals, as you would expect, and an obligatory trip to the Palais de Versailles, where the French kings used to live before they were overthrown, beheaded, burned, that kind of thing.

Now, when you see the (some might say over-the-top, not me!!) level of gold bling in the king's bedroom (above), one might understand why the French people decided that they didn't want a Royal family any more. I know our royals live in luxury, but even they don't take the piss to this extent!

The king's garden looks quite reasonable as well - all in all a very nice place - I'm not surprised that the French revolutionaries got jealous.

Magic Numbers - Shepherds Bush Empire, London - Tuesday 18th October 2005

So, the zillionth Magic Numbers gig of the year! Before that though, Arsenal were playing away at Sparta Prague, so we went to the pub near the venue to watch the game. After initially hearing at the weekend that Thierry Henry would not be back for this game, Monday's Evening Standard said that he was travelling with the squad. Tuesday afternoon brought the news that he would be on the bench! And, 15 minutes into the game, an injury to Reyes meant that he was unexpectedly on the pitch.

Given that Henry started the game 1 behind Ian Wright's Arsenal goals record, I was caught in two minds - did I want Henry to score and help us to 3 points, or to not score so that I could witness him equal and break the record. Well, after 5 minutes on the pitch, the argument was dead, he scored with a sublime flick with the outside of his boot, to equal the record.

Come 9:15, we left the pub with the game still at 1-0, to get into the venue for the Magic Numbers. I had just got in and got to the bar when I got a phone call - Henry had scored again to break the record. Double annoyance! Not at the game, and not even watching the record breaking goal on telly either!

The Magic Numbers were predictably good, tight, and happy. And that was the problem - I'd seen it so many times before, that much of the surprise had gone. What wowed the audience here, many of whom were seeing the band for the first time, was no longer exciting for me. The set included some new highlights that I'd not heard live before (the Chemical Brothers collaboration was fantastic), but through much of it, you could tell exactly what was going to happen next.

Maybe you can have too much of a good thing after all.

West Bromwich Albion vs Arsenal - The Hawthorns, West Bromwich - Saturday 15th October 2005

A disaster, again. As seems to be usual this season after the dreaded international break, Arsenal didn't show up to a potential banana skin away game. And, that being the case, we got what we deserved - nothing.

True, our players had returned from the international break with a variety of injuries. True, we only had one point from our previous 3 league away games this year. And true, we missed Vieira today (come to think of it we missed any kind of leader whatsoever today).

West Bromwich is never the nicest place for an away fan to go. Its very handy for the motorways, and very convenient to park in the car park of an anonymous factory near the ground. Lots of teams now choose to build new grounds on industrial estates - West Brom were well ahead of that trend, completely by accident. On the way out, away fans have to walk down a pathway which leads in the complete opposite direction to where 90% actually want to go. They then have to walk around 3 sides of the ground, by which time everybody else has buggered off home.

To make that walk after having taken 3 points is not so bad. To make it with 25,000 home fans swarming around, jubilantly celebrating a deserved home win where they played one of the biggest teams in England off the pitch, is slightly more irritating.

Arctic Monkeys, Milburn - Astoria, London - Thursday 6th October 2005

What can I say - a truly historic gig, and a real "I was there" event. It's already been written about endlessly since it happened, by the usual likes of NME, and XFM, as well as the majority of the broadsheet press.

For the record, the gig was better than the already very high expectations of it. I had heard a good number of Arctic Monkeys songs, but it was my first time seeing them live. I expected them to be good, but they were much, much better than that! And, most of the rest of the audience agreed - for a band that has sold only 1,000 records in their whole career, the majority of the 2,000 here tonight knew most of the words to many of the songs. For the penultimate song, the band even let the audience sing for a verse, and they knew every word.

Occasionally, you see a band live at the start of their career, and just know 100% that something really, really special is happening. The last time I felt it quite like this was at this same venue in 1994, seeing Oasis play. Arctic Monkeys deserve the comparison.

An amazing band, who are actually better than all of the hype! They will be the band of 2006.

The Subways, The Rifles - Astoria, London - Wednesday 5th October 2005

A trip to the Astoria, partly as a warm up for tomorrow's Arctic Monkeys gig, but also to see The Subways on their first UK tour since their album came out. Having seen the band a few times earlier in the year, I was interested to see how they would go down in front of a big audience that by now had heard the majority of their material.

I arrived early, and went to bag a table upstairs in the venue - right at the front of the balcony.

Support band The Rifles were very polished, and played an excellent set which went down very well indeed. Definitely one to watch, and I'll be looking to see them in a smaller venue some time soon. Most of their songs were good, with a couple of real standout tracks that had the whole crowd going.

The Subways have been doing this for a while now - obviously what they get up to seems less surprising and spontaneous the more they do it, but they have done very well to keep the punk rock feeling, whilst performing on cue at much bigger gigs.

In a set which ran through most of the new album, the band absolutely rocked throughout, and were very very good indeed.

At the end of the set, the singer went for a climb of the speaker stack. Funny, because when he got to the top, it looked like he was shitting himself!! Still, he got used to it up there, played a few riffs, jumped off, and finished with a blisteringly loud version of "Rock and Roll Queen".

This is a band that seems to be able to cope with all the hurdles their career has thrown at them so far. A great band, long may they continue to succeed!

Arsenal vs Birmingham City - Highbury, London - Sunday 2nd October 2005

The start of this match report from Arsenal World sums this game up well. Birmingham are an extremely dull team - I am amazed that people the world over love to watch the Premiership, it must be in spite of rather than because of teams like them.

