Work trip to Dubai, United Arab Emirates - 28th August to 1st September 2006

I had wanted to go to Dubai for a while, and now I know why. The place is absolutely incredible. A huge city that has risen (and is still very much rising) from nothing out of the desert, and a testament to people who are not interested in the established view of what is possible and impossible. The audacity and ambition (always successfully fulfilled ambition as well), of the city as a whole, is on a scale that the world has never seen before, and is unlikely to see again.

We know some of the stats - something like 17% of all the cranes in the world are in Dubai. Having seen part of what that looks like, it is an awful lot of cranes. The photo above, taken from my hotel room window, is of a part of Sheikh Zayed Road. Fifteen years ago, there were around half a dozen buildings here, all unremarkable. Now, there are dozens of huge towers, almost all architecturally brilliant, lining both sides of the road (looking the other way is much, much more impressive than this photo). More than the dozens of towers that are there now, are hundreds being built there and across the city. There are probably at least 10 times as many buildings under construction as are actually finished here.

Anything that is supposed to be impossible to build and achieve, is being done in Dubai. A building which will be the world's tallest. Five hundred skyscrapers being built in Jumeirah, where you can literally watch a megacity rising from absolutely nothing at all. The massive Palm complex of lagoons and artificial islands, all built out of the sea. The World complex, even more audacious, just down the coast. Each of these (and many, many more where that came from) are massive undertakings for any country or city, and they are all happening in the same place, at the same time. Truly amazing.

Of course, all of this is not without costs. The huge bills are presumably being footed by the bottomless pit of oil money in the area. But nature has given a very strong message about this place - don't live here! It is a desert, with almost no fresh water, temperatures which regularly hit 50 degrees, and all in all not an ideal place for millions of people to try to live. Because of all this, you get the feeling that it is all trying to cheat nature, and you wonder if that is really sustainable in the long term (especially when the oil runs out). The skyscrapers are being built by an army of poor immigrant labourers, mainly from Pakistan and India. In the evening, on the way out of the city, you pass (literally) hundreds of buses full of workers, being taken to god knows where they sleep. An economic miracle, certainly, but one does wonder where it will all end.

The heat in Dubai really takes some getting used to - it was 48 degrees on the last day I was there. When it is 35+ in London, and really humid, it feels similar - except that this is just extreme heat, with no humidity. Similar stifling feeling, your glasses steam up when you go outside, and then you realise that you are actually cooking yourself when you stand outside.

All in all, the place is very much like Singapore, which also rose as a city from nothing in a short space of time. It is all gleaming, but lacks a certain character - it all seems like a newly-constructed Disneyworld city. The other comparison is with California - with unlimited land, uncontrolled development, and a culture where nobody does anything other than drive around, it feels like a very spread-out city - rather like Los Angeles.

Of course, all the hotels are five-star (apart from the iconic Burj Al-Arab, which has seven stars). Mine was incredible, certainly the most amazing place I have ever stayed. The final surprise was the airport departures area, which is basically a huge shopping mall, that happens to have a few planes taking off and landing occasionally. Looking at this picture, you can't even tell where the actual gates are (there are about 10 of them in this view, just very hard to make out), it is to all intents and purposes a large shopping mall.

In 15 years time, Dubai will be absolutely full of places like this, gleaming skyscrapers, hotels, offices, malls and apartment blocks. It is not even half finished by the look of the place, but they are literally building a massive promised land in the middle of the desert.

Unless it all goes wrong.

The Belgrave Scandal - Half Moon, London - Friday 25th August 2006

The legendary Half Moon in Putney, as they call it themselves. Numerous very famous people have played here, many before they were famous, but many also whilst, and even at the height of their fame. U2, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and more recently Kasabian are some of the highlights along the walls of the boozer, alongside some lesser lights.

Maybe the Belgrave Scandal might join them on the walls one day - on my third trip to see them in little over a month, their sound seemed bigger and better than on previous occasions. Maybe the presence of a proper sound engineer helped, but then again he didn't really seem to be doing very much whilst they were playing. The drumming was turned down a little bit too much, but the quality still came through.

The only downside of the gig tonight was the small crowd. Playing in an extra big room that held 300 or so, just made it seem all the more empty. It was early, and it was not that busy even for the headline act (maybe people don't go to see unsigned bands on a Friday night), but the whole gig would have gone down so much better in a smaller, busier room.

