Air Traffic - 100 Club, London - Tuesday 31st October 2006

A trip to the "legendary" 100 Club, to see rising band Air Traffic - signed to a record label recently, and with a couple of decent singles under their belt already. As ever at the 100 Club, the gig was pretty packed, and pretty smoky also - there never seems to be any possibility for any air to move around in there. This was the last date of a nationwide tour that had seen them fully exhaust the club circuit.

After a support band whose name I didn't manage to catch (because the singer was guilty of some random mumbling between songs, and that was about it), Air Traffic came on stage. In a good mood because the tour was finishing, they engaged in good banter with the audience. They seemed to alternate between playing piano-led songs, and guitar-led songs, which meant that their sound didn't get a chance to get boring.

Already playlisted on Radio 2, their piano-led songs make it easy to see why. They could be as annoyingly omnipresent as Keane in a few years time. However, the guitar-based songs really add something that Keane do not have, they can rock out as well, and so probably Coldplay is a fairer comparison. The songs are good, it is all very safe and nice and friendly, but they seemed to be a decent enough band, with some reasonably catchy tunes. Their style means that I am not wildly enthusiastic, but they will probably do well in terms of sales and radio play.

Arsenal vs Everton - Emirates Stadium, London - Saturday 28th October 2006

Similar to other home games this season, this was a 1-1 draw. Everton took an early lead, and then sat back, with men behind the ball, and made it very difficult for Arsenal to get an equaliser. As they would, because they are not expected to just come to our stadium and roll over for us. Arsenal had 91% of possession in the second half of the game (a Premiership record, apparently), but could "only" equalise, not find the winner.

Another frustrating game, but if we aspire to win the League, we really need an answer for when teams come to our ground and play like this. At the moment, that is the difference between Arsenal and Chelsea or Manchester United. It is all very well saying "they didn't want to play football, they just sat back and defended", but the best teams should be able to overcome this.

Aside from the game, I am really growing to dislike Arsenal's new stadium. Arsenal have clearly tried to build the ultimate santised corporate football experience, for all their new "customers". This involves throwing people out for such terrible things as standing up, singing, shouting and swearing - all things that are to be expected at football matches. People will say "just because they are expected, doesn't make it right" - and there are a lot of very sheltered individuals saying exactly this - and complaining to stewards and police about it. Those stewards and police then take it upon themselves to throw people out for very little reason at all.

Apart from anything else, throwing out your "customers", that have spent £35+ on a ticket to get in (which is not exactly cheap), you have to be pretty sure that they deserve it. But Arsenal seem to be turfing people out at the drop of a hat, in some parts of the stadium at least. It is deeply annoying that they seem to be going to war against some of their most loyal fans - all in the misguided pursuit of some new money from some new fans who weren't there 10 years ago. There might be 30,000 people on the season ticket waiting list, but that does not justify the imposition of a police state in the stadium.

This is not just confined to Arsenal, of course - much of the Premiership is trying to create a sit down, shut up, happy clappy sanitised atmosphere. Which may well be the future of football in this country, but I absolutely cannot stand it. When the new fans, that cannot stand a bit of standing, swearing and shouting, get bored and find a new pursuit, we will all be a lot better off. What they are complaining about is not exactly even close to the football experience of old, there are hardly people fighting, ripping up seats and chanting racist abuse - just people that want to support their team vocally.

In the meantime, I am seriously considering not renewing my season ticket for next year - if I had to do so now, I would not. I just want my "matchday experience" back. Going to the stadium and being forced to sit down, be quiet and not shout and scream, is not what I pay £35 a game for. Football will kill itself if this continues, and I won't be around for the funeral.

Work trip to Leverkusen, Germany - 26th to 27th October 2006

A flying visit to Germany, to see a client in picturesque Leverkusen, which is near Cologne. Leverkusen of course is famous for Bayer Leverkusen, and not much else. After a nightmare flight over to Frankfurt, I collapsed straight into bed when I arrived.

Getting to Leverkusen from Frankfurt is about a 200km journey, which happened in a new Mercedes B Class car, driven by a German colleague. I really got to experience the fact that there are no speed limits on German motorways, with a hair-raising ride there and back. It veered between sitting in a traffic jam, to routinely getting up to 200kph (that's about 125mph). Exciting stuff, occasionally stupidly dangerous, but a good journey nevertheless.

On the way back to Frankfurt, we made a stop at McDonalds by the motorway - where the McRib seems to be permanently on the menu. Far from being like the French and Spanish, who shun such bad food, the Germans are incredibly like us English, they are "lovin' it" - pretty much every big motorway exit has a McDonalds about 2 minutes away, which you can usually see from the motorway thanks to a huge M on a very tall pole.