Another game where the opposition came for a draw or 1-0 win, so played 1 up front. They had a player sent off very early on, so they shut up shop and stifled the game even more. When teams play like this, it really does strangle the match as a spectacle, and turns it into a boring stalemate.

Despite this, Arsenal did seem to rise above it all, creating lots of chances, but not putting any of them away. Some classic annoying Arsenal moments though - missing a penalty again, and several instances of trying to pass the ball into the net instead of just trying to score a simple goal. All that huffing and puffing, and it looked like we might not get anything to show for it.

But, with about 10 minutes to go, the breakthrough eventually came. Not the best win in the world, not at all convincing really, but we got there in the end.

Willy Mason - The Bedford, Balham, London - Wednesday 21st September 2005

Its very rare that one gets to see a gig like this. The Bedford is a great little pub in South London, with a small theatre upstairs. They have music on several nights a week, but rarely somebody with a following like Willy Mason.

I found out about this gig purely by chance, with an idle look at Willy Mason's website. All looked closed, and I was about to click away from the site, when I saw a paragraph in grey text at the bottom (it was almost like they were trying to hide it!). A pub gig, in front of 200 people, and tickets were available! So, off we went.

The venue itself was a circular theatre upstairs in the pub (which is a nice pub, if you don't mind being surrounded by rugger buggers called Tim). Very small, with a downstairs and a balcony which went all the way around the room. Thus, the strange prospect of being able to watch Willy Mason whilst standing behind him.
Willy's set was a long one, including most of his debut album, and about 5 or 6 new songs as well. His record deal had just been renewed that day, so we will get a second album soon. And, judging by the songs aired this evening, it will be better than the first - the new songs sounded instantly familiar, and excellent, even if he does have an unhealthy obsession with writing about insects! Willy took requests towards the end of the set, so he quite literally played something for everybody!

The man is an undoubted songwriting genius, the fact that he is only about 20 years old just adds to the amazement - how he writes the lyrics he does at that age is incredible - a very clever person indeed.

After the gig finished, Willy Mason was wandering around the upstairs bar, chatting with various people, and seemed genuinely surprised and overwhelmed with the level of support he has from fans in the UK. Willy then retreated to his dressing room, and a few were allowed to follow. The real treat of the evening was a private gig in the dressing room, as Willy sat on the sofa and strummed a few songs.
A magic evening, and a privilege to see such a talented artist in such intimate surroundings.

Arsenal vs Everton - Highbury, London - Monday 19th September 2005

After the last home league game against Fulham, where Pascal Cygan scored a very unexpected 2 goals (even one would have been amazing), tonight it was Sol Campbell's turn.

Big Sol scored both our goals, both with headers from set pieces, and both made you wonder "why can't we do this more often?" (or at all).

Everton looked as they always look against Arsenal, not very good. After sticking 11 goals past them in the League last season (and another 3 in the Carling Cup), they seem to be good opponents for us. Tonight was more like the Everton that crashed out of the Champions League qualifiers, than the team that came 4th last season.

3 more points at home, the contrast between home and away form could not be greater at the moment.

The Lemonheads - Shepherds Bush Empire, London - Thursday 15th September 2005

The second night in a row with the Lemonheads. This was the first date to be announced, so the crowd was that bit more committed. The famous people were also out in force for this one.

The band played much the same set, in much the same way, as the previous night - the album was similarly rattled through with the minimum of fuss. But, tonight, after the album had finished, the band took to playing a longer and more varied set of other songs. Stove, the song that I had wanted to hear the previous evening, made an appearance, as did Big Gay Heart, and a number of other classics that I had nearly forgotten about!

Seeing a band twice in 2 days was a strange experience, but The Lemonheads are one of the few bands I'd willingly do that for - bring on the new album and full tour.

The Lemonheads, Eugene Kelly - Shepherds Bush Empire, London - Wednesday 14th September 2005

The Lemonheads' first UK gig for 8 years, and this was even more special than the length of time might suggest. As part of the "Don't Look Back" series of gigs, the band were to play the whole of their album Its A Shame About Ray in order. Given that the record is just under 30 minutes long, it could have been a very short gig.

Eugene Kelly, formerly of The Vaselines, provided support, the obvious highlights of his set were the songs that were covered by Nirvana, in particular Jesus Don't Want Me For A Sunbeam. Eugene looks to have aged significantly since the early 90s, and his knack for writing great songs is unfortunately not quite matched by his ability to sing them himself - but perhaps being known as the guy that wrote a great song covered by Nirvana is not a bad thing to be remembered for.

The Lemonheads came on stage and launched straight into Rockin' Stroll, the first song on their classic album - the crowd went predictably wild. Evan Dando looked in fine form, and seemed to be enjoying playing live again. The album was rattled through with minimal delay, and the band then started on a mini-set of songs from other albums. Being Around was an obvious highlight, although my mate and I were very slightly disappointed at the lack of Stove.

A great gig from a great band, who apparently are now reformed and making a new album - I cannot wait for more live dates.

Middlesbrough vs Arsenal - Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough - Saturday 10th September 2005

The Invincibles, unbeaten away from home in 2 of the last 4 seasons (2 of the only 3 times that its ever been done in top flight football). We seem a fair way away from that now, with the second away defeat in a row in the League (3 in a row if you count Birmingham at the end of last season - which lets face it, does count really). And this, unlike the Chelsea game, was a deserved beating.

