Editors, The National - Brixton Academy, London - Tuesday 30th May 2006

Three nights at Brixton seemed like a complete impossibility for Editors less than a year ago. But, with a well-promoted album, containing enough indie anthems to make a splash, they find themselves selling out 3 consecutive nights. When this happens to bands like Editors - and even more to bands like Hard Fi and Kaiser Chiefs, all after just one album, it does make you think that live music in the UK has changed into a business that can shift almost as many gig tickets as records, and probably for more money all in all.

The support band tonight were The National, a band I had heard of, but not heard much music from. A perfect support band for Editors, they played a long set full of slow-burning, broody, anthemic tunes. Reminiscent of Joy Division, the set was quite samey, but the "same" was pretty good. The songs take a long time to build up, then seem to explode into a riot of noise towards the end - just the way these things should be.

Editors came on stage pretty late for a Brixton gig, with a minimal stage set. The crowd for this was an older one, few people going completely mad at the front. For a "sold out" gig, this was one of the emptier ones, with no touts outside even, suggesting that maybe 3 nights is the limit for Editors. The set was very no-nonsense, little banter with the crowd between songs, but all of the familiar album tracks came out one by one - with some b-sides and new songs thrown in.

Behind me at the gig was a complete idiot, who obviously doesn't do many of these things - he was yelling "whoa" at the top of his loud voice relentlessly, even during songs. Unfortunately, you do find these people occasionally, even his girlfriend was not too keen on him.

Since I first saw this band back in December, I had wanted a repeat visit. This was a great gig, and the climax to a fantastic few months for Editors, but I couldn't help feeling that this might be their peak. It is hard to see how they will sell out bigger venues, although they will do well at the festivals later in the year.

Boy Kill Boy, The Automatic, Forward Russia, Long Blondes - Electric Ballroom, London - Wednesday 24th May 2006

The NME New Bands Tour rolled into London, on its final night. Four of the best (or at least most-hyped) new bands in Britain, at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, a venue with a very useful balcony.

First on the bill were The Long Blondes, a band who recently ruined their reputation as "Britain's best unsigned band", by signing a record deal after lots of courting. With a photogenic lead singer, they certainly seem to have a strong image, mainly through the clothes they wear. The music was "good", but probably not much better than that - some songs were obvious standouts, but I think I'd need to know their songs much better before I could really enjoy them live.

Forward Russia were next up, and I have to say I thought they were terrible! Although a couple of songs were vaguely interesting, much of the set sounded far too much like a wall of unfocussed noise. Many of the songs sounded very similar, and they also ran into each other rather a lot. Their matching t-shirts are all very nice, but the music reminded me of bands I used to watch in very small local venues when I was 16. Some of the kids at the front were going mad, but I just felt like I'd seen this kind of band too many times before.

The Automatic were my band of the night, by far. I'd seen them before a few months ago and not been too impressed, but I'm happy to eat my words now - they were a different, and completely better band tonight. They had the crowd from the word go, their keyboardist was possibly the most mental band member I have seen for a long time, and they seem to have the songs to do very well at the festivals this summer. 4 songs in particular had the crowd jumping - first single Recover, last single Raoul, next single Monster, and the crowd favourite Rats. All one-word titles, all uncomplicated enough, simple indie-pop songs, and a band that are tightly accomplished at playing them very well. Monster will be one of the big indie hits of this summer, I am convinced.

Headliners for the evening, and the tour, were Boy Kill Boy. I had heard their singles, but not much else, their last single Suzie being a very good track by any standards. Unfortunately for me, that was the undoubted highlight of their set. The rest all seemed very much like little variation on the same (pop, heavily influenced by Duran Duran and The Killers) theme. OK, so they aren't as bad as The Bravery, but that is little achievement. It could be because I like rockier music with more guitars, but it all seemed too poppy, a little clean-cut, and just a bit tame for my liking. They filmed the video for their new single tonight, and the singer ended by jumping into the crowd - that was as edgy as they got. Quite tight, technically good, but a but same-y for me.

Battle of the Bands? A resounding victory to The Automatic as far as I'm concerned!