The trip was over pretty quickly, I got to see Leverkusen's stadium which looked pretty spectacular, and a good experience at high speed on the Autobahns.

Little Man Tate, Dustin's Bar Mitzvah - ULU, London - Wednesday 25th October 2006

Four weeks to the day since the last time I saw them, at Kings College, I went to the slightly larger ULU to repeat the experience. A typical Students Union, with pretty slow bar service, sticky floors, and more than a few wacky students, with strange clothing and haircuts. Oh, and Steve Lamacq, hero of all students, in attendance as well.

Supporting Little Man Tate were Dustin's Bar Mitzvah, a trashy punk band from London. They have been playing around London for a while now, and I have seen their name a number of times on the bill at small venues. They were fantastic - sounding reminiscent of the Sex Pistols, but with some great poppy parts to some of their songs, and with excellent punk guitars. I will definitely be looking to see them again soon. A very good song in particular, Young Pretender, which has a pop at the BNP's Nick Griffin - in a very amusing way.

Little Man Tate came on to Carter USM's Sheriff Fatman (again), during which you could see people asking their mates what it was, some people telling their mates, and others just shrugging blankly. I was significantly less inebriated for this LMT gig than either of my previous ones, but they still sounded excellent from start to finish. As well as the usual songs about going out and trying to pull, they also played a few more tonight, that showed a more mature songwriting side to their game - and were also very good.

Towards the end of the set (which again had no encore - they are still at that exciting stage where they don't play them), they again finished with Down On Marie. The singer discarded his guitar, and had just the microphone, going mental on stage. A good feature of ULU is that crowd surfers are deposited on stage, and have to walk off stage to get back into the crowd. A good number of people did this during the last song - security hated it, and you sensed that the singer was loving it for that precise reason. A stage dive later, and the band left to rapturous applause after another excellent set.

One observation about this gig was the huge amount of poor gig etiquette in the crowd. Students! Lots of barging people all over the place to get past them (in a venue that wasn't even really very full), and students with stupid haircuts talking loudly at the back of the venue. Worse, students that are so used to cheap beer, that they think nothing of spilling it all over the place as they barge to the front for House Party At Boothy's. Respect the beer, please!!

Reading vs Arsenal - Madejski Stadium, Reading - Sunday 22nd October 2006

After the lower division football yesterday, came a Premiership trip to Reading. They have had a good start to the season, and have been looking like a very useful team, especially at home. Chelsea and Man Utd have both struggled at the Madejski so far this season, so we were expecting a tough game. I used to live in Reading, so took the opoortunity to reacquaint myself with the pubs in the town centre, including the lovely Three Guineas at the station!

The Madejski is an impressive stadium for a "smaller" ground, and was packed to the rafters. I was amused to hear the Reading fans singing about following their team over land and sea, because I seem to recall crowds of 10 or 11,000 for their games when I lived there about 5 years ago. Wonder if so many people will be there if they get relegated again.

If you are expecting a difficult game, it certainly helps to be in the lead within a minute. So it was, and that goal after 50 seconds or so, helped to kill the excitement, and the game as a contest. So, the competitive part of the day lasted less than a minute.

The rest of the game was one of those vintage Arsenal performances, which has pundits and journalists drooling over the quality of the passing, movement, and the way that Arsenal can make decent sides look stupid. Fabregas in particular was amazing, again, and people are starting to notice this in a big way. He signed an 8-year deal last week, and by the end of it, he could have become the best player in the history of the world, and our best ever player - all before he hits 28 years old.

Towards the end of the game, with their team losing 4-0, those loyal Reading fans started to drift out of the ground in their droves. This picture, taken only about 30 seconds after the final whistle, shows nowhere near enough people in the ground to even get close to filling the seats. Over land and sea indeed!!

Leyton Orient vs Cheltenham Town - Brisbane Road, London - Saturday 21st October 2006

With Arsenal not playing until Sunday, there was an opportunity to go and watch some of what my Cheltenham-supporting friends call "real football". After a trip for pie and mash in the East End, it was off to Leyton in the pouring rain for Orient against Cheltenham. I have been to this fixture before, and generally found my neck hurting towards the end, after all of the long balls. With Leyton Orient and Cheltenham both in the bottom three of their division, a high quality game was guaranteed!

Despite being several levels below the Premiership in terms of football quality, the prices (£18 for the away end) are not that far off what you would expect in the top leagues. Still the facilities are not appreciably worse than those at Portsmouth. I was sitting in the posh new stand, which had an indoor lounge, with a bar and free programmes - a bit like Club Level at Arsenal!

