The Kooks, The Automatic - Forum, Tunbridge Wells - Saturday 28th January 2006

In the week of the Monkey, Brighton band The Kooks also released their long awaited and much acclaimed debut album. In fact, on my weekly trip to HMV this week, they appeared to have completely sold out of copies. I guess this was because lots of Arctic Monkey album buyers also picked up a copy of The Kooks, which was doubtless a lot more demand than the shops expected.

The Kooks are midway through a sold-out breakthrough UK tour to support their single and album, which stopped in at Tunbridge Wells Forum. Albeit, this is one of the smallest venues on their tour, and The Kooks are one of the better-known bands to play here - but even more of a treat for those reasons. A bargain at £6 to get in, and with bonus support from The Automatic, a band that have also been tipped for good things in 2006.

Arriving when the doors opened, it took around an hour to get inside, and people were still coming in when the Kooks got on stage - this in a venue that only holds 200 people!!   Anyway, when we did finally manage to get inside, it was just in time to see The Automatic. They sounded good, not great, but good. Their single, Recover was an obvious highlight, but they had little else that touched the same heights. A couple of catchy songs towards the end, it was a set that disappointed a little, especially given the good things that had been written about them.

I was really impressed by The Kooks. I had seen them very briefly about 6 months ago, in a tent at the V Festival. They sounded OK then, but I didn't really see enough to judge. Since then, I have got really hooked on some of their songs, in particular Eddie's Gun, but also a couple of other tracks from the album. The atmosphere inside the venue was electric, and the crowd seemed to have ensured a resounding victory before the band had even done anything.

Luckily, the band matched upto the anticipation, and spent 50 minutes ripping through the vast majority of their available material. After almost every song, they stopped to pay tribute to the crowd, who were enthusiastically stagediving and crowd surfing - classic TW Forum behaviour. They won't play somewhere this small again, and the crowd were determined to make the most of the intimacy whilst they could.

A true graduation gig, as this band rightly move up from the pub and club circuit. Their music suggests they could move up further still. This time last year, I saw Kaiser Chiefs open up a bill at Brixton. The Kooks were comparable, if maybe lacking a killer attraction like I Predict A Riot. They would do well to go as far as Kaiser Chiefs, but 2006 should be a good year for The Kooks.

The Strokes, Shout Out Louds - Shepherds Bush Empire, London - Tuesday 24th January 2006

2 days after the landmark Arctic Monkeys gig, their album is out, and they are officially the biggest phenomenon on the planet. Selling more copies of a debut album than anybody, ever (over 100,000 on the first day), they are being written about here, here, here, here, here, and here - basically everywhere then!

Anyway, although in danger of being overshadowed by some Monkeys, it is the first night of The Strokes' UK tour today. Their album came out 3 weeks ago (we are only 24 days into the year and already 2 amazing albums have been released), and hit number 1 in the UK, the first time they'd been number one with an album, anywhere in the world. Still adored by NME, still making great songs, and still blindingly cool, they waltzed back into the UK.


Support band were the Shout Out Louds, who I'd seen about 9 months ago, supporting the Magic Numbers. Back then, I'd only heard 2 songs, and was really impressed with their show - so impressed in fact that I went and got hold of their album straight away. Having heard that, they were pretty good tonight, but I was nowhere near as impressed as I was the first time I saw them.

After a 45 minute wait, The Strokes appeared, and launched straight into Heart In A Cage, followed immediately by The Modern Age, which sent everybody wild. Looking extremely cool, with some funky multi-coloured lights, and with the drumkit on a special podium at the back of the stage, the stage set was minimalist but excellent. They played for almost an hour and 3/4, during which many of the highlights of the new album got an airing; as well as a (pleasantly) surprising number of songs from the debut album - in fact, only about 2 or 3 songs from that album weren't played during the set. Finishing up with a blistering encore of half a dozen older classics, the band brought the house down, and finally left the stage just before 11pm. They seem to be on top form as a band - they have always had great songs and been excellent live, so good to see that normal service has resumed!!

Arctic Monkeys, Reverend & The Makers, Milburn, Harrisons - Leadmill, Sheffield - Sunday 22nd January 2006

Arctic Monkeys just went big. Five minutes before the doors for this gig opened, their second single went straight to Number One in the charts. Half an hour after they come off stage, their first album is released, which is tipped to beat Definitely Maybe as the fastest selling debut album ever in the UK. They are on the cover of NME, and tomorrow, they start on a 4-week long NME tour which sold out in record time all across the country, purely because they are on the bill.

So, a hometown gig in front of 900 people was always going to be special. The ticketless far outnumbered the lucky ones, and with 3 other Sheffield bands on the bill, it was a true celebration of a vibrant scene. The Harrisons appeared first, and played a solid set, which was "OK", but in reality it rarely got better than being just "OK".

