Embrace, The Subways - Carling Live 24 - Shepherds Bush Empire, London - Saturday 30th April 2005

So, off to Shepherds Bush for the third gig in a row, with my new found friend who quickly secured me this free pass:

We got there just in time to get a beer and watch the Subways' set. A very promising band, whose single Oh Yeah sounds like a real potential classic. The question for me was whether the rest of their material is anywhere near as good. And, I was happy to find that a lot of it is. Live, the band reminded me a lot of seeing Ash and Supergrass early in their career (and not just because there are 3 of them). Very youthful and energetic, playing 3-chord punk songs that sound much bigger and more elaborate than they really have any right to. They played a quite short set that left me wanting much more.

Embrace are a band that I loved back in 1998, but that kind of lost it soon after that. However, for their new album, the donation of a song from Coldplay gave them the shot in the arm their career maybe needed (and the decent song they needed too). Their new album sounded very similar to the successful formula from 7-8 years ago, all big indie rock ballads. The Coldplay song was immense, and reminded me that as well as making a good debut album, they were also a very impressive live band. Finishing the set with an encore of singles from the debut did the trick for me, and completed winning me over again.

Not expecting to go this gig, it was a surprise, and a pleasant revelation to see 2 excellent bands. Outside afterwards, I was offered more guestlist tickets for the following gig, The Zutons at Brixton. Errr, no thanks, especially not after the number of drinks I've had by now.

I still have 2 unused tickets for the final gig, 2 Many DJs in a bar in Brixton, given to me by somebody at the Shepherds Bush gig. A shame to miss that, but I'd already had a great day and done more than I'd expected to do.

Babyshambles, Brendan Benson, The Paddingtons - Carling Live 24 - ULU, London - Saturday 30th April 2005

Off to ULU, for the second gig in a row. A notice on the door informed us that, amazingly for a Babyshambles gig, one of the artists scheduled to appear had pulled out. The real amazing thing was that the missing artist wasn't Babyshambles, it was Willy Mason, who had been replaced instead by Brendan Benson. Wow, am I glad that I came last week to see Willy Mason now!

The best thing about ULU is that, being a student union, all the barstaff are uninterested and crap, and it takes about half an hour to get served. I remember this from my student days, and it is not a highlight. Take note ULU, if you want to be a venue that makes money and lets normal people in as well as students, we generally aren't happy to be treated like students!!

The Paddingtons played first at this gig, and were, for want of a better word, awful. There was not one decent tune during their whole set (actually, I lie, there may have been one). If Babyshambles sound like a disorganised, amateur version of the Libertines, then the Paddingtons sound like a disorganised, amateur version of Babyshambles, without the basic songwriting ability. Which is not a compliment.

Brendan Benson up next, and although I was slightly disppointed to miss Willy Mason, Brendan was a more than adequate replacement. He had just finished a UK tour to play his new album, and although I'd not heard it, he actually treated us all to something of a greatest hits set, with all the singles from both albums. That won over the crowd, who obviously weren't expecting to see him, and ensured that his set was very well received. During Brendan's set, I spied Romeo, the singer of the Magic Numbers, watching from the crowd. I couldn't resist going to say hello, and congratulating him on an excellent band. A very modest man, he was embarrassed to be praised like that, and went red under his beard. A later tip to the toilet and the back bar revealed the rest of the Magic Numbers at the gig as well - they may not be able to do that unnoticed for too much longer.

Babyshambles set today was the moment that allowed me to see how they have been hoodwinking us all for the past few months. On their electric, rocked up songs, they are a great band - they showed that about 3 times today. But, when they spend 2/3 of their set jamming away at reggae tunes, they sound pedestrian, unoriginal and lazy. Unfortunately, they just sounded boring for most of their set.

I suspect that the quality of Babyshambles' performance is highly dependent on Pete's mood, and state of intoxication. My first Shambles experience was a truly great set, my second was a no-show. The third, last night, was an averagely good set. But today was awful, and shattered the illusion that they are a good band. Of course, I know they can be a great band when they show up and are up for it, but that shows through insufficiently often at the moment to get away with it. Summary - can be utterly fantastic, but its far too much of a lottery to try to catch it happening.