The match started, and Orient, without a win for ages, scored within 5 minutes or so. The forwards for both teams were big guys, a real handful for defenders, and they played a physical, hassling game. I noticed that when either keeper took a placed goal kick from the ground, all 20 outfield players were crammed into a very small part of the pitch, towards where they expected the kick to go. Literally no outfield players were outside a very small pitch area. It was the same at corners as well, the defending team had nobody further forward than the edge of their own box. All very different to much of the Premiership, where tactics and positioning win over getting bodies into specific areas.

At half time, there was a power cut in the only stand which had any use for power - this meant no beer! Shocking! The game resumed, and Cheltenham got a penalty. Their "best" player saw his penalty saved, it was a very poor penalty indeed. 10 minutes later, Orient got a penalty themselves, and made it 2-0. The game played out after that, some thrills and spills, a few good chances (mainly for Orient), and commitment replacing the skill that you see in the Premiership - which is no bad thing in itself.

A good day out, but I admire people who pay £20 for this quality of football week in, week out. Orient is a great small club, which many people have deep local affections for, but lots of them obviously aren't willing to cough up to see them either, as the 4,500 crowd testified.

Augerbane, Trackter, The Belgrave Scandal - Leonards, London - Friday 20th October 2006

This was a Belgrave Scandal gig in a very strange venue. Leonards is a bar in Islington, but is tucked away at the arse end of a backstreet that seems to have only one entrance. That means no passing trade whatsoever, and no real reason to go there unless you know a band that is playing. And so it turned out, the venue was populated by about 20 people - bar staff, the members of 3 bands, plus a handful of others that were there to see them. Oh, and one old local alcoholic.

Despite all this, the sound in the venue was actually pretty impressive for its size, and I got to see the bands soundcheck as well - so 2 songs from each band, extra free.

The Belgrave Scandal were on first, and were tighter than I have ever seen them before. They seem to be getting to the stage where they are in step with each other without even thinking about it, and the vocals are getting better too. They played a new song, which had anthemic qualities, building up all the way. And, despite a relatively empty venue, some of their better songs drew good applause from the various band members and hangers-on that were in the building. Final song Soul and Power drew the biggest applause of all, but Beedy Little Eyes, The Collection, and Brighton Away were not far behind.

The next band on were called Trackter, and reminded me a bit of Pearl Jam in their songs, and the singer's voice. They sounded good, in a slightly middle of the road way - but without being anywhere near as offensive as the likes of David Gray. There were at least a couple of songs in their set that really stood out, so a good way to pass the time.

The final band of the night were a heavy metal act called Augerbane. There were very few people watching even them, but I have to say that they were very good at what they were doing. Heavy metal is clearly dodgy, but having decided to play it, they played it pretty well.

The Automatic, Mumm-Ra - Astoria, London - Thursday 19th October 2006

Almost immediately after landing back from Belgium, I headed straight for the Astoria, to see The Automatic. Tickets for this were bought after being very impressed by the band at an NME Tour in May. Since then, their single Monster has been on the radio pretty much all summer, and their album, which is not bad, has also been released.

The main support band were Mumm-Ra, who I have to say I thought were excellent. Their songs were vaguely reminiscent of Idlewild and the Boo Radleys, poppy guitar-based tunes that were pretty catchy all round. They entertained for half an hour or so, and they are definitely worth checking out both on MySpace, and if they are playing support at a future gig.

Because of the early curfew at the Astoria when the G-A-Y nights are on, the Automatic came on stage at around 9pm. They played for around 50 minutes, then for a short encore, and the audience seemed to be going mad for every minute. When the mental keyboard player (who looks and acts unnervingly like John Lydon used to) came on stage, there were screams from young female members of the audience. A mainstream band indeed - I wonder if their parents bought the tickets for them.

The Automatic sounded good, but I have to say that they were not especially exciting. In particular, many of the songs sounded exactly as they sound on the album. The grinding "motorbike" guitars sounded better live, but the whole performance was very polished, very well-drilled, and lacking in a bit of spontaneous rebellion because of it. The kids loved it, of course, but I couldn't help thinking that it was all a bit too clean-cut for my liking.

At one point in the set, the band played a cover of Kayne West's Gold Digger, which was pretty pointless I thought, as well as not being very good. However, I was reminded that it was nowhere near as bad as Hard-Fi's cover of Seven Nation Army, so it wasn't all bad!

The gig was worth the money, which was only £11.50, but it did seem a bit sterile and polished for my liking. A good band, but they are too effectively replicating the radio-friendlyness of songs when they play live, and that took away from the excitement for me a little bit.