Arsenal were extremely jaded, and missing important players through injury, after the international break, but lets take nothing away from Middlesbrough, who certainly have the players to be a very competitive side if they could put a decent run of form together. They fully deserved their 2-1 win, which was effectively a 2-0 win really, Arsenal's goal coming as a weak consolation at the very end of the game.

To cap it all off, a nightmare journey there and back meant that the day was far longer than I'd ever wanted it to be, and a trip back to London from Middlesbrough after a performance like that is not a pleasant one

England vs Australia (Day 1, 5th Test) - The Oval, London - Thursday 8th September 2005

The Ashes were looking a whole lot better than my previous experience back in July. Draw the final test at the Oval, and the series would be ours for the first time I can really remember. The whole country seemed to be watching, and I had offers in excess of £250 for my ticket for the first day of the match!

On the way to the ground, it seemed as though everybody with a publicity stunt to play, was playing it in the very near vicinity of the Oval. We saw Page 3 "stunnas", Nando's carnival buses, and lots more besides. The fact that it was a glorious day helped everbody's mood even more.
A great day's play, lots of drinks, and a good start to the match for England. I guess we all know what happened over the following few days, and it was great to be a part of it. The evening session was something of a beer-fuelled blur, but that's all part of the fun.

After play had finished, it was off to the pub, to drink more, sing songs with the leader of the Barmy Army, and generally take the piss out of lurking Australians Ashes Losers.

Pixies, The Futureheads - Alexandra Palace, London - Thursday 1st September 2005

A return to see a fantastic live band, on a most welcome return to London. Before the gig, I took the brave step of ordering a professionally-recorded and mastered double CD of the gig, from pixiesdiscs.

Every Pixies set seems to be a different one, such is the depth of material that they have - you usually get about 30 songs over an hour and a half. Tonight didn't disappoint, although the perennial difficulty of getting to and from Alexandra Palace is always an annoyance.

The Futureheads did well in support, although the echoes around the venue during their set were a touch embarrassing (why did they have the support band on so quietly?).

The Pixies ruled the place for an hour and a half, with non-stop classics, one after the other. A great gig, one that makes you feel happy inside as you're leaving.

Kasabian - Astoria, London - Thursday 25th August 2005

Off to see Kasabian in a fantastic venue, the Astoria. Previous Kasabian gigs I've been to have not left a great impression, mainly because they have all been outside, with the wind (and sometimes rain) blowing the sound all over the place. I'm still a fan of many of their songs, so seeing them in such an intimate venue gave them a good opportunity to redeem themselves. This gig was a warmup for their headlining of the second stage at the Reading Festival the following day.

One thing about the Astoria in summer is that it does get extremely hot, and this gig was no exception. Even from the relative safety of the balcony, it was sweltering when Kasabian came on stage, and only got hotter as the gig went on.

From the moment that Kasabian came on, they completely blew the place away - they were incredibly loud, and played a very intense set. The balcony in the Astoria was shaking from the first song onwards, and the band kept the crowd going for the full hour or so.

As the set began to draw to a close, Kasabian started to play some of the classics with which to end a gig. The gig had been excellent up to this point, but when the band played LSF, the place went wild. I have to say that their rendition of LSF was definitely one of the best performances of any song, by any band, that I've ever seen - it blew the roof off the place. My ears were ringing for a few days afterwards, but an awesome gig.

Arsenal vs Fulham - Highbury, London - Wednesday 24th August 2005

A collectors item match, in more ways than one. Thierry Henry moved to within touching distance of the all-time Arsenal goalscoring record. Lauren missed a penalty. The ground was full of redcurrant shirts (and no jackets) for probably the last time until it gets warm again in April. And, Pascal Cygan ended up scoring 2 goals, leaving him just a tantalising 181 or so away from the all-time Arsenal scoring record.

In reality, despite scoring first early on, Fulham did not look a great side, and were eventually swept aside fairly easily. Seemed like a confident, convincing performance, and a good way to bounce back after defeat against Chelsea.

Surrey vs Kent - The Oval, London - Monday 22nd August 2005

A large non-event, this one, because it rained solidly all afternoon. Even though there was very little prospect of any play, we dutifully went to the Oval, then to the pub near the Oval, to wait for the rain to clear and play to start. But, it never happened, so we just stayed in the pub and got drunk instead. Not a bad fallback option as it turned out.

Chelsea vs Arsenal - Stamford Bridge, London - Sunday 21st August 2005

Back to Stamford Bridge, with not too many games played in between. The difference of course this time is the 40,000 fans that are now full of it, having been bought deservedly earned the success of winning the Premiership. A new home in the stadium for away fans as well, moving away from the East Stand touchline, to the Shed End corner behind the goal - and a price rise to pay £48 for the privilege!

Being still in the sunny, warm part of the season, lots of celebrity fans came out for the day. Cheryl Tweedy (Ashley Cole's bird, aka the best looking one from Girls Aloud), was in the front row of the Upper Tier for the game. At half time, she was in the Upper Tier concourse, being beseiged by Gooners wanting to take a photo of/with her.

Mickey Rourke was also in the Arsenal section, having apparently met, and been given tickets, by Freddie Ljungberg in a club the previous week. His presence would also hopefully deter Chelsea fans from getting too lively outside afterwards. Lastly, the muppet Maxwell from Big Brother was making his first visit to an Arsenal game since making the entire world (especially Arsenal fans) hate him on national TV all summer.

The game was an annoying, typical Chelsea game. Arsenal looked the better team in the first half, but didn't get close to scoring - too much faffing around with the ball in buildup play, and not enough willingness to shoot. And, that approach was eventually punished. Even in the second half, Chelsea didn't look very good at all, but a goal that scuffed in off Drogba's knee was enough to win them the game. Chelsea didn't deserve the win at all really, but I can't help thinking that Arsenal's failure to kill them when on top meant that we deserved what we got.