Radiohead, Willy Mason - Hammersmith Apollo, London - Friday 19th May 2006

Radiohead were last seen alive at Glastonbury in 2003, where in all honesty they were a touch disappointing. I wasn't sure at the time if that was just how Radiohead are now - a bit disappointing. They played some of the songs that everybody wanted to hear, but spent an awful lot of the time amusing themselves on their own. With some new material available, which is rumoured to sound like the stuff on The Bends and OK Computer, this was a healthy chance to redeem themselves! Tickets went in ridiculous time when they went on sale, and had since been selling for stupid money on eBay.

Willy Mason supported, also with some new songs, but also with some new band members! His brother on drums was not too much of a surprise, but a female violinist and vocalist added a new dimension to the set. Some new songs which sounded a lot more elaborate than those on the first album, and pretty damned good as well. The older songs were also rearranged, the new instruments adding a brilliant extra dimension to some of them. Willy Mason is clearly a genius, and I hope to see him headline again soon.

After an interlude which featured some characteristically strange music, Radiohead arrived. The number of solo males in the audience seemed to grow very quickly, especially around me - lots of trainspotting Radiohead fans around. The first 3 or 4 songs were incredible in terms of sound, and the intensity with which they were performed. New songs were slipped in, and sounded very promising, I would agree with the rumours that they are Bends or OK Computer-like.

The set lasted for a good 2 hours, but left frustration. Radiohead could play for 2 hours and be without a doubt the best band in the world, if they played what the audience wanted to hear (i.e. mainly stuff from the first 3 albums, with some later highlights). I felt there was too much playing of what amused them - when they did play an earlier song, the place erupted every time - 2 hours of playing that would see them able to conquer the world.

Things got better towards the end, as a mix of good new songs, and some classic staples, including Black Star and the amazing Lucky, were rolled out. But you do get the feeling that Radiohead do that only because they feel they have to stick in a quota of crowd pleasers. That is a shame, because it is what they sound best doing. Look forward to the new songs, they should be great when recorded and released.

Barcelona vs Arsenal, Champions League Final - Stade de France, Paris, France - Wednesday 17th May 2006

Out to Paris on the day before the game, for the biggest game in Arsenal's history by some distance. That meant thousands of Gooners, with and without tickets (mainly the latter I suspect in fact). Spare tickets just didn't seem to exist, even the professional touts didn't seem to have them. So, by the middle of Tuesday, we had pretty much worked out that the going rate was around three thousand pounds for a pair of tickets, if you were "lucky" enough to find somebody selling them. 50,000 ticketless Barcelona members didn't help this situation, I guess.

Lots of beer, spread across Tuesday afternoon and evening made for a good preparation. Because fans were spread out all over Paris, there didn't seem to be huge concentrations in the city centre, in any one place at least. Montmartre and the red light district of Pigalle was a predictable place for drinking Gooners, and we based ourselves there for much of Tuesday evening and Wednesday afternoon, before eventually taking the sardine-packed Metro to the stadium, with those £1,500 pieces of paper in our pockets.

Approaching the flying saucer stadium, there were dozens of people walking about, either carrying or wearing signs saying "need tickets", in a variety of languages. I doubt that very many got lucky, there seemed to be thousands more people in Paris than there were tickets available. Amazingly for a game of this size, outside the ground an hour before kick off, all merchandise stalls had sold out of everything - programmes, pennants, scarves, shirts - the whole lot. Very unusual for the football teams and authorities to miss such a good opportunity to make money, and they chose to do it on a day when people will be willing to buy absolutely anything as a souvenir of the day!

I got into the ground, through the predictable 2 turnstiles for thousands of Arsenal fans. The turnstiles looked quite easy for ticketless fans to storm if they wanted, in fact it would probably have been harder to vault a London Underground barrier. The police were an obvious deterrent, but there were stories of some groups trying to rush the gates. Once inside the turnstiles, Stade de France is one of those stadia where the actual stadium building itself is still a short walk away, the kind of ground you don't see often in England (Twickenham as an exception). I'd been before, but getting into my seat reminded me what an impressive place it is. Then, we endured about 45 minutes of hysterical buildup over the PA, followed by a frankly bizarre "opening ceremony", before the players arrived.

When the teams came onto the pitch, the visual display from the Barcelona fans was incredible, it must have looked better than Arsenal's (admittedly good) effort of yellow and grey t-shirts for everybody. The Arsenal and Barca badges that were raised up into the air here also looked really impressive, and the whole thing finally made it sink in what a very big occasion this was.