Next up were Milburn, who were excellent - they supported Arctic Monkeys when I saw them at the Astoria, and they sounded a whole lot better this time - a good half dozen really promising songs, from a band that looked just like Arctic Monkeys' younger brothers. Definitely one I'll be looking out to see in London soon. The crowd in Sheffield loved them, they were the first hometown heroes of the night.
After Milburn, we were "treated" to the dubious pleasure of Reverend and The Makers. Sounding like a bad version of baggy gone wrong, but without some of the good songs that made baggy bands acceptable, they were totally out of tune with the rest of the evening, and with what all of the audience wanted. They weren't actually completely terrible, but they were pretty average, and didn't fit the occasion at all.

So, eventually, they buggered off, and we waited for Arctic Monkeys. The atmosphere was electric for the whole changeover, the crowd even erupted when a techie brought out the Arctic Monkeys' bass drum. After what seemed like ages to wait, and to the sound of Warren G's Regulate, the band took to the stage, with Alex holding up one finger to indicate who was Number One. When the crowd eventually died down, Alex uttered the five words that sent everybody wild again - Said who's that girl there... - he didn't need to sing another word for a while!

The band have previously been willing to "throw away" some of their banker songs early in the set, and this was no different, as the current Number One was followed directly by the previous effort. By the end of this, the gig was well and truly underway. Despite covering Girls Aloud's Love Machine on the radio during the week, they steadfastly refused to repeat the trick, and instead ploughed into the new album - one wild reaction after another. In the gaps between songs, Alex was constantly spotting his mates in the crowd, and the crowd itself took to singing about Sheffield - there was hardly a quiet moment at all.

We even got a new song towards the end, Leave Before The Lights Come On, which sounded just as good as anything on the album. After this song, Alex noticed that the doors had been thrown open, and that there were literally dozens of people watching/listening to the gig from the street outside - madness. Finishing up with Mardy Bum, Fake Tales of San Francisco, and A Certain Romance, the band topped off the set by throwing everything they had into the crowd - drumsticks, set lists, plectrums, the lot. Alex then went one better and dived into the crowd himself, sparking a near riot as everybody surged to the front to get a piece of him.

The set was only about 50 minutes long, but for 50 minutes of sheer pandemonium, you'd have to go a very long way to beat that. Being the last hometown show before this band becomes truly massive, and in such a small venue, this really was one of those "I Was There" gigs. But then, every gig Arctic Monkeys play at the moment seems like that - they really have no equal in terms of energy, buzz and tunes right now.

Everton vs Arsenal - Goodison Park, Liverpool - Saturday 21st January 2006

Always a pleasure to visit Liverpool, with its bright purple wheelie bins outside all the houses. An early kickoff for Sky TV meant an early start for this one. After getting up whilst it was still dark, we arrived in Liverpool in good time, and parked up near Anfield, on the other side of Stanley Park from Goodison. To kill time until the pub opened, a quick wander around Anfield was an effective move, and allowed us to see some of the local urban regeneration that's been happening - Liverpool is truly on the up!!
To the game, and it was an unfortunately now customary Arsenal away performance. Especially in the (grim up) north, where there are lots of teams with commitment, prepared to run about, tackle, battle, and generally not allow Arsenal to play, we don't seem to be able to cope. This was a physical game, Everton fans howled for every 50-50 decision, and a weak referee generally gave it to them. But, Arsenal again had no answer to the physical approach, and were knocked out of their stride all too easily.

It does puzzle me that this is much the same team that has gone unbeaten away from home all season in the League, not once but twice in the last 4 years - 2 of the only 3 times that its ever been done!! 3 years ago, the same team scored in over 50 consecutive league matches, another all-time record - this season we have already failed to score 9 times in 22 games. True, we have lost match winners like Vieira, and seen other key players like Pires and Ljungberg fade to a shadow of their former selves. But it is still very hard to understand how a team that so regularly swept all before them away from home, now struggles so much. Something very important for Arsene Wenger to do some thinking about.

As is now the norm after an away defeat, only 2 players came across to the away fans, to applaud and thank us for our 500-mile round trip to support them. So, hats off to Freddie Ljungberg and Sol Campbell, no thanks at all to the rest of the ungrateful bastards. Maybe they all wanted to hurry down the tunnel to start discussing how we can put our away form right - that discussion certainly needs to take place, because it isn't good enough at the moment. With Bolton away next week in the FA Cup, and in-form Birmingham away the following week, I fear this may get worse before it gets better.