The most galling thing of all is that Chelsea, through their criminal legitimate businessman owner, enjoy all the advantages that a football team could wish for already. Incredibly annoying that they get luck on top, like the bounce off an uneven pitch, or the jammyness of their winner today. What goes around doesn't seem to be coming around where they are concerned.

Anyway, on trophies, there is still a large difference between Chelsea and Arsenal, can you spot it?

Oasis, The Streets, Kaiser Chiefs, The Bravery, The Kooks, Jet, Magic Numbers, Protocol - V Festival, Chelmsford - Saturday 20th August 2005

A trip to Chelmsford for one day of the nice, clean V Festival. Which annoyingly requires travelling out of London for the day!! On arrival at Chelmsford station, there are lots of buses to the site, which spend what seems like ages driving the length of a horrendous queue to the gate. However, when you get up to the gate, there is actually no queue to get in, the half mile line of people is full of sheep who see a queue and join it. Very silly.

The gates opened late, at 12:30, by which time the first bands were already on - why book them if you're not going to let people in in time to actually see them?

We went to the tent to have a look at Protocol, who have had nice things written about them, and have secured some good looking support slots for the autumn. They were not bad, although reminiscent of The Killers or The Bravery with their synth-80s/rock sound. Sounded OK though, although the singer's haircut is appalling, and should rightfully prevent them getting much success until he sorts it out.

A drinking break before the Magic Numbers, who predictably wowed the crowd, and had everybody eating out of their hands within about 2 songs, before their set just descended into a sunny party. A perfect festival band, and so much better than the classic "festival bands" of the past. After they finished, we rushed to catch some of Jet on the main stage - they seemed quite promising when they first started out, but now just seem somewhat cheesy.

Killing time whilst waiting for the Kaiser Chiefs, we went to see The Kooks, who are also having much written about them lately - the singer was going out with Radio-2 friendly Katie Melua, which can't do any harm either. They sounded very promising, and are worth looking out for in future, although their set was so short that it was difficult to judge them too much. Moving into position for the Kaiser Chiefs, we managed (if that is the right word) to catch The Bravery, who were fully expected to sound like a complete comedy act, but actually came across marginally better than that - possibly a reflection of the low expectations rather than how good they really were.

Kaiser Chiefs were excellent, if very arrogant indeed. Almost all of the banter between songs referred to the band in the 3rd person "Kaiser Chiefs are about to play a new song", which is always one of the more irritating things that bands do on stage (see also The Hives). Playing audiences of this size at festivals seems to have inflated their egos, either that or they now have a record company drugs budget to reward them for selling all those albums.

Everything seemed to be running late on the Kaiser Stage (which had been renamed officially by the time they finished), so The Streets set on the main stage was largely missed. Shame, because I'd really wanted to see them, and from what I did catch, I was very impressed. They obviously sound very different indeed live from on record, different but still very good.

So to Oasis, my girlfriend hadn't seen them live since 1994, and after 2 songs she was crying at how old and passenger-like they looked to her. It made her feel old - but taking into account that they have been like this for most of the time since 1994, today was a good performance. The idiot count (always a factor at Oasis gigs) was moderate, but then we were in deepest Essex, and The Streets had just been on, so it could have been worse. A now familiar-ish set, which ticked all the right boxes in terms of greatest hits, and showcased the best of the (pretty good) current album.

After the gig, a run for the shuttle bus and train, then a trip to the Garage in Highbury to round off a good day of music and drinking.

The Veils - Luminaire, London - Monday 15th August 2005

A first visit to a new-ish venue, the Luminaire in Kilburn. I actually used to live about 5 minutes' walk from this place, which has been comprehensively done up in the last few years. A nice little venue, albeit with a strange shape - rather like the 100 Club in that the area to watch the bands is very wide, and doesn't go very far back at all - 10 yards from the stage is the bar!

The Veils were a band I watched a few times a couple of years ago, mainly initially because a friend's friend was their (very good) guitarist. They were signed to Rough Trade, had their debut album produced by Bernard Butler, and all looked to be going well. That was until the singer/songwriter sacked the rest of the band, and appeared to go slightly mental.

The aforementioned singer was back with a new band this time. They were not a patch on the originals, the singer pranced about with a very Pete Doherty-esque hat, and some of the new songs sounded like there was a definite influence there - unfortunately without any of the (few) redeeming features of Mr Doherty. The old songs they did play were executed quite clumsily (although their quality still shone through occasionally), and the new ones were largely poor attempts at Libertines/Babyshambles rip off.

Definitely one to avoid in future, unless the singer looks like he has got his act back together. A real shame to see the shadow of a once-promising band.

Arsenal vs Newcastle United - Highbury, London - Sunday 14th August 2005

Always good to have football back after what seemed like an eternity - with no World Cup or Euros this year, the summer break was always going to seem like forever.

The first game of the season always brings people out full of excitement, and it was incredible to see how many redcurrant shirts were out and about at Highbury - it seems that just about everybody has taken the plunge and bought one.

The game itself was typical first day of the season stuff, anybody's game for a long time really, and not really a good indicator of the season to come. The game was decided by the referee in the first half, by his strange decision to send Jermaine Jenas off for an innocuous challenge. Newcastle had been well in the game until then, but the sending off put them on the back foot.