During their set, I got talking to a very nice guy from a record company. He had a guestlist +1 pass for the whole of Carling Live. He was off to Shepherds Bush to see Embrace and The Subways in the following gig. I didn't have a ticket, and wasn't intending to go, but given the offer to be his +1, went for it regardless. So, 3 gigs in one day, and technically 4 inside 24 hours.

Kaiser Chiefs, The Rakes, 10,000 Things - Carling Live 24 - Islington Academy, London - Saturday 30th April 2005

Since seeing them on the NME awards tour in February, Kaiser Chiefs have spent much of the last 2 months annoying me, with Oh My God being on constant MTV, and the annoying look of the singer in every weeks NME. Add in a hangover from last night's Babyshambles gig, an 11am door opening time, and the need to pace oneself for a hard day of gigging ahead; and it is safe to say that I was distinctly underwhelmed about this one.

Carling LIve 24's programme of 24 hours of gigs had started at 7am in Camden, so Islington was the second stop on the crawl. Islington Academy is a new, purpose built (dare I say "Multiplex"?) venue. with air conditioning, good acoustics, and an efficient bar that can serve people quickly. Hooray!! It seemed that guestlist access was awarded at Carling Live 24 for the whole day, and being a relatively small venue, the vast majority of the audience were guestlisted and therefore standing around nonchalantly - very few actual ticket holders in there at all.

First up at this gig were 10,000 Things, a band from Leeds, who came up with 2 or 3 songs that sounded promising, in an otherwise fairly low key set. Very soon after they departed, we were surprised to see Kaiser Chiefs take the stage, despite the presence of The Rakes on the bill as well. But, with another gig starting at 2:30pm, I guess they had to get the headliner done to avoid a clash.

Kaiser Chiefs came on to Na Na Na Na, which got the entire crowd going immediately, then launched immediately into Modern Way. By the time they had 4 songs down, they had completely won the audience, me included, over. At the NME tour, they were nowhere near as mad and energetic as they were at this gig, with the singer jumping around al over the place. Very good showmanship indeed! The 2 singles were saved until near the end, and by that point, a complete Kaiser triumph had been guaranteed.

Strange that after the energy of a great headliner, The Rakes still had to play. But, play they did, and very well, with some obvious highlights of their set too, to bring this leg of the gig crawl to a happy close. We legged it out of the venue, towards ULU for the next gig.

Babyshambles, Metro Riots - Koko, London - Friday 29th April 2005

A headline gig for Babyshambles. and a good chance of Pete actually turning up for this one, as he has 2 other London gigs scheduled for the following 2 days. Pulling out of 3 fairly high-profile gigs over a weekend is something even he wouldn't do - hopefully. It was also an early show at Koko, because of the club night afterwards, so less opportunity for him to get into too much trouble in the meantime.

Support band Metro Riots sounded like a typical Babyshambles support band - fairly rudimentary garage rock, which is fine if you like that sort of thing, but not so good if you're trying to distinguish one of the Doherty hanger-on bands from another. They all sound very similar.

Although this gig sold out fairly quickly, this was the first Babyshambles gig I'd been to with a significant chavvy element, there was a good showing of Burberry and Reebok Classics. Amazing what a drug habit and a relationship with Kate Moss can do for your profile - even chavs have heard of Pete now, and as a bit of a waster, I'm sure he's their hero.

Introduced by one of Pete's dubious mates, Babyshambles came on and fairly quickly tore through some of their more upbeat stuff, including Killamangiro, which of course sent everybody wild. Pipe Down, although I've not heard it many times, sounds like a good tune too, and good for the upbeat part of the gig. The middle of the set was then filled with Pete's pseudo-reggae or Specials jamming, rather than the indie/rock tunes I kind or prefer. To the end eventually, and a riotous rendition of Fuck Forever to finish the gig on a high.

Overall, I thought that this gig was pretty good, but that it didn't recapture the energy of the Garage gig back in February. I don't like the reggae karaoke songs, but some of the rockier tunes sound very promising, if they can get around to recording them properly.

Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur - Highbury, London - Monday 25th April 2005

Spurs at home, always a game where the away fans can be guaranteed to triumphantly march the 150 yards from Tube station to away entrance, in full voice singing offensive songs, and enjoying full protection from the local police. How very hard of them.

Just before the game started, my girlfriend got hit plum in the face by a ball used in the warmup (I think Erik Edman was the wayward shooter, although it was so off target that any Spurs player is a suspect). She was distinctly dazed, so it was a debut trip to the Highbury first aid hut for both of us. To get there involved a walk along the edge of the pitch, behind the Clock End goal, which was clearly an exciting move so close to kick off. The walk back happened about a minute before kick off, and got us close enough to whisper audible abuse to Paul Robinson.

The missus livened up during the first 20 minutes, although still dazed a bit. By the time Jose Antonio Reyes scored the winner just after 20 minutes, she was back on full form again. The Spurs fans quietened down after the goal, to the extent that we didn't hear much of a peep out of them for the rest of the game, much to my amusement.

Most of the second half in the Clock End was spent verbally abusing a Spurs fan that had chosen to stand in the front row of the West Stand, wearing a pink shirt. Very bad move, and he was mercilessly mocked for 45 minutes for it - deservedly so too.

After the game, and a special announcement for Spurs fans - they were marched away from Highbury, right past our magnificent new stadium (under construction). That must have made them smart with jealousy. They should be used to coming away from Highbury having lost by now, but having to walk past a new 60,000 capacity stadium being built just for us must have made their days!!

No win for Spurs at Highbury now since May 1993, and that game was 5 days before we were due to play in the Cup Final, so we had rested our entire first team. With any luck, it will remain their last win at Highbury forever, a mere 13 years before the place closes!

Willy Mason, Kid Carpet - ULU, London - Thursday 21st April 2005

Having seen Willy Mason a couple of months ago in the Barfly, I was keen to see him again as soon as possible. His album had spent the intervening 2 months on almost constant play on my iPod, so this really was a chance to see him having full knowledge of his music and words.

Support act was a bloke called Kid Carpet - who seemed to have a large array of plastic toy instruments, like Fisher Price's "my first guitar". Strangely, they were plugged in, and he actually played most of his songs on these instruments. That meant the songs were disjointed, shambolic, and very erratic in quality. The joke was funny, and the set was interesting, for about 10 minutes - after which it because a rather annoying, tedious 6th form prank-gone-wrong. Perfect for a students union venue!!

Willy Mason came on stage and initially started to play acoustic songs, but was then joined by a drummer after 3 or 4 songs, for an altogether more lively sound. This was amazing, and really gave a new dimension to seeing him. He is great acoustically, but the drummer really added something else to his songs, making it sound really special. Even more amusing was that the drummer was his 16-year-old brother, and that his parents were in the audience. Still very young, but an all-round brilliant songwriter and performer.

Chelsea vs Arsenal - Stamford Bridge, London - Wednesday 20th April 2005

Chelsea are about to win the League- here is a picture taken the last time that happened.
In the Arsenal section, banners were held up bearing the number 7,148, which is the number of people that watched a Division Two League game at Stamford Bridge as recently as February 1992. Given that there were over 40,000 people there today, that fact underlines quite how johnny-come-lately many of their fans now are. Some of them even sang "Champions", which is really the ultimate arrogant no-no because they haven't won it yet.

Arsenal wanted to prove a point tonight, to beat Chelsea and prove that they may be Champions elect, but that we can still get the better of them. We couldn't quite do it, but came quite close. I can't help feeling that we missed a chance to give their bubble a significant dent, and also missed the chance to prove to ourselves that we are a match for this Chelsea side.

Anyway, no use crying over spilt milk. Chelsea will soon go on to seal their second title, only 11 more and they'll have won as many as us!!

Arsenal vs Blackburn Rovers, FA Cup Semi Final - Millennium Stadium, Cardiff - Saturday 16th April 2005

Oh dear. A rare trip to the Millennium Stadium for Blackburn, in fact a rare appearance in a Semi Final, 2 games away from European football, and they cannot even get close to selling all their tickets. So, welcome to the Millennium stadium, with over 10,000 empty seats!