Bromheads Jacket - Buffalo Bar, London - Tuesday 17th January 2006

This gig was part of a series promoted by Artrocker magazine, all happening at the Buffalo Bar, a tiny venue just down the road from me by Highbury & Islington tube station. When I say tiny, I mean really small - the place cannot hold more than 150 people, and with pillars in the way everywhere, it makes for a really tight gig experience.

Bromheads Jacket were the headline act, a band from Sheffield that seem to be part of the same music scene up there that Arctic Monkeys have graduated from. Their single, What If's and Maybes has been one of the early highlights of the year, and the tunes available to download from their website seem to reveal a band with punky music, but intelligent, real-life, quickfire lyrics, in between Arctic Monkeys and The Streets. Strange that, because I'm 99% sure I saw Mike Skinner there watching.

After some fairly ropey, experimental artrock support acts, Bromheads Jacket came on stage just before 11pm. After a few opening songs that sounded promising enough, punctuated with lengthy chats with the crowd, they changed guitars and stepped it all up a gear, with one frenzied song after another, delivered like punk rock. The single was an obvious highlight, but there were many other highlights, such were the number of good songs that they seem to have. The singer, despite being from Sheffield, is a nice Southern boy, and seemed to have lots of his semi-posh schoolmates there.
The set overall lasted probably half an hour at most, definitely leaving all wanting more. We had a mini stage invasion, the band in the crowd, and the gig ended with the singer jumping into the crowd to chat with some of the people down at the front. Punk rock meets hip hop, and one to watch.

Arsenal vs Middlesbrough - Highbury, London - Saturday 14th January 2006

A very tight game, which saw Arsenal just about edge their opponents to claim the 3 points.

In reality, this was a game where Arsenal seemed to go mad, and run completely riot. And, despite the 7-0 scoreline, Arsenal could actually have scored double that, such were the number and quality of chances that were missed on top of the goals.

This was Thierry Henry's first game since he signalled his intention to stay with Arsenal, and it looked like making that decision had lifted a weight off his shoulders. He seemed 100% up for the game again (which hasn't fully been the case recently), and in a very mischevous mood all afternoon. Most likely, the fact that Arsenal tied up the signing of 2 solid players yesterday, also seemed to lift the whole team.

(Unfortunately), it isn't every day that you see a 7-0 victory, so the game will be memorable for that alone. It was also notable for being Ashley Cole's long awaited return from injury - he came on as a first half subsitiute for an injured Cygan, to much relief from the crowd. We have needed him for a while, so to have him back was long overdue.

And what of Middlesbrough? Well, they had a lot of young players on show today, who may be promising, but were simply not good enough for the game. Many teams wuld struggle against Arsenal in that mood, but a young side just got swept away. With them in terrible recent form, and dropping down the league like a stone, they need to be careful not to be sucked into relegation worries.

No such worries for Arsenal, a fantastic win to restore much confidence around the Club. Now, an away win at Everton next week would really get us back on the right track for the rest of the season.

Stephen Fretwell, Morning Runner - Shepherds Bush Empire, London - Friday 13th January 2006

This was a free gig (for me), courtesy of Carling Live, whose competition for tickets I entered. In reality, it seemed that Carling Live were doing a great job of getting rid of the many unsold tickets that remained for the show. So, free tickets on the 3rd (top) floor of Shepherds Bush Empire - a new one for me, as I usually avoid gigs if the seats in the heavens are all that's left. A surprisingly good view from Level 3 though, as the seats ramp up fairly steeply, so you can see well from pretty much anywhere - if you can get over the fact that you're about 3 miles from the stage.

Mara Carlyle was first on, a woman that I'd walk over hot coals to run away from if I ever see her on the bill at a gig in future. She was awful, and so incredibly self important as to totally turn me off before she'd even got through 2 songs. Nice singing voice, but she really seemed to think she was a whole lot better (and especially funnier) than she really is.

The undoubted highlight of this gig for me was Morning Runner - a band that I'd managed to avoid for the latter half of last year, completely unintentionally. In fact, they played so many support gigs, it was amazing I didn't bump into them eventually, so it was good to finally do so today. Hailing from my old haunt of Reading, they seem to have the knack of writing some very good songs, and are a very engaging prospect as a live band. It was extremely easy to see how they managed to bag slots supporting Coldplay and Embrace - they sound like the bastard child of the two, but with significantly less whining, and more guitars instead. I will definitely be looking out to see them again soon.

After Morning Runner, Stephen Fretwell appeared to a surprisingly rapturous reception - I'd not heard all that much about him before, but it appears that at least 1,000 other people had done! With David Gray around, who would have thought that the world needed any more male singer/songwriters? But here was another!! For a male singer/songwriter, he wasn't half bad - clearly not as good as Willy Mason, but far closer to that end of the scale than to David Gray. His lyrics are clever and ring true to many of us, and he is a good musician with a good band behind him.
Not 100% my cup of tea, but well worth seeing, and worth getting to the venue early for if he's supporting somebody else.