The full story of how the game unfolded is here. Watching in the stadium, it was utterly hellish. I don't really subscribe to the view that Arsenal were robbed though, unlike much of the media, and unfortunately many people in the Arsenal camp as well. If your keeper commits professional fouls like that, he generally gets sent off. The referee in general was too keen to blow his whistle and stop play throughout the game (and probably in Barca's favour on balance) - I'd like to see more flowing games than he was willing to allow. Having said that, during the match-defining incident, he could have played advantage, allowed the goal, and then gone back and sent Lehmann off for the foul as well, so it could actually have been worse for us. The free kick for our goal was not a free kick, and the 2 goals we conceded were terrible goals for any goalkeeper to let in. So, robbed, no. Not helped out much by the referee and other circumstance, but if Almunia had stopped 2 simple goals, it was all in our hands to win the game.

The goal was celebrated like a gift from heaven, completely unexpected, and against the odds even with 11 men, let alone 10. For the rest of the first half, Arsenal clung on, and the half time whistle (after 5 minutes' injury time!), was greeted like the full time whistle, it was that much of an achievement. The second half started, and the target was to get to 50 minutes, then 55, then 60, and so on. Between 60 and 70 minutes, although we were still weathering a storm, and clearly starting to tire, 2-0 looked as likely as 1-1. Henry, Hleb and Fabregas could all have scored on another day, with good chances.

But then, with Arsenal 14 minutes away from winning the Champions League, Barca scored. Eto'o possibly slightly offside, but they all count, and the finish was good, even if Almunia shouldn't really have conceded at the near post. Bizarrely, it felt like something of a relief when we finally conceded. We had all waited about an hour for the inevitable, and like a sick animal, many were relieved that we had finally been put out of our misery. The drop in energy when the goal went in, both from fans and players, was obvious, so the second goal 5 minutes later was not terribly surprising. It was an incredible effort to have got that far, and most were incredibly proud of the players for their performance. It had been raining for most of the second half, with really ominous thunder and lightning overhead. When Barca equalised, the rain got noticeably and immediately harder. When they went ahead, it got harder still - something sinister was definitely going on!

At the final whistle, the players sank to their knees, and most fans felt like copying them. A good number stayed to clap the players and to see the presentation of the trophy, before we all trudged off back to Paris, via the stupidly crowded Metro, to drown our sorrows.

I went to Paris with little expectation that Arsenal would win the game - although we had a chance, Barcelona were rightful favourites. No expectation equals no disappointment, and I had already prepared myself for us losing. But what actually happened was possibly even more cruel than that - against all the odds, we went ahead, then held on, almost to the point where people were starting to believe that we might pull off one of the most amazing victories ever. Then it all fell apart. I suspect that, once Lehmann was sent off, victory was never really there for Arsenal. But it definitely looked like it might be, until, like a mirage, it all seemed to disappear as we were getting close enough to grab it.

Hard Fi, Billy Bragg - Brixton Academy, London - Monday 15th May 2006

Five consecutive nights at Brixton Academy for Hard Fi, something that only 4 bands before, including The Clash, had achieved (although many other obviously could if they wanted to). This was the second night, and "special surprises" were promised.

Support act for all 5 nights was Billy Bragg, the legendary political protester. Most of his songs are either social poetry or political protest songs, mainly the latter. I had never seen him before but had always wanted to, even though I was aware that a Billy Bragg gig is as much a political lecture as a concert.

I really enjoyed Billy Bragg, even though many of the crowd (of Hard Fi fans) clearly didn't really get into it too much. The lyrics of his songs are amusing, thought provoking and clever, and he has been doing this for long enough to put on a great show. The electric guitar that he plays shows strongly that he is more a fan of The Clash than of Bob Dylan (and solo singer/guitarists pretty much have to take after one or the other).

After a good interval DJ, who was actually on stage with decks, Hard Fi arrived. They had invested in some big projection screens, and some good visuals to show on them - lots of pictures of Brixton for one song.

Although this was clearly a triumphant show for a band that have quietely become really quite big, for me it lacked the magic of some of the earlier shows, whilst they were on the way up. Richard Archer's voice sounded very strange throughout the show, like he was deliberately singing off key. Many of the songs had been rearranged for the occasion, either to be an octave higher, or to sound different in some other way. The number of chavs there also confirmed that Hard Fi are no longer a niche indie band.