As the game progressed, it became harder and harder for Newcastle to keep up, and Arsenal evenutally picked them off with 2 goals in the last 10 minutes. A good win to open the season, but you can't help feeling that the referee's strange sending off decision won us the game.

Ordinary Boys - Islington Academy, London - Tuesday 9th August 2005

This was a free gig, open to competition winners only, recorded for broadcast on XFM Live. The Ordinary Boys first album was a great collection of indie-pop songs, most of which are well crafted, punchy tunes. Having said that, I was less impressed by their new single - they seemed to be turning into Madness!
They were supported by the Mitchell Brothers, good mates with Mike Skinner, who were extremely Streets-esque, but then I guess you'd expect that really!

The Ordinary Boys played all that one would expect - about 2/3 of their first album, and about 2/3 of their second. I loved all the songs from their first album, and most from the new one (apart from that irritating single!). However, I wonder if the trick may wear thin for them, and if the 2 albums aren't too similar for them to maintain any more than their already committed fanbase. They are on to a good thing, but do they have another trick to broaden their appeal? I'm not sure.

England vs Australia (Day 4, 1st Test) - Lords, London - Sunday 24th July 2005

Quite possibly the worst way to spend £54 in the world! We joined the game with England at 156/5 in the 4th innings, with 2 days play to go, and England needing about 250 to win. Rain was a good hope, and we got it for most of the day, meaning that all we saw for most of the day was this:

Now, a day at the cricket that is totally rained off means that you get a full refund on your (not cheap) ticket. Less than 10 overs play in a day also gives you a full refund, unless it because the game actually finishes. Between 10 and 25 overs gives you a half refund.

Having waited for 5 hours after the scheduled 10:30am start, play did eventually start at 3:45pm. Australia promptly took the remaining 5 England wickets in 10.1 overs, at the cost of just 24 England runs. Because the game finished, there was no refund. So, the only cricket we saw came after 5 hours of waiting in the rain, lasted for about 40 minutes, and cost us something like 88p per ball.

The Ashes are rubbish!!

Super Furry Animals - Somerset House, London - Friday 8th July 2005

As if on cue, the day after some people tried to blow us all up, all of London went back to work as if nothing had happened. It took slightly longer to get there, and people were slightly twitchy, but life carried on almost as normal. People outside London couldn't believe this, so I spent most of the day replying to concerned contact from people overseas and in the rest of the UK.

Super Furry Animals were playing the courtyard at Somerset House, which looks like this, during a series of summer gigs.
A typically weird show, featuring gas masks, boiler suits, and strange voice effects.

Unfortunately, the singer chose to open his mouth about the London bombings, blaming people that declare war on other countries for what happened. I really wished he had just shut his mouth and refrained from making such a cheap (and irrelevant)political point, so soon after the event.

The band played much of their new album, then a good selection of greatest hits, for a very enjoyable set. They are one of the true innovators in music today, and amazingly manage to combine innovation with some commercial success in a way that few others can.

London Bombings - London - Thursday 7th July 2005

Several million words have been written about today already, so mine won't add much to them.

I was on a Piccadilly Line train when it all happened. I had just got on the train, after a long wait, at Arsenal station - the long wait because there had been earlier service problems on the line. The train moved off into the tunnel towards Holloway Road. Halfway there, it stopped, and stayed stopped. The driver talked to us after a couple of minutes, about power failures on the line. For the next 20 minutes or so, the announcements talked of ever more severe power failures (but only of power failures). It eventually became clear that we were going nowhere, fast.

After about half an hour, the driver announced that there was a train behind us, which was going to drive up behind us, we would all walk through, and the train would drive us back to Arsenal. An operation of about an hour then ensued, as Tube staff moved through trains, and shepherded us all onto the replacement train. I say us all, probably only about 2/3 of the train managed to get onto the new train. For about half an hour, we were stuck in limbo - Tube staff were trying to get everybody crushed up together on the new train, but nobody would get that intimate without some guarantee that we would be moving soon. In the end, the train moved off and drove 2/3 of us back up to Arsenal station.

During this, I did start to wonder about the power failure. How could a train drive right up behind us, and why could our train not move? I knew that the Tube use "power failure" as a codeword for many things, and started to think about what could be happening.

Eventually, we unloaded at Arsenal station.

When we surfaced, it started to become apparent that all was not well. I had about 10 text messages, all saying "Are you OK" (or variations on that theme). The mobile network was in total meltdown (by now it was almost 11am). I went home, and took a couple of fellow passengers with me, to use my landline to call work. We got in, put BBC News on, and it all started to hit us.

About 15 minutes later, I found out that my girlfriend had been on the train in front of me. It had blown up between Kings Cross and Russell Square stations, killing over 20 people. Luckily, and very unusually, she was in the carriage at the opposite end of the train. She was at that end because of the earlier service problems, which made the train very busy at the front. Its not often you are grateful for Tube service problems, but they saved my girlfriend's life on this occasion. She was one of the first to be rescued from the train, and so got back above ground by around 9:20. She had spent 90 minutes in complete shock, worrying about where I was, whilst I was underground in blissful ignorance.

When we eventually met up again, at about 2pm, we talked about what had happened, then went out for dinner, to toast the fact that we were still alive (and because we had no food in the house). Most of Islington seemed to be doing the same, its amazing how London reacts to something like this - by going out for dinner!!

I'm not going to go into the political stuff on this, but I was amazingly proud of London and its people today. Life just goes on in London, it is far too big and important a city to be halted by anything like this (even though, for a few hours, our day was disrupted). Those of us that live in London accept the ever present risk that this may happen. The fact that it happened today was not a surprise, or even anything very unexpected. In many ways, tomorrow in London will be just like yesterday.