Work trip to Bornem, Belgium - 18th to 19th October 2006

Hot on the heels of a trip to Paris, came a trip to Belgium, an altogether less interesting place. I was staying (and working) in a town called Bornem, somewhere between Brussels and Antwerp. I tried looking it up on a map, and could just about find it on Google Earth. The point of going to a place like that is to get away from it all, so you get more work done. In reality, you become bored quite quickly and want to go home, especially as I was missing a Kooks gig in London to be there. The countryside around the town is nice, and Bornem is a lovely country town, but it is maddeningly dull.

Even saying that places are "near Brussels" (which everywhere in Belgium is, to a pretty large degree), doesn't exactly inspire excitement amongst people you tell about it. That said, the food is great in Belgium, and the beer is a particular highlight - hundreds of different brands, which taste good, and are very, very strong. Hangover-tastic. The landscape is uninteresting and flat, and much of the country is built up, but it strikes me that, with the food and beer, and proximity to other more interesting places, you could probably have yourself a pretty good life here - if you are not looking for too much action.

Work trip to Paris, France - 16th to 17th October 2006

Back to familiar old Paris for work, the last time I came to this particular city, it all ended in heartbreak and disaster! So, I was hoping for a happier (and less expensive) trip this time around. It was also a first real chance to visit La Defense, the business district on the edge of the main city, which almost acts like a city in itself. The area is very pedestrian-friendly, and full of corporate skyscrapers. Very much like Canary Wharf in many ways, including the fact that it is completely dead and soulless after 9pm, and all weekend.

Le Defense has one definining piece of architecture, the Grande Arche. This is the centrepiece of the area, a classic piece of 80s French design, that is already starting to look very dated indeed. Much of the other architecture in the area is fantastic, including a building (towards the right of the first photo), that is covered in glass, but the bottom corner looks like somebody is trying to peel away the glass like a sticker-back. Very impressive stuff, and many of the skyscrapers around there are attractions for fans of funky buildings, as well as being office blocks.

It is possible to get a (very scary) lift up to the top of the Grande Arche, so I did. The view is pretty impressive, especially since there is a dead straight line between La Defense, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Champs Elysees behind it. All a lovely tree-lined boulevard, and a reminder that Paris has aspects that were planned with great precision and perfection.

Razorlight, Good Shoes, The View - Barfly, London - Sunday 15th October 2006

This is one of those gigs, like the Magic Numbers at the Buffalo Bar, Arctic Monkeys at the Leadmill, or The Kooks at Tunbridge Wells Forum, that I feel truly honoured to have attended. Tickets sold out in about 5 seconds, and were changing hands on eBay for £400 a pair in the week leading up to the gig. Even better to have paid the £10 face value to get in.

The kind folks at the Barfly finally let us in from the freezing cold at about 7:45, and we made our way upstairs to the gig room. Taking up a position on the right hand wall (which the band have to walk along in order to get on stage), I decided to camp there for the evening, for some good celebrity spotting action.

First band on were The View, and I was seeing them for the second time in 24 hours. They were amazing at Brixton the previous night, and even better tonight. They blew the house down this time, for sure. The songs sounded fantastic, and the band played them like they were loving every single minute of it. Of course they could be headlining venues at least 20 times the size of this one, and on this evidence, it won't be long before they are doing just that. Absolutely amazing live band, I would see them again tomorrow (and the next day, and the next day) if I could. Quite possibly the most exciting band in the UK right now.

The next band were Good Shoes, who I'd heard a couple of songs by before. Their set reminded me a lot of Art Brut, lots of clever lyrics, and the singer in particular looks like a very nerdy man indeed. Quite like a teacher in fact, with no disrespect to teachers intended. The set plodded along OK, but there were few points that raised real excitement, and the singles were very obvious standout songs. They are being tipped for great things, but to be honest, they didn't really excite me very much at all.

At about half past ten, putting many people in danger of missing trains home, some very burly bouncers emerged into the room, and Razorlight were ushered on stage. Predictably, the place went completely and utterly mental. They launched straight into In The Morning, and pretty much the entire venue became a mosh pit. An hour later, and a sweat-soaked venue had witnessed a truly amazing gig. This is what the NME thought of it.

It really struck me throughout this show, how very good Razorlight are when they play live. I tend to think that most bands sound better live than on record, but Razorlight sound very, very, very much better live. Especially when you consider the Radio-2-friendlyness of some of their songs, like Golden Touch and America, those songs really do rock when they play them live. There is an undoubted sense that Johnny Borrell is probably something of a primadonna, and I'd imagine that it would be an awful job to have to stroke his pride and ego every day - but the band sound fantastic, and he is a mesmerising frontman.