Arsenal on the other hand, who have had to endure the journey down to Cardiff at least once every season since they started using the Millennium, managed to pretty much sell out, so all the empty seats were at the Blackburn end.

This was a game of 2 sides, one side called Blackburn, this side tried to kick the other out of the game, using rough tactics that their manager perfected in his playing days. This side got away with murder.

The other side, called Arsenal, tried to play football, ride the rough challenges, and eventually succeeded and got their reward, with a goal just before half time, a fight for most of the second half, then 2 more goals in the final 10 minutes once Van Persie had been introduced as a sub.

So, 4th Cup Final in 5 years for Arsenal, deserved on the day, and continuing our remarkable recent record in the FA Cup. Lets hope we can repeat the trick next year, when the first game at new Wembley will be the reward.

Idlewild, Sons & Daughters - Shepherds Bush Empire, London - Thursday 14th April 2005

On the way towards this gig, the venue Box Office was still selling tickets, and touts were offering them for below face value. On noticing this, I felt a bit sorry for Idlewild - surely they were good enough to sell out Shepherds Bush Empire? They are supporting REM soon, and sold out Brixton on their last tour. Poor Idlewild.

Inside the venue, Scottish band Sons & Daughters were strange, and I'm not sure it was good-strange. The word to describe them, I think, was "kooky" - although some of the songs sounded good, an alternative word may be "annoying".

When Idlewild came on, my sympathy for their failure to sell out the venue started to evaporate, and pretty fast. Supporting REM is one thing, attempting to become REM is something altogether less forgiveable. And that is what Idlewild appear to be trying hard to do. Lots of songs that could be described as "nice" or "inoffensive", but would never be described as "exciting", or even "interesting".

When they first started, this band used to play live with a plastic shelter round the singer's microphone - because their gigs were such a riot, there was a risk that the singer would lose teeth from the mike smashing into his face. The NME used to review their gigs as unpredictable affairs, which would often degenerate into anarchy. We are a very long way away from that now, and much of what attracted me to Idlewild in the first place (in their records and live performances) has gone away with it.

I just hope the REM route proves to be worth it for them, and they don't end up losing their old fans, whilst failing to win any new ones over.

Trip to Cork, Ireland - 7th to 11th April 2005

A lovely few days to relax in the small village of Schull, at the edge of West Cork - about 90 minutes drive from the city of Cork itself. This place has lots of clean air (fairly fresh in April, too!), good pubs and eateries, and all the empty countryside you could ever want. A very good place to escape London to go to.

This trip was my first experience of the wonderful Ryanair, and I must say its not something that I'm incredibly keen to repeat. For £35 return to Ireland, you can't really complain, but they don't give you the nicest travelling experience in the world, that's for sure!

Whilst we were in Ireland, the funeral of Pope John Paul II happened. I expected the whole country to grind to a halt whilst this was happening - but the population seemed suitably non-interested in the whole affair. Things were slightly quieter than usual, but only slightly, and normal service had resumed within a couple of hours of the funeral ending.

Most of the evenings away, we spent eating, then drinking excessive amounts of Bulmers cider(Magners to all the UK-types) - all in all a very good and relaxing way to spend 4 nights away on a long weekend.

Arsenal vs Norwich City - Highbury, London - Saturday 2nd April 2005

A second consecutive hat-trick in a home League game for Thierry Henry, for the first time since, er, last year, when he scored 3 against Liverpool, followed by 4 against Leeds.

Properly warm this one, the sun was out, and the players braved short sleeves for the first time in a while. With Norwich struggling in the League, it was no surprise that they fought for a while, and actually stayed in contention until just after half time, when a goal from Freddie put them 3-1 down - they had been 2-0 down but a good goal by Huckerby brought them back into things.

Thierry's hat-trick was complete on 66 minutes, and he could in all honesty have had a number more - but I think he may have eased off to spare Norwich the humiliation.

Norwich seem to have fallen into the naive trap of playing football that way it should be played, but that isn't effective at getting the results they need to stay up. A real shame if they go down, and a functional, boring team like Crystal Palace stay up - but we do seem to be in a League where, at the bottom at least, playing nasty helps you do well, and the nice guys come last. Its not fair at all.