In memory of the 52 that lost their lives.

Brendan Benson - Barfly, London - Monday 4th July 2005

A very lucky ticket, this one. A chance look on TicketWeb at the Barfly listings, revealed Brendan Benson playing in an amazingly small venue. This has happened before, and Jack White joined Brendan on stage that time - even without that, seeing him in such a small venue is a special occasion.

As is often the way at the Barfly, it was possible to have a chat with Brendan in the bar before the gig, during the support act, and even until about 5 minutes before he went on stage.

When he did eventually get on stage, it was a similar set to the previous week at the Wireless Festival - many of the previous singles, and some hidden gems from his new album. I had not previously thought much of the new album, but having heard much of it twice within a week, I became converted.

Live 8 - Hyde Park, London - Saturday 2nd July 2005

I won a ticket for this in the text lottery. I went to the O2 shop in Oxford Street to pick it up, and braved the hour long queue in the process. I went to the concert venue, twice in the last week, for the Wireless Festival. I saw the "once in a lifetime" line up. And I decided not to go to the gig.

Why? I saw the people in the queue for tickets, and didn't fancy the idea of spending the day with 150,000 of them - very few music fans, and even fewer gig goers, around at all. I didn't fancy spending hours to get anywhere around the venue on the day, even from 6am. I wasn't keen on the potential view, which from the back of the venue was not exactly good (as it wouldn't be with that many people there). Of the bands on the bill, I have seen the vast majority of those I have any time for already, and knew that the best bands would be playing early, or not for long (witness the scandal of the Killers, one of the best live bands there, being allowed a mammoth 6 minute set!), or would in other ways have their talent ignored for the commercial appeal of Robbie Williams et al. And, the whole gig was alcohol free - no bars at all, and no booze allowed in. The prospect of a sober day with attention seekers and 150,000 fools was not appealing at all.

So, I knocked it on the head, gave the ticket to a friend, and watched some of it on TV instead. I haven't regretted the decision for a second. It was hyped as an "I was there" event, but when so many people can say the same thing, and all you need to do to be there is win a text message lottery, the "achievement" involved is kind of downgraded slightly!! Mass market, lowest common denominator crap. I gave the £30 I would have spent that day to the Make Poverty History campaign instead.

Surrey vs Kent - The Oval, London - Friday 1st July 2005

The Oval for a 20/20 game, in the pouring rain. Kent have a very poor record in this competition so far, and Surrey have an excellent record. So, low expectations for the mighty Kent County Cricket Club. Getting the bus down from Victoria (and getting stuck in hideous traffic), it was teeming down with rain, and I couldn't imagine how play was happening. But, this is 20/20, so the show goes on. Absolutely no way that even a 1-day game would be played in weather like this, but that all adds to the fun.

Sitting in the rain for 2 and a half hours was not immense fun, but we were all reasonably entertained by beer, the prospect of the pub, and some amusing cricket. In the end, a comprehensive win for Surrey, which was what we all expected, and a thorough soaking for all concerned.

Kasabian, 2 Many DJs, Ladytron, Soulwax, The Others - Wireless Festival, Hyde Park, London - Thursday 30th June 2005

Back to Hyde Park, and in 24 hours, the weather had changed completely from nice to utterly awful, with huge black clouds looming overhead to make it almost completely dark at 5pm.

Nevertheless, I made it into the venue in time to see The Others start their set - although they fairly obviously played their normal indoor set, with the music only stopping once or twice, it had nothing like the same effect outdoors - with much of the sound getting lost by the wind swirling around the venue, and the distance between crowd and band too great for any interaction.

Soulwax had been promoted from the tent to the main stage, as the billed "Special Guests" did not materialise, presumably because of a lack of budget to book anybody else! They played for 45 minutes, but struggled to keep the interest of the audience for all that time - a set for more committed Soulwax fans only!

After Soulwax, there was a decision to make - whether to watch 2 Many DJs in the tent, or brave Babyshambles on the main stage. I took the 2 Many DJs option, and made my way into the already heaving tent, where Ladytron had just started playing. During the wait for Babyshambles outside, it started teeming with rain, which sent hundreds of people towards the tent trying to get in. Unfortunately , the bouncers wouldn't let anybody else in, which was slightly irritating for anybody that needed to step outside the tent for the toilet, being completely unable to get back inside.

Not waiting for Babyshambles seemed to be the wise move, they showed up 45 minutes late, and played for only around 25 minutes - less than a minute for every £1,000 they had reportedly been paid, with Pete apparently looking at his most strung out and useless.

2 Many DJs are well known for playing amazing DJ sets, mixing rock and dance music together into a compelling new sound. At Glastonbury a couple of years ago, I saw them play a set that bowed to the Indie kids in the audience, and had some great riffs in it. Not so this time, with a predominantly dance set, and comparatively few moments of rock mixed in.

Kasabian came on and it started raining!! They sounded good, but the wind was blowing the sound around far too much, and the PA wasn't loud enough to contend. A great set, but the weather was just too awful to make it really go off with a bang - a real shame because it wasn't the band's fault.