A few new songs were played, a couple of which sounded very good indeed, but it was the (one year) old classics that hit the heights - Hard To Beat a particular winner this time.

I guess that expectations change as bands get bigger. Hard Fi had the expanded stage set, which is surely ready for yet bigger shows later in the year. The new rearrangements of the songs were OK, they may grow on me but I doubt it. But the masses have discovered this band now, and they seem to have graduated to an entirely different league of popularity.

Dirty Pretty Things, The Rifles, Pigeon Detectives - Astoria, London - Sunday 14th May 2006

Carl Barat's new band - that is how Dirty Pretty Things are destined to be known. Assured fame and success before they even recorded anything, just on the strength of Carl's previous job in The Libertines - when they walked on stage at the Astoria, the crowd was already eating out of Mr Barat's hands.

Opening band the Pigeon Detectives had started promisingly, the singer an energetic person, who was jumping around all over the stage from the off. Some of the songs sounded good as well, I have certainly seen far worse support (and in fact headline!) bands. Main support band were The Rifles, who sounded better, and less Jam-like than my previous experiences of them. They seem to be getting tighter as a band, and their songs sound more polished and, well, better, than ever before. It helped that a surprising number of the crowd obviously knew the band and their songs, because their support slot wasn't far off being mistaken for a good headline performance.

DPT arrived in a low key way, and went straight into playing their just-released album, starting with opening track Deadwood. The crowd went mad, which suddenly made me suspect that they could have been standing there playing anything, and the crowd would have gone just as mad. The music was good, but it definitely seemed to me that the crowd reaction was more based on Carl Barat (and would always have been 100% positive no matter what the music had sounded like).

The band played for an hour or so, and all 4 musicians were excellent to watch playing live, they were all really animated, and going utterly mad as they were playing! Very high energy, very trashy rock, rather like the Liberines in fact, minus the heroin addict.
There were 4 standout tracks in the DPT set, the single Bang Bang You're Dead opening album track Deadwood, and 2 Libertines songs, Death on the Stairs, and I Get Along. The fact that half of the best songs were Libertines songs is perhaps not encouraging for DPT's hopes of moving out of the shadow.

DPT are a good band, and play a great live set that really rocks. However, they are not as good as the crowd reaction tonight suggested. Because of the Libertine connection, they don't have to try as hard as they should in order to win over crowds, and to rock a venue's roof off. That is a good way to start a band off, with a good support base that worships your every move. By their third album, and trying to establish the DPT sound into music history, it might become a bigger problem.

England vs Sri Lanka (Day 2, 1st Test) - Lords, London - Friday 12th May 2006

My last trip to Lords, for the first Ashes test last summer, ended in disaster. It rained almost all day, we saw virtually no cricket, and England capitulated during the 11 overs we did get to see, meaning no refund on the £54 tickets. This time, no such misfortune, on a day of scorching sunshine throughout, where England dominated utterly.

Of course, since last summer, England have become Ashes holders, and are now officially the best thing since sliced bread. So, starting the first home test since beating the Aussies, there was always going to be expectation on the team. Lucky, then, that England had won the toss, gone into bat, and racked up 300 runs on the first day. Doing that is what the Aussies do so well (usually), and huge first innings totals are definitely something that are a habit for great sides.

So, in the glorious sunshine, where at times it was oppressively hot (most unusually for England in May), England continued to pile runs onto the board. Pietersen went eventually for 158, England kept going, and when Flintoff hit a massive six at about 3:30, to take the score to 551, England declared and took tea.

The final session, where everybody in the crowd was getting increasingly pissed, saw 6 Sri Lankans fall for under 100 runs - much better than the 3 wickets that would have been a decent result at the start of the session. Masses of England runs, lots of opposition wickets falling, and all on the hottest day of the year so far. Much better than last year's experience, it couldn't have been more different!

Arsenal vs Wigan Athletic - Highbury, London (for the last time) - Sunday 7th May 2006

So, this is it - the last game ever at Highbury. Since it was all planned, the farewell to Highbury has been overtaken by a number of other things - struggling to get 4th place in the League for one, and an impending Champions League final for another. The big occasions seem to keep coming at the moment - one week saying goodbye to a historic ground, the following week trying to become champions of Europe for the first time.