Arsenal vs Dinamo Zagreb - Emirates Stadium, London - Wednesday 23rd August 2006

With Arsenal holding a healthy 3-0 lead from the first leg, this game was widely expected to be something of a formality. The main questions were around who would actually play (no Henry, no Cole, but who would be there?), as well as the first chance to see the new stadium under floodlights for a night game. Which, to be honest, was a more exciting prospect for me than the game itself.
In pouring rain just before kick off, I managed to get in and remain relatively dry, and even had time for a wander upstairs before the game started. The corner I was in did not have the best of views (a panoramic over Finsbury Park!), but the windows on the outside of the stadium are a great feature in the Upper Tiers.

The game did not really go according to plan, Arsenal were not really seeming interested, and Zagreb took advantage to score in the first 15 minutes. One of the major Arsenal criminals in terms of their performance was Adebayor, confirming the view of many that he is rubbish, and not close to being an Arsenal quality player. The awfulness of his performance made that of Van Persie even more impressive, as he had to deal with misplaced passes, crap control to make his good passes look bad, and generally carrying his strike partner through the game. He must have the patience of a saint not to have killed Adebayor.

At half time, I went for another wander around the ground, and encountered hideously long queues at every food and drink counter. This seems to be the major thing that Arsenal really need to sort out - the queues before the game and at half time are FAR worse than they were in the old North Bank. The longer it goes on without being sorted, people will just abandon the idea of buying stuff in the ground.
Amusingly, as it was raining, the roof started to leak! In the concourses in both lower and upper tiers, they had positioned big wheely bins to catch all the water that was pissing through the ceiling. £350 million very well spent, obviously.

In the second half, things seemed to continue as they were in the first. Some good chances created, but not a great deal of urgency, and some awful play in front of goal. Eventually, we equalised through Freddie, to go 4-1 up in the tie. Then Theo Walcott came on, to huge applause again. As on Saturday, he looked fantastic, admittedly against tired defenders though. And also as on Satutday, he set up a goal in his short time on the pitch - putting in a cross on the stroke of full time, which Flamini bundled in for a winner. So, our first competitive win at the new stadium (although we weren't really playing like it was a competitive game).

After the game, it came through just how big the stadium is - the flood of people down Gillespie Road lasted for a good half hour afterwards. We are in a different league now, welcome to the future!

1990s, The Video Nasties - Madame Jo Jo's, London - Tuesday 22nd August 2006

Off to Madame Jo Jo's for the "White Heat" club night, which seemed to be full of achingly cool people. I never realised that leggings had come back into fashion, but about half of the female population of the club was wearing them. Expect horrible leggings to be available on your local high street soon!

First band on were the Video Nasties, a young-looking band who sported some interesting haircuts. The songs were very good, and the guitars and keyboards sounded great. They started off reminding me of the Futureheads a bit (their first song was very reminiscent), but also at various points reminded me of a less pretentious Art Brut, and The Killers (because of the keyboards at vital times). I really liked them, they are definitely worth getting to a gig early to catch.

Before the next band, I was looking around the venue, and saw lots of people that were trying very hard to look cool. Some of them looked like they might be famous, including one bloke that was a dead ringer for one of The Killers. Bernard Butler (the real one) was in the audience, as was Edwyn Collins.

The next band were 1990s, about whom I had heard good things. They are Scottish, and mixed good guitar riffs with good lyrics, and a bit too much deliberate feedback. Overall, I didn't enjoy them as much as the Video Nasties, but they certainly had a few songs worth seeking out again.

After that, Tapes N Tapes played, but it had got kind of late by then, so I watched a bit of their set, then drifted off home. Overall, the White Heat night was a good way to see some decent bands, although it is very deliberately for cool people only!

Morrissey, Faithless, Starsailor, The Crimea, Hard Fi, James Morrison, Sugababes - V Festival, Chelmsford - Sunday 20th August 2006

One good idea if you go to a festival - don't spend £10 on the laminate that tells you when the bands are playing. Just take a decent camera phone instead, and take pictures of the pages!! So, here is the less-than-stellar line up for the Sunday of the V Festival in Chelmsford - significantly eclipsed by Saturday's line up, which included Radiohead, Beck, Magic Numbers, We Are Scientists, Kasabian, Fatboy Slim, and a load more. Never mind, a good day out nonetheless.

I arrived just in time to see the Sugababes "perform", to a pretty large crowd of day-outers, clearly appreciating their chart-friendly stuff. It was forgettable in the main, hearing some familiar songs that sounded almost exactly like the do on the radio. They were immediately followed by a "surprise" set from James Morrison, who played his smash chart hit single, and another song - sounding very much like James Blunt mark 2, or David Gray mark 3.