Keane, Supergrass, Brendan Benson, James Blunt, Echo & The Bunnymen - Wireless Festival, Hyde Park, London - Wednesday 29th June 2005

In their inability to sell tickets, the Wireless Festival decided to send me a load, without me asking, which was much appreciated!! After getting back from holiday, I decided to at least go along and check it all out. The festival occupied a large site in Hyde Park, which would later (minus the tents, minor stages and other attractions) be used for Live 8. But my first thought on entering the venue was how empty it was - the organisers had advertised that it was deliberately like this, but I suspect that ticket sales must have been poor too. The arena was great, not too big, not too crowded, and with some very interesting minor stages, food stalls and diversions to make it a really relaxed festival. A good effort considering it is in the very centre of London.

Given that we had Keane and James Blunt playing, I suppose that a fairly boring crowd was to be expected - I didn't quite expect the number of people with picnics, wine, olives, breadsticks and houmous though - very posh for a music festival. After catching a bit of Echo & The Bunnymen (very predictable, I have heard their greatest hits a hundred times before, and they don't sound different now!), some of the crowd even managed to stand up for the arrival of James Blunt.

An incredibly posh man who used to be in the army, James Blunt came across as extremely smug and annoying, as anybody that's heard You're Beautiful (which much be everybody in the UK by now) will probably know. Between songs, he remarked that he could see a girl's breasts in the crowd - it sounded like he'd never seen a pair of tits before in his life. He did also swear at one point, but he's such a nice chap that the middle aged Keane fans forgave him! Jolly japes!!

By the end of James, I was getting ready to go and see the one act actually worth trekking across London for, Brendan Benson. Recently with a second album, and a reportedly well-received set at Glastonbury under his belt, he treated us ("us" being an almost-empty tent) to a mixture of old and new album, and some friendly chat between songs as well. After Brendan finished, there was time to catch a bit of the Supergrass set, which is considerably more polished than the last time I saw them play.

Keane came on stage at about 9pm, and, as they played the first song, I noticed that James Blunt was standing about 2 yards away from me. I also noticed that he is a midget!! After about 3 or 4 songs of Keane, I could take no more, and left to go home - a great festival in that you sleep at home and have a shower in the morning. Overall, a good festival in a nice, relaxing venue, with some great "festival" attractions - unfortunately today, the bands (with Brendan Benson notably excused) were barely worth the £0.00 I paid for the ticket. Better bands on offer tomorrow.

Trip to Barcelona, Spain - 23rd to 28th June 2005

Less than a week after returning from Valencia, I went to Barcelona, for a long-arranged weekend away. I had been there once before, but that was at the end of a long bout of travelling around Europe, so I didn't fully appreciate it. I remembered it as a great city, but one that I just didn't have the energy and enthusiasm for when I was there last.

The good memories I had before were more than justified, and I think Barcelona shot up during this trip to be one of my very favourite European cities, probably even beating Paris. The fact that you have everything there, a great city, the beach, the mountains, makes it a complete playground, and a place of great enjoyment.

A tour of the Nou Camp went down well, as did many nighttime strolls through the Barri Gothic, stopping off for beers and tapas on the way - there aren't many better ways to spend a 25-degree evening than that. A very good few nights, and a perfect way to ignore Glastonbury going on back in the UK (you either have to go there, or try to ignore it completely)- although I did see the horrendous floods on TV!!

Kings Of Leon - Hammersmith Apollo, London - Tuesday 21st June 2005

Not even halfway through the year, but the award for "hottest gig of the year" has already been won. In fact, if there is a hotter gig anywhere, I won't be there for long, as some fainting will be happening instead! A very hot day indeed, a venue packed to capacity, and a brilliant band that were excellent at whipping the crowd up, all contributed.

Kings of Leon are from the south of the USA, and there are very few bands better at playing the dirty, sweaty, but very cool rock music that they do. They sound like they've smoked a field full of weed, very lazy indeed; but the sound, and the songs, are absolutely incredible. Very few songs last longer than 4 minutes, and many of them run one into another, meaning a pretty much non-stop riot. Amazing live band, as well as one of the hottest gigs of the year, it was one of the best gigs of the year all round.

When I got home after the gig, a thick envelope was waiting for me. A few weeks ago, I entered a competition to win tickets for a day at the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park. I chose tickets for Thursday 30th, if I won. In the envelope were a pair of tickets for each of the 4 days (2 of which I can't even go to because I'm off out of the country). Either a mistake, which I won't complain about at all, or a symptom of great difficulty in selling tickets. I suspect the latter, but will go and have a proper look next week.

The Subways - Islington Academy, London - Monday 20th June 2005

This gig was a cheap ticket (in some cases free in fact!) launch party for The Subways' second single, Rock N Roll Queen, expected to be their major breakthrough. And, at the same time, a useful warmup for their 2 scheduled appearances at Glastonbury later in the week.

With no support, The Subways arrived on stage early, and played pretty much a full headline set (given that they probably only have around 50 minutes of material). The venue was only about 2/3 full, but the gig was far and away the most ear-splittingly loud that I have been to for a very long time indeed. Coupled with the energetic jumping around from the singer, the quality of their songs (especially live), and the fact that this was a "special" gig, it all made for a very enjoyable evening.

Trip to Valencia, Spain - 16th to 19th June 2005

This was a stag weekend, also known as an excuse to drink obscene amounts of alcohol over 3 nights. The venue was Valencia, a city with amazing nightlife, that my friends and I have been visiting for a while, mainly because one of our mates from school now lives there. In June, the place was clearly guaranteed to be scorching hot, so with the heat and the alcohol, the scene was set for a good weekend.

Our nights out in Valencia tend to be divided into 2 parts - before you start drinking the Agua de Valencia, and afterwards. So, a civilised bar crawl, on the beers, soon turns mad after midnight, when the rounds of this stuff start arriving. The main nightlife area of Valencia, Barrio del Carmen, is packed with people every night, and only really comes alive at midnight - a great place for a really big night out, in the way that we just don't match up to in the UK.