The day started much like any other end of season game - the sun shining around Highbury, and lots of people coming out early to enjoy it. At 10am though, Avenell Road was much, much fuller than usual, and the whole ground had many people walking around, taking photos. The police cordons around the stadium made for a strange atmosphere, because only those with tickets were allowed onto the 4 streets around the stadium. As there is little to do there except walk around, or go into the ground, those streets were actually surprisingly empty from the time that the police cordon started.

One definite unique event was the number of programmes that people were buying - at one stage, I saw a forklift truck driving down Avenell Road to restock the programme sellers. People were grabbing programmes for everybody they knew, it seemed, and also for selling on eBay later.

On the way into the stadium for the last time, the talk was of the 10 Spurs players that had gone down with food poisoning - their attempts to get the game postponed had been unsuccessful, so they were to be forced to play with an ill team. With Arsenal needing Spurs to drop some points to get us into the Champions League, this was seen by all as a great opportunity.

Inside the North Bank, there were many photo sessions going on, as people captured their mates on camera inside Highbury, for the last time. Before the game, the atmosphere was quite subdued I thought, lots of people being quite quiet as they reflected on their last trip to the stadium. Going up towards the seats before kick off, there were some teary eyes from some people, as the fact that they won't be coming back started to hit home.

We all saw the stadium looking brilliantly red and white, throughout the whole game, thanks to 38,000 "I was there" t-shirts given out by the club - it just looked fantastic. People seemed to be far more compliant than usual, so the vast majority wore their shirts and contributed to a great display. Of course, there were always the old tossers who put their unworn t-shirts on eBay afterwards (even proudly including the note saying "please wear this t-shirt"), but the vast majority joined in this time. Why you would buy an "I was there" t-shirt for £100ish, if you weren't there, I have no idea!

To be honest, much of the game passed by in something of a blur, which was a shame, as watching it again it looked like a good game. Lots of looking around at Highbury, full for the last time, and looking amazing in all red and white. Being towards the front, I had a great view of what turned out to be the final goal at the stadium - a Thierry Henry penalty that nestled beautifully in the bottom corner near to me. The kiss of the turf after it went in was fantastic!

With Spurs needing to drop points (or rather, us needing Spurs to drop points), some ears were glued to radios, listening to the West Ham vs Spurs game. Towards the end of the game, Dennis Bergkamp made his entrance, to the usual standing ovation and whoops of applause. The cheer that went around the ground as he ran onto the pitch - sorry Dennis, it wasn't for you. West Ham has scored with 10 minutes to go, leaving a rapidly tiring Spurs team needing 2 goals to overhaul us for 4th. Oh well!!



Then, the final, final whistle went, and the Closing Ceremony began. A very well-run event, by the end of which I and many others were ready to leave the ground, having stood and reflected for just about long enough. The fireworks went off at about 6:30, and the party to remember our magnificent old stadium carried on into the evening. Goodbye Highbury, we loved you.

Feeder - HMV Oxford Circus, London - Wednesday 3rd May 2006

This was a complete surprise. I stumbled up to HMV in Oxford Street, on my way home from work, to buy the week's singles releases. When I got there, the shop looked pretty full - then Feeder unexpectedly walked on stage and started playing songs. I have seen Feeder before, at festivals and as the support band for other acts - and always enjoyed the experience, although I would probably never pay to go to a Feeder headline gig. So, this freebie was definitely one worth staying for.

Feeder were playing the gig to promote their new album, so all of the songs they played were from that. The good news was that it is a Greatest Hits album, so the band in fact spent 40 minutes playing their best material, which was a complete extra bonus.

One of the more amusing sights I have seen recently was the reaction of some of the people in HMV, when a noisy rock band arrived and started, well, being noisy. Old people, and people that are possibly best described as "urban music fans" (easily identifiable by their baseball caps and sportswear), were far from impressed. Some covered their ears for effect, others pulled pained faces. It was a pleasure to witness a rock band upsetting them so much!

Highlight of the set, predictably, was the last song, Just A Day - the video for this features lots of teenagers jumping around to it in their bedrooms. Today, there were just lots of teenagers jumping around in a record shop.