After all that radio-friendly music, Hard Fi came on stage. Still touring pretty much the same set as I saw last December, and indeed this May. Having heard it all before, it was slightly tedious - Richard Archer's on stage banter was pretty much word-for-word the same as every other time I have seen Hard Fi. They persisted in playing their bad cover of Seven Nation Army, but despite all that, the hits still sounded as good as they undoubtedly are. They also became the first of many bands that I heard, to say that Chelmsford was much better than Stafford the previous day - but then I'm sure all the bands in Stafford were saying exactly the opposite!

Off for a wander, it struck me what a strange festival V is. On one hand, it is a very sanitised, safe festival - posh food stalls, not too much mud, and it even had the Beautiful South playing! On the other hand, the chav count is pretty high (but then it is in Essex).

Next up were The Crimea, playing in one of the tents. I had heard their single Lottery Winners On Acid earlier in the year, so decided to take a look. Their set went down quite well and I quite enjoyed it - although I can imagine that if you weren't in the right mood, you would have hated every minute. Towards the end, the singer got into the crowd, microphone stand and all, and sang a great cover of Jealous Guy - not something you see every day, so it made for a special set.

Following The Crimea, Starsailor played on the second stage. I last saw them at Glastonbury in 2002, and really liked them, despite the singer's dreary voice when he speaks (in contrast to his great voice when he sings). Their set was excellent throughout, packed with their anthems, and absolutely perfect for a festival like this (thankfully without rain today too). The guitars were turned up, and the whole set bobbed along fantastically well.

After Starsailor, it was back to the main stage to see Faithless, another amazing live festival band. They drew what was, by all accounts, the biggest crowd on the main stage all weekend, beating even Radiohead. The chavometer was off the scale for this one, with the crowd a mixture of lairy Stella drinkers, and pill poppers. The set lasted for over an hour, and had the huge crowd going for the whole time. Excellent use of a real drummer and guitarists, really adds something to their music when they play it live.

Once Faithless had finished, it was time to decide which headliner to see. In fact, I had already made that choice, it was Morrissey for me without question. However, when Faithless finished, the vast, vast majority of the crowd ran off elsewhere, and I was almost trampled underfoot in the crush. 15 minutes before Morrissey came on, you could almost walk to the front barrier, there were so few people around the main stage. With Razorlight and Groove Armada playing elsewhere, there was plenty else to do, but surely Morrissey deserves more people?!

So, Morrissey arrived, a healthier looking crowd materialised, and he launched straight into Panic - which was absolutely incredible. The other Smiths songs played tonight were Girlfriend In A Coma, Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before, and finale How Soon Is Now. In between those, it was a strong set, with excellent sound and a very well drilled band - he of course also found time to moan about the radio stations not playing his new single. For a 40-something man, he looked grizzled but good. A great way to finish the festival, and it deserved more people watching.

Arsenal vs Aston Villa - Emirates Stadium, London - Saturday 19th August 2006

The first trip for me to the new Arsenal stadium, after much waiting, and an agonising 3 weeks after my holiday, where I had walked past it about a dozen times. but been unable to go in. One of the stranger parts of the day was when I first stepped outside the door - all of the usual matchday stalls are still there, but in a different place. My favourite burger van is still at the bottom of Highbury Hill, but all of the Gillespie Road stalls seem to have relocated to Drayton Park. Very surreal, seeing the same things in different places.

Around the stadium it was pretty busy, even at about 12:30 - lots of people walking around, taking photos. I went to try out the Rocket for a pre match pint, and enjoyed the atmosphere in there, not to mention the £2 pints. Trying not to do too much different from a normal matchday, I waited until about 2:45 before finally entering the stadium.

The view from the seats is better than the virtual reality images had led me to believe - you are closer to the action than I had thought you would be, and the sight-lines seem to be excellent. The seats themselves take some getting used to, they are like huge sandwich boards, absolutely massive contraptions! From the seats, the stadium is quite clearly very impressive - underneath in the concourses however, it is a bit more sparse, and like many other new grounds - in particular the City of Manchester Stadium. Clearly, that doesn't have a shimmering Club Level, but then neither will most Arsenal fans get to experience that.