So, 3 big nights out, with lots of tapas in between, and even a full game of cricket during the day, in Valencia's main park (which is actually a dried up river bed in the city centre) - that certainly drew some strange looks from passing Spaniards, although it was all a good education for them. A brilliant weekend, in the way that you can only get by being out drinking for 72 hours with 15 great lads.

The Tears - Islington Academy, London - Wednesday 8th June 2005

The Tears (basically Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler, the more talented 2 from Suede) released their debut album this week, and played this gig for XFM to showcase it. Tickets were free to people that entered XFM's competition, and judging by the space in the venue, not that many people did!

Bands like this, essentially a reformed Suede with different backing musicians, are not always a good idea, and The Tears are no exception. I appreciate that they give themselves a different name to distance themselves from Suede, and also to avoid having to play Suede songs, but that would really have worked best if their new songs were of equivalent quality. They are very far from it, so they would actually have played a better gig if they'd just played old Suede songs.

The new album is passable, and inoffensive enough, but just does absolutely nothing to capture the imagination. It would be a fairly turgid debut album even from a completely new band, but when you can still remember the music these guys used to make, it could (and arguably should) be a career-killer of a comedown.

Worth the admission fee (just), but I would run a mile from this if I saw it happening again.

Magic Numbers, Loose Salute - Barfly, London - Monday 6th June 2005

The last opportunity to see the Magic Numbers in anything like this small a venue, for the medium term future at least. A chance look at the Barfly website revealed this date, so I duly bought 4 tickets. 2 other friends went the eBay ticket route, so there were 6 of us in total, probably a decent (if small) percentage of the Barfly!

On the way into the venue, we were given special "backstage" passes (they looked like them, but didn't have the same powers, unfortunately!

Support band Loose Salute featured something I've never seen before, a heavily pregnant woman singing lead vocals. She was, according to reliable females that know this kind of thing, over 8 months pregnant. I hope her baby liked her music, because it was OK but really nothing special at all.

The Magic Numbers were milling around inside the venue until about 2 mintes before they went on stage, and when they finally appeared, the crowd erupted. Seeming to know every word to every song, (the band were surprised by this, because the album wasn't out - little do they know about downloading music!!), the crowd truly appreciated that, next Monday when the album comes out, seeing the band in a venue like this will not be possible for a good while. For their part, the band finally seemed to be grasping the extent of the affection for them, and that, once the album is released, their lives won't be the same again.

A magic moment, seeing a band close up that are just on the brink of big commercial success, but that are already the finished article in front of your eyes. An "I was there" gig of the year.

Kent vs Surrey - Nevill Ground, Tunbridge Wells - Saturday 28th May 2005

The Nevill Ground, in quaint Royal Tunbridge Wells, is said to be one of the most picturesque cricket grounds in England. Not having been to all the others, I would agree that it is a lovely little ground. Kent play here for a week every season, usually (if they can) against a rival team like Sussex or Surrey, which often makes it a really good week of cricket.

On the final day of this 4-day match, Kent needed around 400 to win, with all their second innings wickets still intact. I went along with a bag of beers, expecting that there would be a mini run chase at some point in the day. But, going for the title, Kent were being cautious. Unfortunately, they dug in, tried not to lose all their wickets, and didn't care if they weren't scoring runs. A shame really, because the total was gettable. By tea, there had been only about 200 runs in the day, and only 1 wicket or so. Very boring.

The game livened up a bit in the final session, with a few more runs and a handful of wickets, but it was all too late by then as the match petered out into a stalemate. So, there was nothing for it but to go to the pub. It had been cloudy all day, with no rain but no sun either - amazingly, by 10pm in the pub, my face was feeling very burnt, and the day after it turned red. So, the match ended with sunburn and a hangover after all.

Oasis, The Subways - Hammersmith Apollo, London - Thursday 26th May 2005

This was part of a series of 4 unusually small gigs for Oasis, taking in London's Astoria, Coronet, Clapham Grand, and the Apollo in Hammersmith; venues with a total capacity of less than 15,000 combined. So, a privilege to see a stadium band in a club venue.

The Subways supported on this date, and seemed to be genuinely overwhelmed at the opportunity, continually thanking and paying tribute to Oasis, and the inspiration they provided. It seemed like a dream come true, and the Subways raised their game to sound excellent. The audience did not really take much notice of them at all, which was a shame as they played well enough to deserve the attention. But then, that is Oasis crowds for you - the support bands are uninteresting to many people, for the simple and stupid reason thay they're not Oasis.

I hadn't seen Oasis for about 3 years before this, since their last album in fact (I missed the Glastonbury headline debacle last year). Not having really heard the new album in detail, I was interested, but at the same time secretly hoping for a good sprinkling of older songs too. The set included some of the highlights of the new album,. but also some of the rockier old classics that I was really glad to see making a live return. In particular, Bring It On Down and Morning Glory are amongst my favourite Oasis songs ever, so I was pleased that they were thrown into the set so early on.

The 5 songs at the beginning, Fuckin In The Bushes, Turn Up The Sun, Lyla, Bring It On Down, and Morning Glory actually make for one of the best introductions to a live set you could wish for. As the set progressed, it reverted to more old classics, reminding a sceptical member of the audience that, when you've had a few to drink, and want to sing along to some loud music, you could do a hell of a lot worse than having Oasis playing live in front of you. A classic live band, still great to watch since they were last touring.