Work Trip to Paris, France - 9th to 10th January 2006

A nightmare journey to Paris, with a dodgy Eurostar seat wedged in between the luggage rack, the always-opening-and-closing door, and that all-important toilet. It all set me wondering what I had done wrong to deserve such a terrible stroke of luck!

In the hotel, I got strangely engrossed in a game show on TF1, where a woman had a box with an amount of money in it - it could have contained €250,000, or €25,000, or €10,000, or €5,000, or €10, or, bizarrely (maybe this was a cunning French joke), a tampon. The presenter went through a process of elimination that seemed to last forever, before eventually just offering her €40,000 to walk away with. Utterly pointless, but the whole thing was whipped up into suspense as if it were a penalty shootout in the World Cup Final. I'm not sure if we have this show in the UK, but it probably doesn't get aired at prime time on the main national TV channel. Still, at least it takes the collective national mind off all the rioting and social unrest!!

After all this nonsense, I retreated to watching BBC World, which has Annie Lennox as a guest presenter, for a programme about endangered species! What an advert for the UK's media excellence!

Arsenal vs Cardiff City - Highbury, London - Saturday 7th January 2006

In this match report, everybody seems to be making much of Cardiff's fans, how well they all behaved, and how far away their behaviour was from their reputation as ace troublemakers.

I'd agree, they were very well behaved. If you ignore the fan in the North Bank that started waving a Welsh flag about, and whom it took 6 coppers and stewards to remove, as he flicked the Vs at the North Bank. Oh, and the Cardiff fan that ran onto the pitch from the East Stand, and shoved Manuel Almunia in the chest, before eventually being escorted away. And the fact that they behaved themselves and didn't run onto the pitch - or maybe that was more down to the sheer numbers of stewards and police at the front of their section, who were physically preventing them from getting onto the pitch. (Look how many people are preventing a pitch invasion from the away end here...)If you ignore all that, the Cardiff fans were very well behaved.

Of course, all these antics meant that, whilst probably not at their worst, they were still worse than any other fans that have been to Highbury this season. True, there were a lot of them, which adds to the potential for trouble. And true, they were very loud, and supported their team fantastically throughout the game. But it is a shame that they do seem to have such a large number of complete idiots - they fully deserve their reputation in my mind.

So to the actual football match. Cardiff could have scored within the first 30 seconds, which certainly gave everybody a wake up call. In reality though, this was an Arsenal "win the game early" effort, with a goal after 5 minutes, and another after about 15, to effectively end the game 1/3 of the way through the first half. Arsenal played out the rest of the first half, but then took their foot off the gas entirely for the whole second half.

Cardiff then did what Arsenal had been inviting them to do for much of the last 20 minutes, and scored with about 3 minutes to go, to set up a nailbiting finish. Nobody in the crowd really wanted to brave Ninian Park on a Tuesday night, so that's mainly why it was nailbiting! In injury time, Arsenal did the professional thing, and shut up shop to hold onto the victory. Into the fourth round, and lets hope either for a home tie, or an interesting away trip - Bolton, Wigan, Middlesbrough and Sunderland do not count!!

Arsenal vs Manchester United - Highbury, London - Tuesday 3rd January 2006

I spent the whole day with a very bad feeling about this one. "Yes, but Arsenal have a great home record", everybody told me. "Yes, but apart from Chelsea (where we got stuffed), we haven't actually played a decent team at home yet this season". Not a good sign, and the fact that (excluding a routing of a very poor Portsmouth team), we scored a massive 1 goal in 5 league games in December.

But, it seems I underestimated how weak Manchester United actually are now - with Fletcher and O'Shea in the centre of their midfield, it seems hard to understand why they are anywhere above the bog standard normal for the Premiership. Van Nistelrooy and Rooney obviously make the difference for them usually, but they did not look like much above the dreary normal for a Premiership team these days.

A very cagey game, much like chess - neither team seemed to want to do anything rash, unless the other team caught them out and punished them for it. But, for a 0-0 draw, it was a surprisingly engaging game as it went on, as the breakthrough looked more likely to come from Arsenal, then United, then Arsenal, then United again, and then not at all, as both sides settled for the draw towards the end.

After the game, and back home watching Sky, it was amazing how much of a United perspective all of the studio pundits had - I miss all this usually, but they really are Man Utd fans!

A positive to end on, 4 clean sheets in a row since we lost to Chelsea, which is an encouraging sign. Now, if we could just see our way to score a couple of goals like we used to be able to, maybe recovery isn't that far away.