I took the plunge at half time, and bought a £4 chicken balti pie, which despite the extreme expense, was actually worth every penny - bloody gorgeous, and quite like a meal it was so filling. At half time, the atmosphere seemed strange - like an away ground really, and certainly not feeling like home just yet. A nice stadium, but it just doesn't feel like ours at the moment.

And what about the game? Well, those that say it is great to have Martin O'Neill back in the Premiership may wish to reconsider. Ten men in defence at most times, I believe they call it "well organised", but it is incredibly frustrating to watch a superior team struggle to break down a dogged defence. And, seeing as there are a number of superior teams to Villa in the Premiership, we can expect quite a few 0-0 draws this season I think.

Obviously, anything can happen on the first day of the season, but it was a frustrating debut in the new stadium. The one great thing was the debut of Theo Walcott, in which he looked very, very, very promising. Hopefully more of that to come this season - meanwhile, we need to get over the novelty of our new stadium, and start to make it more of a fortress.

Little Man Tate, Fortune Drive - Islington Academy, London - Thursday 17th August 2006

After several pints during the day at the cricket, it was off to Islington Academy to see the about-to-be-very-big band called Little Man Tate. The gig was in the small bar of the venue, which holds no more than 200 people, so a really intimate one. The band are getting MUCH bigger than that now, so this was a real last chance to see them somewhere so small, particularly in London. Hailing from Sheffield with guitar songs and intelligent lyrics, the comparisons with the Arctic Monkeys are readily trotted out, and they do have some justification. They have a good album-worth of songs that should see them very successful over the next few months.

Fortune Drive were the support act, and they came across very well. The venue was obviously much fuller at the end of their set than at the beginning, but the audience seemed to really like them. They sounded very tight, have some good songs, and are clearly very good musicians. They are supporting the Young Knives in October, and I wouldn't then be surprised if they get better support slots, and bigger headline tours.

Little Man Tate came on stage at around 9:30, by which time I was very drunk. Despite this, I both remember, and remember really enjoying, the whole of their set. They have close to a dozen songs ready to go which, although they tend to stick to the same formula (songs about drinking, partying, good times and fancying members of the opposite sex), do it very well indeed - it is a good formula that they play very well. They are well drilled, and sounded fantastic throughout.

Particular highlights of the set were What, What You Got, which sent the audience completely mental, Sexy In Latin, and new single House Party at Boothys. The last song of their set included a full stage invasion, and it ended in utter pandemonium in the venue - a completely triumphant show from a band on the verge of breaking through in a big way.

England vs Pakistan (Day 1, 4th Test) - The Oval, London - Thursday 17th August 2006

Not a terribly memorable day, this one. England had secured the series 2-0 already, going into this final test, so there was little to play for. The main interest from England's point of view is that this is the last test match before the Ashes, so some interesting selection battles are in their final stages. Andrew Strauss's last chance to impress as captain in particular.

A grand total of 2 balls were bowled at Marcus Trescothick before it started to rain, and the players went off. The forecast of showers was not wrong, before lunch it was raining on and off, so that there wasn't a half hour period where the weather didn't change. Most irritating, so there were only about 10-15 overs before lunch.

Any hope that things would settle down after lunch were dashed by England's batting. On a ground that is traditonally good for batsmen, we were rubbish! Giving away some very cheap wickets, we slumped to 173 all out, just after tea. Pakistan went in to bad, and got around halfway to England's total by the end of play, without too many losses. So, Pakistan won the day, but, with the series already England's, it was all too late for them.

After I went to the game, this happened - for the first time ever in a test match. So it wasn't all boring at least.

The Belgrave Scandal - Lark In The Park, London - Wednesday 2nd August 2006

A second opportunity in quick succession to see The Belgrave Scandal, this time at Lark in the Park - a small bar in deepest Islington, which regularly hosts gig nights. The band were on stage relatively early, but the venue seemed to fill up rapidly as they came on.

Playing without the keyboardist that they had last time I saw them, the set was again a stormer. Despite the technical difficulties which saw the drumkit constantly on the verge of falling apart, they blistered through a largely identical set to their previous London outing.

It was surprising how, the second time watching them, many of the songs sounded like familiar old favourites. The Collection, Beedy Little Eyes, and Soul And Power, were all comfortingly familiar, they all sounded brilliant, and I can't wait to hear them again. Like most bands, the recorded versions of the songs just don't seem to do them 100% justice - seeing them live completes the picture. The first time I saw them and was impressed, was definitely not a fluke - I will be following them around now, to see how they get on.