Razorlight have sold out a mammoth UK tour later in the year - 2 nights at Wembley Arena being the London contribution to that - so it was a rarity and a pleasure to see them in such a small venue. They are so well-honed as a live band, sound so excellent, and their new songs are so good, that this forthcoming tour should propel them to truly huge status.

Finally, a picture of the iconic (if slightly self-obsessed) frontman.

The Fratellis, The View, Milburn - XFM's Big Night Out, Brixton Academy, London - Saturday 14th October 2006

XFM's Big Night Out was a mixed experience for me last time around. A night that has the potential to be fantastic, but didn't quite hit the spot. Still, with a cracking lineup of bands this time, it was definitely worth giving the whole thing another go. Seeing Milburn again for the first time in 6 months or so (fresh from the release of their debut album), and another chance to see The View, all made for an exciting prospect.

Milburn were on stage first, at around 10pm. The sound started off being absolutely awful in the main room, which could have been because it was still quite empty. They had flattened the floor to make a dancefloor, which added to the weirdness. But, about half way through Milburn's set, the sound sorted itself out, and in fact reverted to being the sound of dirty guitars, played by a band that clearly know how to get a great sound from them.

After quite a few experiences with seeing Milburn earlier in the year, followed by six months of not seeing them, their songs seemed nicely familiar during their half hour set, and when the band came off stage, I definitely wanted more. The crowd seemed to really enjoy them, they got a great reception, and were in full banter mode with the audience. They could and should have played for longer, and good to hear that they still sound energetic and good.

Next band on were The View, who I had seen a month previously, and they were good, even if they failed to completely blow down the Tunbridge Wells Forum. Tonight, they were better than merely "good". Coming straight from a slot opening up in Cardiff, just a couple of hours previously, their set was played at pace, and pretty much all of the songs sounded fantastic. Having heard a few of them before undoubtedly helped matters, but they sounded like a proper rock band that deserve to be massively successful. The last 3 songs in particular, Wasted Little DJs, Posh Boys, and Superstar Tradesman, were amazing - but there were plenty more where that came from.

And finally, The Fratellis headlined, coming onto stage at about 12:30. The audience seemed to be very excited, but I must confess to not being a huge fan of the Fratellis. Their album has done very well, and latest single Chelsea Dagger is a brilliant song. But, even though they are clearly doing all of the right things, I just don't really like them, in much the same way as I don't really like Franz Ferdinand. There were a couple of good songs in their set (one of which was good mainly because it sounded like Chelsea Dagger), but I just didn't really get why everybody was going so mad for all of their songs. I'm on the outside of this one I'm afraid - I should probably like them, but I just don't.

And so the night degenerated into an indie disco. With over 3,000 people in the venue, there were always bound to be a large number of tossers there, and as 1am became 2am, the count seemed to grow rapidly. A good night all in all, although the beer queues were an absolute joke all evening, we all still managed to get enough down us to make it a good one.

Maximo Park - Brixton Academy, London - Friday 6th October 2006

First trip to Brixton for a few months (they don't seem to bother using it in the summer), to see Maximo Park. I seem to recall buying the tickets for this ages ago, just after they had headlined (and stolen the show) at the NME Awards Tour shows in February. But, in the meantime they have been keeping a pretty low profile, so it was strange to go to see them with so little hype in the run up.

Waiting for friends to show up meant that I missed both of the support bands, Hot Club de Paris, and Love Is All - not a good thing. Brixton Academy was "sold out", but it seemed easier to move around the place than it often is for "sold out" gigs - there were probably only a couple of hundred people fewer in there, but that makes for a much better experience all round. You can get to the toilet that much better, get to the bar, and get a decent vantage point from which to see the band.

With a fantastic lighting rig that was as good as that at the NME show, Maximo Park came on stage and ploughed straight into a new song, which sounded comfortingly familiar, and every bit as good as the material from their debut album. Graffiti followed soon after, and got a crowd surge and a rapturous response. For a one-album band, it was unsurprising that the set featured the vast majority of A Certain Trigger, but the pleasant surprise was how many new songs the band showcased. Even better was how damn good the new songs were!

More than many bands that you see whilst writing their second album, and showcasing its songs, I am really, really excited about hearing the new stuff on CD - the songs that were played tonight represented real development on the already-great material on the debut album. Some fantastic new songs, can't wait until they become loved by more people.

The set ended, as all good Maximo sets should, with Apply Some Pressure, which sent the audience wild. This gig was a triumph, not just consolidating the success achieved through an excellent debut album, but setting out a real mission statement for how good the followup could be. Can't wait to hear it.